After weeks of wondering, it’s been widely reported that a £300m Saudi-backed takeover will be announced ‘this week’.
Last night, however, a concerning report from The Guardian claimed new legal documents had been sent to the Premier League which threaten to delay the deal even further.
Predictably, an article has now arrived from the Daily Mail today, stating that Mike Ashley is “growing increasingly annoyed” by the time it’s taking for this big money buyout to be concluded, stating he expected the deal to be wrapped up ‘at least two weeks ago’.
For starters, he won’t be nearly as frustrated as us fans. He’s a billionaire who’s been relaxing in a family mansion in Miami as he waits for his £300m to arrive, all while us Newcastle fans sit in self-isolation biting our fingernails and refreshing Twitter every 5 minutes, as we desperately await official confirmation of a deal that could revolutionise our sleeping giant of a football club for the better.
That’s not even the main part of it all, however.
If he thinks waiting a few more weeks for the ‘good news’ is annoying, he should try living in our shoes for the past 13 years. We’ve pumped our hard earned money, precious time and all of our emotions into this football club for over a decade – all to see it go absolutely nowhere thanks to one man’s greed and neglect.
Just about every generation have become disillusioned, lost hope or fallen out of love with their club. Teenagers on Tyneside know nothing but a miserable Mike Ashley era and fans who were brought up on the competitive Keegan days forced to sit through TWO relegations and constant scraps for survival. We’re the only ones who should be frustrated here, Mike.
Not only that, this is a man who refuses to communicate, making his “annoyance” at any delay and a lack of progress laughable. What about the time you left us in limbo for MONTHS last summer when we were waiting for news on a takeover, a new deal for Rafa Benitez or a permanent deal for Salomon Rondon, Mike?! We were given no guidance and then no hope, with all three possible deals coming to nothing.
This isn’t the first time either. How many takeover sagas have we been forced to sit through for months on end – only to be let down time and time again. Periods of uncertainty which ultimately end in disappointment are something us fans have become all too used to, sadly, so it’s about time that ended.
Thankfully, it’s well documented that contracts have been signed, deposits paid and all the terms agreed ahead of this Staveley-led takeover involving the Saudis, so it’s no longer in Mike Ashley’s hands.
If the Premier League approve the deal – which I still think they will – and the £300m then arrives into Ashley’s bank account, there’s nothing he can do.
It shows his petulant nature that he’s become annoyed by a two-week wait at a time where this global crisis has slowed everything down. This is the same man who’s refusing to stop season ticket payments or refund fans hit badly by COVID-19, despite the fact football at St James’ Park will clearly not be returning anytime soon.
We all want this takeover to be announced ASAP for our own sanity, but it’s almost amusing that Mike Ashley is finally getting a taste of his own medicine after he’s constantly ignored and completely neglected us for 13 years.
The sooner we get this parasite out of our football club, the better.
(Fancy writing for us? Get in touch at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)
Is Sally Hawkins single by the way? I might just ask her out. Now don’t laugh you lot. She and Amphibian Man got on well, so I have a chance!!! Harrumph……
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I listened to Dominic Cummings’ press conference and sort of believed what he said. But it illustrates what a stumbling, bumbling stuttering idiot he really is. He will be sacked/resign by the end of the week.
What sort of fool says he was having major symptoms of a deadly disease and his wife was having the same and then takes their child on a 5 hour drive?
What moron who says he was having difficulty seeing goes out and drives?
This man is unfit for public office. He might believe what he is saying but that just makes him even less fit to be in government.
The whole press conference was just showing how stupid this man is and how wrongheaded all of his decisions were. The sooner he leaves, the better. For the country. He actually sat there with a straight face and mumbled the shyte he had written down!!!! It was obvious he had not had anybody else read it because they would have told him he was digging his own grave with that nonsense.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
OK then Baldrick Cummings, explain your cunning plan after knowing a lot of your workmates were sick with a deadly disease and your wife has just thrown up and thinks she has it and you are also exhibiting symptoms.
Yes Prime Minister, and the assembled press corps who include Murdoch papers like The Sun and The Times as well a Tory rags like The Telegraph and The Mail. My thinking was… what I will do is drive 250 miles to Durham with my 4 year old sick child/son and sick wife who are definitely showing symptoms of a deadly virus so that my 17 year old niece can provide child care. Then, a couple of weeks later, when I am fearing that my eyesight might have been affected, and knowing my uncle had just died for the said disease, I will take a half hour drive to Bernard Castle to see if I cannot run a few people over. If I don’t hear any screams and see any blood (through my bleary eyes) from the people I may have killed or maimed then I must be fine to drive 250 miles back down to London.
Thanks Baldrick Cummings. Now please resign.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Oh, Boris. You actually nearly died from this virus thingy? Why didn’t you just drive to Durham with your pregnant girlfriend. That would have fixed things. You know, like me you were so needed at Number 10 that you would automatically think you need to drive to Durham. Yes? Prime Minister?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What difference does it make whether he went to Barnard Castle now I have seen the facts. You were allowed to exercise once a day. He had isolated for 14 days so what’s the problem?
The media are getting more and more irrelevant. Their agendas are transparent and people are getting more and more tired of them.
PM press conference yesterday and when People at home watching are Worried about their livelihoods, their families and when they can start socialising again, going on holiday again or when their jobs can start again, what do the media ask about? Dominic fucking Cummins. Anybody who doesn’t think this is personal are quite clearly biased. There are much more important things we need to be talking about.
Stuart79(Quote)
https://twitter.com/antoniosteve/status/1264224119777828864/photo/1
kimtoon(Quote)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2882487395201022&set=a.1590806531035788
kimtoon(Quote)
Back to the papers, Eh, Kim? Why do you believe everything you read when it’s about Cummins but believe nothing when it comes to NUFC?
Is there anything more important going on in the country today rather than Dominic Cummins?
Stuart79(Quote)
kimtoon(Quote)
The FT photo i posted was the statement that number 10 released, hardly fake or false, unlike the statement itself.
kimtoon(Quote)
Oh and the NUFC point, you do like your straw man arguments don’t you Stu.
kimtoon(Quote)
Is it more important that people find out about their lives and what effects them or whether Cummins went to Barnard Castle or broke the spirit of the guildelines?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart: that far left paper The Daily Mail thinks Cummings should go.
I don’t even follow British politics closely but I know stupidity and contempt when I see it. The guy had days or weeks to get his story straight and he comes up with that rambling mesh of lies and half truths. And he is supposed to be a PR guru 🙂 Hopefully Keith Bishop will need a job soon and Boris can hire him.
I don’t think you need to be Tory or Labour to decide that that scripted 14 minute stuttering performance was a load of b@llocks.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/1265196839231533057
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric, Why he didn’t just say, i felt better, it was my wife’s birthday so we went for a country drive and yes we broke the rules , i don’t know.
Oh wait, that would be grounds for dismissal .
kimtoon(Quote)
I have never been sure whether putting a whole country on lockdown for 2 months was the right path, but I am also not one of the team who made up the rules. Dominic Cummings was part of that team and to give us that 14 minutes of tripe that he did yesterday insults everytbody’s intelligence. I thought you were better than that Stuart but your blue tinted spectacles must be affecting your eyesight. How about a drive to Bernard Castle to check your eyes out? Make sure you don’t hit any pedestrians on your way there.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Boris says he was doing what any good dad would do, yet this same good dad drives 30 miles with his kid in the car to test his dodgy vision !
That presser was pure scripted panto and i do not like being taken for a mug and i suspect i’m not alone in that view.
kimtoon(Quote)
I watched the Cummings scripted speech for myself because I had seen quotes from it and thought he really cant be that dumb, can he? Hearing it from the horse’s mouth (***!!!) was worse than just reading a few quotes.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well , yes it is important, here is a guy who helped draft those rules, so the least he could do was follow them.
His actions will impact on peoples thought processes now, like it or not people will be thinking wtf i’m gonna do what i want now.
His arrogance to not even concede his actions could have ramifications for the governments message for all to socially distance is breathtaking.
The exceptional circumstances clause regarding children was actually put in for safe guarding children and women who were at risk of abuse originally so that they could travel to get away.
That was what Priti Patel put in.
kimtoon(Quote)
God I want football back
kimtoon(Quote)
And I don’t think discussing Cummings’ actions in any way takes the focus off CV-19. We have had 3 months of talking about nothing else on both sides of the Atlantic FFS. What more is there to say? Saying we cannot discuss the PMs right hand man’s actions because we need to be concentrating on the nation’s health is just a diversionary tactic. There is no vast left wing conspiracy here. It is one of the unelected party leaders acting like a t!t and compounding his error by speaking like a t!t and lying.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Der Klassiker is on today.
I like Stuart, but this whole incident shows how much he will pretzel himself in order to defend the Tories. This guy made some very bad errors of judgement that actually could have caused harm to people – going back to work when he suspected he had CV-19, driving when he thought his vision might be impaired. His excuses are feeble. And that’s what they are – excuses – they are not explanations.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Great. But I don’t base my opinions on the papers.
I just happen to think we have more important things going on in the world than Cummins. It staggers me why the media are STILL going on about it! How can they justify it when Coronavirus is still going strong?
Stuart79(Quote)
It’s more important than peoples lives is it, Kim? Are you really more interested in Cummins than whether people’s job will still be there at the end? Or when shops can open so people can actually get their jobs back and live again? Is Cummins more important that children’s education? It appears the media believe it is.
In addition, anybody who bases their actions on what Dominic Cummins does are actually just stupid and utterly thick.
Stuart79(Quote)
It’s justified because his actions impact on the governments message to stay socially distant and follow lockdown rules.
People are fed up staying in and not getting help from family and this whole episode has not helped.
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart: just because CV-19 is the most important thing in all of our lives doesn’t mean it should be the ONLY thing. I can walk and chew gum at the same time and I am guessing you can too. Talking about Cummings’ lies does not decide when shops will open or how many nurses will be on duty.
If Cummings comes out with total tosh/lies it makes you think about whether he is fit to advise the most important person in the country. I would have thought that is a serious issue and something worse discussing even in the depths of a pandemic.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I mean, if you are going to lie about a trip to Bernard Castle, what else are you going to lie about? The sad thing is that he expected people to believe his utter nonsense of a scripted speech.
The Tory Party have a history of great orators. I watched a Churchill movie the other day (Netflix, what else do we have to do 🙂 ) and whole scenes were devoted to him composing his speeches. Maybe Cummings might give it a try, Netflix is only $8 a month and I am sure can find the time as he will be either sacked or out of the public eye for a very long time.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is not like these were white lies either, like some kid who had taken a cholate digestive buisuit without his mothers’ permission and blames his sister. He had days, if not weeks to write this shyte knowing that he would have the full scrutiny of the British press hanging on, and dissecting, his every word. Even The Daily Mail have turned on him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stu, where have i said it’s more important than peoples lives, please don’t put words in my mouth.
I have simply said it’s important because what he has done will impact the governments message and actually will lead to more loss of lives as some people will refuse to follow guidance now.
kimtoon(Quote)
Discovering that you have a lying toe rag at the heart of government damages the reputation of the government.
defending said lying toerag brings into question the governments fitness to govern.
PremAndUp(Quote)
He should be sacked or resign.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I still don’t mind that he travelled to Durham for the reasons he has give. I know others suffered too, but if they had the luxury of a spare cottage to bunk down in, I think a great many would do the same.
The bit I have the issue with is his trip to Barnard Castle and his reasons for it – and that’s where he lost me. I was probably willing to give him more of a chance than most – til he tried to feed us this line about his eyes. Had he came out and said – we were having an awful time of it, it was my wife’s birthday and we went for a nice drive to cheer ourselves up – I understand this was truly selfish and I made a mistake. I’d have bought that more than the eye nonsense.
To tell us that eye nonsense was bad enough – to now be maintaining it and expecting us to believe it really insults our intelligence!!.
If Boris wants to save face and government, he would sack him and say I can’t have my staff acting like that – you win many people back with that.
If Boris wants the public to stick with him through this, Cummings must at least resign – but in resigning, Boris looses a lot of people who would seem him as ducking out of that decision.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The bigger issue is that if he can lie about his trip to the castle, what else has he or is he willing to lie about ?
The fact that Boris and co are backing this pile of tripe insults our intelligence and calls into question their overall honesty on everything now and that’s the real killer.
This has not been handled well at all.
kimtoon(Quote)
There’s all sorts of contradictions in this guy’s story. Sharpy, I can understand that he might have been confused with a sick wife and sick kid but he is playing us all for fools when he is asking us to believe the rubbish he is spouting now.
Stuart is just going along with Tory nonsense. I like Stuart after having met him in Chicago, but you cannot always just go along with the party line and have to look at the facts sometimes. Cummings has acted and spoken like an idiot. Maybe he is the “smartest guy in the room”. Not in this case though.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Cummings’ wife is associate editor of The Spectator or another of those high brow magazines. She can also drive. It is not like she is a thicko. You would think she might have said to Dom that if he was worried about his eyes that it would not be a good idea for him to drive 30 miles to test them putting her, their child, pedestrians and other motorists in danger.
It makes absolutely no sense and yet he had a prepared script to tell the nation and the press that this is what he did. His idiocy is testing the boundaries or idiocy.
Explain your support for this man Stuart.
And not the diversion of saying the CV-19 is what we all need to concentrate on. That is a cop-out.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Any news yet? zzzzzzz
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I just tried walking and chewing gum and it didn’t go well….. 😳
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I stepped on my gum…..
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2, Then your in a sticky situation mate.
kimtoon(Quote)
Haha! Yes, once again I’ve stepped in it Kimtoon…… 😀
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Getting on to more serious questions…. are wor balls disinfected yet?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
This Dominic Cummings episode reminds me of Brave Sir Robin in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He would have been knighted if not for this. The lyrics are:
“When danger reared its ugly head Sir Dommin bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Dommin turned about, and gallantly he chickened out.
Swiftly taking to his feet he beat a very brave retreat.
Brave, brave brave Sir Dommin”.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And more importantly are Dominic Cummings balls disinfected yet?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
The whole idea of toe rags leaves me feeling well dressed…..
GeordieTwo(Quote)
On the odd occasion I visit Eds I see you trying and failing to be funny.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It doesn’t make any sense!!!! Maybe to a Canuck?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Yep, you are seriously unfunny. It is like being poked in the eye with a sharp stick that has been dipped in sulfuric acid and subjected to the comedy stylings of BrisV and then left in cow dung for a week and going back for another round with Frankie Boyle insulting my sister.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-uk-death-rate-per-million-sweden-brazil-152335116.html
Sweden not doing so well now
kimtoon(Quote)
Jabba won’t be happy, he thought he could open SD next week only to find he can’t.
kimtoon(Quote)
I understand that one reason for the delays was that this government wanted to follow a model similar to the Swedish model, but changed course only when it became clear the NHS could not cope and the scenes would be too embarrassing.
PremAndUp(Quote)
kimtoon(Quote)
They should never have started to dismantle the NHS. The best health care system in the world. All for the sake of transferring wealth to the 1% in charge. Condemning thousands to die with a lie about it not being affordable.
Shame Shame Shame.
Brisvegas(Quote)
There are a lot of other factors Bris. The Thatcher / Major decision to rely on Finance and service industries importing rather than manufacturing cheap goods means we could not even make our own PPE. The Cameron Austerity policies just further increased the numbers of vulnerable people in our society. And Brexit just means that we were not prepared to work with others to address the issues. Even the Blairite policies of get elected at any cost by being cheap Tories did not help. It’s hardly surprising that we have a government behaving like headless chickens
PPS can we please have the takeover so we can talk about Football
PremAndUp(Quote)
https://twitter.com/MattGarrahan/status/1265238952904142853
Gove , actually laughing at the driving to test eyes question.
kimtoon(Quote)
Stephen Kinnock MP drives hundreds of miles during lockdown to socialise with his parents.
The response from the Labour party ? – they promote him!
This is probably why I have not seen Starmer get involved in the Cummings witch hunt.
sidekick(Quote)
Sidekick, Kinnock was a pillock who was rightly called out by the media and should of been sacked imo.
However he is not a part of the elected government and more importantly did not help draft the rules of lockdown like Cummins did, big difference.
kimtoon(Quote)
And now another Dom lie is exposed. He said he has been warning of coronavirus since 2019 but now we find he actually edited the blog he referred to at his presser on april 14th 2020 the day he returned to work !
Have a feeling a few more lies will come out.
kimtoon(Quote)
Watched the Craig Whittaker MP (consevative) interview earlier today.
He is demanding Cummings to be sacked.
When asked how he voted in the referendum he said ‘remain’ , and then quickly, ‘this is not about Brexit’.
Yeah right!
sidekick(Quote)
Whether it is about Brexit or not, Brexit has not helped our response
PremAndUp(Quote)
Enough of these Cummings bollocks. The bloke obviously believes his own lies and Boris is going along with it. Rubbish people.
We’ll hear about the takeover next week. I know, I know again and again. The PL have had the WTO report for weeks. The really like money though that good old PL. It’ll happen.
georgio(Quote)
Sidekick, think most people couldn’t give a stuff about Brexit anymore. It’s done and there is little more to say on it.
As a remain voter, i can honestly say i don’t give it a second thought anymore, my view is, it’s done, let them get on with it. If they make a mess of it (hopefully not ) then it’s on their heads not mine.
Now with this cummins fiasco, keep him in place and people will not forget it . You need to remember lots of sacrifices have and are being made and all people of all political persuasions are very angry and worse still people are laughing at the conservatives over it.
He has to go if they want the public to get onside again imo .
kimtoon(Quote)
Sidekick, out of interest, what makes you think it’s only about Brexit ? After all it’s done now, aside from the deal and that will get done one way or another.
kimtoon(Quote)
Boris struggling with this committee here like. Good luck getting a nation to sign up to your track and trace scheme while Cummings is still in place fella ??♂️
Sharpy17(Quote)
Yeah, lots of we move on comments, good luck with that.
I won’t be signing up, i don’t have a smart phone.
kimtoon(Quote)
I kinda zone out when he talks, it’s so much bluster and blather, at times I honestly cannot fathom what he’s actually saying.
It’s quite an art to say so much yet tell you so little.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – during the transition period we are still paying £billions to the EU , abiding by their rules and controlled by Brussels.
The remoaners see the transition period as their last attempt to stop Brexit.
Every opposition party signed a letter sent to Mr Barnier asking him to delay the talks and demand a two year extension to the transition period. Mr Barnier has written back and even hinted that we will need to pay a lot more to the EU for the extension.
They need a mug to pay for their coronavirus costs and prop up the Euro.
The opposition parties are shouting please let that mug be the UK.
They are also shouting about anything and everything to stop Boris walking away from the talks and setting the UK free.
Like I said in a previous post these remoaners will be howling by December if they fail to get an extension.
sidekick(Quote)
I didn’t think it could be stopped now.
kimtoon(Quote)
Sidekick, as i said, i really ain’t bothered about brexit, as far as i’m concerned it’s done, bigger fish to worry about now.
kimtoon(Quote)
Don’t want a delay to it, pointless unless covid has caused problems in getting a decent deal in time now.
kimtoon(Quote)
When did Kinnock have to do a press conference with the rabid attack dogs asking him questions? I missed that one? Which papers had Kinnock on the front page of their papers for 5 days running? Missed that too.
The idiot from SNP Tweeted a few weeks ago that he’d left London to travel to the Highlands yet he also tweeted that Cummins should be sacked for doing the same.
Anybody see the hypocrisy now…?
Stuart79(Quote)
Sidekick – it’s a special kind of stupid that thinks it’s a good idea for us to remain under the EU’s regulatory control but have absolutely zero input or say in any of the regulations which would effect us. Oh and we’d have to pay for the privilege.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu, Kinnock is small fry and as i said, should of been sacked. He made the news over it , else you wouldn’t even remember it.
He didn’t have to face a press conference because he didn’t draft the rules of lockdown and he isn’t the prime ministers advisor.
It was cummings idea to face the press, no one asked him to do it and i’m not even sure legally it should of been allowed as i’m sure PM’s advisors are not meant to give pressers like that.
He’s not even a minister, yet Boris will risk his parties popularity for him, very odd.
You can bring up the Brexit straw man all you like, i ain’t interested, it’s done .
kimtoon(Quote)
????
Stuart79(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2020/05/23/the-worst-115m-weve-ever-spent-the-ultimate-xi-of-awful-nufc-signings/
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Today , the remoaners have submitted a new Bill to Parliament demanding an extension to the brexit transition to keep us in the EU until December 2022.
What a surprise !
sidekick(Quote)