allani Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 8 minutes ago, JPJCB said: I’d go further and say that it’s because of the Saudi connections that they are treated that way rather than in spite of them. If it had been a more standard takeover no one would bat an eyelid Do you mean that you think the media are pro-Newcastle because they don't want to upset the Saudis? If so I am not sure. I do think that more fans would be happier about Newcastle disrupting the Sly 6 if they weren't basically another State backed team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted July 14, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2023 1 hour ago, turvontour said: Its ours to throw away to be fair. Paddy Power already paid out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJCB Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 1 hour ago, allani said: Do you mean that you think the media are pro-Newcastle because they don't want to upset the Saudis? If so I am not sure. I do think that more fans would be happier about Newcastle disrupting the Sly 6 if they weren't basically another State backed team. To some extent. But also I think the fact that they are “state backed” means that the media immediately equates them as being in the same league as Man City and PSG and assumes that their success is so inevitable that they may as well assume it’s already happened. That irks me given they haven’t actually achieved much yet and could easily drop off next season (Howe is not an elite level coach imo) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 Noticed on other sides fans sites that they are starting to get very worried about Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zab6359 Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, allani said: It will take 4 or 5 years of European qualification (supported with a decent run in those competitions) before either Newcastle or us would be considered established top 6 teams. How many seasons did Leicester finish in the Top 5 and yet they didn't succeed in establishing a top 7. A team capable of finishing in the top 6 or even a team that finishes in the top 6 - is still not the same as being a "Top 6 team". It's more likely that it becomes a Top 8 first - unless of course Chelsea completely implode (how long can they afford not to be competing in the CL considering the number of players, wages and contract structures that they have in place). I hope we don't all get too obsessed with this Top 4 (surely with the extra CL place this is now redundant anyway), Top 6 stuff. I still think we could finish 8th next season and yet have taken a step forward from this season (competing for a full season, taking matches to the top teams and retaining more possession against them, etc). Whereas it feels like we are already in danger of suggesting that anything less than 6th is a failure. I think we are in a great position to re-establish ourselves as a great club - we shouldn't put that as risk by putting too much pressure on short term success. Yes let's be ambitious and try to finish as high as we can - but let's also be sensible and remember that it has been a long time since we qualified for Europe, that Chelsea and Spurs have had much longer to build their squads, etc and that finishing above them would still be an achievement. We all dislike the entitlement expressed by the Sly 6 so let's not fall into the same trap after 1 season in which we were pretty / very good for 60% of it. I know people will get there knickers in a twist when I say this but i'll say it anyway..............we won't become a regular top 6 team until we have an annual revenue in the top 6 simple as, we may well dip in and out of the top 6. As things stand we have a revenue in the lower half of the league until that changes the best manager in the world won't be able to change things! Just to add I'm not unhappy with not being a top 6 team, it is what it is. Edited July 14, 2023 by zab6359 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, zab6359 said: I know people will get there knickers in a twist when I say this but i'll say it anyway..............we won't become a regular top 6 team until we have an annual revenue in the top 6 simple as, we may well dip in and out of the top 6. As things stand we have a revenue in the lower half of the league until that changes the best manager in the world won't be able to change things! Just to add I'm not unhappy with not being a top 6 team, it is what it is. I don't think it is all about revenue. But it's definitely about more than just where you finish. I guess with Leicester - part of the issue is that if any of their players did well enough then any of the Sly 6 could buy them with barely a second glance. It's the same problem that Brighton have. The question for Newcastle and ourselves (or any other team wanting to break things up) is will we be able to be in a position where we can resist the Sly 6 buying our best players. That's partly about being financially strong enough to match the deals they might offer and / or about being able to sell our ability to compete and allow players the chance to win / compete for silverware. So far we've been largely able to avoid having our best players poached. Which I guess is one reason why I think people sometimes give Brighton more credit for their signings than they give us - I mean Brighton have had to sell their best players (the ones you are most likely to get the best returns on) whereas we have generally being selling players that no longer have a future at the club because we've left them behind (in other words the players you are least likely to get good returns on). Actually if you just look at the players we've sold that we would have probably wanted to keep (Grealish and Chukwuemeka) then we've cleared £120 million in profit from them which stacks up pretty well against Brighton. That's something that is only accentuated when you look at our best players that we have so far been able to keep - I am sure we'd have made good profits on Martinez, Mings, Konsa, McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey and Watkins (and possibly also Cash) had we been more like Brighton and had to sell them because we were unable to offer them a competitive deal. If we took the paper profit we could have made on them and add that onto the Grealish / Chuk money then we'd be looking at well over £250m profit and I am sure that people would be talking about how brilliantly we'd been doing in the transfer market. Similarly if you look at the sales that Brighton have made for players that are no longer good enough for them - I suspect they aren't doing a whole heap better (at least in percentage terms). But I digress.... Edited July 14, 2023 by allani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 5 CL spots up for grabs for the Prem this season?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icouldtelltheworld Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 51 minutes ago, maqroll said: 5 CL spots up for grabs for the Prem this season?!? But can we still loan Januzaj? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 hour ago, maqroll said: 5 CL spots up for grabs for the Prem this season?!? I would imagine if we get 5th, we'll be screwed out of it on some BS historical nonsense. It'll be very very tough to finish top 5 and compete in Europe. I think at one point they'll be a clear couple of decisions to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMkali Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 1 hour ago, maqroll said: 5 CL spots up for grabs for the Prem this season?!? Depending on how the rest of the prem do in Europe this season but theoretically yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Can we beat Spurs, NUFC, Chelsea? Yes to all. I think they will all have average seasons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abdulaziz1 Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 On 14/07/2023 at 11:11, allani said: Do you mean that you think the media are pro-Newcastle because they don't want to upset the Saudis? If so I am not sure. I do think that more fans would be happier about Newcastle disrupting the Sly 6 if they weren't basically another State backed team. Definitely not, but people take Newcastle improvement for granted, so whatever they do is justified (wether they like it or not), while us they think we just fluked, no one is noticing nor willing to notice our ambitions. That’s the main issue. I’m in a PL group (different Arab members) who supports different teams, we’re two which support Aston Villa, I remember one asked me if I’d be happy with Harrison from Leeds. Then I said I definitely won’t even think of him let alone be happy getting him. Another guy appeared (can’t be sure what did he support, but definitely not Man City, possibly one of the teams around us), as if he got offended and said Harrison would improve your team and we have no one as good as him. I told him as much as I argue what you’re saying but, even if that’s right, the upgrade should be higher. People basically think we shall look at PL castoffs and just be happy. We have no right to even think of CL. To be honest, I like it this way, if the players liked the ambition that’s enough for me, doing it is much better than saying it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 3 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said: We're going places, dunno about top 4 yet but a trophy is definitely on the cards If we sign Doku/Torres/Johnson, Vlahovic, a new RB and GK, we will contend for EVERYTHING 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMitch Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Champions League is expanding after next season so it's most likely that the top 5 finishing clubs in the Prem will get a Champions League spot. This is the time to go all out. Another senior striker/forward, right back, and figure out a solid replacement for Olsen and we're a very strong squad to compete in both the Conference and the Premier League, as well as the cups. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted July 22, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 22, 2023 14 minutes ago, KMitch said: Champions League is expanding after next season so it's most likely that the top 5 finishing clubs in the Prem will get a Champions League spot. This is the time to go all out. Another senior striker/forward, right back, and figure out a solid replacement for Olsen and we're a very strong squad to compete in both the Conference and the Premier League, as well as the cups. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Nothing wrong with aiming for top 4 but cant see it with conference ita going to be a massive ask. But if we won conference league and finished top 7 id be delighted. That would be a trophy and a spot in europa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 (edited) I think we could be in the mix. Newcastle being in the champions league then possibly the europa lesgue might find it difficult to challenge. Spurs, I'm not worried about and Chelsea who knows. Edited July 22, 2023 by PaulC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvonVillain Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 43 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: But if we won conference league and finished top 7 id be delighted. Love that this is just where we are now. "If we won" a European trophy and happened to finish top 7 we'd "be delighted". Yes. Yes we would. All that previous pain and now suddenly, this what we casually say. Completely agree, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted July 23, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted July 23, 2023 (edited) We have a great chance of top 4 the way things are unfolding, we have strengthened more than any other team and finished the season with top 4 form with a weaker squad. The Newcastle game is a big game for us and I can only see one winner and that's us. Once that's out of the way everyone will start to have doubts about us being also rans, 6 games in and we will be talk of the premier league. It will only surprise those that haven't took any notice of us, the fans that have seen us playing since Emery has arrived will not be surprised. Edited July 23, 2023 by tinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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