ZAPHOD2319

I vote for who I think will be the most qualified, not for who I think can win. In this election there was a chance for Johnson to get 5% of the vote which would have qualified the Libertarian party for matching funds in the next Presidential election. That would have forced both parties to look for more centrist candidates. It was as much about the 5% for me.

I voted for Gary Johnson when he ran, only 3% of my country agreed with me. Our biggest problem is being engrained in this two party system.

Tbf Orange man, Hillary, Biden, all bad. Our nominating process is completely broken when these are who we end up with as choices to run the country.

Sky Sports is usually all fluff. But they had a few guests that made this chat about what we can expect going forward with Newcastle. It was pretty grounded in how adding players and a new manager can lead to failure if you are getting people that just want the money. Interesting the people involved all agreed it will take years if they go about it to build a top team. Some saying with what Newcastle has currently, it could be closer to 10 year than 5.

The refs have a union. The NFL and the union do a weekly review to make sure referees did not give the appearance of calls influencing the outcomes of games. Making sure refs were not taking money to favor a team. Both the union and the NFL will release a ref immediately if they have too many blown calls. Anthony Taylor would have been fired long ago. He is soo bad, and his blown calls usually favor the weaker team… it makes you wonder if he is getting some money from bookies.

It sounds like one man knows he fucked up, and one man has moved on and is very happy with the way things happened.

So what happened to all the money that was collected on the Go Fund Me to ban Anthony Taylor? Someone made a quick 20K?

Bruce should stay for his buy out. That is walking around money for the owners.

Now Silva and Rudiger out.

Romelu Lukaku has left the Belgium squad due to "muscle fatigue", says head coach Roberto Martinez.

He was the one of the best 9 options available. I think having him makes Tuchel really put some attention on how to make it work, which keeps him focused on us scoring. Had we gone with the same players from last year, Tuchel's solution may have been for us to play even more defensively. I hope Tuchel can play to his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. The thing that does get to me a little is his total lack of pressing. I don't know if he thinks he is doing it and just incapable, or if he is just not giving the effort? In the end he is our 9 and we do not have a second option, unless Werner starts ripping the back of the net game after game. I do believe we can grind it out and stay at the top contending for the title. We have great depth and a manager who is willing to trust that depth and rotate.

"Regularly" means high wage players. It will be interesting to see how they get around whatever FFP is these days. I have read that the high ticket sales that Newcastle has will help them ramp up their spending. I do not really understand how that correlates with FFP but it has been mention quite often in the past two days. What is it with attendance and ticket sales that boosts how much you can spend?

The people who will be on the Newcastle board Newcastle takeover: a guide to the new key figures at St James' Park The rundown on Yasir al-Rumayyan, Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers as the post-Ashley era begins. Yasir al-Rumayyan The golf-obsessed former banker ranks as one of the most influential figures in Saudi Arabia beyond the royal family and will, as nonexecutive chairman, be the key Saudi figure in Newcastle’s boardroom. Rumayyan was the choice of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to run the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Six years ago he swapped life as an investment banker for a role which involves implementing Saudi Vision 2030, a modernisation initiative intended to wean the kingdom off its traditional dependency on oil revenues by diversifying into spheres including tourism and, now, Premier League football. It is thought unlikely Rumayyan will relocate to Newcastle. He will delegate day-to-day running of the club while making occasional visits. Considering his roles include governing PIF, chairing Saudi Aramaco, the state oil company, and serving on company boards including those of Uber and a Japanese bank, the appointment of a hands-on, Tyneside-based chief executive seems imperative. The Harvard Business School graduate’s existing commitments have seen him resort to a golf simulator to protect a 12 handicap. PIF has already invested in Britain through Babylon Healthcare, which is helping develop artificial intelligence for use in the NHS. Amanda Staveley The North Yorkshire-born millionaire financier has assumed a 10% stake through her company PCP Capital Partners. Initially at least, Staveley is likely to assume a central, highly visible role. Currently she divides her time between Dubai and London but that may change now that Staveley has a seat on the board at Newcastle, where her young son Alexander is likely to become a familiar face in the stands. Among the first tasks will be headhunting a chief executive to replace the apparently departing managing director Lee Charnley. Newcastle’s former chairman Chris Mort – who is leading Staveley’s legal team – is understood to have turned down an offer to return as chief executive. The 48-year-old Staveley, who turned down a marriage proposal from Prince Andrew, has been described as possessing the “charm and cunning of an old-colonial diplomat plus the brains of a double-first nuclear physicist”. Those were the words of the Merseyside-based journalist and author Brian Reade when he described Staveley’s failed attempts to broker a deal to buy Liverpool. She first aired a potential buyout of Newcastle while a guest on Prince Mohammed’s £440m yacht, Serene, in the Red Sea in October 2019. Staveley has been attempting to buy Newcastle from Mike Ashley for years, with the departing owner calling her a “time-waster” in 2017. Reuben brothers Enigmatic British siblings Simon and David rank among the world’s richest men – the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List placed them joint second in the UK on £21.465bn – and have extensive property empires in central London and Newcastle. They have a 10% holding in the club. Jamie Reuben, David’s 34-year-old son, has joined Newcastle’s board. Simon and David, born in Mumbai to Iraqi Jewish parents with an extensive business empire in Baghdad and India, have long been domiciled in the UK where they began their careers in scrap metal – at one point they were known as “Metal Tsars” in Russia where they dominated the aluminium industry – and carpets respectively. Wary of both publicity and debt, David and Simon moved to Britain with their mother in the 1950s. They now concentrate largely on property and own four miles of seafront development in Ibiza, large tracts of London’s Mayfair, Millbank Tower and large swathes of central Newcastle as well as the city’s racecourse and three golf courses. They remain involved in redevelopment projects on Tyneside. Jamie Reuben resigned his directorship at QPR in October 2020 and will assume a hands-on boardroom role. Reuben Brothers has a philanthropic foundation concentrating on healthcare and education. It founded the Nancy Reuben primary school, an independent Jewish school in north London, in honour of their mother, and has donated £80m to Oxford University. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/08/newcastle-takeover-guide-to-the-new-key-figures-yasir-al-ruayyan-amanda-staveley-reuben-brothers

It seems like the owners of PSG and City are real football fans. Both post on social media about their teams and football in general. Not sure if the Prince of SA is the same? What I have read is they don't plan on spending just for the sake of spending but to take their time and build the team on a sustained club budget. I bet that budget is more than what NC currently has.

This kid might be worth a look. Scored again.

Pepi scores again. He is promising for an 18 year old

That is the only call up he has had. He is promising but inconsistent, like most 18 year olds. I don’t really know that he could be a starter at this level.

Newcastle has a pretty decent sized fan base. After the late 90s run they had, you now have foreign fans. It is now where near Man Utd, Chelsea, City, or Arsenal, but you do see Newcastle kits in the US. They have a nice stadium. The price was a lot better than taking over a top 6 club. It will be easy for them to build a brand if they put the money into the team.

If you have never heard of Pepi, he has been a treat. He took the field the last international break and lit it up. 18 years old and he named Chelsea as the club he would like to go to now. https://theathletic.com/2866607/2021/10/06/this-is-ricardo-pepi-the-usmnts-dynamic-mexican-american-teen-forward-turning-heads-worldwide/

It is official