If You Were Newcastle United New Owner...

[localhero]

On 20/04/2020 at 14:20, Smiley Culture said:

In all seriousness; 

- Re-engage - The relationship between Newcastle United and it’s fans has been fractious, when Ashley wasn’t spending money, and there was a significant number who walked away last summer, so I think work there is probably quite key. You could just throw £100m at a load of mercenaries and hope for a Europa League place but I think the work needs to go a bit deeper than that. I’m not on about the cringy stuff you see from some club owners, who lap up praise as if they’re the clubs brand new star striker, either. 

Every kid gets a Newcastle United shirt on their 10th birthday and a letter from the manager wishing them a happy birthday. The third shirt sponsorship is given away, free of charge, every year to a Newcastle/North East based charity who get to design the shirt and a % of every shirt sold goes to the charity. Monthly donations to food banks, local businesses and charities. 

- Community - I have no idea what NUFC do in the community now but I’d pay for coaching courses to be undertaken so that every primary and secondary school has at least one FA qualified member of staff to teach Football and I’d offer money up for qualifications for a range of sports, activities and courses to get kids and young adults in Newcastle and the North East active and/or in work. Even stuff like cheerleading would be done under the NUFC blanket, if not exactly aligned to the club itself. 

- Academy - Think one of the NUFC fans on here said their academy is pretty bad so a full root and branch investigation into the state of the Academy and why it is or isn’t working, at present. I’d look at some clubs in Europe, not necessarily your Barcelona’s, Bayern’s etc, probably some of the “second” or “third” tier clubs sides like in Portugal, Holland etc and see what they’re doing and see if it’s possible to replicate or expand on and do so in Newcastle. 

- Staff - Lets be honest, this isn’t a case of throwing money at it and winning stuff straight away, it took City a few years to win anything and even so, I would argue that the Premier League wasn’t as strong as it is now. The Champions League is, still, a pipedream for Newcastle and the Europa League isn’t a given when you have so many top sides, a top four or five these days and then your Everton’s, Wolves’, Leicester’s etc.

With that in mind, taking over Newcastle is a longer term plan. Therefore, I’d need to work out whether Steve Bruce is the man to take the club to the next phase of the plan. If he is, great, see what he wants staff wise and see if it’s feasible and realistic. If not, the managerial search goes live. I think, firstly, I would look for someone with Premier League experience to move the club forward, at this stage. Not sure who I’d plump for. I don’t know if it suits Eddie Howe or Sean Dyche and I’m not sure that Brendan Rodgers moves to Newcastle. 

- Playing Staff - Obviously, this is up to the manager, his staff and any Director of Football type the club may have. However, you’d have to make a decent budget in place to improve the squad and to retain any players required. 

- Stadium - Not sure what you can do with the ground itself but it’s certainly big enough for what’s needed. Think the big thing is the match day experience and making sure everyone from those in the cheapest seats to those who’ve paid most have the best possible experience. How you do that? Talk to the fans. See what they want. Visit other sports stadia across the world and see what they do and if it’s possible to do similar at St James’. 

- Buy another club...maybe - Looking at what Red Bull and City do, there’s reasons behind them buying clubs across the planet and I think, unfortunately, it’s probably going to be the case for many going forward. I’d look at somewhere relatively cheap, where you could get good value for players in the Academy and where you could still attract players. 

Pretty much this. The main thing is the new owner needs to do is engage with the supporters groups straight off. Do that and he already gone 10x further than FCB has during all his time here. 

After that it's spending money doing the facilities up, I mean we got players standing in bins for ice baths FFS, get the academy blinged up, link it with local junior clubs like wallsend boys etc.

The stadium does need something but because of where it is and all the blooming student accommodation all over the joint. One theory was spinning it 90° to give room for expansion.

Then for the squad? Fill the gaps. Up front. Yorkshire lad Joe Linton is a bit crap really. So a striker who can score. A bit more depth generally but no need to spend big quantities quickly 

[Stan]

26 minutes ago, localhero said:

Yorkshire lad Joe Linton is a bit crap really

 

[Batard]

On 20/04/2020 at 13:02, RevFan said:

... how would you turn around this sleeping giant?

Who would you put in charge of the club?

Who would you be appointing manager / head coach?

Would you appoint a Director of football / General Manager?

What type of players would you target?

Do you concentrate on short or long term for training facilities?

How would you win the fans back / attract more fans?

What other things would you invest in? E.g. More support for the women's team, refurbish the stadium. 

I'd stop killing Saudi dissidents and executing protesters 

[Machado]

4 hours ago, Batard said:

I'd stop killing Saudi dissidents and executing protesters 

[MUFC]

If the takeover happens. After Bruce is sacked, which cheque book manager will go all out for the job? Pep or Mourinho?

[Honey Honey]

1 hour ago, MUFC said:

If the takeover happens. After Bruce is sacked, which cheque book manager will go all out for the job? Pep or Mourinho?

Doesnt sound like it will be blank cheque. Spending would be gradual, more of a project. Rafa most likely if he can get out of his £20m release clause.

[Phil Kennedy]

On 20/04/2020 at 21:31, Stan said:

You can't just chuck money at a club and instantly be successful. Not least in Newcastle's scenario. 

This isn't FIFA. 

Albrighton £30m  

Vardy  

 

Certainly good as Vardy has proved, He's well over 30 isn't he ?

We'll just see if the takeover actually happens, first. 

We've lost count of number of times our hopes have been up only for MA to stay.

Leicesters takeover was a huge success. Hope Newcastle's could rival it.

If we could get a domestic trophy (FA preferably ! ) and be challenging top 6-7 in 5 seasons we'd be overjoyed

I haven't heard ONE Newcastle fan spout some of the shite the media are saying WE are supposed to want

[Dave]

I can see them being a realistic destination for Wilfried Zaha to be honest. Not that I'm convinced there isn't better options available at a fraction of the price in France or Holland. In fact, if Burnley would accept a reasonable fee then they could do worse than help Dwight McNeil get to the next level at a third or half the price.

I know they were linked with Boubakary Soumare in January. I still think they should go for him on a free. I think he could grow with the club.

[Stan]

8 minutes ago, Phil Kennedy said:

Certainly good as Vardy has proved, He's over 30 isn't he ?

We'll just see if the takeover actually happens, first. 

We've lost count of number of times our hopes have been up only for MA to stay.

Leicesters takeover was a huge success. Hope Newcastle's could rival it.

If we could get a domestic trophy (FA preferably ! ) and be challenging top 6-7 in 5 seasons we'd be overjoyed

I haven't heard ONE Newcastle fan spout some of the shite the media are saying WE are supposed to want

It certainly would be reminiscent of some of the seasons I've been catching up on BT with their Premier league reviews in the 90s! You had some squad back then in that era even towards/in the 00s as well. 

As for our success, it didn't come without some desperately sad lows! We had the Watford playoff defeat, the Cardiff playoff defeat and we had time to get rid of some players we didn't need and build a solid foundation to challenge for promotion and then survive (with a great escape) in the PL. We also had savvy owners who, despite being billionaires, didn't just throw copious amounts of money just cos they had it. They were always shrewd with transfers and didn't give any manager a limitless pot of money. There's the foundations off the pitch too - investments in to a new training ground, upgrades to the current stadium and just general advancing of facilities. 

You may have new owners and money but it's what they do with it that matters!