Premier League 2024/25

[stokeriño]

I know it's just the way it's worded, but I wouldn't be surprised if they really were gambling on live stream sex.

[gunnar hendershow]

Due diligence is merely "will the check clear?"

[Lineker]

Quote

Newcastle have attempted to mitigate the blow of losing Dan Ashworth to Manchester United by appointing Paul Mitchell as their new sporting director. Mitchell most recently occupied the equivalent role at Monaco and, before that, held senior executive positions at RB Leipzig, Tottenham and Southampton, specialising in recruitment.

The 42-year-old initially moved into scouting when his playing career was ended by injury at the age of 27 and now fills the void left at St James’ Park when Ashworth was placed on gardening leave in February.

Newcastle and Manchester United haggled over compensation for the former FA technical director but, with that issue finally resolved last weekend and Ashworth now employed at Old Trafford, Mitchell’s appointment has been green-lighted.

It is believed he will have a greater focus on recruitment than Ashworth, who held a broader brief at the club, but will still be involved in assorted spheres, including the women’s team.

Mitchell joins at a moment when Newcastle have narrowly staved off fears of a potential points deduction for possible breaches of profit and sustainability rules (PSR) by selling Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson to Brighton and Nottingham Forest respectively for an initial sum in the region of £60m last weekend. It is understood that reaching a settlement with United also helped to balance the books.

With a new PSRcycle having begun this week, Newcastle are now expected to re-stock the playing squad and Mitchell will play a key role in doing so. “I’ve seen the recent growth and ambition of the club,” he said. “This, plus the amazing fanbase, made the decision to join an easy one. I can’t wait to help continue the organisation’s growth and long-term competitiveness in all areas of elite football performance.”

Darren Eales, Newcastle’s chief executive and another former Tottenham employee, said: “Paul’s extensive and diverse experience in football leadership, cultural change and recruitment mean he is the ideal person to lead our sporting directorate.”

Newcastle are expected to be without their midfielder Lewis Miley until October after the 18-year-old sustained a freak foot injury in training. Miley shone after breaking into the first team last season but injured his back while on international duty with the England Under-20s in March and had returned to his club early in order to accelerate a planned return to full fitness. Instead he is now scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday before a three month layoff.

 

[stokeriño]

In news perhaps not entirely unrelated to Chelsea's academy being turned into a directionless PSR-feeding farm, Neil Bath (who has headed the academy for some 20 years, helping it grow to its current world class status) and his deputy Jim Fraser have left the club.

[Gazz]

2 hours ago, Colly said:

Gambling sponsors generally are bad.

Palace: Hold my beer

 

 

Palace's preseason tour starting off with a bang.

[Colly]

1 hour ago, Lineker said:

 

Is it just me, or is that phrasing ("Newcastle attempt to mitigate the blow") a bit weird. You'd never see it for a manager being replaced? One for Football Clichés rather than EWB, but I found it jarring.

[Gazz]

Got to convince the Man Utd fans that they've still come out ahead on all these shenanigans.

[DavidMarrio]

Jürgen had his inhalers. Arne is analysing poo

[Colly]

If he's doing lake swims I wouldn't be taking a hands on approach to the stool sampling.

[Hobo]

If James Milner were still at liverpool he would win the bleep test, the lake swimming and the poop test.

[METALMAN]

I wouldn’t let my manager anywhere near any of that stuff

[Captain Kirk]

The Gillian McKeith of football managers.

[Colly]

Glad you correctly omitted the Dr from discredited idiot Gillian McKeith.

[DavidMarrio]

6 hours ago, Colly said:

If he's doing lake swims I wouldn't be taking a hands on approach to the stool sampling.

I'm hoping the lake swims are part of training camps abroad and not round here. Get them to go in the River Mersey they'll come out riddled with all sorts 

[Lineker]

Quote

Amanda Staveley is to sever ties with Newcastle, almost three years after becoming the public face of the club’s Saudi Arabian-controlled takeover.

Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, became directors and minority co-owners of Newcastle in October 2021 when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased an 80% majority stake and Staveley and Reuben Brothers each assumed 10% holdings. With Newcastle then without a chief executive or a sporting director, the Saudis handed Staveley and Ghodoussi a rolling management contract to handle the day-to-day running of the club.

The pair played a key role in appointing Eddie Howe as the manager in November 2021 and have since struck up a close relationship with the person believed to be the Football Association’s first choice to replace Gareth Southgate, should the latter resign as England coach after Euro 2024.

If Howe is unlikely to be surprised by the news that the Saudis and their co-director Jamie Reuben have joined Staveley and Ghodoussi in reaching what has been described as a “reluctant” conclusion that the time is right to separate, he may well be unsettled by the loss of such key allies.

Staveley played a vital role in brokering the hugely controversial £300m deal that ended Mike Ashley’s 14-year ownership of Newcastle and subsequently helped negotiate a series of key transfers involving players such as Bruno Guimarães and Kieran Trippier arriving at St James’ Park.

As Howe’s side finished fourth in the Premier League in 2022-23 and reached the League Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United, she also prioritised the club’s women’s team, proving a key figure in its rise from the fourth to the second tier.

The appointments of Darren Eales as Newcastle’s chief executive and Dan Ashworth as sporting director reduced her role though and it seemed significant that she reduced her stake to 6% last year while the Reuben Brothers increased theirs to 14%. It is unclear whether they or the Saudis – or both – have bought her out now but it is understood no fresh investors have been sought.

In March a series of listings at Companies House removing Staveley as a director of 20 companies related to Newcastle United raised questions about her future on Tyneside but, at the time, she said it was merely a form of administrative housekeeping.

That month, the financier was involved in a court case when she failed in an attempt to persuade a judge to dismiss a bankruptcy claim brought by the Greek shipping tycoon, Victor Restis who claims Staveley owes him £36m. She has said she intends to appeal against the judge’s verdict.

Yet if Staveley and Ghodoussi were preparing for a departure from Newcastle in the spring it was almost certainly delayed by Ashworth’s defection to Manchester United and the need to recruit a new sporting director.

With Paul Mitchell having arrived to fill that role last week and the recent sales of the winger Yankuba Minteh and the midfielder Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest for a combined total in excess of £60m having ensured that Newcastle remained on the right side of profit and sustainability roles, it appeared Staveley’s work at St James’ Park was finally done.

Newcastle declined to comment on her departure.

 

[Kyle]

It's that time of year, FPL is back, league is renewed. If you were in last season you should automatically be in once you make your team, but if not:

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/ai13cw

[ROFF]

Well feeling lucky after winning the Euros Prediction Contest lets give it a try

3 hours ago, Kyle said:

It's that time of year, FPL is back, league is renewed. If you were in last season you should automatically be in once you make your team, but if not:

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/ai13cw

 

[DavidMarrio]

Everton's latest news of misery is the takeover has fell through

 

[gunnar hendershow]

I truly just feel awful for their supporters. The Mike Ashley era jerked us around a fair amount but never once felt like there was the risk of Newcastle going into administration, just becoming irrelevant as a club. Everton however continually sits on a knife's edge.

[Adam]

It's almost criminal how Moshiri has dealt with the club in the last few years. Truly appalling, and it feels like this whole nonsense will just never end.