Howay

I just don’t see that being the reason. Short has never really held off in summer windows despite them surviving in the PL. All he had to do was look at Villa and how rough their season was, despite spending, after having a similar PL campaign. He also hasn’t seemed that active if he’s looking for a buyer has he?

True, I just mean that as big a gambler as Ashley is he did still allow a spend it’s just he could also then be his usual self and cut it short in the summer before he risked fucking it all up in January as we made so much from player sales. We spent about 60% of what we brought in, they spent less than 10% I’m not defending Ashley as he still unnecessarily gambled (and has doubled down on that this season) I just see the Mackems lack of spend pointing to financial issues. The mackems sunk without much of a fight, like Villa, and then spent something like £1.5m? I just don’t think that points to being an Ashley type gamble, I think it points to a need to use the incoming Pickford money elsewhere.

As Alex mentioned that hasn’t been his pattern during his tenure. Ashley also did allow a spend, while not to the degree many wanted (and he didn’t allow it in the January window) we still spent a fair amount of what we brought in besides the Sissoko money on Gayle, Ritchie, 2 cb’s, a full back etc. In contrast the mackems got McGeady and a few loans in. That’s less a gamble and more hitting on 20 in blackjack.

I see HF has commented on it as well saying buying back shares has been an annual thing for SD since 2011.

Just a continuation of their absolute obsession with having people be MLF. I genuinely couldn’t give a fuck who that completely woeful player supports, it’s entirely irrelevant. They’re down if they are pinning their hopes to Jack Colback going there and being some sort of driving force to keep them up.

Managed by Kevin Nolan as well. He could do the chicken dance they all loved so much if Shola scores.

Aye you’re right they either sell stock or have a debt financing by selling bonds if they want to increase their capital to invest, takeover another company, etc. A buyback is usually to regain controlling percentage and as you’ve mentioned about the biggest shareholder possibly expecting a lump so has sought greater control being the source of this is what I think the author is trying to hint at. Sadly as ewerk says that sort of funding would come from Sports Direct Intl’s Retained earnings. If it was MASH holdings it could be more likely that it was coming through Ashley (depending how it was structured, I don’t know how Ashley has his holding company structured), even then I think it’d be a bit of a stretch.

Aye, if there was going to be a significant spend it would have came in the summer. Why would Short have held onto the Pickford funds if he was in a position to use them? When they first went down they could well have signed the promotion push level players. Now they will be looking at upper League One/bottom end of Championship players imo. Even if they do manage to survive it’ll be similar to their PL tenure where they will be fighting the drop from the Championship and getting a progressively weaker playing staff. If that happens there would be potential for them to have a season in League One like they are having this season, they’re a real fucking mess and the owner doesn’t seem to spot the trends. On that point I actually think it may be better for them to drop now rather than cling on a few seasons before dropping, they’re fucked either way imo but the big upside for their fans is if they drop this season they may cement themselves as a solid mid table side in League One. Exciting times for the North East with our potential takeover and the possibility that Jack Rodwell and Watmore might finally find their level.

Agreed. I assume the bloke is trying to create a story that this is Ashley clawing back a bigger percentage of Sports Direct using proceeds of the sale of NUFC, but as you say it’s not going to be out of his pocket with a buy back from a PLC that I assume he isn’t in full control of. I would have thought any move like that would have come through MASH Holdings rather than Sports Direct International.

Not to mention he’s prone to being sent off, if Rafa doesn’t like Mitrovic because he’s seen as a liability in that respect then I can’t see why he’d be in for Deeney. I think it’s just a lazy link, we need a striker and Deeney has been in and out the side a bit since they bought Gray.

Aye howay Fish man, they have no money and I really don’t think teams have interest in Kone or Ndong. The Kone to West Ham link is just lazy paper talk iyam, the bloke had a decent 6 months but has been hopeless in the nearly 18 months since so I’d be more inclined to take his form over that longer spell as being more telling of his ability. There’s no hope of Coleman galvanizing the team and turning it around either, their recent win over Nottingham was as undeserved as you’ll ever see, I think they had 1 shot all game to Forests 20+ and had an expected goals amount of 0.05. I think clinging onto the bottom of the PL for so long meant weaker and weaker playing staff and they really are as dreadful as their position. Players like Donald Love, Watmore, Honeyman, Paddy McNair are League one level players that people see as being more than that as they played a bit in the Premier League. I agree with what ewerk is saying about them being a very weak draw for players, if you go there and they go down you’re fucked really as they’d hang onto you in League One and then your reputation will decline rapidly. It’d have to be them paying massively over the odds for people and they simply don’t have the funds.

I can’t imagine there’s much money in League one, isn’t it something like 2k a week or so players usually get down there? The mackems will have Jack Rodwell on 60k a week still . A big point for any creditor will be that it means at the very least 3 seasons outside the PL. Realistically it’ll be a lot longer as they’re in a horrific mess, it’s been festering and getting worse for years but the fans have brushed it off so now it’s an utter plight.

It’s just fucking brilliant that all of the nonsense they leveled at us last season has been shown up in spectacular fashion. Bottom after over half a season with the least amount of wins in the league

When you look at it that way it’s really a miracle that Ashley fired him. My main gripe is more with the coverage he receives, the way sides like us get slaughtered for being defensive yet old English managers such as Allardyce and Hodgson get plaudits for being possibly even more negative. The one I really can’t work out is Alan Pardew, he’s an utter cunt of a bloke who has physically assaulted both a player and an official somewhat recently, the football his sides play is not only dreadful but by and large unsuccessful. Despite all that the press seem to love him.

I honestly think it’s the opposite for them, teams are fully expecting to batter them so open up against them in an attempt to win. It’s one of the major reasons a striker as shite as Grabban has as many goals as he does.

It’s fucking ridiculous man. He set up like that against us ffs, there’s about £100m in player fee difference between our squad and theirs and he was happy to sit deep and just catapult the ball up to Calvert Lewin hoping he can get a free kick or pen.

I’d happily sell him to them for £8m or so, I’d offer him to any other team for free. What happened to their squad being far better than ours? They’re saying what is essentially the same midfield they had last season would be improved by probably the worst player we have on the books.

Aye he’s talking complete and utter shite. Mind it’s not a shock that his view of the game is that poor when you look at where his Stoke squad are, give Benitez that side and he’d have it comfortably mid table. We were the better side by far, they had a spell in the second half but as I said earlier if we had better players or the ref had been in anyway fair we’d have been a few goals to the good by the time their spell started.

Aye I was nervous at the end as it felt like it was going to be one of those days where we played well, had a measure of comfort in the game, but we weren’t getting anything from the ref or making the most of our chances so ended up conceding a shite equalizer. All that said all of my points about Stoke being a complete waste of space still apply. We got accused of anti-football for sitting deep at home to Man City, that line would be far more fitting for this Stoke side. They kicked lumps out of our lot anytime we tried to do anything.

The brass neck man, if we had PL level attackers and the ref actually gave free kicks, bookings, and pens as they’re written in the rules they’d have got an absolute spanking today. Stoke are a fucking shambles, reminded me of that Sheff Wed side that just scythed our players down anytime we started running towards goal. The ref offered just as little protection for our lot as well.

Fully deserved win that. Another dodgy as fuck refereeing performance mind.

No idea why they would want to sell Shelvey, he can be a right knacker but he’s one of the few in our squad who have any quality.