Our scouting network

[Ragatino]

This thread beeing about our scouting, our signings since the takeover is going in the total wrong direction. The likes of Tripper, Bruno, Burn, No14, Hall, Tino... its been a while since we got one right.

All that Isak money we blew off on Wissa and Elanga, and blowig big money on Ramsey a totally mediocre midfielder is just mind blowing...

Yeah, I wonder why?

The cartel laughed at NUFC at first.
The deals were done rapidly as there was a urgency to spend and one thing about Ashley was there there was no PSR issues.

Signing Trippier was a impressive.
No one knew Bruno. It was a good signing but no one was calling it a coup.
No one believed No.14 was gonna be a success and laughed. In Spain they said we'd been robbed. That if he'd gone to another Spanish club he's have gone for 25-30m. The lad scored only 6 la liga goals the season prior to signing.
Burn, no one in the fan base wanted this and saw it as a desperation signing at the end of the window.
Hall didn't play for almost the entire first season, everyone, me included, were fuming saying the club wasted money on a 'project' player when the club needed ready made. Also, there was comments around it being an Ashworth signing and Howe didn't want him.
Tino's signing was questioned because of the big outlay when Tripz was playing so well and there was cover in that position.

Pretty much none of the about business was considered good at the time.

A season or so on Hall is a worldie, BDB a hero and Cup final goal scoring legend. No.14 made the club a 100m in clear profit when sold. Bruno becomes a talisman.

It's all clear in hindsight. The only people who know they would work out are the same people who acquired the more recent recruits. Eddie and his team.

Since then the club has become a serious threat.

So much so that the cartel has pushed through new rules to shackle the clubs progression. APT, associated Party Transactions AKA 'The Newcastle Rules' - the secret vote of 19 clubs which NUFC were not informed or included in.

What we see what played out in the summer's transfer window is clearly planned and orchestrated.

Clubs signing players to stop others getting them is common but the entire media machine and cartel clubs systematically use their influence with player agents and the big sports agencies to leak all information pertaining to NUFC's targets and jumping in for players that NUFC had been quietly trying to sign time and time again.

We all lived it.

When the likes of Delay, Joao Pedro, Mbueno, Sesko and Ekitike. All going else where depsite the best efforts of the skeleton recruitment team of the stats guys Andy Howe & board member Jamie Rueben, two men with good intentions but very little weigh in the sleezy world of football recruitment.

These were genuine targets but the list according to the cartel media was about 15 longer.

That being said. What was the club supposed to do? Sign no one. The melt down would have been just as bad if not worse.

With regard to 'Money being blow' - 250m spent - amortised over 5 years = 50m quid. Isak 130m + Kelly 20m + Miggy 15m = 165m

Profit - 165
Loss - 50
= 115m in the black from last year.

Revenues up to 345m quid despite missing out on European Competition last season.

The finances are in good shape. That being said spending over the odds is not sustainable, when there are 7 players out of contract in the summer of 2026 & A futher 5 players out of contract in 2027.

The players brought in cost more than they probably should, Wissa was never a 55m player. Ideal world the club would have signed Igor Thiago from Brugge for 30m quid.

However, without a Director of Football & Eddie Howe not having been on a long sabbatical where he'd been touring Europe and had a list of players, as he did that first season Signing Tripz, Bruno, et al taking a risk on an unknown 23 yr old looked like far more of a risk than Wissa who banged in 19 non-penalty Prem goals last season.

This all played out whilst the No.14 noise was battering the club's reputation and drew media stooges to constantly questions the ambition and direction of the clubs project. Boy o boy didn't the negative fans lap that up.

Some people just don't want to be happy haha.

All that said. Would I have preferred Semenyo to Elanga? No, Probably not. I wanted a more technical player than both of them RW. I wanted a wide play maker, an Maghnes Akliouche or even a Kubo.

I understood that Elanga was signed to plicated No.14 as his Swedish national team mate. Only for the rat to bail days later.

What's the point of all this?

- No one is every completely happy with summer transfer.
- The Executives have failed in their roles, quit the club and in Mitchell's case, I believe, intentionally disrupted the club with his attitude, unprofessionalism & mismanagement of Specific players contracts.
- The Executives have failed the manager over spending or failing to secure the commercial revenues to enable the club to sign it's top targets quickly, quietly and efficiently.
- The team has out performed their commercial spend every season since the take over.


In Summery.
It ain't too bad folks.

The clubs not gonna get relegated. Still in the Champions League.

Cross the road to walk in the sunshine once in a while.