Peter Griffin

To add to that. From a Sportswashing perspective, Southgate would be the right managerial appointment to make the club look good, it would be kind of like getting an FA endorsement. I am getting my hopes up here but I think it is a possibility

He is stalling on a new contract with England until he has qualified for Qatar. That is just BS. I think he fancies the Toon job. He clearly won't be putting in a bid for Jack but the earlier suggestion of 100m for Sterling would be very much on the cards.

He would be a great fit at St James' Park

And when these castoffs don't work out, and many will not. work out it will be near impossible to move them on as they will be on massive wages. Their transfer dealings over the next 2 to 3 years could have a very long lasting impact if they get it wrong

I don't think that any player would think Bruce is longterm but I think he would be close enough to McGinn to make him think about a move and a triple or quadruple of salary could help sway him. I don't think players will be too bothered playing for Toon on the basis of the connection to Saudi Arabia. Qatar has a big human rights problem and that didn't stop players signing for Barcelona or PSG

So Bruce has taken training again today at Toon and is this their manager. Toon forums going into a bit of meltdown already and complaining about lack of action from Amanda and PIF. It would be funny if they don't sack Bruce just yet and he gets a few good results to pull them out of relegation. It would then be much more difficult and high risk to sack him before the summer as they really do not want relegation and Bruce just might be the right man to keep them up this season. I would expect PIF would happily keep Bruce if they believe he can retain PL status. If Bruce does stay up I wouldn't be surprised if we got a bid for SJM in Jan. He is the type of player they need and Bruce does have the relationship with him. At the time he signed for us he said it was because of Bruce and how much he made him feel wanted.

It is relatively easy to determine the fair market rate for sponsorship. It is compared to other clubs and what they can receive for naming rights and also the amount of TV coverage and the competitions the club participates in. A market price can then be determined as to what an independent company would pay for the sponsorship. Man City didn't get into trouble for inflating the sponsorship rate for the stadium. At the time there was no rule saying that inflated sponsorship rates were not permitted. However, since then the rules have changed to specifically state that the naming rights of the stadium must be at 'fair market rate'

I reckon it will take more than 350m to get where we are. We got Konsa for 12m, Luiz 15m, Nakamba 11m, Cash 14m, Targett 14m, Emi M 17m, Traore 17m. There is no chance Toon could get that quality for those prices. When they go shopping the prices will be very inflated

PIF can't match the City deal, that loophole has been closed, the sponsorship must be at market rate. Just an FYI on the buildings and training etc, none of that expenditure counts towards P&S. They can spend a billion this season on training facilities and stadium this season if they want. That is why NSWE have been able to improve Villa's facilities so much in the last few years

That was the name of it when Ashley wanted to sell the naming rights. He temporarily named it 'Sportsdirect.com @ StJames 'Park' to show the potential of renaming the stadium while keeping the 'St James' Park' naming. In 2012 when he was unable to get a sponsor to pay for the naming rights he pretended to bow to pressure from the fans and officially revert to calling it 'St James' Park'

Toon don't have a CEO. They absolutely need one and the managers position should not be changed until the CEO is in place. Just like NSWE didn't sack Bruce until they had both Purslow and Suso in place.

Villa have spent circa 350m in the last 3 years on new players. We have a good setup at Villa and we are nowhere near Champions League standard. We are miles behind it. It will take Toon much more money and time to get to CL level football.

EDIT: They will get a 40m increase in the medium term provided they stay in the PL this season

They are not going to get 40m or 3 or 4 times that a year in increased revenue in the short to medium term. Those type of numbers are fantasy stuff that Toon fans probably believe

Stadium naming rights can only be at market rates. They can't get 100m a year naming rights, they would be very lucky to get 10m a year naming rights. It is impossible for them to increase their revenues by the amount suggested in such a short period of time

Where is that revenue going to come from?

So Bruce hasn't been sacked yet. He had a meeting with Amanda today and no statement. It will be very funny if they release a statement to say Bruce is staying on as manager, which is probably the best thing for them to do and replace him in the summer with a high profile manager. The Toon Army will go into meltdown if Bruce stays.

Getting 100m for Jack was an excellent piece of business and was perfect timing for us

Ings (50m) and McGinn (75m) would really help Toon in Jan. I would happily take the cash and reinvest it in new players. That would put us in a really really healthy financial position and enable us to get some quality players. in and pay higher wages.

I think you are letting your imagination run away with itself a bit there

They also gave Chelsea a transfer ban a couple of seasons ago. That would hurt Toon more than any fine as it would really slow down their potential progress

If they were to go for a Big Sam, they may as well just keep Bruce. He has managed to keep them up to date and with a few new players in Jan they will probably be fine and then get a new manager in the summer. To sack Bruce and bring in a short term manager would probably cost them close to 20m. That could be spent on new playing staff instead

I agree completely. They will most likely go through a few managers before they get it right too

There are no guarantees they will even be in the Premier League next season. Bookies still have them as 4th favourites to drop.