It is intriguing looking back at what Manchester City fans had to say back when the Newcastle United takeover went through.
Mike Ashley replaced at NUFC some 13 years after the Man City takeover happened in 2008.
Manchester City fans had some pretty strong views as you can see below when back in October 2021 the Saudi Arabia PIF led Newcastle United takeover was at last passed by the Premier League.
A lot has happened at both clubs these past five years.
With of course very recent days and weeks totally dominated by the Premier League guilty verdicts for Manchester City.
The Etihad club have of course appealed those guilty verdicts but it all adds an extra edge to when you look back at what these Manchester City fans had to say back in October 2021 about the Newcastle United takeover…
‘To any Newcastle fans having a look to see our experience of it all, my first bit of advice is to grow thick skin, very very thick skin. All of you!
You will be hated. Everyone will hate you. You will have an owner who comes from a country that other countries that have a big stake in the Premier League (America and Qatar) do not like to say the least, and you will be a club that could threaten the Redshirts (Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal), the favourites of the media who just happen to be American owned, and everything will change in everyone’s attitudes towards you.
Newcastle will no longer be remembered as a historical football club with 128 years of history; winners of four league titles, six FA Cups and one Charity Shield; a club who reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup and won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup; members of the top flight for 90 years (7th in the list, just below City); 9th in the all-time league table…
You will be called a club with no history and a small club.’
‘Our owners have delivered on their promises, they are excellent custodians of this club, that is the nature of my relationship with them, they run a club here and they adhere to our laws and cultural norms while they’re doing it.
If that’s what PIF does at Newcastle, then the Toon Army are in for a ride, if they mess up, it won’t be because their money comes from Saudi Arabia, it’ll be because they made bad decisions and they will be criticised accordingly.
End of story.’
‘Newcastle can be a great long term prospect and the fairytale aspect of it is appealing.
That’s if the poor f…ers don’t go down!’
‘Amanda Staveley is out in the media parroting on because it takes the light away from the actual backers.
The key headlines I have seen from the reports are how she’s going to move the Shearer statue and welcome back Keegan.
Its all a load of PR nonsense to get the fans onside and fair play to them, its going to work.
Newcastle fans are going to town (literally) to celebrate.’
‘The hypocrisy in Newcastle regarding the takeover proves what we already knew anyway.
Every single town, it’s club and fans wanted it to be them when it happened to us.
The utter sh… and spite they threw at us was ….and is, pure jealousy that it’s not them.
So STFU for once in your bleating sad lives and celebrate your rare wins over us like you’ve won the world cup you jealous Muppets
‘Small club, no history….’
”I expect all the Newcastle fans who slated us and said we were a soulless oil club, to not support Newcastle now.’
‘Exactly. There’ll be thousands protesting next week to get Ashley back in charge.’
‘It‘s f…ing bleak up there. Good for a holiday with some lovely Northumbrian scenery and decent hotels, but I can’t think there would be that much up there to appeal to a young footballer these days. I can’t imagine the likes of Mbappe being too interested in a night out on the ‘Toon every weekend either. Maybe they’d all live near London and fly up to training every day.’
‘Living near Newcastle and I can tell you that the weather is chillier than the North West but way sunnier. You also have beaches and countryside to die for.
Not many world class players are party animals.
Not all are looking for a stream of wild parties (Kyle Walker aside).
The quality of life up here is superb if you can stand the Geordies (I married one and still can’t stand the fkrs).’
‘I don’t think the same narrative will be used when talking about Newcastle as is used with us. For some unknown reason there’s already this myth of them being this sleeping giant just waiting to bask in the glory of yesteryears again.
The fans deserted their club after a few losses back in the day with crowds down to 10,000 or less and they only came back when they started winning games. The media created this myth there’s no way they’re going to suddenly drop it.’
‘Some of the posts iv read about knocking off United and other clubs off the top 4.
It’s got f all to do with breaking the so called elites.
Trust me in 8 years time or so, Newcastle will be winning the Premier league every year.
Its gnna kill the competitions. Best to break away with ESL now.’
‘Cards on the table, I really don’t like Newcastle as a club, but trying to be as impartial as possible, I think that their takeover may be years too late.
I suspect that Amanda Staveley will have sold the deal on the basis that, as a hugely wealthy club, they will be among the first in line to join a Super League.
If nothing else, this takeover is a forerunner of the Super League probably within the next five years. If it happens, Newcastle will be in there. If it doesn’t, they’ll be little more than 6th or 7th place scrappers with the likes of Everton and Villa for the next decade.’
‘There’s a lot of faux outrage (plenty of that about regarding more or less anything these days) about this deal as the UK trades with more or less any country in the world so why should a football related business be any different to any other type of business?
Chelsea are owned by a Russian with incredibly strong links to Putin for example so what’s so different to Newcastle being owned by the Saudis? If we as City supporters are to be consistent as we will defend our owner then we can’t start bleating about who owns which club.’
‘First up is to stay up, then they should expect at least 3 seasons to be established as a top 4 contender with possible cup wins and then a title tilt.’
‘I have always liked Newcastle as a club, they was my go to club when playing fifa and trying to make them an elite club (I play realistic career modes lol)
It’s funny seeing there fans getting giddy expecting messi / Neymar / salah to join them next season.
The media are actually reporting these stories too, I honestly feel like they are trolling Newcastle fans just to see them ‘fail’ next season when they sign someone like Ishmael sarr instead of messi next year.
So tbh I can see It taking a while for Newcastle to win the league. It’s great news for city though as we are no longer the bad guys of football.’
Before us it was Chelsea , the takeover at Newcastle has done us a favour in terms of PR and it also creates even more competition which again is good for us, keeps us on our toes.’
‘Amanda Staveley has delivered a better interview than anyone from our club has done in 12 years.
We need someone up front defending our image as effectively as she is doing for Newcastle.’