Bronwhill confirms departure

[claret wizard]

Not sure about the source, but would be a strange one to make up

Al-Shabab have reached an agreement with English midfielder Josh Brownhill

https://x.com/Saudifutbol/status/1962954678293168210

I’ll be staying about 15 mins drive from the stadium at the end of the month. No games going on though then. Seems they have a 3 week gap after the 25th.

[mdd2]

Saudi is much more liberal than it was. We have arrived at where we are today over centuries. Saudi is a very very young country.
Some would say our evolution is now at a stage which will lead to our extinction.
Moses said “Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land.”
we now say "throw down your shovels, sit on your arses, this is the promised land"

[Vegas Claret]

Saudi is much more liberal than it was. We have arrived at where we are today over centuries. Saudi is a very very young country.
Some would say our evolution is now at a stage which will lead to our extinction.
Moses said “Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land.”
we now say "throw down your shovels, sit on your arses, this is the promised land"

I thought the Premier League was supposed to be the 'promised land'

[ecc]

Saudi is much more liberal than it was. We have arrived at where we are today over centuries. Saudi is a very very young country.
Some would say our evolution is now at a stage which will lead to our extinction.
Moses said “Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land.”
we now say "throw down your shovels, sit on your arses, this is the promised land"

With all due respect mdd2 it's only seven years since they murdered a dissident in their Istanbul consulate and chopped him up into pieces small enough to fit into a suitcase.

[dermotdermot]

Int ain’t half hot mum! Good luck mate.

[The Shire Claret]

Free agent Brownhill agrees to join Saudi side Al Shabab after Burnley exit
Exclusive from Sky Sports News' James Savundra:

Free agent Josh Brownhill has agreed to join Saudi Pro League club Al Shabab.

The former Burnley midfielder is set to sign a deal which will see him earn more than £ 100,000 per week.

Brownhill is due to travel to Saudi Arabia tomorrow to conduct a medical and wrap up the deal.

The 29-year-old rejected a fresh contract offer from Burnley and held talks with a number of Premier League clubs - including Wolves.

Brownhill was heavily sought after this summer, having fired Burnley back to the Premier League with 18 goals and six assists from midfield.

[Goliath]

Fair enough but it's a shame that players feel the need to ruin their careers like this. I thought last season was the only time he played in his best position for us and he really flourished. He had a chance to prove himself finally at the top level and he's thrown it away for money, but who can blame him.

[ClaretPete001]

Saudi is much more liberal than it was. We have arrived at where we are today over centuries. Saudi is a very very young country.
Some would say our evolution is now at a stage which will lead to our extinction.
Moses said “Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land.”
we now say "throw down your shovels, sit on your arses, this is the promised land"

I know we live in a country of wokey dokeys who hear no evil and see no evil or as the Bible says "shutteth his eyes from seeing evil" and "stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood" but it's youth is not why Saudi Arabia is not a very liberal country.

It's more to do with the regions battles with the Ottoman empire and it's need to differentiate itself from the Hanafi Sunni Islam of the Ottomans.

Also, I'm going to have to read the whole of the Old Testament to see where Moses referred to *rses as opposed to mounting four legged beasts ..........oooh er Missus.

[equinox]

I bet the Al Shabab fans are absolutely ecstatic about this signing.

[CoolClaret]

I bet the Al Shabab fans are absolutely ecstatic about this signing.

& let's hope that Josh Brownhill has the same hunger as the El Kebab fans...

Already got my coat.

[exilecanada]

Fair enough but it's a shame that players feel the need to ruin their careers like this. I thought last season was the only time he played in his best position for us and he really flourished. He had a chance to prove himself finally at the top level and he's thrown it away for money, but who can blame him.

I doubt he’s ruined his career by going to Saudi, if he’s signed a two year deal he’s be 31 when he comes back to Blighty, still with a couple years left in his career, probably at Championship level. From the get go he obviously bided his time for best financial contract to come along, be that Saudi, Burnley, Leicester or Timbuktu United. Good for him, his family, his kids family, their family will be well taken care of. However, as you mentioned I would have liked to see him play the same role as last season in this seasons Burnley line up. I have no idea what the tax implications are when he returns.

[Hibsclaret]

I think the basic rule is to not come back at the latter part of a tax year to ensure that your worldwide income is not taxed in the UK. He needs to stay until at least the next tax year to ensure that doesn’t happen. Another first world problem of course.

[miele-man]

What salary was he on at Burnley?

[The Shire Claret]

What salary was he on at Burnley?

£45,000 a week if you are to belove google AI

[Ashingtonclaret46]

How has he ruined his career? He has won the Championship twice, he has played in the Premier League for three and a half seasons and has been told by 90% of the fans at the club that he has just left that he is not good anough for the Premier League.
He is definitley good enough for the Saudi League and will be getting more than twice as much for playing there. Career ruined, I think not.
He is making the most of what he has to offer and I wish him well.

[tarkys_ears]

Josh Downhill...

[Goliath]

He's clearly ruined the rest of his career. There's basically no chance of him.being a Premier league footballer anymore. I have no issue with it, that's just the facts that he'll have had to come to terms with himself

[DCWat]

Josh Downhill...

Or Dosh Brownhill, if you look at it the other way.

[Vegas Claret]

He's clearly ruined the rest of his career. There's basically no chance of him.being a Premier league footballer anymore. I have no issue with it, that's just the facts that he'll have had to come to terms with himself

Maybe he's like the rest of us and doesn't like VAR and marginal nonsense offside calls

[tarkys_ears]

Or Dosh Brownhill, if you look at it the other way.

I genuinely don't see it.

£45k a year + more for the PL or £100k a year for what's clearly going to be a year max in the Saudi League...

No one will want him when he's back. It'll be a low wage Champ team tops.

Hope he manages to eek 8 years out of it but this rarely happens. What the **** has he done?

[Commy]

I genuinely don't see it.

£45k a year + more for the PL or £100k a year for what's clearly going to be a year max in the Saudi League...

No one will want him when he's back. It'll be a low wage Champ team tops.

Hope he manages to eek 8 years out of it but this rarely happens. What the **** has he done?

That isn't a lot of money for a footballer. I think you have your weeks and years mixed up.

[Vegas Claret]

I genuinely don't see it.

£45k a year + more for the PL or £100k a year for what's clearly going to be a year max in the Saudi League...

No one will want him when he's back. It'll be a low wage Champ team tops.

Hope he manages to eek 8 years out of it but this rarely happens. What the **** has he done?

it's a reported "over 100k per week" - so he will earn a minimum of 10.4 million in 2 years at the age of 29. Good for him and he'll comfortably get a good Championship side when he comes back

[Dyched]

Good for him I say.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing left to do right now at Championship level. Won promotions, scored goals been captains.

At PL. He’s intelligent to know running around like a headless chicken for 90 minutes a week, having about 10 touches doesn’t sound so much fun. Going to Saudi, having a kick about, few games of cuppies and chucked a £100k in his pocket a week sounds pretty decent in comparison.

[ChrisG]

I genuinely don't see it.

£45k a year + more for the PL or £100k a year for what's clearly going to be a year max in the Saudi League...

No one will want him when he's back. It'll be a low wage Champ team tops.

Hope he manages to eek 8 years out of it but this rarely happens. What the **** has he done?

It's the tax free bit though. 45k a week is 1.25m a year after tax in the UK. 100k a week tax free is 5.2m a year. He'd have to do 4 seasons in the UK to match one in Saudi. If he does 2 years then he's matched your 8 year projection, and could comfortably come back and play in the Championship.

There were a few of the Slovakia players last night who are playing in Saudi and it didn't appear to do them any harm against Germany.

[dougcollins]

Do you think this thread would have run as long if Brownhill had have been spelled correctly?

[Tall Paul]

Maybe he's like the rest of us and doesn't like VAR and marginal nonsense offside calls

They use VAR in the Saudi league.

[Fez]

Do you think this thread would have run as long if Brownhill had have been spelled correctly?

Which idiot spelled it wrong

[equinox]

Brownhill has never made a secret of his desire to play at a World Cup, perhaps being left out of Tuchels latest England squad and Tuchels subsequent admission that he'd never heard of him has helped made his mind up where he goes?

[simonclaret]

Do you think this thread would have run as long if Brownhill had have been spelled correctly?

I've dipped into reading this thread many times and never noticed it. Amazing how the brain filters these things out.

[Conroy92]

Brownhill has never made a secret of his desire to play at a World Cup, perhaps being left out of Tuchels latest England squad and Tuchels subsequent admission that he'd never heard of him has helped made his mind up where he goes?

I mean. If he had shone out this year for us in the prem there's a very very slim chance he could get a call up. Cork did.

He could score 30 goals a season over there though and he'll never be considered.

[Darnhill Claret]

Thanks and good luck in the future Josh.

[fatboy47]

Brownhill has never made a secret of his desire to play at a World Cup,

Eh?....who for?... what at?....and even if that idea was more than a pure fantasy/ego trip.....wouldn't his best chance of a call-up been to have played out of his skin v Spurs and Sunderland....rather than taking his ball home in July.

[Venkys4eva]

Good luck Josh. Definitely the correct decision for you and your family. I hope he enjoys living like a king for 2 years whilst getting filthyrich the lucky b*****d

[Elizabeth]

Money. Eh?

[fidelcastro]

Good luck in your new challenge, Josh.

It'll be a tough life for you, but I have every faith.

[Vegas Claret]

Good luck in your new challenge, Josh.

It'll be a tough life for you, but I have every faith.

I've asked him if I can borrow a tenner but I have zero faith

[Selby Claret]

Just did a bit of Wiki browsing - Al Shabab's assistant managers are Ashley Cole and Paul Lambert

Also, JBG has left the Saudi Pro League and will compete in the 2nd tier of the UAE league this year - wonder whether the salaries are comparable...?

[JohnMcGreal]

Thought the discussion on the latest FTBE podcast was pretty disappointing re Brownhill's move. No debate at all about some of the obvious moral issues, just one big group apology for naked greed and even praising it as a virtue.

I thought at least one of the contributers would have taken a more critical approach. Never mind.

[fatboy47]

Thought the discussion on the latest FTBE podcast was pretty disappointing re Brownhill's move. No debate at all about some of the obvious moral issues, just one big group apology for naked greed and even praising it as a virtue.

I thought at least one of the contributers would have taken a more critical approach. Never mind.

I actually feel sorry for all the bhe contributers who agree, like so many sheep, that to spend your life obsessed by filling your pockets is the only game in town.

[mikeS]

Josh did a great job at Burnley and I'd like to give him my best wishes for his future career wherever he goes.

[forzagranata]

I actually feel sorry for all the bhe contributers who agree, like so many sheep, that to spend your life obsessed by filling your pockets is the only game in town.

I don't think its about being obsessed with filling your pockets - its more a case of when a massive life-changing financial offer comes along then what do you do?

A reported 12 million quid for two seasons playing in the Saudi league? You'd have to be extremely committed to whatever political perspective you have to turn that down as a footballer.

[NewClaret]

I don't think its about being obsessed with filling your pockets - its more a case of when a massive life-changing financial offer comes along then what do you do?

A reported 12 million quid for two seasons playing in the Saudi league? You'd have to be extremely committed to whatever political perspective you have to turn that down as a footballer.

Got to agree with this, but I personally think he could have renewed here on a one or two year deal on a very handsome salary, and played at the top level a bit longer and gone and got the money in a few years, but I can’t really blame him for taking it when it’s on offer.

No idea when these leagues windows run to/from, or when the seasons play out, but he’s had an absolute age off. Must be very off for him watching the seasons play start and he’s not even training anywhere by the looks of things. Plus no salary at all. Very bizarre situation if you ask me.