🙄 I have listened to the Mike Ashley’s speech whilst Toonsy has reacted to it on a general level I’d like to pick up on the financial implications.
First off he said that we can now punch above our weight. Well historically we have been back in the pack, best of the rest along with Villa, Sunderland & Everton. There has recently been a 50% gap up to spurs recently. And then to Liverpool with over twice the revenue of ourselves before the big jump up to the big 4. The other thing to consider is that with the new TV deals the revenues each club has is not clear, or more accurately I haven’t done the research. Also does FFP still apply or can he work on the assumption that by the time any sanctions would be applied in three years time the rules will have changed. So what does punching above our weight actually mean. Well closing the gap on Spurs would do that, and Spurs Had a wage bill of £100m in the 2014 season (we spent £78m). Given the new deals I can assume that is going up for the 2016 season. So lets assume that we are going to increase expenditure on the footballing side by say 100%. Lets say that we are going to spend £150m on the squad, and assume that that is an increase of £75m. We will let our increased TV revenues just cover that. Our Turnover was about £130m. We had £35m in Cash, and I see no sign that we have spent it so let’s be gung ho, but reasonable. This is Mike we are talking about.
He said win something, and which like Wenger before him includes coming 4th in the EPL. Now I don’t see tripling squad expenditure to challenge for top 4 as an equal as being a target. Arsenal, Cheapskates of the top 4 had a turnover of £300m and a wage bill of over £165m. I think it’s more if we get lucky, and others have bad years sort of thing.
He said that he won’t be choosing the manager he will be leaving that to Lee Charnley and the football borad, so Lee’s job is safe. But since he did not say anything about John Carver I can assume that he is gone.
He also said that he will provide the maximum available resources but expects the boad to get the best pound for pound value from them. So I don’t think he is going to throw money at the problem big time.
So if we did start to punch above our weight I’m going to assume that we have £35m in Cash with an additional £10m from player sales to spend on transfer fees, and that we are looking to increase our wage bill by £75mpa. This will stretch our finances but not break them.
First up and most important we need a top manager. What will that cost. Looking at the salaries of the top earning EPL managers, Rogers on £3.25m, Pellegrini on £3.5m then Wenger, LVG & Mourinho on £6-10m. So we need to match that and spend maybe £5m to get a top man. Obviously we would like Kloop, Anchelotti or Rafa, but would settle for Moyes. Personally I would go for Bielsa, Emery or Garcia if they were available. Maybe Frank de Boer. Or Bert VanMarwijk. We need to build.
Assuming we do the right thing and ditch the 1st team coaching squad I would like to use some explayers to get a bit more experience and balls into the club. I would bring Ketsbia in as an assistant manager and give Jonas a coaching role. Build to the future. So the staff would be another £5m. However FTSOTB – YCMIU. This would still leave thick end of £65m for Players wages.
Players. Well top players cost money. A top player, a purple to use the venacular, would cost at least £15m in fees so that 3. However, at £100k pw a player costs £5m per year each. So that is £15m of the wage bill gone. We still have £50m to go so we could get 10 free’s however they still require a signing fee which we would have to put through increased wages but still we are likely to be restricted by the quality out there more than the finances.
So 3 top signings and cover wherever we need it. So where do we need it?
GK we are fine although Alnwick is out of Contract.
Defence is the problem but only Raylor, Streete and Satka are out of contract. Our 3 main centrebacks all starting the final year of their contracts So we need to start again basically. We need a CB as one of our Big Three. If we could get Micah Richards on a free as well that would do it for this year. However, he may be on massive wages from his time at Citeh. Actually this is one area where McLaren would not be too bad a shout, he can organise a defence.
Midfield we are losing Jonas & Sammi. But have the Rangers Loanees and Marveaux back. Bit more width and creativity would not go amiss. Again we have been linked with Ayew amongst many others.
Up front we need to find real goalscorers. Ayoze looks good and Cisse can score on his day but we need a 20 per year man. I see Luuk de Jong got that this season. Funny that. There is a 20 year old Latvian Vladislavs Gutkovskis who got 28 this year. Would only cost £½ m. Worth a shout.
Anyway enough fantasy, my point is that spending the money on a top coach is not that expensive and we have enough talent in the squad if properly motivated and used. A few for the first team and a couple on the bench should do it. We can afford it.
Who knows things may be looking up.
By Premandup
Ice, you would think they’d be wanting to get a coach in before that date wouldn’t you? Preferably one better than Carver or McClaren…
Stuart79(Quote)
STUART I was hoping they expect a answer from whoever by then that’s why they have extended it,wishful thinking on my part
icedog(Quote)
Sorry Ice – wishful thinking it is.
The season ticket renewal date was extended for two weeks last year due to thousands not renewing by the end of May deadline.
More than likely extended this year for the same reason.
sidekick(Quote)
On FIFA: this investigation must have been going on for years in the US. I had a stockbroker license for 15 years and the rules are very strict – you have to report suspicious activity or you will go to jail and your boss will go to jail and the company will get massive fines. Suspicious activity are things like making deposits over $10k and receiving large deposits from non-US nationals who you did not have a prior relationship with. The FBI has obviously been building its case for years. Now the question is whether Blatter should be fired and Russia and Qatar stripped of the World Cup. I say yes. Move them to the US, England or Germany – the infrastructure is already in place.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
SIDEKICK,that’s it mate knock my end in 🙁
icedog(Quote)
The other thing is that there is a whole branch of the Federal Government dedicated to anti-money laundering with extremely sweeping powers after the World Trade Centre disaster. This is very serious for FIFA.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/trainer/verfuegbaretrainer/statistik
Take your pick
Premandup(Quote)
Ice , the season tickets will go on general sale from 13 June, available in all areas like last year, then after two more weeks of trying to sell them the club will announce the appointment of Carver as the new head coach.
sidekick(Quote)
Prem @232: not much quality on that list. Have you noticed that of the people supposedly on our “shortlist” they all have one thing in common – no compensation payments. McClaren, Carver, Laudrup, Garde all available for free. Fatty says he is changing his ways but he is still a tat merchant at heart and wants bargains. I expect our transfer policy to be the same although I do expect a bit more money to be available.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Back to my favourite subject. I have many platonic girl-friends and they all tell me that there is nothing much worse in romance than someone who tries TOO hard. This is the same with Carver, he just appears desperate and the players must see that and the vibe runs through the team. Him working so **** hard and it ruining his social life are the other signs of desperation – you have to keep your cool man, but you were never cool.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
SIDEKICK your making it sound worse lol
icedog(Quote)
I suggest no one renews their ST until a coach is named and if it’s Carver then vote with your feet. Don’t buy shirts until Wonga are gone and ambition is shown. The fans have the power and the protest have worked as I believe they played a major part in Jabba doing that PR stunt.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim, they could end up playing in an empty stadium if that happens. West Ham and Sunderland are sure to work faster than us and we will be left with a choice of Carver or McClaren. Oh the joy!!!
Stuart79(Quote)
As impatient as it might be, I am started to get the feeling supporters are getting anxious and annoyed that nothing has happened. Rightly or wrongly.
I think it’s probably the fact that even the journo’s are struggling to find anything to write about and this gives the impression that nothing is happening. In fairness nobody can blame us as the club do have a lot to do to improve their reputation of utter failure in most of what they do.
Still think a statement of some kind would be a good idea as we are only one bad decision away from going back to a powder keg type situation.
Stuart79(Quote)
KIM you got a date for your opp? while your limping along
icedog(Quote)
Article from Chronicle today and can someone explain the following sentance:
Insiders at St James’ Park expected a decision on the head coach appointment one way or another by the end of this week, but Newcastle’s woeful run of form has resulted in a rethink
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart @241: That’s easy. NUFC board wanted Carver to prove himself after they had offered the job to McClaren and he wanted to wait. After Carver’s dismal performance and McClaren declining the job again when Derby were out of the playoffs they had to have a rethink in terms of quality and character of coach/manager they should hire.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You mean they want one even worse…
Stuart79(Quote)
However Stuart: Carver and McClaren should never have been front-runners in the first place. They should have had alternative plans in place and should not be scrambling around after 5 months of failure.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: you know the Chronicle’s new favourite term is “not fit for purpose”. That should apply to Carver and his good friend Lee Ryder also. They should start using the phrase “dereliction of duty” to describe Charnley and Carr’s manager search.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
There’s another thing how the hell is Ryder a sports writer I wouldn’t let him write in womans own ffs
icedog(Quote)
In fairness I think the whole Ryder loves Carver things a bit over board. He reports what Carver says and that means some don’t like him. Ryder has wrote some pretty scathing articles about the club recently, like the rest of them.
Stuart79(Quote)
Oh, and what’s wrong with Woman’s own?
Stuart79(Quote)
If it is true that McClaren turned us down when Derby were out of the playoffs, and in our hour of need, then he doesn’t have the balls to be our manager. He should be stricken from the “shortlist”. This is a high stress job as shown by Carvers implosion (although Carvs is an idiot and any real pressure would have seen his true colours displayed anyway, as in at Southampton).
That these 2 are even being considered shows how inept our upper management is.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What’s wrong with women own,there cross words are ****
icedog(Quote)
Don’t rate Ryder,and when you hear him talk he droles and seems brainless just IMO like,bet his Mrs keeps nodding off
icedog(Quote)
Ice@240, Nah mate, I’m really fed up now. Went back in the docs yesterday to make sure they marked my referral urgent like he promised and yes they emailed ortho pods on the 15th. Still no news yet. Car sits un driven and I worked out I’m spending around £60- 80 a week on taxi’s and buses as there is no bus that goes to dads from mine and it’s all uphill to attempt to walk it . 🙄 I go to Dads every day always have, especially at the moment with him being so upset like. Every time we visit the Chapel of rest it needs a wheelchair taxi for him too, more money. If my knee wasn’t buggered I could walk him there 🙁 Mum’s funeral is Tuesday but Hazel is around to run me around that day thank god. It’s very painful today cause I pushed dad down a small hill to the bank and back again yesterday, used his wheelchair like a walker 😆 thought I did ok but suffering today. 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
Stu@248 Everything mate, have you ever read it ? 😆
kimtoon(Quote)
You are kidding about Ryder, Stuart? Up until about 2 weeks ago he was Carver’s biggest chearleader. Also, his writing style is pure John Gibson, even after 20 years. I know Gibbo and Alan Oliver were his mentors and this might be what The Chronic want but at least develop some sort of style after 20 years. Even with all that has gone on with social media and Youtube, Lee Ryder just trots out the same stuff in the way it was done 30 years ago. I suppose you could say he is a reporter rather than a journalist. Every article is the same, in the same Gibbo format, with no thought put into it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
KIM IMO its about time luck went your way for a change ffs
Toon retained list out in next 24hrs,storey is Jonas is not on it 🙁
icedog(Quote)
Bloggers on here could form and write a better opinion than Ryder imo. I find his writing very lazy and he never seems to be in the know or ask the big questions.
kimtoon(Quote)
Bloody hell Kimtoon. You are having a hard time. I hope it gets better soon.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ice, Typical, bloke saves our skin and is one of the few to give a **** every game, so you let him go. YCMIU. Twats 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
No, Eric, I think he gets a bit of unwarranted stick, but which journo’s don’t…
They have a thankful job. If they write something, people don’t believe it and if they don’t write something they’re **** and don’t have any contacts…
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, I laugh in the face of adversity mate,a habit born of supporting the Toon 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
One thing that does get on my tits about Ryder is that he only ever seems to reply to people on Twitter who have a go at him. Not very often to people who genuinely want to interact. Douglas, Caulkin and Wilson all reply if they can.
Stuart79(Quote)
Ryder can crank out the same Gibbo stuff for the required “column inches” from his Chronicle overlords. But, every week or so he should write something interesting asking a few questions, he is chief sports writer FFS. As I have said before, he should look at what Barney Ronay does at The Guardian to see what a real football writer is.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: have you ever watched The Chronicle webcasts from their offices. You might as well super-impose Ryders head on Gibbo’s because they are the same. Same with the writing styles.
However, I might get Gibson’s book purely because I am a NUFC fan and he was close to the club for 40 or 50 years. His writing was so banal, as is Ryders.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I have to say that I’m wondering if all the journo’s have gone on holiday actually. There’s nothing at all coming from any of them.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu&Eric, George Caulkin is my favourite sports writer, seems a decent guy too.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim @256 amen to that sister
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu, You could be right as most players and coaches are away now.
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart and Kimtoon: I have had a bee in my bonnet about Ryder for years because he seems like a coward. Probably some people on here know him and will tell me he is not. I just see so many similarities between him and Carvs and I hate his writing style.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If they are on hols they will be kicking themselves with all this FIFA stuff kicking off. Plenty of column inches to be had there like.
kimtoon(Quote)
Is this going to turn into a tirade laden week of abuse towards Ryder, Eric? Giving Carver some rest bite.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, He was a on a short guest slot on 5live a year or so back, forget what it was about, some crisis or other with the Toon . Anyway every question he gave an answer to was lazy and nothing we didn’t already know plus he kept laughing and was a bit slurred. I swear he was half cut or half asleep. It was just embarrassing to listen to, like some idiot had got on the other end of the phone, terribly unprofessional and amateur from start to finish.
kimtoon(Quote)
Stuart: I am done now with Ryder. Lazy journalist, Gibbo mentored, bad writer. That says about all I need to. I will keep my ire for the board, whoever they are 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
And Stuart: Carver does not need respite from me, he needs respite from his apologists like Ryder and Troy who have encouraged and welcomed his sh!tness. Bowing to his excuses and ignoring the fact he made a fool of himself in every press conference with his bizarre statements. When you see a gross incompetent like Carvs and Ryder it is best to wave goodbye. I have been right about them all along.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’d like us to go after Richards but think his wages may be an issue. If we don’t get him, then I think we should go for Karl Jenkinson from Arsenal.
I think he’d be a good back up RB who could also cover CB. I think his chances at Arsenal are all but over with Debuchy, Bellerin as RB and Callum Chamberlain who can cover RB & CB.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Dont understand why some rate Laudrup but not McClaren, if his name was Van or de Claren, he would get more hype lol. Id also take Ranieri, Jokanovic or Warburton if we just to go for out of contract manager
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Realisticly I want Carroll and Austin as new strikers, one of Kara, Vlaar, Richards and Van Dijk as CB and go for James Tavernier(RB/RM) and Ben Pringle (LM, CM, AM, RM) who is free agent. Need to get rid of Gouffran Obertan Riviere Cabella Willo and bring back Vuckic.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
If anybody wants an article publishing, either log in and write a draft, or let me or Dave know and we’ll post it. Toonsy has bumped me up to admin now, so I’ll have a good explore behind the scenes in the morning and try to relieve the pressure on Big Dave and Toonsy by helping to get articles up in good time. Please can I encourage anybody to have a go at writing. The more opinions and topics put forward the better. We have some really good contributors to the banter here and no doubt many of the non writers here could do a cracking article. Likewise, any past contributors just casually browsing the site these days – if you still fancy doing a bit of writing from time to time then let us know or simply log in and save a draft 🙂
Shamrock(Quote)
Psychs @273
Hahaha. 😀
YCMIU 😉
You never saw me praise Carver. All I’ve done is criticise you for writing him off after 90 mins into his toon management with ridiculous obsessive nonsensical rants. They’ve continued incessantly for months. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Prem
I take it you have dismissed Chris G’s constant rebuttal that the £34m profit is wrong and his calcs show it’s more like £22m. 😯
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy Chris G’s complaint is valid. By his math we had about 18 + the 9 from January sales. Don’t remember buying anyone.That would be £27 but how the TV money is paid will also determine the available cash. Is it paid up front, at the end of the season. Or is it split, paid by direct debit or in brown envelopes, no idea. Never found a ref. So how much cash is available today I have no idea,
Ref theads 101, 103 and 119 in case anybody has the slightest interest in what Troy is talking about. 🙂
Premandup(Quote)
Troysta @278: Whilst I admit I have gone on rants about Carvs they were not nonsensical and were proved fully justified. I didn’t want him from the start (unlike you) and it took me less than 90 seconds to know he was not the right choice. You, on the other hand, took more than 90 days and had to see the worst record in the PL before you changed your mind. YCMIU.
Eric Sykes(Quote)