Has Ashley stumbled upon the right road?

Mike Ashley
Heading in the right direction?
It’s going to be a tad controversial this, and I understand that I am putting myself up for some criticism on this subject, but I have broad shoulders and can take it. Just hear me out first!

I’ve just read something that Michel Platini was saying yesterday when he reinforced the goal of the new Finanical Fair Play rules to the the European media. The goal is pretty simple really – to make sure clubs can survive financially by only spending what they can afford.

It’s seems like common sense, but it’s common sense that football seems to have lacked for so long. Spending is getting out of control, and limiting spending to only what a club can afford makes sense in the long term.

It should signal the end of the huge spending that is currently being witnessed at Manchester City for example. They are a clear case of a club that is being bankrolled by a very wealthy owner. Under the new rules that won’t, or shouldn’t, be allowed. Any transfer activity will have to be conducted through the books of the club.

Failure to adhere to these rules could end up in clubs facing sanctions from UEFA and for the those clubs to be refused entry into European competition such as the Champions League or Europa League, which will in turn hit the guilty clubs further, or in the pocket should I say, where it will hurt the most.

The success of the new rules depends on how many loopholes there are. One loophole that has been banded around is with regard to advertising revenue. What is to stop these rich owners paying an over the top price for advertising one of their companies? Well, all advertsing deals will have to be market tested to ensure that they are a fair reflection of what could have been achieved in the open market so to speak.

All this talk of clubs being self-sufficient and being able to run as a business sounds familiar though doesn’t it? In fact it sounds remarkably what Mike Ashley and co have said that the are trying to achieve at Newcastle. I don’t really like the man, and I’ll probably never trust him, but he could be on to something with this.

I’ve read the opinions of some fans who want us to go out and spend money that we, apparently, don’t have on transfers. The feeling from some is that Ashley is being tight, but there is another angle that you can look at it from? Is Ashley preparing us for these new rules already?

As of next season, the accounts have to be submitted to UEFA so that they can be given a ‘health-check’. Whilst this only really affects clubs that will be in European competition, a lot of leagues around Europe are also adopting this approach, including the Premier League.

There will be certain clubs who are in for a culture shock when these new rules kick in. Teams like Aston Villa, Sunderland and Bolton would fail these new checks unless they change their ways as they are spending too much of their income on wages, and with Sunderland keen to push on to “the next level” it would be a crying shame if they were to be pegged back because of their own fecklessness 😀

Teams like Manchester City will struggle to spend as much in the transfer market as they are doing now. The only way they could continue that is if they increase the revenue of the club. Qualifying for the Champions League would help that, but it still wouldn’t cover the £100,000,000+ losses that they have been making.

As for us, well this frugality will have come as bit of a culture shock I guess after the days of heavy spending under Freddy Shpeherd. It would appear that we are standing still in the transfer market when in reality we are just searching for quality at a decent price. We are going through this now, but other teams have it all to come.

What do you think?

P.S. Please ignore this technical bit: YUNUDR297YVU

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

98 thoughts on “Has Ashley stumbled upon the right road?

  1. just been on SSN ,,the camera men tried to get a few pics of posh spice at the gound with beckham but she eluded them and hid behind the corner flag…. 😈

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  2. Wolfie – understand your thought process but it requires too many leaps of faith to draw to its conclusion.

    For instance KK left because he didn’t like the whole DOF posn etc, but Hughton is sacked because he is happy to go along with scouting recommendations?

    That’s why the logic doesn’t work for me.

    Hughton performed a job last year that I don’t think any manager in world football could have bettered and was undefeated at home a full season – yet now he is sacked after a couple of dodgy home results.

    That’s why I struggle – it has no logical foundation – therefore information is missing.

    I understand also however that the one person above all who would benefit from our success is Ashley

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  3. In the past we’ve been linked with the Arsenal model the Spurs model even the Villa model.Could it be we are going to get our own Newcastle Model?

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  4. STARDUST we agree on some things mate,but for hoots i saw a leeds shef/wed ect on the way to the toon,J.M. couldnt have fixed us at that time imo

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  5. Stardist-Exactly mate, shows inconsistency and the willingness of Ashley to pull the trigger.

    Don’t get me wrong, losses to Blackpool and Stoke etc were bad results, but at the same time we’d won away at arsenal for the first time in something like thirteen years? And beaten the toffees at Goodison as well, maybe we were lucky to win them but only in the same manner we were unlucky to win others. Newcastle did have the trait of turning up for the big matches-just like we did last year i.e thumping forest/cardiff (promotion candidates) although we never did so well against west brom. Even so, home form is easier to correct than away, in my opinion anyway,-and Chris could obviously do a job with it-who honestly thought we’d beat the mackems 5-1? would you ask for more? And whilst it was a problem, with our away wins and such performances we weren’t in the relegation zone.

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  6. Same here Ice – he had earned and deserved reward and far better than being discarded like a cheap suit

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  7. stardust,i understand what your saying bug…and in a way ,your thought process isnt wrong in theory ….naturally some fans will take time to actually believe this club is gonna move forward after all the batterings we`ve took over the past years..

    i mean you will have many opinions on what you belive will be to the benefit and to the detriment of the club,as will many others …

    and your stance on chris hughton is a very valid one as the majority of fans would go along with ….

    i was dumbfounded when hughton was sacked ….but equally i was dumbfounded when andy cole was sold
    two totally different scenarios i grant yea …but my point is ……sometimes to edge forward ,you have to make decisions that not only alienate people towards yea it also adds fuel to an already tricky relationship between ashley and the fans….
    now make no mistake here ,ashley is gambling on pardew but he isnt gambling on the favourite like he did with keegan…
    hes actually gambling on a man that hes done his homework on .ie the man he sounded out after proper deliberation i suspect..
    basically its no knee **** reaction this time…….more down to that tad more experience based (probably) on what he believes pardew can get out of the established players ,but more so nurturing the younger players throught to the established level,and i think the 5 and a half year contract ,plus the youngsters getting their contracts……
    naturally fans can also look on the downside ,and believe hes fattening up the goose for the kill…….
    but if you saw the way he was jumping about against liverpool and the way people were hugging him ,then that should at least tell yea that its not just a business to him ,its also a passion …
    now passion and business sense with this club ,could be a marriage made in heaven…lets look at it ,like ashley number 2…new start ,new sights and a plan of action that can take us back to where we belong…..
    keep a positive outlook until it becomes impossible to do…….right now its all do`able ,
    remember ,russian roulette is only a gamble ,but your odds are 5 to 1 in your favour dont pull the trigger expecting a full chamber ,be positive youll be awake to hear a click and not a bang lol…
    now if ashleys playing russian roulette his odds are good for success

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  8. **** me – you took some finding 🙂

    looks good so far from what i’ve seen – always enjoyed your articles and banter – heaving a sigh of relief that i can still enjoy the craic
    HOWAY THE LADS!!!!!!!!!!!

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  9. Wolfie

    The double edged sword for me was I stood by him in the KK fallout – and all of the subsequent fall outs lol – I held my ground that he did the right thing in the long term interests of the club – obviously he still will be – but I feel let down by him.

    When he stood by JK I saw loyalty as a trait he seemed to possess. Standing by a man who stood shoulder to shoulder with him when he was in trouble. But with Hughton he discarded him like a chip paper – and he owed far more to him than JK.

    It suggests he was simply either a rabbit in the headlights at that time (JK), or he has adapted to what
    he believes is necessary for success in the PL.

    I just can’t respect him anymore, and until I get over the CH thing, I won’t be comfortable with the “bigger picture” again – but I always want the long term best interests for NUFC – at this juncture I remain to be convinced we have taken the right path to get there

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  10. As regards the whole CH things was inevitable from the day he took over at our club, he was not wanted by Mike Ashley. He started as care taker only because no one would come near us, we were favorites for a second relegation in a row especially after the Leyton Orient debacle.

    CH got of to a cracking start and had won manager of the month how many times and in turn basically forced MA’s had to offer him the job. I believe that MA thought that it may result in survival and nothing more and that it would buy him time to find a replacement. However CH and the team pushed on and exceeded mine and a lot of peoples. Making Ashleys plans harder.

    MA waited for a poor run of form for him to bullet Hughton and bring in his chosen man. but everytime he got ready to pull the trigger we pulled a result out the bag. CH was never going to last with MA and was on a hiding to nothing. 🙄

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  11. however we have got to this juncture i believe now is the time to consolidate on a sound financial footing and wait for the rest of the prem to come to terms with new rules and hopefully have headstart when s**t hits fan for other clubs

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  12. Stadust how are you? Good to hear you have chance to air your views on things again 😉
    Hope all is well with you and the family

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  13. Hi Deb – it feel great to spout my rubbish again lol. I was always reading – though not posting – to the contrary of what was said. 🙂

    But fortunately HMS Toonsy came along, he has his own views and welcomed me aboard!

    We are all great Deb thanks for asking – its great to see this place crammed with the usual crowd – feels like home already :). A place where us “simple” folk can come 😉 😆

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  14. This financial fair play rubbish will have so many loop holes it will be pointless. Also doesn’t it mean if you have a big debt you cannot be in Europe? We have a huge debt! A benefactor can convert it to equity to the tune of £40m but I cannot see Ashley doing that like.

    Anyway onto Ashley. Sacking Hughton and replacing him with Pardew makes absolutley no sense, so it’s obvious to me he’s up to something. Personally I look at whats happening with the club and it shouts out “preparing to be sold!”.

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  15. I think as Waldo notes Ashley always had doubts about Hughton, on some level or other, and he obviously couldn’t shake that. So he had to go. **** way of doing it but in Ashley’s eyes Hughton also got a good chance to show what he could do, after those long socked performances as caretaker manager in the Prem. the first time around.

    Then he wanted to go with a young manager, ambitious, with something to prove, that is a bit of a risk but could be a master stroke. It is perfect Ashley. The long term logic holds, he just never saw Hughton in that role long term for whatever reason.

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