When I initially heard in February that the Carroll money was going to be reinvested in the team it caused me to reminisce to the time when I was 6 years old and my Grandad (RIP) gave me £5 one day out in town.
I’d never had such a massive amount of money and I was made up. It burned a massive hole in my pocket and although I can’t remember what it was I did buy, you can be almost guaranteed that it was a load of rubbish and that all of it was gone that day.
The Carroll money has split the community, while it also has caused (at least for me) split thoughts, initially I indulged in my inner child, we could get N’Zogbia back but really in hindsight, is it really worth the risk of getting a player back who caused so much unrest and jumped ship with the most feeble of excuses before the ship sunk?
Of course he may have matured as a player since that episode and as a person but he isn’t a player that will hit the ground running in terms of fan support and how will the likes of Joey Barton take to him, in light of his comments following the thumping we received at Leyton Orient… granted the Zog wasn’t there but N’Zogbia clearly has a chequered history with us. A common saying is never go back if it didn’t work the first time, look what happened with Kevin Keegan as a prime example.
However I digress from the main reason that prompted me to write this post…
My main thoughts now really concern the £35m that will be reinvested. There seems to be a few misinformed people online who think that we will spend £35m on players. Some even think that we will spend the £35m + the £15m that was earmarked as a summer budget. These are fair enough assumptions, however, I believe there is more to it…
A footballer costs a lot of money for a club these days. It’s a bit like going into your local car showroom and buying a new car, but it isn’t really as simple as that. Say I was left £35k in a will and decided to splash out on a new motor, I can budget pretty close to the £35k as all I need to get is insurance and make sure it is taxed.
If I apply the same analogy to buying a footballer for Newcastle United, I would have to factor in the following:
1. The transfer fee – The most obvious and most publicised cost when buying a player.
2. Signing on fee – The fee a player demands when he signs on, a player on a free transfer will tend to ask for a larger signing on fee.
3. Wages – For the purpose of accounting, wages have to be considered when buying a player. I believe that the players increased first years wages are factored into the accounts. Tiote’s new contract was taken from the “Carroll money”.
4. Agent fees – Less said about these guys the better. Luke Edwards claims on Twitter that the signing on fee and agent fee for Demba Ba was £2m.
5. Insurance – In football, players get injured a lot and as such the insurance premiums to cover their wages is quite costly.
Newcastle is “allegedly” trying to get itself back into the black having been mismanaged and bled dry by Mr Shepherd. The club was running at a severe loss but at least the club are trying to remedy this. I think Ashley is trying to stop having to put more of his own money into the club and I think we all want to see that, after all, the more money he puts in, the more he will want back when he does eventually sell up.
The unexpected windfall in January means that we can more easily live within our means for now and won’t all go for transfer fees. I haven’t considered that we have upgraded the training facilities and lets not forget that there is the January transfer window that a pot will need to be retained for.
For those who say that the Nolan fee has paid for Cabaye and we haven’t spent anything else, consider the hidden costs that these players come with. It isn’t as cut and dried as “use some of the ticket money”. I don’t expect us to spend any more than £12-15m this summer, a far cry from £35m, but I hope that you can see why I believe we will spend £15m and still have invested the money into the team.
Long gone are the days when Newcastle could open the chequebook up and splash £17m for a Michael Owen. The finances of football are changing over the next year and although I suffer a little from the green eyed monster when I glance over towards Eastlands and Stamford Bridge those days will be coming to an end and to be honest I would take more pride in a team of pacey, young, hungry players with a good bit
of skill that we developed rather than going out and buying the finished article. Shooting from the hip and saying Ashley will pocket the £35m and put it on black at the casino is not the way to think about these things either.
I have been happy with how the club have conducted themselves in the transfer window; no player is bigger than the club and proved evident when Nolan left to join West Ham for more money. It is good that the club have shaken off the mantle of a last big payday. The players that have come here have ambition and desire and isn’t that all we want?
It is only a few days into the transfer window proper, and there is still a full two months left. As fans there is very little we can do apart from get behind the players that come in. We can voice or disapproval if things go pear-shaped, but the transfer window has gone extremely well so far, the squad is stronger than last year and I feel the club will have learned lessons from the January transfer window, which is why we have done so well so far.
I hope to see more of the same!
Thanks to BrownRob for submtting this article.
shaun – if it make you feel a bit better then i’ll blow mikey a few kisses on match day.
roy cropper(Quote)
That’s the spiret roy. Diddn’t think you were that way inclined though…
shaun(Quote)
shaun xxx
roy cropper(Quote)
Roy @ 74 you know if ye do look after her she will grass to hayley and everyone else 😕 is it worth losing a good wo’man over 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Batty ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
Never lose your sense of humour I suppose. Good banter lads. Howay the lads…
shaun(Quote)
wo’man – nice one davey 😆
roy cropper(Quote)
Roy where have you been anyway I havn’t seen you about too much lately
Big Dave(Quote)
Ashelys moaning hes a hard up Billionaire The clubs brought in 35million off carroll and 48million off the premier league thats 83million pounds plus 5million for nolan and your telling me theres no cash for a new centre forward because the books need balancing what a load of **** hows sunderland spending they are in worse finacial state than us. no the whole thing smacks of old tight-**** muddling along until he can off load the club onto someone kevin keegan said the carroll money wouldnt be spent!
Peter(Quote)
dave – digging holes m8.
i’ve set up business digging graves by hand – i charge £175/grave & it’s booming.
i’m doing between 4 & 5 per week.
roy cropper(Quote)
The point about the loan is valid. But for Abu City & Chelski, ALL other clubs are paying huge interest on their loans. We were too (£10-20m a season) and Ash loaning to the club means that expenses are down as the point is to stabilise what was the club’s ever increasing debt (bigger than any other club in the Prem realtive to income) before it swallowed the club in administration, which is where we’d now be in FF had still been in charge during the financial crisis.
As for paying for wages from gate receipts, our season ticket income was forgone for many years long ago to pay for the stadium rebuild – can anyone confirm that that is now fully paid off or perhaps some of the remaining Barclays loan still accounts for that.
Also before I get pilloried, I’m no Ashley fan, just a business owner that knows from trial and error experience how cashflow works and how bad debt can cripple in economic times such as this.
GeordioCubano(Quote)
should we have another 3 cheers for mike then ❓
roy cropper(Quote)
Peter @ 84 would it not be better waiting till the end of the transfer window to see what we have then ? I know MA is a tight fisted c@nt but I will just wait to see if he surprises us 😉
Roy that will keep you in shape, you say 4-5 a week but what if they are the size of the Fatman 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
dave – family size graves are £50 extra m8. 😆
roy cropper(Quote)
What happened to Speculate to accumulate? Pardew must be game if he wants to have another season with Ameobi and lovenkrands tip-toeing about any sane person would say lets get some decent firepower up front if he goes into the new season without another two strikers he wont be manger by xmas and its another relegation dog-fight for us!
Ralph(Quote)
The interest alone off the 35mill should have payed for Demba ba and cabaye so there must be a decent amount set aside for a decent number nine surely?
Ralph(Quote)
Agree with your comment Stuart, you could use some of that money to pay wages in the 1st year, but the next year should come from the clubs income from within that year etc.
Simon(Quote)
“the Carroll money was going to be reinvested in the team”
I note your use of ‘was’ instead of ‘is’ 😐
I pity those that are playing a pathetic game of ‘fantasy accountant league’, in an attempt to convince their deluded souls, that Ashley has the club’s best interests at heart. Expert financial advice (the top banking guys really knew what they were doing when they caused the global financial meltdown, didn’t they)? Is one thing, but what about the cost of ignoring the knowledge, experience and gut instinct of current and former football professionals? Just because you sell sportswear and run a business, doesn’t mean you know how to build a succesful football team, anymore than a fishmonger knows about a trawler Captains tactics for landing a succesful catch.
You deserve to be took for mugs if you cosidentinue to concentrate on a balance sheet instead of a balanced team.
neiln(Quote)
“the Carroll money was going to be reinvested in the team”
I note your use of ‘was’ instead of ‘is’ 😐
I pity those that are playing a pathetic game of ‘fantasy accountant league’, in an attempt to convince their deluded souls, that Ashley has the club’s best interests at heart. Expert financial advice (the top banking guys really knew what they were doing when they caused the global financial meltdown, didn’t they)? Is one thing, but what about the cost of ignoring the knowledge, experience and gut instinct of current and former football professionals? Just because you sell sportswear and run a business, doesn’t mean you know how to build a succesful football team, anymore than a fishmonger knows about a trawler Captains tactics for landing a succesful catch.
You deserve to be took for mugs if you continue to concentrate on a balance sheet instead of a balanced team.
neiln(Quote)
Pardew assured us that the money we got from Carroll was to be spent on new players. Let’s wait and see! However, what we have seen so far does not suggest that will happen, but in fairness there is time. Should the money not be spent then Pardew’s credibility goes out the window.
Ashley is only interested in making money and because he has been very successful he believes that he knows best which basically means that anyone working under him must tow the line or else.
The reason we don’t hear more from Lambias and Ashley is because they know as long as Pardew makes the statements about transfers etc they cannot be accused of misleading the fans and we all know how much they love us! Pardew is as we all know the “Yes man”
Alfie(Quote)
This article just shows why it was so foolish to sell Carroll. If the cost of replacements is so high when you include all of the extras, then you are much better sticking with a know quantity who is established as an outstanding player, than cashing in and trying to sign replacements who may or may not do the business, when the extras mean that you get little for your money.
Pavel(Quote)
This is very boring ****, hard to tell it’s a football blog, more like a bunch of accountants !
chuck(Quote)
Don’t give a hoot what gets spent or doesn’t get spent. As long as we have a good team come kick off, I’ll be more than happy. I just want to watch good football, which I think could be delivered with some of the players that have come on board in this window already, and with Ben Arfa and Gosling back from injury.
Whether we like Mike Ashley or not (I’m on the fence on that one, I’m afraid), he doesn’t owe us a **** thing, not a big money signing, an explanation or even the truth. Until he’s gone, and let’s be honest, we could burnt on that as well, with some of the idiots buying football clubs these days, he can do whatever he likes with NUFC.
If you want to take a positive from all of this, at least be thankful that we aren’t being run into the ground.
Okay, you can go ahead and insult me now.
Davies(Quote)