We all like to think that we are the biggest, but exactly how big a club is Newcastle United? What do we have that other teams don’t have, that makes us special?
I’m sorry – if you were expecting me to provide you with the answer there, I’m afraid I can’t. The fact is that every team claims that they have the best fans, and that the fans are passionate, and that football is more than just a game, so why are we different?
Suddenly we find we no longer attract the big players (apart from possibly Sol Campbell, but in all fairness he hadn’t played for a while and had just come back off his Honeymoon). We have players from the continent that I’ve never heard of turning us down.
We now appear to be a bit of a Channel Tunnel, through which players from the Continent can find their way to the Premier League, then spend a season or two wandering round looking for a job, while we pick up their recruitment expenses.
I suspect there are less French nationals using the actual tunnel than there are being brought in by us.
I’d hate to see what happens the first time a league match coincides with a French Bank Holiday.
We often jump up and down shouting silly things like “We don’t want players who don’t want to play for us!”. I never actually understood that one. Do we mean they should love us so much they play for free, or are we saying they should be gushing enthusiasm and grinning from ear to ear all day?
Football is a job. A lot of us, certainly me included, absolutely hate the job we do. If I had to stand in front of a camera and tell the world what a great company I work for, I don’t think I’d be very convincing, and I’m pretty sure the lens would need a rub down with a wet-wipe fairly soon.
I have enough trouble convincing the wife that I like her cooking. There again she says size is not important so what the hell does she know?
I’m back on the old “loyalty” tack again here – why would a 20 year old French player want to play for Newcastle United?
As far back as he can remember we have been a team struggling to maintain Premier League status. A team making more headlines off the pitch than on. A team that seems to think that a pint of milk lasts longer than a manger. And I’m not talking UHT here.
So why would they come and play for us? It can only be the opportunity to get into the Premier League and showcase their talents. Or maybe they are so bad they are on a **** salary?
I’m pretty sure that you can buy a computer program where you can select the sycophantic superlatives that the new signings reel off at their press conferences. “Blah blah blah HUGE CLUB blah blah blah blah FANTASTIC HISTORY blah blah blah AMAZING FANS blah blah blah (insert superlative here) blah blah blah, and I LOOK FORWARD TO PLAYING IN EUROPE NEXT YEAR!!”
OK, so we have a stadium that can seat more than 50,000 fans, a cauldron of atmosphere and fervour that was once considered a fortress. But if today’s ‘blogs are to be believed the fans only turn up now so they can arrange their next anti-Ashley demo.
“Lets demonstrate in the car park”, “Lets chant thought provoking messages like Ashley Out!”, and here’s my favourite of the moment “Let’s turn our backs on him and jump up and down”. Oh yeah , that’ll show him!
All rather strange really when you consider that amongst all the uncertainty that’s floating around, all the perceived lies and lack of communication, if there’s one thing that’s firmly known and understood by all, including Ashley, it’s the fact that the fans don’t like him.
Do we just think he’s forgotten? Needs reminding?
We need to accept the fact that he‘s trying to get the club back into the black, and until that happens “prudent survival” is the name of the game, and not a lot is going to make him change his mind.
I love the way we are doing this at the beginning of the season when there’s still three weeks of the transfer window left. There is a possibility, however slender, that we might actually do well, but let’s not let hope spoil a good *****, eh?
Apparently the FA has decided that if you want to play in Europe you are only allowed to lose £40 million over three seasons, and they insist that rich owners will no longer be allowed to just keep pumping in more and more dosh.
In this respect by trying to become solvent, we’re almost ahead of the game. Of course some might say that as this is a proviso for getting into Europe then it doesn’t concern us, and wont for a while, but that would be a tad on the negative side.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the guy who popped down to the corner shop one day and came back with a kilo of dates, a pint of Laban and Manchester City, is said to be worth upwards of 15 billion pounds. His family, the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, are worth more than a trillion. My own personal experiences of Arabic accounting philosophy would suggest they are worth much more.
Amazingly, out of nowhere, City and Etihad Airways have announced a sponsorship deal worth by 100 million pounds. Just out of interest the Etihad Board’s Chairman and Vice Chairman just happen to be the Manchester City owner’s’ brothers. As long as the owner is not just pumping more an more dosh in.
A fairly reserved estimate is that Manchester City’s owners’ family are 1000 times wealthier than Ashley.
Abramovich, the poor kid on this particular block, is only 10 times richer,
If you go down the list we struggle to be “Big” in that department.
Looking at the last available figures our turnover puts us in 17th place above only Blackpool, Wigan and West Brom. So we’re hardly very big in that department either, are we?
Here’s a really interesting one. What about wage bill as a percentage of turnover?
The last accounts show that 90% of our turnover went on wages. Only three clubs were higher. It’s hardly surprising that Man City are one of them at 104%. The other two were Wigan on 91% and Blackpool on an astonishing 144%. And we all know what happened to them. Of course it’s also worth pointing out that percentage would have improved thanks to our return to the Premier League.
Wow. Maybe we are a big club after all?
What about debt? Where do we stand there?
We apparently have debts totalling £150 million. That’s the 4th largest in the league. Only Man U, Chelsea and Fulham can beat that. So there’s another biggie. Whoop-de-shaggin’- do!
Of the £150 million we owe, £140 million of that is to Ashley and said to be interest free. He pumped the money in to pay off the debts and minimize the interest payments, which now stand at only £2 million. I say “only” because Man U, with four times our debts, are paying 50 times our interest.
This wasn’t intended as a “Wow, isn’t that Mike Ashley a nice guy” kind of rant so we’ll keep that to a bare minimum, but lets not lose track of the fact that last year we had the 4th highest wage bill and the 4th highest debt, all being serviced from the 4th lowest turnover.
Not quite the kind of “big” I was looking for.
For any of you who are interested, search for “Guardian – Inside sport special report Premier League Finances”. It makes good reading.
If that type of thing doesn’t interest you, try “Inside the Dog”. Its ****, but I don’t see why I should be the only one who wasted money on it.
I’m sure you are all going to hit me with why we are a big club (or more likely, why we “were” a big club), but many of us can remember not that long ago when Leeds were the possibly biggest in the country.
Personally I think we are a big club. I just don’t know why.
Thanks to Archie Brand for submitting this.
We are a big club in comparison to the other mid table battlers however the top 6 (possibly without spurs) will be bigger now. we don’t really have a great history which i think is what determines most big clubs and is the reason for the big fan bases. Regionally we are huge! Nationally reasonably big. Global probably average
Andy(Quote)
lee ryder is saying obertan med has hit a snag 😆 this is a joke
Army69(Quote)
Nice one Archie! Sums up some of my confusion too. I don’t really know why we’re much “bigger” than, say, Bolton. But I know we are. I think it comes down to this: if you stop 100 random people in 100 countries around the world and ask them to name english footie clubs, a lot more will say Newcastle United than Bolton or Wigan or even Everton to be honest.
It may be history – all that silverware half a century ago – or perhaps the names like Shearer and Keegan that are associated with us, or great stories like KK’s promotion and oh-so-close title race. We’re a known brand, for whatever reason, and even the bad stuff like the current Joey saga all add to that.
Whumpie(Quote)
false alarm someone was winding me up 😳
Army69(Quote)
its saying obertans on a 2day medical on ssn!!?? does that mean we wont be signing him until 2mora ?
Army69(Quote)
Sorry you lost me when you actually wrote “not long ago Leeds were possibly the biggest in the country” I must have been asleep when that happened during the last 50 years.
Lyle(Quote)
Amazingly, out of nowhere, City and Etihad Airways have announced a sponsorship deal worth by 100 million pounds.
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Technically, sponsorship deals in excess of FMV from the owner’s other companies are a violation of the UEFA fair play rules. We’ll see if UEFA has the guts to enforce them.
MDS(Quote)
We are a big club in terms of revenues- albeit one with a very high wage bill (though that is shrinking) and a very big debt. So, in reality, we are a relativley mid-sized club until the finances are sorted. simples
MDS(Quote)
I looked at that Guardian article and there’s one very important bit of info that changes the article: those figures are a year behind, so that turnover is while we were in the CCC. So without all the extra income (just the TV is an extra £30m) we still had more income than three prem teams.
Now, we have a wage bill of around £50m – pretty much average – but income likely to be around the £90m mark, which puts us around 7th.
Size may not matter, but solvency does – and ours is actually quite impressive.
What teams like the scum and the bindippers are doing is completely unsustainable. Quite how they expect things to go I don’t know; it’s a fat lot of use qualifying for Europe if you then get kicked out for losing shedloads of cash.
If we keep on the way we’re going, we won’t even need to improve to move up; some teams will just fall past us on their way to Division One.
(Incidentally – scumberland, based on those figures, really are screwed) 😆
Whumpie(Quote)
Whumpie, totally agree with you. Spending big money will leave some clubs in trouble.
I bet you we are using the routledge money in order to buy obertan
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Good article, but I think your snapshot of NUFC having the 4th largest wage bill versus Turnover is a bit misleading and inflated due to that scenario was after the year in the championship with no Premiership Prize Money. When the latest accounts are released and last seasons PM added then the turnover will increase by £60m whilst the wage bill has reduced considerably. Arguably we have only 3 high wage earners Smith, Barton and the club captain left @ the club!
observer9(Quote)
Howdy, has anyone got the codes for the fantasy league, just got round to putting my team together. Ta.
rinton man(Quote)
Now, we have a wage bill of around £50m – pretty much average – but income likely to be around the £90m mark, which puts us around 7th
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Based on what I’ve seen reported that looks about right for this season. When the accounts from last year are realeased I think we will see somehting like a 60M/120M ratio when the Carrol sale is included., meaning the club likely would have still operated at a loss for the year if not for the Carroll sale.
I thought Prdew’s comments from the other day were rather telling in that he seemed to suggest that only annual profits would be reinvested. That jives with Llambiase’s comments form last year. That would also mean “the money will stay in the club” comment is true, but also explain why we aren’t spending the 35M.
MDS(Quote)
Actually, the more I look at these figures the more I like them. I can’t be arsed to do the maths, but won’t we have the best ratio of wages to turnover? And while you have to admire the revenues of Manure and co, who the hell would want those debts at about 7%? Imagine knowing that much of the price of your prawn sandwich was going towards interest payments. 😈
Whumpie(Quote)
Obertan currently undergoing medical at private, city centre hospital in Newcastle- Chris Conway on twitter
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Brian Clough wrote: “I was watched by 30,000 people at notts county but i couldnt get that ammount to watch forest in a european cup semi final, Never what you would call a big club…”
Many including myself would call forest a big club, It all a matter of opinion, I would call us and the majority of the top flight, At least 50% of the championship and some of the division 3 clubs big clubs but im sure plenty wouldnt.
One thing I would hope that most rival fans would agree is that think we are an authentic football club instead of these chessy clubs playing **** music when they score, I had to chuckle last week watching hull playing ready to go and cant help falling in love very cheap and placca reminds me of some other club 😉
I think playing going home (local hero) and blaydon races resonate with the area and give us some genuine class… 😎
CC(Quote)
The deloitte report stated that the average wages/revenue ratio for Prem clubs in 08-09 was 67%, and likely to be higher in 09-10. We seem to be doing a bit better than that now.
MDS(Quote)
If Ashley fails to get in decent players to fill the gaping holes in our squad with players of sufficient caliber at least we will be able to console ourselves with our knowledge of our excellent wages to turnover margin when we are languishing in the lower half of the table.
Pootle(Quote)
Have a look at the Premier League and pick out teams you think are Bigger than NUFC.
I think maybe Four possibly Six.
Toonale(Quote)
This had to happen, and it’s bloody funny:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/clubs-line-up-to-tell-barton-to-do-one-201108044156/
I know I ranted a bit yesterday, but really: try living anywhere else but Newcastle and see how utterly stupid our fans look when they get offended at managers for rejecting Barton.
Satire is still the best barometer of public opinion, and this is genuinely how the world sees wor Joey. Doesn’t mean we have to like him less, but it does mean we should shut the **** up trying to justify his behaviour, because it just makes the club even more of a laughing stock.
Soap box back under table. Honest. Oh, and do read the link; tis funny.
Whumpie(Quote)
I can’t really remember there being so many accountants about before the Fatman took over. It’s all well and good being on a sound financial footing but will the fans be happy to be mid table team aslong as we are sound financially ? I dont know why so many fans are worried about the Fatman’s money.
When he came in we were promised that he would be investing so many millions of his own money every yr, if he doesn’t want to do stick to backing the club as he said he would be better off getting out asap.
As for being a big Club imo it’s determined by size of the Club and the regular support it gets ?
Big Dave(Quote)
hearing stuff simpson wants another club and wont sign a new contract! is it cos young tavernier is gona knock him off his perch?.or does he want more dosh?
john(Quote)
Am off to gym, looking forward to Arsenal sat, ill be playing u’ll be writing #livingthedream
This maybe a hint unless hes joinig arsenal 🙄 , Also well done to joey for nailing pleat, What a hypocritical *****, Like he’s in a position to judge dorty fecker…
CC(Quote)
John could it not be that he is pissed of with the boards lies and the way the club is being run ? Just a thought ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
I can’t really remember there being so many accountants about before the Fatman took over. It’s all well and good being on a sound financial footing but will the fans be happy to be mid table team aslong as we are sound financially ?
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Probably not.
Ashley has made clear that he is done subsidizing the club after pumping in the 150M or whatever it was. Therefore, we should care about the financials since investment will only come form profits.
I’m not saying I agree with it but the club has made it clear that that is the way it is going ot be.
People who don’t care about the financial situation and expect Ashley to just pump in 20-30m a year are living in a dream world and ignoring the club’s statements to the contrary.
Simple: better financials= more investment and/or possible sale of the club.
MDS(Quote)
It’s also heartening to know that Ashley could stick up to another £10m on the wage bill by getting in, let’s say, 4 players on anything upto £50k a week, and our wages to turnover would still look pretty good.
Also when some of our dead wood players leave in the next year or so (assuming we can’t sell them first) that would offset some of the extra money spent on getting the four new players in.
Pootle(Quote)
john says:
August 8, 2011 at 15:21
hearing stuff simpson wants another club and wont sign a new contract! is it cos young tavernier is gona knock him off his perch?.or does he want more dosh?
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Saw that reported as well. What leverage does he have? I tend to rate him more than most but how many upper half clubs would come in for him and pay a decent wage?
MDS(Quote)
Big Dave… I kind of get what you’re saying, and I know your view is the same as many, but I don’t know how many more ways people can put it to you:
1. Ashley’s put in his £100-odd million to keep us afloat, but that’s it – he’s not doing it any more, as he made clear was the plan 3 years ago. There is no more “the Fatman’s money”. It’s the club’s money, which is our money. They don’t get it from anyone else; just the fans – directly or otherwise. The club will have about £100m a year to spend, and it doesn’t matter what it’s spent on – it all comes from one source: us.
2. Clubs are not going to be allowed to follow the Chelski model any more. All clubs will have to do what we’re doing; we’re just ahead of the game. Now it’s all about increasing revenue and nobody can buy their way up a-la-Citeh. Good thing, surely?
3. There is no evidence that Ashley or anyone else is settling for mid-table long-term. It makes no sense. What they’re doing is building slowly in a sustainable way. Whatever you think of them, their actions generally match their words. Yes, they **** things up monumentally, but the overall direction is exactly what they’ve said all along.
That’s the strategy; has been for a couple of years; will be for a long while yet. It’s not been fudged or unclear; it’s just been unpopular with those who thought Ashley would be our version of that murderous crook Abramovic. He’s not, and that’s not going to change. The answer isn’t to find someone who is, it’s to get on board and support the team while the strategy works and stop moaning because things aren’t how you wanted them.
Surely if we play exciting football and finish 9th this season you’ll be happy? And 7th next season? Perhaps 5th the year after?
Whumpie(Quote)
Incidentally, I think Barton has exactly the same viewpoint as Big Dave and many others. I’m not saying it’s a stupid viewpoint; I just think people should get over it and start looking at the positives like many do.
Look at Pootle’s post @26 – perfect example.
Whumpie(Quote)
If anything this really enforces the fact that Ashley couldn’t give a stuff about the football as long as the club stays up and he can keep wages as low as possible to do so.
According to the estimates you have seemed to agree on we could easily afford a decent striker, a decent winger, a decent left back and other defensive cover. Much of the wages would be offset once Barton and Enrique leave. If we shift Xisco and Smith too then the wages should be back to where they are now anyway.
We could be seriously challenging for 6th spot by next season with appropriate investment.
It all makes the excuses against getting in decent players at reasonable cost seem even weaker than they already did.
Pootle(Quote)
Pootle (way to wreck my point by the way!) –
Do you honestly think money is what’s lacking in our hunt for players? Really??
You don’t think it’s the constraints of finding players of the right age, ability, personality, availability and interest in our club despite the public rantings of Joey and famous cockups of the owners?
I honestly believe that if there’s a striker out there for £15m that fits the bill, the dosh will be forthcoming. Can anyone give any evidence that suggests otherwise?
Whumpie(Quote)
@30- I think that is very likely the plan, but ashley seems to want those players out first and then buy, rather than buy first with the possibility of not being able to move them. Enrique seems to be the only player you list that other clubs may want, and we still haven’t recieved a bid for him.
MDS(Quote)
Simpson will go nowhere he has just had a child and will not want to move etc; just not practical.
Also think that the paluchencko rumour doesnt have any legs we need a pacy tricky striker
Re article completely agree; we are a huge club; but still huge gap between us and top four
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
I honestly believe that if there’s a striker out there for £15m that fits the bill, the dosh will be forthcoming.
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I’m not sure if they would pay 15M, but I think they clearly would make some money available for the right striker. The obviously tried with Gameiro, Gervinho, and Erdinc, all valued between 7-10M.
MDS(Quote)
A big club? No. A club with a good history and great fanbase? yes.
spence(Quote)
MDS when he crabbed control of the club he must have known that the chances of the club to make money was small hence why he said he would put in his own money, which to me makes it clear he knew that it wouldn’t be making money, so as I said if he doesn’t want to stick he should get out. The problem with the clubs statments is that they kept bringing new one’s out.
So how can you trust them when they keep changing their minds. I do believe that through his ownership of the Toon he has made money only that is through his real love Sports Direct
Big Dave(Quote)
We will go nowhere under Ashley. If your estimates are even reasonably accurate, we can easily afford to get in the players we desperately need to actually be a competetive team. We can do it without getting in to more debt or becoming a financial liability too.
In fact, over the next year or so we will be able to offset an extra £10m through players leaving and contracts expiring.
Face facts, Ashley could easily invest enough money to make us a decent competitive side without jeopardising our financials. YOUR OWN ESTIMATES DEMONSTRATE THAT.
We will never amount to anything other than a struggling cash cow under him.
“But he isn’t making money – we aren’t a cash cow – he’s getting back his debt!”, come the shrill, desperate cries.
He will only be paying back the debt for a few more years at the rate he is reducing our wage bill. Then he will be making a very, very healthy profit, providing he can keep us up by the skin of our teeth.
If he can make a profit with the absolute minimal outlay what makes you think he will EVER invest in the football side of the club?
Pootle(Quote)
MDS when he crabbed control of the club he must have known that the chances of the club to make money was small hence why he said he would put in his own money,
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Agreed- that’s why the whole “ashley is just here to make money” argument never made sense to me. I just don’t think he expected to have to kick in as much as he did. In is first year at the club, he spent 20-22M on Jonas, Collo, and Xisco, paid Allardyce a tidy sum to f-off, and paid keegan a nice salary. Then they found out about still owing money on past transfers, already spent future sponship monies, then relgation, etc. When he tried to sell, no one wanted the club due the finanical situation. So clearly that needs sorted.
MDS(Quote)
Pictures of Obertan at Newcastle training ground on sky sports news
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
BD – I think you give Ashley too much credit! He just screwed it up; got all cocky with his dosh, didn’t do due diligence and got caught. I think he said as much a year later.
Not sure whether he’s just steering it towards a sale or not. Probably, but as you say, he’s not exactly immune from changing his mind, so if things go well and he gets more popular, perhaps he’ll want to stick around.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to depress people. 😳
Whumpie(Quote)
I think there is a plan, and we will become a going concern but it will take time before we are generating enough income to become competitive.
We could do with Ashley telling us what it is so we can play the game too, but what are the chances of that?
Archie Brand(Quote)
Sir,
A good article and quite thought-provoking. I read the Guardian article and it was scary in parts but I was reassured that based on increased PL revenues, our club should have returned a profit last year, albeit small.
The sad truth is that we are not a big club by any definition other than crowd size (numbers and average girth) and opinion of the average supporter. Our domestic success is remembered by people who are now approaching retirement. Now that we are not paying players huge salaries, there is no queue of players beating a path to NE1. We are not the richest club by a considerable margin, with our fortunes depending on chavs buying cheap sportswear rather than selling fossilised microbes.
I appreciate and even agree with the ‘100 random foreigners’ method but this too does not constitute big, and certainly not in the eyes of players.
I fear the sad truth is that we simply have delusions of grandeur and rather like the mythical Hyacinth Bucket are pilloried and pitied in equal measure by those around us.
John(Quote)
MDS @38 – I think that was the point where he issued the only apology of his life and took the reigns himself. Since then I think he’s been pretty consistent… including with the ****-ups. But I can’t help but be very glad he didn’t just cut his losses and run at that point.
Right now we’re 2 players away from a decent (i.e. top half) squad and making a profit. To get to that point in just 3 years from the tail-spin we were in is pretty impressive in my book.
Doesn’t mean I like the guy, and I hate Llamearse, but at least recognise the transformation we’ve seen.
Whumpie(Quote)
My take is that ashley royally screwewd up buying us. clearly he didn’t know what he was doing or what he got himself in for. I bet if he could do it over agin, he would have passed. But now he is stuck with us as he tried to sell and couldn’t get his money back. So we are stuck with him. The soone rthe finaces are sorted, the sooner we can press on as a club, or be rid of Ashley. either way, it is a positive outcome. The big negative, which frustrates me as well, is that we willlikely have to be mediocre in the short term unless some of these new buys and youngsters all turn out as good as Tiote and Ben Arfa. .
MDS(Quote)
John – a bit eloquent, old chap!
I actually agree, but I can honestly see us progressing while others fall flat on their faces. For a start, do the likes of Chelski and Citeh have the first clue how to do what we’re doing? What exactly are they going to do when they’re disqualified from European competition for making £100m losses each year?
Sink without trace, hopefully.
Whumpie(Quote)
It depends on how you assess BIG.
If you are a company, it’s easy: It’s what you earn (turnover). In that case if you look over the past five years or so we tend to be between 5th and 7th. I haven’t counted the year in the Championship. So on that evidence we should be in the top seven clubs. Obviously, you could factor in other things, but lets keep it simple.
You could look at attendances, and if we do that then we are 3rd just about every year.
If we look at history, then we have a reasonable amount of silverware, unfortunately it’s almost ancient history.
Attractiveness to top players. This is rather transient in nature as we are more attractive when we are doing well, but we will never be as attractive as a team in London which is also doing well.
Ambition. Ah well, this where we fall well short. Unless something changes on this front we will always be minnows despite the attendances, etc.
All in all Newcastle can be what it wants to be. It can act like a big club and be a big club quite easily, however, it can also act like a small club and always be amongst the minnows. It is up to the management.
bill(Quote)
Didn’t Simpson just sign a new 5 yr deal recently?
Shanghaitoon(Quote)
They will pay nothing like the required amounts to get decent established players. Where is your recent evidence that they will?
You say there is no evidence they won’t invest ‘in the future’.
Barring time travel I don’t know what I can do about that.
What I do know is your own estimates show that he could invest up to another £10m on wages and still have the club on a sound financial footing.
Thats five players on £40k a week, or four players on upto £50k a week. Or 3 on £60k. We should easily be able to get players in for those sums.
Even if we can’t sell them now there are several players whose contracts will expire in the near future which would completely offset that £10m anyway.
Again, your own figures suggest we can afford it anyway even if the money isn’t offset by selling players immediately.
If Ashley can afford to improve the squad with the 3-5 quality players we desperately need, as your figures clearly demonstrate he can, but chooses not to what makes you think he ever will?
Pootle(Quote)
It’s all about fulfilling potential.
We don’t. Any where near.
People go on about Ashley as if he saved us and did us a huge favour…he is in it for one reason only….sorry to disappoint but it’s not us and the club
Moreno(Quote)
Shanghai- they offered him one but supposedly hasn’t signed it, hence the speculation regaridng his future.
pootle- what do you mena by established players though? Give me Tiotes, Cabayes, and Ben Arfas over a Wayne Bridge/Stephen Ireland type any day.
I agree with you that they could afford 3 new players under the current structure. I believe the money is there and I’ve been calling for a striker, full back and winger. Looks like we got the winger (though I’d prefer Barnetta) so now a Stiker and fullback and I like the squad.
MDS(Quote)
F**K FIGURES AND FCK WAGE TO PROFIT RATIOS MULTIPLIED BY DEBT OVER THE SQUARE ROOT OF 17. I DONT GIVE A FLYING F**K!
you think man utd fans give a shii about being %10000 percent in debt when they lifted leaggue title last year??
I just wanna see a decent team play some decent football and make me happy every other saturday – IS THAT SO FOOKING MUCH TO ASK??!
Our dad told me stories about old greats. I watched living greats like cole and sir les and shearer, and a great manager in Sir Bobby
NOT ONCE DID WE TALK ABOUT FOOKING FINANCES
sick of it
AND YES – WE ARE A BIG CLUB
doitforsirbobby(Quote)
Simmo at the moment is average at best and still has 2 years left on his current contract which is the same as Capt Colo!! so why worry about Simmo? 🙄
richietoon(Quote)
Fair enough- but not sure if ignoring reality and living in the past are the way forward.
MDS(Quote)
@51 quality 😉 😀
richietoon(Quote)
‘Looking at the last available figures our turnover puts us in 17th place above only Blackpool, Wigan and West Brom. So we’re hardly very big in that department either, are we?’
Come on mate! This pertains to our season in the Championship and therefore reflects the turnover of a Championship club. It’s actually a decent financial achievement… notice we turned over more dosh than 2 Prem clubs that year?
We are certainly in the top half of the Prem when it comes to turnover AND the wealth of our owner. Defo.
According to Deloitte and Touche’s annual surveys, throughout the last decade, we were regularly placed in the top 20 richest European clubs based purely on turnover/revenue (no reference to debts). The last time being 2009 i believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League
M(Quote)
@51
A man after my own heart
Moreno(Quote)
” I honestly believe that if there’s a striker out there for £15m that fits the bill, the dosh will be forthcoming. Can anyone give any evidence that suggests otherwise?”
If you give me evidence that suggests we will, I’ll give you the evidence that suggests we won’t. 🙄
You do realise the ‘show me the evidence’ argument works both ways?
Why have the deals with Gameiro, Gervinho and Erdinc failed?
Admittedly we can’t even be sure that bids were ever actually made.
What’s stopping us going out and getting someone, are we waiting until the last minute and we’re desperate so the selling club can push the price right up (like Carroll), surely not?
No doubt we’re just struggling cos we can’t find anyone with the right ‘personality’.
Lol. Of all the ***** excuses that one is one of my favourites!
It seems ironic when we have a pair of people shown in court to be dishonest liars refusing to buy players based on accusing said players of having a suspect personality.
Pootle(Quote)
Well, just read Toonsy’s expecting.
I got the same news this week. Girlsfriend is pregnent. Will be my first and he’s definately going to play for the Toon, because he’s not even born yet and he’s already dribbled past a goalkeeper with a 99% shot stopping percentage. 😆
JJ(Quote)
I agree, the debt our club has is fairly average for a “business” with our asset values with regard to both players and infrustructure.
We have a contant source of income, which means banks will allow us to pay debts over many years.
And yes, Ashley has done a decent job of controlling it. But he also did a magnificent job of cocking it up by contributing to our relegation after making a series of shocking decisions.
So, no we don’t owe him anything. And if anything, he should have learned that you need to invest properly to succeed.
We have done alright. But with a bit of proper investment we could be a top 6/7 club this season. But he just won’t do it… 🙁
JJ(Quote)
Chasing turnover and being busy fools, spending more than you earn and ignoring bottom line profit is the reason why companies fail Cash Is King no matter how big the turnover or you will go bust and overtrade,
POOTLE—I said two days ago that you are commercially naive, your posts today have reinforced my opinion.
Looking at the squad it is clear to everyone that included in our 25 declared squad we need in order of priority.
1) Quality Striker—-I`d settle for Shane Long at the mo!
2) Even if Jose by some miracle stays, we need a back up–This Dutch international we are linked with?
3) ideally a centre back for cover?–Scott Dann anyone??
The problem we have is no club is actually looking to sign our dross because of huge salaries that they are earning which means being patient until their contracts run down and freeing up the cash—Not exactly a queue for Barton is there??
CT(Quote)
” Looks like we got the winger (though I’d prefer Barnetta)”
We, you ask me what I mean by established players, then said that?
Barnetta is an established international. Could probably be had for around £7m and £35-45k a year. By the figures provided we can easily afford him.
Who do we go for?
Obertan. Languishing in Man U reserves for years. Cost pretty much what we got for Routledge. Almost certainly half the wages of Barnetta.
Said to be skillful but have problems with confidence and handling pressure (he won’t get pressure from playing in front of 52000 then?)
Has had problems with stepping up even when he played in France, as his coach Laurent Blanc noted when he transferred to Man U.
Pretty much sums up Ashley’s ‘5 year plan’ to me. Aim low and hope fotr the best.
Pootle(Quote)
Jut seen SSN say about a two day medical for obertan? Why? Is it because we have found a player without previous injury concerns so have to drill down and find one? 😆
toonsy(Quote)
im just fed up though guys. remember those champ league nights?
tino against barca?
shearer at inter milan?
remeber bellamy with that goal in eindhoven to get us into 2nd round?
ya i understand we wont get back there, but why not try. why settle? this is NUFC. Over 100, 000 fans in this country alone. The potential is there. Im fed up with all these summer school students who all now have degrees in accounting from the Mike Ashley business school..
DO ONE!
ya’all royally do my head in..
doitforsirbobby(Quote)
CT- over several posts I’ve come to the conclusion you are gullible and really, really don’t know what you are talking about. Fortunately your assumption that I am commercially naive only backs that up.
Right back at ya.
Pootle(Quote)
Pootle
What concerns me more with Obertan, is Pardew says he adds pace?!
He certainly has technical ability and dribbling skills but I’ve seen a distinct lack of pace for a winger. He is quite slow!
JJ(Quote)
JJ, where have you been the last 4xyears, we owe to a secured creditor £150 mill(ish)– Did you have the bank of Toyland in mind?–Banks aren`t lending, certainly not to companies like NUFC whose gearing is skyhigh!
CT(Quote)
@pootie
You’ve just described Routledge in your assessment of obertan.
Loses his bottle in front of the big stage. Like for like ?
Never really seen obertan but there’s a reason for that. He never gets a game.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well we did last season and I’m hoping the same thing happens again, but to be honest, I’m underwhelmed by the transfer activity with the resources available.
The article was thought provoking but totally misleading. These figures are last years and playing in the ccc. It was fatty who dragged us down there let’s not forget.
Bobby Shinton number 9(Quote)
CT, what is our stadium worth? Our playin staff? And the annual income. We surely have enough insurance there.
And banks will always lend (albeit a bit less now). Because even though times are tough. The economy will eventually bounce back.
JJ(Quote)
Bobby not sure you can blame fatty for us going into CCC; the players and manager to blame im afraid players ****…….
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
What about these 2 players we are now being linked with? Erik Pieters, 23, LB and plays for the Dutch nationals, and Ola Toivonen, 25 striker, 34 goals in 75 games for PSV? Pardew was checking on Pieters over the weekend. Maybe these are real targets not just journo nonsense. Anyone seen either of them play? Pieters sounds very interesting but what would he cost (if a lot then we won’t bebuying him I would guess). Is it true Jose will be sold to Liverpool this week for 5.5 M (NUFC.com reporting that now)?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
What they say toonsy? 2 day medical? any reasons why?
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
Liam
Which manager of the four would you blame??? 🙄
Would we have gone down if we didn’t sell Given, Milner, and Zog and not replace them?
Think Ashley was 90% to blame there.
JJ(Quote)
JJ
August 8, 2011 at 17:20
“CT, what is our stadium worth?”
Given the fact that we don’t actually own the land it’s built on, plus with the **** having fell out of commercial property, probably not as much as many people think.
This is why we don’t, and never have, had much secured on the ground as it can’t be used for anything else. It’s highly unlikely that should Newcastle be evicted from SJP that another team will just move in there.
The training ground and land within it is what is, and has previously been, used as collateral.
toonsy(Quote)
JJ – fair point but the players we had should have kept us in the division.
Liam Southern Toon(Quote)
” Now, we have a wage bill of around £50m – pretty much average – but income likely to be around the £90m mark, which puts us around 7th.
Size may not matter, but solvency does – and ours is actually quite impressive.”
Of course any assumptions on being able to afford to get a few more players in even if we don’t shift Jose, Barton etc. until their contracts expire is based around the statements above being true (in the worst case – if the figures are better than that there’s even less argument against it)
If adding 3 players is affordable (according to the above estimates it shoukd be) we should do it sooner rather than later. That way this year could be the consolidation and formation of a new team spirit. The following season we might have a crack at a European spot as the team would have had a year to gel, and we would see the wages bill return to £50m as Barton and Enrique will definitely be gone, Smith and Xisco hopefully too.
Pootle(Quote)