I watched it in my mates front room where he cried like a girl. He’s 6”2 and built like a tank. When his Gran said she didn’t understand why he was so upset he told her to ‘F*** off’.
I was also devastated but I always try to see the silver lining in every cloud. In an attempt to stop him bubbling I gave my opinion that, long term, it could be the best thing to happen to Newcastle. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, I was right.
We had a squad which on paper, was oozing with talent, experience and class. Realistically, most of them were interested in picking up their pay packet instead of points. We had a bunch of overpaid under-achievers which was dragging us nowhere but down.
I genuinely think that if we had stayed up it would have difficult to rebuild a broken squad. I don’t think the likes of Obafemi Martins, Sebastien Bassong, Damian Duff, Habib Beye, Shay Given (although he was one of our best), Michael Owen and Charles N’Zogbia would have been all shipped out and would still be earning mega bucks for little effort or desire.
Newcastle were in serious need of a personnel and financial overhaul. The Championship is the best place for that to happen. Players who, at the time where underachieving are now our key players; such as Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez. It gave a platform for the players left with desire to build their confidence and get that winning feeling. It was a time for ‘lesser lights’ such as Andy Carroll, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique to enhance their names.
Financially it is estimated that relegation loses you £25m instantly, and that is without other specific losses like commercial revenue. We received around £45mil for those four waters above. I think you will all agree that they’re worth nowhere near that. To put it into perspective, Tottenham’s midfield against Aston Villa cost £40mil; arguably the best midfield in the league.
Even though I hate to think about finances in football and want to see Newcastle do well, we’ve even scored on the financial front. The Championship allowed us to greatly reduce our wage bill (by about 50%), find out who really wanted to play for us (anyone remember ‘Mr Newcastle’, Damien Duff?) and rebuild our squad and reputation. It was also great for us, the fans, to get used to expecting a win every game.
When we were promoted back to the Premier League – where we belong in my view – it was clear to see the difference. We had a TEAM and not 11 egotistical money grabbers. Now we were winning those 50/50 balls, going that extra mile. The football may not have been silky and flowing at times but as results showed, it worked. We were putting 4, 5 and 6 past opposing teams. There was a real desire to prove a point.
From a rebuilding the squad perspective we needed to get rid of the overpaid players. To bring in players like Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye and Davide Santon for the fees we paid and the wages we pay, you can’t have players earning one wage and expect the new big boys to take a lower wage. They would want the same, and why not. Ashley may divide opinions, (I personally hate him for some things and realistically think long term he is what the club needed – financial stability) but you can’t knock the way he’s sorted out the way we were handing money out like sweets to fat children.
We’re now one of the only teams around to be financially stable and looking to actually make money. This can only be a good thing long term. It will allow Newcastle United to grow steadily back to where we belong. If we crack Europe then the money will significantly increase. It makes me exited to think of what Mr. Carr could do with £8m-£10m per player instead of £4m-£5m per player.
Yes, relegation was a bitter pill to swallow and yes we shouldn’t have found ourselves in that position but we did. For Newcastle United though it has allowed us to strip down to the bare bones, get rid of the overpaid wasters, half our wage bill, extort Andy Carrol to the Scousers and build a classy, hard working and young squad.
How many of you would have thought we’d be sitting in 4th in the Premier League leading up to Christmas two and a half years ago? If Damien Duff had been just a few inches to the side that day I don’t think we would be anywhere near where we are today.
Fine margins indeed!
Thanks to Ross for sending this in. A well reasoned argument indeed, but do you agree? Was relegation the catalyst to our recent success? Could we have done everything we’ve done since relegation with a Premier League income? Would it have been easier that way? Your thoughts please.
good read, i think it showed who wanted to stay at the Club and fight for the shirt.
Colo and Jonas are prime – they could of said adios to us all and went to a bigger and better club but they ddidnt ( unlike Duff, who i am nearly %100 said he wanted to stay and get us back up – look at him now – what a shame 😉
anyway – we dug deep, got back at first time of asking and look at us – fighting for a place in europe – long may it continue – and lets take all 3 points from AVB and the Blues and may the headlines will read – ” toon give chelsea the bules and A Vacany Beckons at Stamford Bridge”
peter benson(Quote)
Definately was a positive in hindsight. Getting rid of Owen and the other deadwood was a massive role.
The confidence to win games, and regain that winning mentality, and to lower the expectations of the fans and media.
All done wonders for the club as a whole.
JJ(Quote)
Relegation was definitely a blessing in disguise. Duff, Martins, and Beye would have at least hung around for one more year. And what if Shearer remained as our manager and totally flopped the next PL season?!
The players we have brought in, the youngsters we have brought through, and Pardew as our manager have been the reasons for our great start. All of those things would not have been able to happen with the wasters we had here
AndrewT(Quote)
Without a doubt relegation was a good thing for us, I don’t see how anyone can say now looking back it was a bad thing. It gave us a chance to offload the **** in our squad and rebuild from top to bottom. If we had of stayed up would Carroll have been given a chance in the team? I doubt it very much so he was one of the main postives of going down – a 35 million pound postive. It gave Jonas, Coloccini and Enrique a platform to rebuild there careers as well.
At the time being at the Villa game it seemed like the end of the world, to me anyways, the 4 hour bus journey back was just complete fear for the future of the club.
You look at the team spirit now compared to the relegation season its just amazing, Coloccini has went from being one of the reasons we went down to our best player and maybe a contender for one of the greatest captains the club has ever had if he signs a new deal.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
JJ… i dont even think its hindsight. I recall we all loved our season in the CCC and the crack and banter was as good as ever both on here and at st james and on the road. The article above is very accurate though and sometimes in life you need to go a step backwards to move ahead. I think its what we have done. I hope and pray though that we do have some flexability in our wage structure as our captain and leader needs to stay. i think he is vital and as we are making money again now, there is no financial need to sell him unless for pure greed.
craig chisholm(Quote)
it enabled to us to get rid of the dead wood. If we hadn’t of got relagated that season we would of the next or the season after, it was on the cards for a while.
belter99(Quote)
I think going down was the incentive for MA & Co. to take a hard look at the traditional way of assembling a squad in the PL, and look for a better way. Based on where the club stands in the table and where the finances are, I think they have found a way ahead that could be most satisfying.
The big question is will there be a big sell-off this January? NUFC could get a big pile of cash, putting it in a position to buy even better players in the Summer. THe risk being the loss of team spirit and the perception of the club by players and agents. A tricky wicket.
BeeGuy(Quote)
Agree 100% Clearing the decks was just what was needed.For the first time in ages I feel optimistic.Even so still nervous about the January window.
I think playing with belief as the team are now also brings us a degree of “luck” that we have’nt had.Like at Old Trafford 😆 Nice to see Fergy having it for a change 😀
nutmag(Quote)
If we had of stayed up Shearer would of been considered success and then would of demanded a lot of money to rebuild the team and he wouldn’t of got that. Kinnear would of came back, Owen and Viduka would of probably left but the likes of Martins and Duff would of stayed.
The three amigos would of left I feel as well and like Andrew says we wouldn’t of found Carroll and we probably would of went down the next season.
Out of our ‘best’ team there’s only S.Taylor, Coloccini and Jonas who are still here, granted there’s more in the squad but come the summer; Smith, Harper and Lovenkrands will probably be on there way out.
Looking to the future I think getting Smith and hopefully Xisco off the wage bill will be a welcome relief to Ashley and will give us a lot more flexibility in the transfer market.
dan4toon(Quote)
defiantly a good thing everyone at the club now is here because they want to be here not just for the money and i do love the fact that alot the players that deserted are now playing for clubs below us in the league or like the case of owen and bassong playing for clubs just above us but being used as bench warmers occasionally. every player now gives there all and loves the club.
also you look at our now captain when we got relegated i think owen was captain(when he played) he couldnt give a **** walked around disinterested and not putting any effort in now we have colo who is a class player good role model good leader and give his all for the club cant complain really
win against chelsea next game and were got a real good chance of top 4 next season i think.
john(Quote)
I went to work on the monday after we were relegated – got a bit of stick from other team supporters, but the other geordies all said the same thing… at the time it was ‘well we’ll get rid of michael owen and the rest of the money grabbing bastards’
that’s eactly what happened.
The direction in which Mike Ashley went was the correct direction. But is he going too far in that direction, i.e the rumours circulating that Tiote is about to be sold in the new year.
At what point do we start to hold onto our decent players who, imo actually want to be at newcastle united. ❓ ❓ 😕
nobby(Quote)
will mike ashley have the strength of Spurs’ owner and turn big money down????? 😕
nobby(Quote)
Good read don’t totally agree that we could not have cleared the dead wood without getting relegated and fatty and the likes dangle it as a threat so almost everything they do is acceptable , if we sell good players in jan and the money is not put back into players then we will just stagnate time will tell but I want to keep this set of players as long as we can they can play and always put a shift in , long may it last .Making money is great but keeping good footballers in black and white shirts is better .
keith(Quote)
That’s the best Thing that ever happenned to us since Sir Bobby’s Era. We saw who were proud to be newcastle Players (Nolan, Barton, Enrique, Coloccini, Jonas, Guthrie, Nicky ****) and who doesn’t care about the Club (Owen, Bassong, Duff, Beye and others). Last year we saw True Team Spirit, this year even more and I even Barton Nolan Carroll and Enrique have left Newcastle, I will never forget what they’ve done for Us. Now we are financially stable and if we continue to progress with that team, you will have a lot of surprises with the arrival of the financial Fair Play. Hatem Ben Arfa said that he belevies we can get title this year. I love Ambitious People. We have to look higher than top 7, we have an advantage of 10 points over Everton! We have to look HIGHER!! Howay the Lads! R.I.P. Gary Speed, A true Toon Legend
Blackbartoon(Quote)
Great article and absolutely on the button in my opinion.
We obviously didn’t know it at the time but relegation was really a Godsend and I know that sounds daft but it needs a person to sit back and absorb everything from the points leading up to it, to understand that this was the kick in the **** we desperately needed.
Relegation obviously isn’t a requirement for that to happen but at the article suggests , it was the best way to sieve out the smooth from the rough that we had.
I agree also with the article about the fine margins and when you think of the last day against Villa , if Duff’s deflection had went through to Harper instead of past him, we would have started the season with Shearer and possibly shipped out the wrong players.
That’s not a kick at Shearer though, I just think had we stayed up, the fans would have gave him the messiah status (falsely) and the expectations would have been sky high, like us fans think when we get an icon as a manager. Not only would our expectations be sky high but also Shearer’s would be the same and he would believe he could catapult us up there based on nothing really.
Shearer the player..LEGEND…Shearer the novice manager of his home town club…HMMMM…not yet.
Love Ashley or hate him for whatever reasons that are valid or not, one thing no one can deny and that is, he is one very focused individual and has arguably learned more about the full aspects of football in his short time as owner than most owners will know in their full lifespan of owning their respective clubs, because he’s learned the hard way and realized that getting fans on your side has many down falls because the only way an owner can be LOVED by the fans is if he’s willing to splash his life’s earnings into the club unconditionally.
If we are all honest, we all thought we were gonna be riding along on the crest of a wave when we heard billionaire owner didn’t we.
Why I can’t just type ordinary sentences is beyond me lol.
I’m like a yapping old granny talking over the fence to her next door neighbour, stood there is me ammonia stinking tights, pinafore, headscarf and obviously my worn down once fluffy slippers .
Anyway the top and bottom of it is, we appear to have everything in place and can move forward based on this strategy rather than jump one step forward and two steps back based on buy for now and worry later strategy that Shepherd played. 😀
wolfie(Quote)
I have to agree to a certain extent. I do however think keith has raised a great point in that we need to keep these players together for aslong as possible, with maybe 1 addition in january theres no reason why we cant think about challenging for europe.
Paul B(Quote)
Paul, we certainly have to strengthen and I believe we will.
People think the days of the massive signings are long gone but in reality we have only ever had two that you can call massive in terms of transfer fee, Shearer and Owen.
Shearer’s is probably more in the 30 million bracket as of today based on the time we bought him in.
I still believe we will pay out 10 million on a player IF that player is deemed a big key player in taking us upwards.
I like the way we are doing it though because although it appears we are threadbare squad wise, we aren’t as threadbare as we believe .
January might see us bring 2 players in..or 3 if one leaves, assuming it’s a quality player that does leave .
We have a head start on most of the top clubs in terms of identifying quality needed because the top clubs are looking further afield into major signings where as we are identifying rough diamonds that just need cutting and polishing.
Look at Santon…. we might as well have bought him yesterday because he doesn’t play which is clever management by Pardew as he’s looking past the star status of him and keeping faith.
How many managers in the past would have bought Santon and not thrown him straight into the lions den…..probably none..
This is why were are more solid and settled and well drilled and Santon has to be able to follow that before he’s afforded his chance to prove himself.
wolfie(Quote)
Thing for me is that everything that has been done since relegation could have been done easier without losing a year of premier league money, true?
No doubt it was a catalyst though
toonsy(Quote)
Well Toonsy, I do think Prem survival could have given us a platform to push on but I have the feeling that another year with Shearer in charge and basically a squad of players, half of who had no heart and the other half totally devoid of confidence in their own abilities ,could have seen us take a dive the following season and maybe knocking us right back.
Having said that , it ‘could’ have possibly worked out and allowed us to move a bit forward but we would be doing it differently to how we are now and could possibly have had the Peter Crouches and what nots here giving us a Stoke type mentality and steady league finish but with a squad of players who’s Prem life span was latter years rather than early.
It’s all if’s and buts and I suppose a crystal ball would have come in handy..but I like the way we are doing it now and think we have a better than average chance of actually upsetting the league form book as time goes on.
wolfie(Quote)
Great article by the way Ross 🙂
Sorry I never used it sooner but with the match coming up I kept it back 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Excellent article and in my opinion spot on. We now have a team and manager who are on the same wavelength as the fans. We are realistic and relegation helped lower expectations, although expectations were never as high as the media would suggest. A team to be proud of is all we ask and if we continue this steady progress who knows the end to 40+ years of pain may just be that little bit closer.
Gary Cumpson(Quote)
Cheers Toonsy. From what you said about trying to rebuild in the Prem – I don’t think we would have got rid of the players we did. I don’t know what the contract situation was regarding relagation wage reductions (I know sometimes its up to 25% less) which would ensure the money grabbers would be off. I’m not sure we would have been able to rebuild the way we have in the prem. I think it would have been a long hard struggle and, for me, the biggest two things are: confidence and team spirit!
If we kept staying up finishing 16/17th that would mean lots of defeats, low morale and low attendences. Theres no better cure for confidence and team morale than playing week in week out and winning (or at least having a real good chance).
It was like we were a 16 year old girl with loads of potential, the one every one talked about – so we went out and spent loads on fake eye lashes, push up bras and fake tan. We needed to be taken to one side, stripped back to what were all about and show the world what were about a year later. Honest, confident and ready for anyone.
As for losing a years money. I think we can thank Andy Carrol for mopping that bill up.
ROSSCO(Quote)
very good article,and i agree with most on here,relegation was a big turning point for the club.Getting rid of prima donnas who had no time for the team or the fans,was the best thing thats happened to this club in years.I think it brought most people to theyr’e senses,knowing that these sort of players, only come to teams like us for the money.We are far better off with players we have now, who want to play and put every effort into making us a team unit,no more so called superstars, coming in for final big pay day,no more mega buys, coming over with big reputations,only for us, the fans, to wonder how the hell they got the reputations in the first place, because they were absolute **** for us.Leave the established super stars to the big boys,who can afford the ridiculous fees and wages,and follow the path we are taking at the moment,because it seems to be taking us to better places
mg man(Quote)
I’m not so sure I’d put Beye in the greedy bracket. He gave his all for this club. Bassong also did very well for us and Given was and is a legend. If he stayed we would have earnt more points in the Championship and would have finished hiher up in the league last season. Granted Nzogbia was beginning to believe the hype and the move away did him and us good, meanwhile Owen and Duff certainly underperformed big time for the money they were on.
Likewise with Viduka & Martins. Losing Milner for £10m was bad business. His attitude was the embodiment of what the squad mentality is today. If only there were more around like him at the time, we’d never have come close to releagtion.
Essentially Ross, your argument is spot on. We had a lot of overpaid wasters content to sit on their backside and expect results to happen based on past exploits. A feeling of ‘we’re so good, we dont have to try.’ Then when the sh*t hit the fan, they knew they had nothjing to prove and were guaranteed their fat pay checks. Disgusting. No passion for the club at all.
Managing to clear so many out at once was definately for this club’s benefit in the long term, but it could have been managed better and relegation was partly a consequence of diabolical management from ‘play boy’ novices that failed to do their research properly.
Shamrock(Quote)
I think the catalyst was the thrashing at Orient followed by the post match dressing room bust-up. 7th position is a real possibility. Above that would be fantasy island but lets dare to dream. Of course we need to keep all the 1st team and bring in one or two additions, not be tempted by the super rich scumbags. Having said that, Mr. Ashley seems to have this lovely habit of spoiling any feelgood factor at the Toon.
Ptangyangkippabang(Quote)
Firstly Ross, I don’t care how big or upset ya mate is/was, you should have slapped him round the head for speaking to his gran like that mate!!
Having done that, the points you went on to raise would have been **** on for me.
Having been a fan of Newcastle United since the early 80’s I can honestly say that I was starting fall out of love or at least loose interest in our great club….. and didn’t like it!!
But all I was seeing when I was at the games was a disjointed team with overpaid players going through the motions and not giving a **** if they won, lost or drew. Michael Owen only ever spoke about getting fit to play for England or about his horses. Compare that with Demba Ba who apologises because he has to go to the African cup.
I think it’s fair to say that the team that got us relegated was full of household names… great for the kids to put on the back of their shirts but that was all they were good for.
Now we have a team of relative unknowns (certainly at the start of the season anyway), did it’s safe to say that everyone of them has more heart and passion for our club than any of that team (Given perhaps the exeption).
That team was assembled be the previous board, who thought it a good idea to spend 4 yrs of shirt sponsorship money on Michael fucking Owen!!! (i hate that little ****). I just wish we could have got rid of Smith aswell.
I think that this article reminds us that for all the mistakes and annoying thinks the board have done, and are still doing!! They really gone a good job steering us through that time, making some difficult, ruthless and it times seriously unpopular decisions which ultimately paid off.
The team are doing brilliantly this season and all plaudits are well deserved, but it’s left me thinking, are the board having to make more difficult, ruthless and equally unpopular decisions in an attempt to take us to the next stage, or are they, as many feel, simply now trying to asset strip the club???
I still cant decide…..
Sharpy17(Quote)
Cheers paul , the stability and team ethic we have is moving us forward and that’s how we have to keep it stable . Team work can get you so far along with graft but that is all shadowed by good footballers and nufc have 5 or 6 top four players and if wesell them then the good work done in the last 20 or so games will be undone ,the progress needs a small cash investment and retension of good players . Wolfie we have no left back no cover at ch and one good striker we are thred bare and I can assure. you mr ashley will never spend ten mill on a player unless another 40 mill goes the other way .What has he learned !, actions speak louder than words .
keith(Quote)
Its obviously helped us, that much is clear. However, were people really consoling themselves on the day of relegation going “ah well, we can ship out the **** and rebuild ourselves”? I certainly wasn’t. If given the opportunity, I would have taken survival for that poor squad we had and hoped to limp on for a few more years.Worked out brilliantly. Somehow. We’re not always unlucky its good to see 🙂
Newkie(Quote)
Spot on newkie the whole thing was horrible and avoidable ahleys managerial merrygoround caused our relegation but pardew has done a fine job steadying the boat we are all loving the stability and the good form it has brought us .
keith(Quote)
Keith….Naturally Ashley has to take a proportion of the blame for the shambles that ensued after Keegan but I think we have too look a bit deeper than that to see where it really started .
Call it a runaway train on a collision course with doom because that’s where we were at under Shepherd and Hall.
Ashley walked into this club with blinkered eyes and had to carry on when in actual fact things were not what he expected them to be as well all know with him finding out Shepherd was still paying for players on the never never.
Sir John Hall basically acted as auctioneer with Ashley and another consortium.
I liken it to homes under the hammer where some potential buyers bid on a property on the strength of the area alone without actually seeing what the property needs in repairs e.t.c.
At an auction a bidder can’t bid and then say he won’t buy unless he can have six weeks to check that all is well with the property because the auctioneer just stands there and takes the bid from the person willing to take the gamble and Hall knew Ashley was prepared to take that gamble.
Ashley came in and realized he had been cheerfully conned if you like but chose to have a go at it and sanctioned transfer money from the off in a bid to hit on a quick fix option just to steady the ship.
He knew the fans weren’t happy about the football Sam Allardyce was dishing up and took the gamble to bring in a messiah that would lighten the mood and give the fans an exciting hope.
What happened as a result of all that we can all speculate and argue one point against another on, so I won’t go int that.
All I will say is, this was the root cause of everything that transpired from then on..
If Ashley had the benefit of hindsight and also my opinion as well as far as hindsight goes….he should of kept hold of Sam and allowed him a fair crack of the whip, regardless of what he was dishing up in terms of dire football, because we needed a steady ship at that time but we we’re all bowled along on the hope that a Mr magic would come along and not necessarily Keegan.
I apportion the blame to both Ashley and Keegan for obviously different reasons as there are two arguments to every story.
If we are all honest , when we first heard that “billionaire” Mike Ashley has took over, I bet there isn’t a person who can say that they weren’t **** a hoop and immediately thinking of the class type players we could bring in, right?
In a way, it’s took something like this to actually wake us, the club and Ashley to really wake up and smell the coffee.
Just imagine if Barry Moat had bought the club by a beg steal and borrow mentality even before Mike Ashley. Can you imagine the state this club would be in now, assuming Ashley was out of the equation and other consortium’s we’re all talk and no pockets.
It bears thinking about because had Moat took over, we would have had to sell before we could buy or he would be borrowing the money from any bank willing (with interest) to lend him.
With Ashley, everything is done “in house” with no outside lenders charging a Kings ransom in interest.
You can slap your wife for burning your dinner and you can scold your dog for ripping your slippers and pissing on the couch….but equally, you have to kiss and cuddle the wife when she makes you a scrumptious meal as well as patting your dog on the head for barking to go out for a ****.
Ashley has been slapped enough and been scolded enough..but he deserves at the very least a pat on the back for the amazing job he’s done in getting it RIGHT.
wolfie(Quote)
well said wolfie,credit where credits due,only thing ,after reading your thoughts today,im left totally shattered,to top it all off, wor lass is serving alphbetti spaghetti for supper,looks like an early night for me mate. 😆 😆
mg man(Quote)
MGMAN HAHAHAHAHA
wolfie(Quote)
Wolfie, what a load of tripe you want 2 pick the good bits out and not the bad and its like reading war and peace I will pat him on the back if and when he changesand both history and reality tell me and any one who is sane he won’t . What sheperd and hall did was ***** and left the club in a mess but your man is no better ,
Cons- dident do due dilligence , appointed keegan then appointed wise and lied to keegan , lost a tribuneral , appointed kinnear , relegation , carroll money , signing a striker not , making a profit in every transfer window , pr disastor , name change .
Pros- pardew , dealing with debt , scouts and youth setup , undersoil heating .
Judge him on his 3 years not 20 games !
He has done nothing “amazing” and very little “right”
Pros-pardew , paying of debt , scouts and youth setup , undersoil heating .
Judge him on his 3 years here not the last 20 games he has done nothing “amazing ” and got very little right”
keith(Quote)
Wolfie, your conclusion is profoundly bang on in my view.
At a time when world economy has taken such a nose dive, Ashley has done a remarkable job in ensuring our club is in such a good position.
Yes we need players in, but all the signs suggest that will happen in Jan. It may not be 10-20m per player but I think if it’s a player scouted by Mr Carr I think we has confidence the player won’t need to cost a fortune to be a good player.
He could sanction some huge fees for player to appease the barking fans, but look where that has got Liverpool.
Mind you, whilst I’m ready to acknowledge he’s done a better job than he gets credit, if he then starts to sell off the likes of Tiote and Coloccini to the highest bidder then my opinion will quickly change and I will climb down from this fence quicker than Ashley could say Sports Direct.com
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ignore last bit I’m on my mobile , we are football fans carroll money is gone name change money would never be spent on players and if tiote colo etc go that money wnt go in buying players we can’t watch big bundles of money dribble and score goals ! And its not our money its his keeping good players for several years is progress and if we do that I will be over the moon but if he continues to flog our stars then our good spell will not last .
keith(Quote)
I am not an accontant or a shareholder at nufc or a politician I dnt give a toss about the world economy and I dnt care if good players cost 2 pound or 20 mill, I am a football fan and I like to watch good players play football like carroll , milner , nolan , enricque and krul tiote colo and mike ashley so far keeps selling them and not reinvesting any of the money into buying players so that means these are not good deals for us the fans , am I alone in thinking this !!!
keith(Quote)
Keith, if you agree there are cons and pros, then by pros you are acknowledging he has done some good for the club, I agreed with the pros, the cons not so much.
Can’t see how relegation was his fault, but for a deflected Damien Duff goal we would have stayed up!
Also the Keegan tribunal (I may be on my own now) but keegan left… again!!… hear me out.
Yes he appointed Wise and I’m sure things may have when on behind his back, but if he loved our club as much as he claimed, why after such a short period of time did he walk away (again).
Was it because of Wise or was it because he was told, no your not getting the big money for marquee players under this board, dummy spat and off he goes… don’t say no it wasn’t because we’ll never know.
All I do know is, with the same hierarchy and same restrains, hughton and pardew stuck it out alot longer.
All I’m saying is that Ashley is no saint but he’s also not the devil he’s viewed as either
Sharpy17(Quote)
He was lied to and court of law found in his favour that’s enough for me !
There arepros but very few and heavily outweighed by cons and we were relegated over the entire season not 1 game and that was heavily to do with ridiculous managerial changes by the board kinnear !!!!!
If ashley sells tiote or colo and does not reinvest the money as he has done in every transfer window you still think he’s running the club well ?
Maybe carr can find 4 or 5 stars for free every year for ashley to flog for mega bucks , not my idea of progress .
keith(Quote)
Personally think theirs 2 views to this, I loved the championship – the players who stayed did us proud and we were the man u of the division, I’d never been used to expecting to win every game !
But…, how many players stayed because they didn’t get an offer elsewhere, collo, enrique and jonas had been pretty much ***** in their first season, Barton had numerous court cases and Nolan looked a fat lazy coont on 65k a week.
I ain’t knocking them but after one season back in prem Barton, Nolan and Enrique were giving it the big I am and wanting more money as their contracts had limited time
Fair play to jonas who has signed up but would he get 60k a week elsewhere.
This may sound like I’m knocking the players who get us back and who ultimately cemented our place which I’m def not but we look a better side at the moment without 1 or 2 players dominating the dressing room – ultimately Barton, Nolan and Enrique have moved to lesser clubs for long term cash (same goes for Carroll) – I’d do the same but to grow as a club you need to sign players who want to prove something
I’m rambling so sorry for long post, that man city behind the scenes vid really brought it home, players today all know each other, they want to be part of a winning team but ultimately want to earn as much money as possible in the short career they have
Respect for Adebayor on 170k a week !!! Who said he won’t take a pay cut as he sends half his money back to charities in Togo and wants to do that till he stops playing !
Reminds me of Owen,viduka etc ….. Oh hold on 🙂
stevep(Quote)
i honestly think people dont realise, just how bad this recession is, at the moment,its affecting everybody in every day life,and footballs no different.As an astute business man ashley, has, seen this coming,would fans like to see us back to the old days, of spending 10 million or more on players who dont give a **** about the club.Then we end up back in debt, have to sell those players at a massive loss and, end up back at square one,some fans here, are not able to see that, we cant compete with the bigger clubs,at the moment, and hasnt ashley always said there was a five year plan? I can honestly see spurs, and liverpools bubble, bursting in the next couple of years.Because the ammount they have invested depends on champions league football,and if they dont qualify,they are living well beyond theyr’e means,sounds familiar doesn’t it? remember just a few years ago that was us, and look what happened,like it or not i honestly believe ashley saved this club from being the next leeds utd.So lets all give him a chance and see where we end up in a couple of years time
mg man(Quote)
just realised the length of my comment,i’m wolfies apprentice !!!!!!
mg man(Quote)
Didn’t Jonas take a pay cut Stevep I was sure were there was teams after collo and Jonas when we went dw.
the g man(Quote)
Don’t want to compete , just want small gradual improvement .
He is not astute and has not saved the club , look at the facts on the pitch and deal with it , no saviour ha.
keith(Quote)
The facts?
2nd best ever Premier League start?
Joint best defensive record?
Lost ONE game all season?
Also
Attendances bucking trends and going UP?
toonsy(Quote)
Yes that’s all fact and I’m very happy with it pardew is doing great
Fact ,lies relegation broken promises profit taken from every transfer window selling star players there are two sides to this and ashley has been there 3 years not 3 months I think its easy to say everything is hunky dorey , but easy is not always true .
keith(Quote)
how anyone can say a self made billionaire, isnt astute just astounds me,and as for not saving the club,please give me your opinion of where we would be now if shepherd was still here?
mg man(Quote)
Great article mate. Yeah it was a good thing for us. I was there that day sitting in the villa end, had to get a ticket somehow. It was horrible. But i thought at the time it would be for the best and it was.
The 59 Sound(Quote)
Mike ashley is doing right for the club.
The 59 Sound(Quote)
I understand peoples views on Ashley and his dealing with players/ managers/ advertising and to an extent his ability to lie.
All I can say about it though is….welcome to the world of the successful businessman because make no mistake, this bloke does not want to fail, in any venture he sets his mind to and that’s the reason he can party till it’s going out of fashion if he decides to as well as picking up the TAB for all those that venture to the said party.
Make no mistake here… we are under an owner that is ruthless, calculated but equally point blank head on successful by doing the hard work and pissing people off until that hard work comes to fruition.
The best way to judge Ashley is the same way you judge your own boss at your own firm…or if you own a firm..ask an honest person to judge you and you will find out that anything you hear will be similar to how employees( players/staff, look at Ashley and it goes thus…
You probably (for most) think your boss is fair but arrogant but he does run a tight ship and he does get the work force to meet targets through astute business sense in making sure that he appoints the right supervisors/charge_hands/quality control to oversee that the workers perform to the required expectations and will reward those same workers for meeting targets “meaning” your bonus makes you keen to perform the tasks on a regular basis, which not only keeps you in work but keeps your company at the forefront of the market by being “competent”.
Naturally some of you may have a boss who’s choice of supervisors and easy going on the workforce and you can have smoke breaks at the drop of a hat…
When a time comes when your firm closes down due to poor performance , you can sit back and analyze it and you will come to the conclusion that it was a badly run firm..
It’s no different at a football club..
The owner (Ashley) brings in a supervisor (Pardew) and hires his charge- hands (Carver/Stone)..he also hires a quality controller (Carr) who gain a workforce that are all set on achieving targets and if met, the bonus comes with it.
If those targets are realistic every year and met, then the club become competent in the game and the players perform to the required levels because it’s a team effort and no one wants to let the other one down.
They may not like the owner but they will accept that he’s fair and gets the job done because his mindset is about success and failure is not an option.
On the other hand, he could have been an owner like Shepherd and allowed his players to go for a smoke break whenever they choose and what you get is a laid back bunch who are interested in a wage packet for half the effort, which in turn , leads to collapse.
What do we all prefer?
I know my answer. 😀
wolfie(Quote)
I have no doubt he will be succesfull, and success to him is making money and doing it as you say at any human cost and not careing who he upsets .
Now back to the football because we are fans of nufc football club yeh ? He has been here 3 years and for most of that time things have been dreadfull yeh ! And he is selling players and keeping the money yeh !
If you lads want him to have more money from selling players every year then that’s success or we could keep the good players and let carr continue his good work .
I know my answer.
keith(Quote)
everyones entitled to their opinion keith,but you didnt answer my question about shepherd,so would you prefer him to ashley?
mg man(Quote)
Ashley every time! not saying he’s prefect, but he is improving our club and it seems most people agree with that.
Keith, over the last 3 years we have won the championship, finished comfortably in the premier league and currently sit 4th… what’s dreadful about that??
He hasn’t sold our best players, he sold senior players, who, from what Barton has came out and said today are greedy gets full of their own self importance.
To quote Barton “the board wanted to treat us like the paid workforce” referring to a bonus sheet the board wanted the players to sign, in an attempt to avoid a situation whereby players got a fortune if we were ever relegated again.
Yes Barton, you are part of the paid workforce you greed stupid ******* and if the club is relegated then it is down to you as players not performing well enough.. so why should you continue to be hansomely paid whilst everyone else suffers!!!!
Ashley has not kept money from the sale of players, he just hasn’t sent it yet, but he is looking to bring players in in Jan and there may well be some left over for players to come in next summer as well. Also, what he isn’t spending on players he is NOT pocketing, he is using it to reduce the clubs debt to make the club self sufficient.
He did put his money into the club to cover the large wage bill of players such as Barton and Nolan. Players you feel that Ashley forced out, but actually, the truth from Bartons lips is that they were not prepared to sign a contract that protected the club from potential financial ruin if we were relegated again and didn’t come straight back up.
The reality is that players get bought and sold, sometimes at the decision of the board and often because the player/agent work a financially beneficial move for them.
I’m sure you it the start of the season everyone thought, what the hell will we do without those players that left… the reality is that there is live after any player (even Ronaldo for man u).
I don’t want to see any of the current team leave, especially to someone like Chelsea or Liverpool, teams we can be competing with for league places, but, if we are offered stupid money for players we have to consider it, because, as the Carroll deal has shown, a £35m player can be replaced with a free agent.
The true is Keith that the owner and board don’t give a ***** about the fans, but neither do the players… yes they say they do while kissing the badge on their shirts but the truth is that their agents are beavering away in the background.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Keith, MG & Wolfie.. Article up based on the debate you have been having as of late.. Would be interested to hear your take on it.. as well as anyone else i`ve missed out on.. Troy, be good to hear from you too mate
KeithRToon(Quote)
100 percent every one is entitled to an opinion ,
To answer your they we’re both bad for newcastle in there own ways sheperd backed his managers with aroound 20 mill each and I got the pleasure of traveling europe watching the toon play good stuff and get close to league and cup and european success and ashley has the youth setup and scouts we have craved for years but so far hass cashed in on our stars and imo will continue to for financial gain . My answer is some where in between the two of them , but as a football fan !! A uefa semi final in france two fa cup finals and 2nd in the league is better than relegation don’t you think ?
keith(Quote)