Yes I know, a masochist, but it seemed to me there was something that didn’t add up. Well lots actually, but it was the Europe stuff that had me interested. Did it really have such an impact on our season? Was tiredness or a lack of fluency within the team a cause for concern?
When I wrote the earlier article that highlighted the bad run mid-season there weren’t any European games causing the distraction. Also before Christmas we played a different side in Europe to the side we played in the Premier League so tiredness wasn’t a factor.
Now someone suggested that since Pardew is a thorough with his preparation for games the midweek games cut down on his preparation time hence the poor results. So I thought I’d compare results after the European games where after the Thursday we had played at the weekend with games where we had had the whole week to prepare. I also wanted to see if there was any difference between the early rounds of the Europa League before Christmas and the later rounds after Christmas where we tended to play a stronger team and so tiredness could have been more of a factor.
To start with I just looked at the games that followed European Thursday nights. But I noticed that when I looked at the games that happened after other midweek games or midweek games after the weekend the results were consistent. It wasn’t just Europe that was the problem. It appeared to apply to any game where we had limited preparation time. I tried looking at the first part of the season, and the end of the season after we restarted in Europe, but we had midweek games over the Christmas period as well. Eventually It turned out to be a lot simpler than I had thought. Another flash of the blindly obvious.
Surprisingly we actually played 19 Premier League games with five days or more preparation and 19 where we had only two, three or four days and it starts to make interesting reading when you examine them simply. Looking first at the games where we had time to prepare. We played eight at home and 11 away. At home we won three and lost five. Away we won two drew six and lost three. Although both gave us just over a point per game it is clear that at home we were looking for a result whereas away a draw would do. Still interestingly only 21 points from 19 games where we had time to prepare.
It was where we had less time to prepare that things become odd. We played 11 games at home where we won six drew one and lost four. That’s 1.73ppg with a win ratio of 54%. Where did that come from? However, on the flip side away from home we played eight with no wins, one draw and seven defeats. That is crystal clear. Playing away from home with limited time to prepare we were awful. Now I can understand that and it is clear that it must be addressed. But why the wins? I did not expect that.
Looking into the figures a little more deeply. Only two of those wins came early in the season when we beat Norwich and West Brom. But the rest of them came later on. Two factors seem to occur to me here. One was the midweek games were now featuring our full strength team so there was some more consistency to team selection and tactics, although this did not appear too helpful over the Christmas period. Secondly and more importantly the squad had now been strengthened following the January transfer window.
So is Alan Pardew a man that benefits from having time to prepare thoroughly? I suspect he is. There are other factors such as instability of players available that affect that and we only played a series of games with long preparation at the end of the season, after our exit from Europe. However, it is clear that our tactics are very different away from home than at home. It is also clear that having a run of games even twice a week where we are fielding our strongest available players also helps.
There is however clearly a problem with fielding teams away from home with limited preparation especially if we fielded a weakened team a few days before.
So does this leave me with any great confidence in our manager? Sorry to say not really. It appears to me that when things are normal or going well he can motivate the players and get good results and runs together, but I have yet to see any evidence that he can handle a crisis.
All I can hope for is a good pre-season and a settled start to the season.
Italy beating our U-21’s 1-0. Fantastic free kick.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
…Wankley Wankright@146, I did notice that a few posts back but it didn’t quite fit. The mist is now rising though…
Rodzilla(Quote)
G2@151, I thought the ref pushed the England wall way too far away from the ball for the Italian goal. Canny strike though all the same. I hope we don’t look at this Selvey bloke, he was anonymous.
Munich Mag(Quote)
well whats the craic who have we signed ❓
Rods @ 149 throw Stardy in to that film as Jabba’s saddle
Big Dave(Quote)
It grows on you Rodz @152 just like Wankley has grown on us over the years mate. 😆
GeordieTwo(Quote)
You could be right Munich mate @153. I didn’t see much of the game. Still, not a good start to the tournament for us.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
…well I’m glad England lost the neet anyway 😎 , cos I lost on Brazil on Sunday 😡 , and I’m an anti-capalist, er …capalistic, erm catapultistic platypus or sumik anyway. Bollocks to England, and 😯 😯 to my back pocket. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
Dave@154, Stardy has a cameo role as ‘Gerry’ (the random scene-intervening tap-dancing giraffe) in the dirty jacuzzi fuelling scene, about 20 mins from the end.
Rodzilla(Quote)
😉
Rodzilla(Quote)
Rod @ 158 well that would suit him
Big Dave(Quote)
G2 ,I’m passed speculating on who we’ll get anymore since it always seem to lead to bitter disappointment . 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
ROD@149 ,I like the sound of that like.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Not to fret Kimtoon, we’re here to sympathize with you. I think we’ll get a decent striker in but whether he’ll stay decent with us is hard to say. If we don’t strengthen significantly we’ll end up in quite a state as far as I can tell.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Dave, he liked it that much he bought the company. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
..the closest of shaves, or your season ticket money back. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
Make mine a Remingtoon. 😉
They’re the ****. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
…tired of unsightly hair?
…confused over the whereabouts of your club captain?
Try NEW
PARDEW-NO-NO-FKN-GO-GO! 😯 😯
….it makes everything **** off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ROYH-VfsMA
Rodzilla(Quote)
Interesting fact many people may not no, but Mike Actually Ashley owns the same company that owns NoNo. 😯
Rodzilla(Quote)
..well my pizza’s coming on nicely anyway.
Squirrel and tarragon wafts rock. 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
…better feed the chickens too before that snowstorm hits the Wash.
Rodzilla(Quote)
The tarragon really enhances the squirrel doesn’t it Rodz? I like a little pigeon on there as well. Mmmm.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Pigeon is mint 😎
Rodzilla(Quote)
Two pigeons is Doublemint 😎 😎
http://www3.images.coolspotters.com/photos/233576/wrigleys-gum-profile.jpg
Rodzilla(Quote)
Three pigeons
Four pigeons
No more faakin pigeons please.
Rodzilla(Quote)
….CHARLIE UNIFORM NOVEMBER TANGO
WE GOT A PIGEON CONGESTION EAR HEAR. 😕
Rodzilla(Quote)
Goodnight Ladies
Rodzilla(Quote)
“Pretending to bid for players when they hadn’t” unbelievable, just unbelievable!
Stuart79(Quote)
😯 I see the back stabbers we out again last night 🙄 😥
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Bertolucci and Paloschi who were on the Italian bench tonight are both very talented young players – an ACM and CF respectively.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Have we signed anyone yet? 🙄
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Keegan describes second stint at Newcastle United as ‘A living nightmare’
Kevin Keegan
By Lee Ryder | 6 jun 2013 07:24
Kevin Keegan has suggested that Newcastle United will never be the same club while Mike Ashley is in charge.
In a powerful interview with Sky Sports he told cricketing legend Steve Harmison that his second stint as boss was a “living nightmare”.
Explaining his time under Ashley he said: “I got a phone call from Terry Mac, I was up in Glasgow and he said ‘They’d like to talk to you’.
“I went down to talk to them.
“I quite liked Mike Ashley.
“I thought ‘Yeah, this could be good’.
“But no it was a nightmare, an absolute living nightmare.
“In the end it isn’t easy to win a court case or take a club to court.
“But I didn’t see it as being Newcastle, I saw it as Mike Ashley, Dennis Wise, a guy called
Jimenez and Derek Llambias.
“The Newcastle club now has no interest on that side, the fans, the team and we talk about it a lot through all my friends and the ex-players I know.
“Until they leave that football club, it has no interest for me.
“They are not that football club.
“They are just the custodians who are in for a few years.
“It might be five, 10 or six.
“But Newcastle United will go on after Mike Ashley.”
Harmison went on to ask Keegan if he would ever return and he said: “I think the answer to that is, you never know.
“Football clubs are about people.
“When Sir John Hall rang me and said ‘The two people who can save this club are the ones talking to each other now’, you thought wow.
“That is a simple thing to say.
“But actually that’s all you need.
“People say ‘Never go back’.
“But I did go back.”
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@KK
I agree. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
TROY i agree too,i see the swansea manager is about to walk!,is jabba waiting to to grab him,is he ***** 🙁
icedog(Quote)
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/andy-carroll-disappointed-newcastle-united-4065130?
icedog(Quote)
Ice
Though I would love to see Carroll back in a black n white shirt, I don’t blame the regime this time for turning down £15m transfer fee and huge wage demands.
Realistically, I would love to see him here for around £10m and for him to show his commitment by taking a wage cut to the same as Cisse, whatever that is. (Probably around £60k)
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Bloody hell that KK interview blew me away 😯 I had no idea he was so bitter toward Ashley and co.. He has kept those cards close to his chest 😆 😆
Agree with Troy at 185 😯 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
😯 😯
http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/new-report-reveals-how-much-money-newcastle-united-owe-mike-ashley/?
icedog(Quote)
So fulham have signed steckelenburg, come on ash pull your finger out.
Newkie(Quote)
Ice-Crikey, I thought it was below 150 mil at least 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Icedog – Are you saying that Ashley is no better than the Glaziers really? What type of guy buys a football club then whacks what it cost him to buy the club onto the club as debt?
If this is true it’s quite strange as every other individual owners of football clubs have turned all their outlay into equity. Not big Mike though…
Stuart79(Quote)
it beats me whats ganning on 😕 😕
icedog(Quote)
KK is a ledgend and is 100% right 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Morning All,
Ice – that article is a little misleading IMO to be honest mate:
‘Newcastle’s ‘debt’ to Ashley will be a combination of debts ran up with relegation and disasters such as employing Dennis Wise and the money Sam Allardyce wasted, plus the money Ashley originally paid for the club has been converted into debt. It would make little sense for Ashley to charge himself interest but I suppose it is better to have a rich crackpot owner than a poor one.’
‘Plus the money Ashley originally paid for the club has been converted into debt?!’
Of course it has!. He doesn’t buy a football club and immediately make money off it.
To me that’s not debt it’s a running cost isn’t it?!.
When I bought my house I entered into an agreement with the bank for a mortgage which will run for another 20yrs 🙁
However, if I sell my house in the meantime I could make a profit – coz I won’t sell to make a loss, and neither would Cashley you’d have to assume. He’d sooner keep hold and continue to pay his mortgage off – or in his case his own personal interest free loan.
If he sold the club though he’d get that back, so is it investment or debit?!
I knew that business degree would pay off one day 😛 And they wanted me to go into Russian politics 🙄 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice – I’d be interested to find out if that loan is still interest free now he’s got Wonga in and no longer using the club and ground for free advertising for SD.
There was an arguement that one off set the other last season, but obviously now that’s not the case I’d be interested to know if he’s stuck to that arrangement.
Sharpy17(Quote)
How the F 😈 does that work? He buys the club for £130 and states the club owe him. What’s the point in that? I take it its a tax dodge?
I love it when some try and defend him by saying that he gave us a £120m interest free loan.
Also that he stopped us from going bust. 🙁
If he hasn’t made so many **** ups which resulted in relegation which added £40+ to the bloody loan then it wouldn’t have been so big.
What’s often overlooked is a large portion of that debt was a mortgage for the ground expansion which was manageable.
Who is to say that Fat Freddie would not have curtailed his spending inline with most other clubs who did at the same time as Ashley. Only fat Freddie may not have emptied the bath of all its toys including the plug like Ashley did and we sunk down the plug hole.
If anyone took this club close to oblivion then it was Ashley by getting us relegated taking us into massive debts and it was a great deal of fortune that the championship was not as competitive as first thought. Plus they couldn’t offload the star players which actually saved us.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
i thought the clubs debt was 110 million. ashley probably paid 10-20 million of that by now and the debt is still the same.
terry(Quote)
Troy, settle down big fella, you are pulling imaginary figures out of thin air to plead your rage 🙂 Unless you are privy to all the details, you need to dismount off your high horse and relax..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
However, Shepherd defended his tenure at St James’ Park, saying: “It’s absolutely ridiculous to say the club was in a mess and going to the wall.
“It was in good shape when I left. The only reason he had to pay a large portion of the debt was the cost of the stadium.”
“Ashley should get back what he has put in, about £230m. That would prove he does love the club and is doing right by the club, rather than what is right for him. A lot of people can buy football clubs. It has now been proved not many can run them.
“He can’t ask for any more than he has put in there. If he doesn’t want to capitalise on Newcastle United, if he loves the club so much, then surely he will sell for its true worth.”
“But if you look at today’s prices, it was a great deal to build and expand St James’ Park when we did. There was a clause in the contract that if the Halls lost control of the club, the money for the stadium had to be repaid immediately, so the largest part of the debt was the stadium.
“He had to pay around £57m. To build that stadium now would cost £450m. We probably spent £50m for the expansion.
Shepherd also defended Newcastle’s degress of success under his regime. “I make no apology for the fact we were in the Champions League twice and qualified for Europe more times than I can recall, ” he said.
“When I left, plans were in place to bring in new money, to expand the ground again and develop the site with a new hotel, casino and other enterprises. All the funding was arranged.
“I’ve kept quiet while a lot has been said and written about our regime, but we will stand by our record, the Halls and the Shepherds. We left all the tools there and a good set of players. They weren’t the greatest in the world but a lot of very good ones. We have got nothing to be ashamed of.”
Shepherd has already been approached by two consortiums preparing bids for Newcastle.
“There are people who would buy the club, no doubt about that,” he said. “I’ve been approached by two consortiums. There is always somebody who will buy the club.”
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@Aussie
You still upset with me 😯
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Ashley better show some ambition this summer. I don’t expect it but there’s no excuse if he doesn’t.
We need to go into the new season with the fans united in believing we have a good enough squad to at least compete for a Europa placing.
That will require major additions to the squad and that doesn’t necessarily mean spending double figures on each player. But we need to see many more astute buys plus a couple of ambitious ones.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy – I certainly wouldn’t defend Ashley, but I do acknowledge the fact that Ashley has not charged interest on that loan as it probably saves around £10m per season.
That said, I don’t agree with this term debit. Surely it’s an invest isn’t it?!.
To take Aussies point on board and leaving random figures out of it, I’m sure Ashley didnt wake up one day and think, I’m gonna put myself in debit with a football club. He invested his money in the club and it was obviously a good decision as he’s put money into Rangers as well.
If nothing else he’s raised the awareness of SD (I initially wrote profile 😳 ).
If it was a debit ridden industry would the bloke have an 8yr plan?. Lets be right, hasn’t NUFC just got something like £60m from a new TV deal?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Troy – I’d take what Shepard said with a pinch of salt to be fair though mate. I mean politicians make a career out of blaming the other party. Shepard was hardly likely to come out and say ‘what a mug!, we’ve really had one over on him there like 😆 ‘. He’s also hardly likely to encourage Ashley to make fortunes out of our club – good lip service, but I’m sure if the boot was on the other foot he may not agree.
Sharpy17(Quote)
@Sharpy
Neither are ideal owners but I don’t accept Ashleys point of view that he saved us from oblivion and he’s done us all a great favour.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
http://mobile.newsnow.co.uk/A/649567490?-11058
Nice attitude from a young lad at a new club like. Maybe this is Simpsons replacement.
As much as I want to see new players in in the summer, I also want to see players like this kid, Campbell and Bigi being brought into and used in the first team squad too.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Has Ashley stated that he has saved us from oblivion?? More hysteria from Troy 🙂 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Troy – neither do I mate. I think it was probably a reaction to Shepards comments.
I’d be interested to see SDs figures since he took NUFC on as well. I’d reckon that they have grown as a company with the free advertisement around SJP and Ashleys profile has risen since becoming the owner of NUFC as well.
It’s allowed him to get his fat fingers into afew more pies (and I’m not talking Puka ones either mate)
Sharpy17(Quote)
WHU are going to offer Carroll a 6yr deal worth £100k pw 😯 😯 – go for it!
I’m forever blowing bubbles … I’m forever blowing fortunes more like it I think!!.
That’s a fee of £12-15m and wages of £31.2m over the 6 yrs 😯
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy @207 , That’s mental and I wish someone could please explain to me how the hell West Ham can afford that when according to the owner they have £100m of debt and are only putting £15m into revamping that new stadium due to pleading poverty leaving the tax payer to foot the £60m bill for the majority of the work and Newham council the sum of £38m towards it. 👿 . Effectively the tax payer has funded their Carroll signing if you think about it. Also how much more will West Ham be worth with a nice new stadium 🙄 talk about nice work if you can get it,, it’s a fecking outrage if you ask me. 😡
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim – whoever a WH negotiated the stadium deal – we need at our club this summer sorting our transfer!!.
I’d be asking a few questions if I was in charge of one of the other clubs bidding for the Olympic stadium, especially the smaller ones who could have put that financial relief to better use.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy ,It totally stinks if you ask me ,wasn’t it Leyton Orient who weren’t happy about it . And god knows what Spurs make of it. You would think the Government would be raising a few eyebrows at that Carroll deal ,but the truth is they most probably just want the thing off their hands now.
KIMTOON(Quote)
@Aussie
I have really upset you haven’t I ? 😯
Soz fella. 🙄
I never knew you would take my banter so seriously. 😛
Lets get over this fella and move on. I’ll try not to rattle your cage so badly next time. 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Apparently Ashley took on the £100m loan so as to free us from interest and then in our relegation season he put in another £38m to cover wages and what have you ,don’t know where any extra debt as come from 😕 When it comes to our owner all matters Newcastle United are as clear as mud. 🙄
KIMTOON(Quote)
The truth is we’ll never get to the bottom of NUFC’s finances Kim. Or Ashley’s. We’ve never known the truth about Hall or Shepherd’s either. I could go further back than that but what’s the point. Even if we were given the full definitive financial details we wouldn’t be able to make sense. Best just to be nice little know nothing howay the lads fans.
georgio(Quote)
@Kim
The extra debt is being shown as the price paid for the club £140m.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy @214 ,What 😯 That’s investment /equity not debt surely 😕
KIMTOON(Quote)
Troy 🙂 🙂 no huff mate……. just giving you a bit of your own back. You don’t mind calling people out for broad sweeping statements, so I thought I would see how you handled it 🙂 🙂 for the record, you failed miserably 🙂 🙂 🙂 crumbled like tissue paper under the scrutiny 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
@Aussie
Ooh I could crush a grape. 😛
@Kim
If you read the link Icedog put up earlier it explains it.
It will just be a tax dodge I suppose.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy ,will do
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim as I said when there was lots of ones on here telling us how good jabba was and how he saved our club from going bust etc etc, what good has it done us we dont see any benefits from our interest free loan or all the free advertisement he gave to SD .
I would take my chances with FFS anyday as was well known but brushed under the carpet that most of our debt then was for our ground, but as Troys post said we enjoyed CL footie FA cup finals and seeing some top players etc etc .
What has Jabba gave us one fuk up after another with a relegation in between
Big Dave(Quote)
Big Dave, if you are going to guess that we would be better off with FFS still at the helm, then people are equally entitled to guess that we would be worse off. FFS knew the club was in finacial trouble and wanted out asap. I wonder if he mentioned the owed stadium money during the negotiations 🙂 🙂 🙂 A rat deserting a sinking ship comes to mnd..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Yes ashley should have checked the books out and conducted dd, he ****** up big time. But regardless, the debt was there and he found out about it the hard way.. I wonder what type of of owner he would have been, if he hadn’t been lumbered with the debt..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Aussie – exactly the same! Unless you’re implying he has a nicer side?
georgio(Quote)
funny things come to mind looking at all this money talked about,i remember my old dad saying to me in the 60s show me a man with a million and ill show you a crook,plenty of crooks knocking about now 😆 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
Aussie your right people are equally entitled to guess that we would be worse off. 😉 well done 😀
Ice your right and whilst I know FFS was a crook he never caused us half the amount of ***** that Jabba and Co have
Big Dave(Quote)
Do chairmen and owners really get credit for CL and European football or good cup runs?!.
Personally I think players wise there isn’t much difference in terms of the quality of the squad while FFS and MA were/have been in charge.
The difference for me has been the management of those players.
FFS had some numpties during his time, but also had KK and SBR who coincidentally were in charge at the times FFS is claiming credit for the CL and cup runs.
Sharpy17(Quote)