A strike from Loic Remy in the third minute of stoppage time gave United the points after a forgetful game of football which had 0-0 written all over it.
To be honest I think United just about deserved the win on chances created as Paul Lambert’s pre-match proclamation of starting on the front foot never came to pass.
The home side were understandably edgy and the lack of confidence was visible in a first half which saw Loic Remy and Papiss Cisse spurn decent chances in front of the Leazes whilst Gabriel Agbonlahor will perhaps feel he should have done more with a couple of chances which proved to be Villa’s only real threat of the match.
The second half was a bit better with Vurnon Anita attempting to drive things on from midfield. However it was the introduction of another Dutchman that tipped the game in our favour.
Luuk de Jong offered us a link between midfield and attack and his willingness to close things down nearly resulted in the home side taking the lead after he robbed possession from the Villa defence on the by-line before squaring the ball across the box to an onrushing Loic Remy who had the simple task of guiding the ball into a half-empty net only to see his effort rebound off the post.
That was until de Jong’s deflected shot fell to Loic Remy deep into stoppage time. The French striker had his back to goal and was being marshalled closely by Ron Vlaar but his quick turn and thumping shot flew into the back of the net ensuring that it was United who picked up the points on offer.
All in all it wasn’t a great game and certainly won’t be listed anywhere near the top of our best performances, but it was a win which is what was needed above and beyond everything. The proverbial monkey off our back has been removed now and hopefully this result can inject some belief back into a squad that has lost direction in recent weeks.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Paul Dummett; Moussa Sissoko, Cheik Tiote, Vurnon Anita, Yoan Gouffran; Loic Remy, Papiss Cisse
Subs: Rob Elliott, Massadio Haidara, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Steven Taylor, Dan Gosling, Shola Ameobi, Luuk de Jong
Aston Villa: Brad Guzan; Leandro Bacuna, Ron Vlaar, Nathan Baker, Ryan Bertrand; Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph, Karim El Ahmadi; Gabriel Agbonlahor, Christian Benteke, Andreas Weimann
Subs: Jed Steer, Yacouba Sylla, Grant Holt, Ciaran Clark, Marc Albrighton, Aleksandar Tonev, Joe Bennett
Attendance: 50,417
🙄 *Ashley is getting at St James…*
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
I dare say a bit more than you mate (from tickets and Sports Direct). But that’s not the point. ‘Revenues have rocketed by 23.5% at Mike Ashley’s retail firm Sports Direct for the first half of the financial year after rapid growth overseas. Online sales grew by 43% and now contributes 15.5% of total Sports Retail sales, and the firm is now active in 19 countries after further expansion into Europe.’
Ashley has placed French Advertising on the boards and coupled that with French fans tuning in to watch Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Remy, Debuchy, Sissoko etc. He’s not daft, he’s using the club as an advertising vehicle. Plain and simple. The club has to wipe its own nose. But the problems start in the summer if he thinks that will happen. At the moment, with Remy at on end, and Colloccini at the other we have ‘a chance’. Without them forget it. When the summer comes they need to be replaced with QUALITY and I can’t see that happening, for that will cost money.
DJG(Quote)
DJG, I am not going to get into a pissing contest over who spends more money as I shell out a shed load of coin so I can watch the games here in OZ. The money you pay for tickets goes to the clubs finances and not to SD! If you shop at SD well you are adding to Ashleys profit. So are you saying that the advertising Ashley is getting through the club is generating more sales in every country that he has stores located in? We have barely played in Europe during his tenure here so how has the European market been exposed to his company? Here is a clue, maybe through other advertising campaigns??? It makes me wonder how the stores that he has ties with in the middle east make money, they wouldn’t see his only form of advertising at St James Park!
Ashley is a scum bag but let’s not get all hysterical and claim that we are lining the feckers pockets! The statement is ridiculous..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Curtis Good in the Socceroos squad for game against Ecuador. It’s a new squad, buiding for the future and giving a few fringies the chance to prove themselves worthy of a trip to Brazil (and be part of the likely tonking at the hands of Spain, Holland and Chile 😆 )
Nice to see local lad Ben Halloran in there. He plays for Fortuna Dusseldorf in 2nd div Germany now. He used to live around the corner from me and was part of the under 15 school team I coached 7 years ago.
A quarter of the squad either plays for the Roar or used to play for them. 😆
brisvegas(Quote)
🙄 Wow and he didn’t even mention that the current Socceroos coach, used to coach the Roar as well! 😯 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Newkie – ideally you want better players but it doesn’t necassarily need to be the case – for example, Man Utd didn’t get a better player than Ronaldo, Arsenal didnt get a better player than RVP and Spurs didnt get a better player than Bale.
What they did do though is use the money to good effect and strengthen cross the team, instead of just having one individual class player.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I thought I’d leave that for you, Oz. 😉
I could’ve mentioned that but for injury there’d be another one as well. But you know me, I’m not one to brag.
brisvegas(Quote)
Sharpy-Aye, and if Arsenal still had RVP they would probably have won the league this season! There is no replacing Ronaldo because he is the second best player in the world (at least) by a decent margin. I would say we need at least 3 starters for next year and they need to be of quality to replace those who’ve left, then we can spread some around getting better squaddies, if that happens. It’s different for sides which already have a good 11 and want rotatable options like manure or spurs, we aren’t in the same position imo.
Newkie(Quote)
Aussie have to say your talents are wasted on here, you should get intouch with Stardust to see if Jabba would give you a job to help out Wendy Taylor.
Big Dave(Quote)
Aussie, Just a little thing, but isn’t it true that Sir John said Ashley told him his main reason for acquiring the club was to help promote and advertise SD to a larger audience ?. I’m not saying DJG is right but it is remarkable the huge increase in SD profits since he took control of us.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Thanks Big Dave, that was really nice of you to say!
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Kim, I have absolutely no doubt that Ashley is using the club to promote his SD business. That is not at question here, its the statement that he is lining his pockets with our money. It is simply untrue unless you shop at his store! I am arguing the point in the interest of a balanced debate. It does my head in when people make these types of statements with nothing to back it up, it is nothing more than rhetoric.His business has continued to grow but do you really believe that it is on the back of money from Toon fans!
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Kim it would seem pretty obvious that having the club has helped SD, and as you said that was Jabba’s reason for buying the club so he must have known it would help.
But that wont stop the Jabba boys from trying to twist it round 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Aussie, His pockets are being lined through bigger profits on his SD brand, which has had a direct boost due to the promotion of the brand all over SJP. My point really is if he had sold the advertising space to a different company then the revenue raised could of gone towards player recruitment in some part, as it is, we as fans see no revenue from that department at all. You would expect the owner and club to actively work at bringing as much revenue as possible into the club to help us compete financially with the other clubs. Does it not strike you odd that while our revenue has significantly dropped off his SD brand profits have soared?, that tells me that his company is benefitting from him owning us whilst we appear to be cash poor .
Regarding his loan to the club/himself for that is what it is, I am afraid I have zero sympathy toward him having to do that . It was his own fault for failing to carry out DD when buying us, he wanted the deal pushed through quick and obviously cut corners to of missed that . Well that’s bad news for him and even worse news for us sadly as it pretty much makes the club unsellable with that lump sum on top the asking price unless someone has money to burn like. Fear we are stuck with him but live in hope that this summer he will show some commitment and do the right thing player recruitment wise and start to show a bit of ambition for the club .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Newkie – I know what you mean mate but I still think the Cabaye money is enough for at least 2 very good players – £10m to replace him and £10m to replace Remy.
I honestly think that £10m would be enough to buy Siem De Jong, Grenier or Cabella – SDJ probably the closest like for like replacement so we may have to change formation slightly if we got one of the other 2.
I think Chelsea would probably let Ba go for £10m or less – as long as they recoup the money spent on him. I think Ba could replace the goals but I think Remy is a better player.
Ba is just an example like, I’m not saying he’s who we should or will go for.
I think Gomis would be good for at least 10 goals a season and a couple of assists – so that puts him streets ahead of Shola!.
Do we look to buy Luuk De Jong or loan him for another season first to get a proper look at him?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ki- I think 3hrs and Aussie really are missing the big picture. He did put extra money into the club, £129m by all accounts. But really he is the club. It’s his. The whole thing. So he released £129m on his asset. That is not a loan. It’s moving money from your right pocket to your left.
georgio(Quote)
Sharpy – Grenier looks like the perfect replacement for Cabaye. In impact on the team I mean. However, he’s faster, fitter, gets forward more and even better with the dead ball. Lots to like.
georgio(Quote)
Did people moan about the shepherd offshore and metrocentre signs at SJP ??
I very much doubt those crooks paid for that, This will happen at clubs the length of the country. Compared to his appointments at board and management level, Player recruitment policy, Lack of communication, Smear campaigns against club legends, Disdain for european competition and domestic cups; The free advertising gripe is small fry to me…
CC(Quote)
Georgio the point is that the loan is real money and if he sold the club he would have to get back £262 million that is made up of the £133m he paid for the club plus the loan of £129m. If he sells the club for less than that he will lose real money.
Yes Ashley owns the club and it is moving some of his wealth from one pocket to another if you like but he has had to physically find that cash and put it into the club. The only way he gets that money back is if he sells the club for £262 million or more or if he takes his loan back bit by bit from any profit the club makes. It’s really that simple.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Sharpy-it should be enough for two good players but I fear we restrict ourselves a lot by looking at the French market. I’m not sure we could get Grenier for 10 mil although if we could I’d be happy with that. The French know that any players they sell to us are likely to increase in value, we are well known for hard ball and they will act accordingly. 20 Mil may get us two good players but then you need to figure that with the new TV deal and the fact there are two of them, wages for each individual could be 50k or more, I think Siem would want that or higher so will we see that as sustainable? Ba was superb for us but I doubt we can get him back while he’s on 90/100k. I just hope they have Carr in Germany and Spain as well, two dutch, one german and 205 French doesn’t seem right to me.
Re De Jong keep playing him I guess and see what he can do. I was all in favour of Cisse being given the games to get back in to form but if it’s going to cost us games as it almost did vs Villa… 😕
Newkie(Quote)
CC-Aye that’s a good point. I think a lot of it is just because it’s seen as “tat”. Although boardings I can handle the rest of the coverings seems OTT to me. But I can see why he uses this as his interest payment on the loan, he could easily have charged the club a slightly lower interest than the banks if he was interesting in paying himself directly without aiding the SD shareholders.
Newkie(Quote)
Kim dont forget to count what the club shop would have made as we no longer have that as SD are now running it, probably rent free.
But sure why worry about all that sure we have to pay back the loan that Jabba had to loan himself because he fuked things up.
Big Dave(Quote)
3hours-you’re pretty good at this stuff, what did the debt stand at when Ashley took over? Was it 129 mil? Or was that added to what relegation cost us?
Newkie(Quote)
3hrs – my last word on the subject mate. And no offence intended, I know where you’re coming from and it’s very easy to get lost in the finance speak the board like to sling around.
“but he has had to physically find that cash and put it into the club.”
He is the club – it’s not some separate entity that he lends to.
georgio(Quote)
I am not missing any point Georgio.. some people need to take their blinkers off.. yes his business has grown, there is no disputing that. But none of you can say for sure if it is attributed to the free advertising, you are all assuming this. Any way my point is about all the apparent money he is stripping off us toon fans and lining his deep pockets with.. it aint happening but it seems the free advertising is clouding the issue.. please can some one tell me what money he has stripped from us supporters!
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Newkie – wage wise should be ok, coz we’ve lost Cabayes, Remys, Jonas, Sholas – at the very least in the summer. That should be around £200k pw.
I agree with you about casting our scouting net wide though. I’d add Belgium and South America to that as well.
Georgio – I really like the look of Grenier and think he’d be a cracking signing. But I was thinking that SDJ played alongside Anita at Ajax didnt he, so getting him in may also help Anita’s game as well.
I’m a fan of Jake Livermore as well to be honest. He’s not as technically good as the others mentioned, but he’s dead solid and would be a cracking option alongside Tiote.
Those 2 in midfield would allow us to play 4-2-3-1 formations.
Lewis Holtby would be another option for a Spurs player they are probably looking to get rid of.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Newkie this is a good analysis of the Toon’s finances and covers the debt that Ashley inherited and the money he has put into the club in the form of loans
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/newcastle-united-life-in-northern-town.html
Georgio do you think that the £129m loan is somehow not real money or do you accept that it is and would have to be paid back either by selling the club are by taking it back gradually from club profits?
3hourswasted(Quote)
This is an earlier analysis of the finances covering what happened under Shepherd and the first years of Ashley.
http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/newcastle-uniteds-finances-in-black-and.html
3hourswasted(Quote)
This is the interesting bit from the link above:
In spite of this, the club’s previous excesses have resulted in significant debt of £282 million, though only £150 million is held in the books of the football club with the remaining £132 million held in the holding company. The vast majority of this debt represents loans from Mike Ashley of £243 million, but there is also a bank overdraft of £36 million, which is a significant increase on the prior year balance of £1 million. Since the 2009 year-end, Ashley advanced a further £25.5 million to keep the club ticking over in the Championship, so his total investment in the club now stands at £268 million, represented by £132 million to buy the club, £70 million to repay loans and £66 million working capital.
Because most of the loans are from the owner, instead of banks, some commentators have argued that the club is effectively debt-free, though it should be noted that Ashley’s loans are now repayable on demand, whereas they were previously only repayable on demand in the event of a change of control (ownership). That said, it is clear that it is better for the football club to borrow money from the owner, as these loans are unsecured, which means that Ashley has no guarantee of repayment, and non-interest bearing. This has been important to the club’s finances, as the net interest payable has been reduced by £5 million a year.
More to the point, Ashley’s loans have been critical to the club’s survival, as it is far from clear that they would have managed to secure refinancing from the debt market. For example, Barclays Bank has insisted on securing its lending on assets and cash from transfer fees, while the last loan obtained by the previous regime under chairman Freddy Shepherd was at the prohibitively expensive interest rate of 11.72%.
In fact, it is fair to say that the previous ownership had mortgaged the club to the hilt, securing loans on virtually all the club’s assets (training ground) and future income streams (TV, sponsorship), though they would argue that this was used to fund the stadium development. Whatever the reasons, when Ashley bought the club, the holders of the loan notes invoked a change of control clause, forcing the new owner to immediately repay the £45 million outstanding, as opposed to the annual installments until 2016 that he had anticipated.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Sharpy-Aye, but that covers about four good players, or 2 elite ones (Remy/Ba). Remy might have one move left in him but I think this next move from QPR will be the big money one and I think we’ve missed out on a financial level by not signing him in the first place.I know what you’re saying and we’re definitely capable of improving the squad but I just have my fears, I don’t think we necessarily have the scouting network (that’s why I didn’t mention S.America, tbh I can’t see Carr being the kind of guy to wander through Rio and make match reports there, and I doubt we even have a network set up there, it’s not like we inherited one from Shepherd.) It just seems we pick some fairly obvious candidates and go from there. Haidara is really the only one people didn’t know, he and Goof were the ones that weren’t spoken about prior to joining, alongside Tiote several years earlier. They have worked out very well but can we reproduce this?
On top of that I’m not sure we have the right kind of person to get the deal done and get it done appropriately. I’m assuming Charmley is now leading on this!?
Newkie(Quote)
3hours-yeah that guy is really interesting, I’ve read the Newcastle related post before but I’m too lazy to go back into it and I was hoping someone knew off the top of their head 😛
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – I agree that Charnley needs a Chairman or DoF, coz we are going to have a busy summer I reckon.
I seriously hope we get our finger out before the summer though, and are active as soon as the window opens and don’t mince on like we have in the past!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Newkie it looks like the total debt he inherited was about £100 million. This was increased when we got relegated. The total debt is therefore higher than current the difference being that it is owed to Ashley in the form of an interest free loan rather than owed to banks. Obviously Ashley has to take responsibility for relegation and he had to put his hand in his pocket again as a result thus increasing the debt.
The major difference is going forward v when Shepherd owned the club, is we no longer owe money on players that we bought earlier and haven’t borrowed against TV rights and season ticket sales. This means the increased revenue that flows to the club each year is available to fund player purchases and/or pay off Ashley’s debt.
I would think that in the season 2013/14 the revenue should increase by about £50m this is made up of £8m for Wonga sponsorship, £20m for sale of Cabaye (IF it was all paid up front), £14 million in increases PL TV deal and £7m in improved league position. There will be some downside accounted for by lack of Europa League gate receipts and TV revenue and obviously we had Virgin Sponsorship before Wonga but that should still meant there is money in the club in the summer. Whether much gets spent remains to be seen.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Sharpy-exactly. It tells you something about the kinnear appointment that getting Llambias back would be a move in the right direction. Chilling as that sounds. I would much rather have him negotiating than the previous fruitcake. But preferably someone without many personal ties to Ashley would take the role….but on past appointments it’s hard to see that happening.
3hourswasted-Yeah I know mate, I agree with those points and have argued them in a sort of “pro ashley” way before. The reason i’d asked about the debt before he took it on was more to see just how much relegation added on, or whether this “add on” loan was perhaps deemed separate i.e he would look to take this loan back first prior to the one he gave us when he initially took over-or whether it was all one big loan pot to him.
Cabaye should presumably have been paid for up front as apparently “that is how we do business”- I think it might be a reason we sometimes struggle to to extract a higher amount. I thought Cabaye was overrated by some of our fans but at the same time I thought he was undersold at 19/20mil! Work that one out eh, crazy football prices 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Also apparently Remy will be eligable to play for QPR, assuming they make the play offs. That will be a strange scenario, how hard will he try I wonder?
Newkie(Quote)
3 Hours Wasted: the last post/link was really interesting, and one that nobody can argue against as t proves Ashley saved the club, in reality.
What riles me most is the apparent negligence that is happening at the Club currently.
No one appointed to Lead the Club at all. Lots of Journalist have commented on the obvious vacuum in the club. He wouldn’t run his own business in that way.
Look at Spurs. Since they’re new owners came in they have sold players season in season out like we, but behind the scenes people are hired to increase the brand, commercial revenue and all across the scale. Resulting in there revenue going to almost double of ours. How is that possible? We have as many fans, a bigger stadium, same scope for potential investment but we have remained stagnant since he took over.
Is this the result of him losing interest as it is currently a club dieing a death…..
Seems we can only generate from players sales, there is massive negligence on that front and that’s the most annoying aspect for me.
BIGPAPA(Quote)
Bigpapa-I agree. I don’t really want to join arms with the “Ashley is taking all our money brigade/Freddy was King” but it is so frustrating when you see all the potential we have and a few astute hirings/firings with a little bit of cash in the mix could go a really long way to pushing the club forward. When there doesn’t even seem to be a thought put into bettering our position, that’s what really pisses me off.
Newkie(Quote)
Big papa, you sum up my feelings there mate, I understand that Mike has made us more secure although owing him money will always be a millstone for us but our lack of commercial revenue growth is pitiful someone is or has really fallen down on the job there imo. As you say you can compare us to Spurs in a way ,but there Revenue increases every year whilst ours drops dramatically ,as you say how can that be.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Newkie ,I agree, I don’t see him fleecing us as individuals, I have never said that but his SD brand has grown I believe at the cost of our club revenue. He has achieved his wider SD promotion and increased the profits on SD since buying us which was his aim, but done nothing to advance NUFC brand in so far as I can tell .
KIMTOON(Quote)
One of the reasons Kim is that there is no one at the club experienced at doing commercial deals (as well as football deals). No one’s pushing the brand. We’re getting bare minimum sponsorships. There’s no growth like other clubs. Might change if we actually won anything but never with this mob in charge.
Aussie@175 – you’re going off on a different tangent there mate. I’m not accusing anyone of taking money from the club. All I said was the club is Ashleys and the idea that he lends himself money is farcical. Blinkered some would say.
georgio(Quote)
One of the things that really pisses me off is that the other SD share holders that have nowt to do with us are making money on the back of our club.
Big Dave(Quote)
Georgio-not that I want to sound pro Ashley, but simply by having a frozen loan to NUFC Ashley is losing money. He could make further money year on year, to the tune of several million, purely on interest if that “loan” was simply placed in a bank.
The fact that he loses money and we “save” money by not paying interest makes me see the SD signage as something of fair payment. It’s just the rest of the failings that get me down.
Newkie(Quote)
Dave@191, Yeah that pisses me off too mate.
KIMTOON(Quote)
I wish someone could explain to me how Mr A passing Mr A’s money to
Mr A’s club is classed as a loan. It’s all his all of the time. Delivered in financial goobleygook.
I understand he is losing some interest by doing it but as suggested by others clawing that back in free advertising for SD.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio
read 3hourswasted post @177 178 & 179. It explains it well.
Santii(Quote)
Santii – losing the will. All I understand is the club cost him £262m in total. How that is divided up is just clouding the issue as well as a lot of minds 😐
georgio(Quote)
Newkie you are right he loaned the club a further £25.5m after we were relegated. This was added to his loan and like the rest was interest free. This “championship” loan was to cover day to day running costs of the club as the revenue dropped massively when we got relegated. It would appear he is treating this portion of the loan differently and wants it paid back as he took back £11million according to the previous accounts. I would be surprised if he doesn’t take more back at the end of this season as the club should have made a significant additional profit due to the Wonga deal and bigger SKY deal as well as a better league finish. The Cabaye £20million may also be in the next accounts depending on whether PSG had to pay the whole fee up front.
3hourswasted(Quote)
3Hours-Yeah mate that’s what I thought, I had the feeling that loan was different and he had already recouped some. I think the other 14.5 mil of that or whatever will be paid off to Ashley. Presumably then we will get something in the region of 15-20 mil spent on the team.
I would guess some will stay in the club kitty. What happens in following windows and whether Ashley starts chipping away at his initial takeover loan remain to be seen… 😕
Newkie(Quote)
You got to love this whole routine of people talking about healthy balance isn’t putting trophy’s in the cabinet or the whole bus parade for the balance sheet….
We must have been winning everything in sight before we got our finances in order thanks to Ashley.
Shame on Ashley for still not winning a single thing and the cheek of him to sort out our finances GET OUT OF OUR CLUB!! 😳 😳 😳 😳
Santii(Quote)
Santii-to be fair, if we were at the Olympics under shepherd we would have had plenty of silver medals
Newkie(Quote)
Big Papa – that’s the biggest puzzler for me as well mate. It just doesn’t make sense.
He’s a billionaire business man!. He may have no ambition on the football side of things, but to not develop the business and commercial side of things is just nuts!.
He may not want to spend £10-20m on a player or pay them £100k pw – and to be honest I understand and support that to a degree.
But to not have the best possible DoF or Chairman or Commercial Director or Press Officer in the club is just crazy – especially as it would actually benefit him in the long run.
Sharpy17(Quote)
That is the frustration Sharpy. You would really think he would put in place a structure that would ensure the commercial revenue was maximised and that there were competent football people put in as chairman and DOF. To be fair commercial revenue grew by about 25% in the last accounts and is expected to grow significantly in the next accounts presumably due to the Wonga deal. It is a start but we are coming off a very low base and they don’t seem to want to put the right people in place to grow it faster. Baffling.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Santii, for all the better we may or may not look financially , the fact is we still have a debt of £129m which we owe, albeit to Mike himself, pray tell me how that makes us financially secure?.
KIMTOON(Quote)
3hours, that’s it in a nutshell mate , if he maximised our commercial income to the fullest , he could claw back his loan sooner, I would have no problem with that. The sooner he pays himself back the better that way we have a more realistic chance of an interested party offering to buy us.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Sharpy/3Hours. Exactly that. Far from getting the best individuals he goes for completely useless ****s in Kinnear. Even Llambias had his uses. I still can’t tell whether this is Ashley having a laugh or whether he is so insecure he needs someone to hold his hand for him at the club. These appointments don’t need to wait until the summer-and they’ve been due for many years. Why doesn’t it change 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie, You ask why doesn’t it change, I suspect he’s lost all interest other than we don’t get relegated due to the financial implications to him. I really think he fell out of any love he ever had for the club long ago, not that I really think any was any there to start with. It’s all too easy for him to put a football pal he trust in place instead of a competent guy who would want a bigger say and payday. I think we’ll see the return of Lambias tbh, not too happy at that but better than JFK .
KIMTOON(Quote)
3HW – I personally think that we would benefit having both a Chairman and a DoF. I’m not saying they are the ‘best’ possible options but I think if Dekka came back in and we then installed Glen Roeder (for example) as a DoF then I think we would probably operate so much better.
Kim – I think it’s manageable debt though isn’t it?. I owe a mortgage for the next 15yrs but it doesn’t mean I’m financial insecure.
But £129m is alot of money for a footy club to generate enough profit to pay that off in a short space of time. You’re looking at £25m profit every season to still have to put up with Ashley for the next 5 seasons 🙄 It’s just not realistic 🙁
But, as per my last point. If we had the best people in trying to generate that extra revenue to at least chip away at it, it would be a start.
But I suppose if you have 3 Billion then you’re not going to worry to much about a measly 129m you’ve loaned out I suppose.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kim the reason it may make us more financially secure is as follows:
1. We are not paying interest on the loan. Shepherd was borrowing at 11% which would have cost the club £14m a year in interest payments if the debt had been £129m. Even if we could borrow at half this rate it would still cost the club £7million each year and the debt would remain the same. Obviously Ashley is getting the value out of the SD advertising but that would be a lot less than the interest payments. Wonga are paying £8m per season for shirt sponsorship,advertising and ground naming rights so if the SD advertising was replaced it would bring in a lot less than this I would think.
2. If the money was owed to the banks and we were not able to make the interest payments they could wind the club up, sell the assets and get their money back. Ashley is unlikely to do this, though he could at any time,as he will not get anything like the £262 million he has shelled out so far. It is not in his financial interest to wind the club up.
3. The fact that we aren’t paying millions in interest payments each year means the club has more money to spend on transfers or reducing the debt to Ashley. Both of these increase the value of the club either because we have more valuable assets or because the debt is going down.
If you were buying a car and had a choice between 0% interest or 6% which would you chose?
3hourswasted(Quote)
Kim-I know there is that, I do think he’s probably too pissed off on a personal level to “do it for the supporters” as it were. And maybe he feels like this is getting his own back-although with his financial muscle he’s basically a kid playing with ants. Maybe he enjoys it, I would say that’s harsh but it’s not like other football owners are bastions of morality.
My issue is, surely if he was just out of love and wanted his money back he would still make us successful if only to get that money back quicker. Then when the loan is paid off he can start milking the actual profits out of us and keep advertising SD. I’m not saying i’d support that but I could understand that mindset-milk it all while he can, sell a successful business for bigger money. A more successful club means more exposure for his SD brand.
It’s just this blatant apathy, a malaise of mind and body where it doesn’t look like he can be ****ed to even throw us a bone that I can’t stand.
Newkie(Quote)
Another reason we may be more financially secure under Ashley is that we are no longer borrowing money against future gate receipts and future TV money like Shepherd was. The club now pays for players up front rather than over a period of years. This makes future revenue much more secure and transparent.
There are a lot of things to hate about Ashley on the football side but I have no doubt the club is more financially secure even though the debt is higher. What baffles me is that he doesn’t put the right commercial team in place to maximise the club revenues further and he continues to make catastrophic mistakes in terms of DOF role.
3hourswasted(Quote)
14 million a year on interest alone lol so Ashley has saved us 98 million over 7 years. That is some expensive advertising he has payed us.
The club said it was more like 8 million so 56 million has been saved which i would say is still far more expensive than the advertising sports direct has used would have cost.
Just think what state the club would be in if Shepard had continued to run us into the ground.
Thank you Mr Mike Ashley for saving the club 😆
Think i am going onto sport direct website now to get a number 9 Newcastle shirt with Ashley at the top and SAVIOR at the bottom cant wait!!!
Santii(Quote)
Newkie – I know you have suggested in a couple of posts that Ashley does things to **** the fans off – and you’re far from the only one – but do people honestly believe that Ashley has nowt better to do with his time than to think of ways to **** us off?.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s done stuff to **** me off, but do I think he’s done it intentionally? – I very much doubt it.
Sharpy17(Quote)
3 hours ,yep I understand all that, I really do but people keep saying how he’s saved us but we STILL owe £129m that loan is still there. I know it’s not to the banks and that makes us safer and what have you but we are still in debt at the end of the day. Like you@210 yep that’s my real gripe, your last bit of post.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Santii, we don’t own the club mate Ashley does so he has saved himself that much money over 7years , that’s to be expected only a mug would continue to pay interest on a loan he doesn’t need , this is a guy who is worth 3billion apparently if you believe all you read.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Another way to look at it Kim is to ask what would have happened if we had been relegated with Shepherd in charge and owing £100 million.
We would almost certainly not have been able to service the interest on the banks debt and would probably have gone the same way as Leeds and Portsmouth. Fortunately Ashley had the means to cover the debt (I don’t have any sympathy with him as relegation was largely of his won making) and was able to bankroll the club to the tune of another £25.5 million. If we had gone down under Shepherd we might never have recovered.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Thank the stars for our savior Mike Ashley saved our club from total ruin. 😆 😆 😆
Santii(Quote)
My only hope is that Ashley continues to run the club in a financially responsible way but appoints some competent people to oversee the club and appoints a decent DOF. There is also certainly room to strengthen the squad considerably given the money that has been made in the last 12 months and the future income with the new SKY deal. There can be no excuse for not doing that in the summer.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Spot on 3HW @217. Nobody wants to return to the disastrous days of Shepard etc. I don’t think. But who would call Joe Kinnear a good selection as DoF? Nobody I would think? And who thinks our management of the squad has been done competently in the last few years? We have people like Obertan on the books costing a pretty penny for absolutely no reason. It took ages to get rid of Ranger and Xisco. Is that good club management? It’s been a long series of cockups at the football level as far as I can see.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I agree GT. I’m not holding my breath but I can only hope that by the law of averages there might be some competent football decisions made by Ashley at some point in the future i.e soon. If that happens and the finances are under control then who knows where that might take us.
Whatever happens as far as I can see Ashley will be around for a good few years yet unless there is a sovereign state ready to splash out £3-400 million.
3hourswasted(Quote)
Many on here have shown lists of players who want or need to be out of the club. It’s a long list. Nothing has been done about it now for 2 windows and little was done before that. What is the point of having players like Gosling, Amalfitano, and Obertan still on the books? They will never play first team football for us other than a few minutes if we’re riddled with injuries and suspensions. Jonas should go simply because he’s too old and injuries have caught up with him. Shola is too old and slow. Colo wants out. Tiote is probably going to be bought for a decent fee. Saylor has been very poor this season. Marveaux wants out and Pardew doesn’t want him clearly. Ben Arfa is underperforming and looks out of shape. That is a ridiculous number of players who we need to do something about. How about some positive activity this summer Mike SmallBerries?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I can think of many things to be done this summer to improve the club beginning with spending the money we got for Kebab on a good player or players. That doesn’t have to come out of Mike’s pocket. Then spend a reasonable amount of the TV money. Balance the books but hire a good DoF or call him whatever you like Mike as long as he is a good, experienced football man. I’m sure we could spend at least 30M pounds this summer in total without going in the red based on the accounts available for last season. Let’s see it happen Mike.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I think having small berries is very embarrassing for Mike. The dominatrix mentioned it on her last visit. It’s clouding Mike’s judgment on football matters. Very sad situation. 😥
GeordieTwo(Quote)
3hours@215, Agree, Shepherd made some howlers no denying that like, would we of been relegated though, who knows that’s impossible to say, but yeah if we had it would of been bad times I’d imagine. But one thing can’t be denied he has to start acting in a more ambitious way this summer.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Mike SmallBerries notes to self:
1. Club is just barely in the black therefore we can’t spend this summer. And we had better sell another player for big dosh to have a bigger contingency fund. Tiote to ManU for 25-30M sounds about right.
2. Have to keep up my image at the club. Must hire a new DoF. I wonder what Dennis Wise is up to these days?
3. Having Joe return as tea lady was a brilliant idea. He takes half the wage the old tea lady was on. Absolutely brilliant on my part.
4. I can’t go to the ground to watch my own club but why should that bother me? I have the castle and the dominatrix is due in again. **** her noticing my small berries!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I agree with that Kim! There will be substantial funds in the accounts for this season and Ashley needs to start spending it. No excuses
3hourswasted(Quote)