Newcastle ‘not for sale’ as prices are frozen.
Posted on March 3rd, 2010 | 67 Comments |
It’s a somewhat surprise statement really as surely any hint of a sale was ended back in October when the club was taken off the market for a second time after again failing to find a buyer, but Derek Llambias believes Ashley is now beginning to show just how committed he is to the Newcastle cause.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, PR disaster Llambias had this to say about Ashley’s commitment to the team:
“You can’t lose the income we have lost in relegation and still be where we are, so Mike has put in £25million in December and he has put in another £5milllion this week, so he is committed.”
“We bought £5.5million worth of players in January. We needed to freshen up the team and support our manager.”
I think we’ll all agree the team needed freshening up and it’s nice to see our manager getting backing from the board, something that would have avoided the mess this season had it been done last year. I do question the value of the January transfers though. I though it had been widely percieved that the net value of those transfers was more likely to be around the £3-4 million mark, especially after off-loading Geremi, and it still begs the question of why Mike Ashley is having to pump all this money into the club despite our wage bill being halved since the summer.
Next up for some of Llambias’s lyrics were the fans. Asked if he thought the Newcastle fans had become more accepting of Mike Ashley, Llambias replied by insisting the majority had already been won over but also recognised those that were still far from happy at the running of the club by adding:
“It is a passion. They are great fans.”
“There is a very small section of fans that are basically not reasonable, there is no reality to where they are.”
“I am hoping that we get there and we’ll see what happens next season.”
“The reality is that if Mike had not taken the club, we would be in a mess.”
I don’t think it’s a question of fans being unreasonable although I do accept that some people will never ever take to Mike Ashley whilst he is here. I think it’s more a case of the fans need time and a show of intent that Ashley is indeed here for the long haul and is not here for his own benefit. The majority understand the mess the club were in financially, although whether we would have been better off under a previous regime is doubtful as any asset we had as a club was mortgaged to the hilt.
One way out of this mess is to do what they have been doing all season, keeping quiet and getting on with it. Under that mantra things have been getting calmer with the focus being on the field and not off it, a period of relative calm and stability in the middle of the storm that is Newcastle United.
Stability is something we need should we manage to secure promotion then the last thing the club needs whilst trying to plan for Premier League survival is more turmoil, something that Llambias has been quick to deny. When asked if the club was up for sale he had this to say:
“No it is not up for sale. There is no money out there. Football is not what it was. We had two possible buyers and they didn’t put their money up so at the end of the day they are not real.”
It’s also been announced today the people who renew their season tickets early for next season will enjoy a price freeze. Those who renew before March 31st can have the same seat as this season for the same price as this season even if we get promoted. Manager Chris Hughton welcomed the news by saying:
“Their support this season, home and away, has been absolutely phenomenal and this is due reward for that.”
It can only be good news for the team and the club as bigger attendances can only help the players out on the pitch. Now we just have to find a way to get the noise back like ot was when we first got promoted back in ’93. Teams use to fear coming to St James’ Park and the vociferous backing of the team is something that I’d love to see return.
Perhaps we can take Stoke’s title of noisiest fans in the country back?
it’ll be a mistake if they start puffing their chests out and acting as the saviours of the club now.. even though i no odubt believe MA has supported the team somewhat this term