Mike Ashley – 3 years and counting…

Posted on June 8th, 2010 | 273 Comments |

 Mike Ashley - 3 years at the helm.
Mike Ashley - 3 years at the helm.
Between the vast swathes of speculation in these last few weeks, I nearly managed to forget that a certain anniversary is about to be upon us.

That is an anniversary to mark Mike Ashley having owned Newcastle United for three years! Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun eh?

Technically, Ashley completed the sale three years ago this coming Sunday, but with me being faced with the very real possibilty of having a stinking hangover from Saturday night, and the fact the nearly all of us will be wrapped up in the World Cup by then, I thought it would be best to, errr, ‘celebrate’ this milestone prematurely and get it out of the way. To say Mike Ashley’s reign on Tyneside has been a turbulent one would be a wee bit of an understatement. His tenure includes having had five different managers in three years, two failed attempts at a sale, and one very big falling out with Kevin Keegan, and that is the one thing Ashley will probably find the hardest to come back from, plus countless others that I have probably either forgotten or haven’t got enough time to write about.

Conroversy has never been far away since Ashley came to Newcastle as he seemingly bumbles from one mistake to the next, with optimists hoping that the previous mistake will be his last, and pessimists waiting for the next in a long line of errors to come along. I sit somewhere in the middle of them two, mindful of what comedy scenario is going to arise next, but also willing to give praise when it has been due.

I know what you’re thinking, in fact you’re probably wondering where the praise has been due. Well for one, we don’t owe any money, aside form a working overdraft, to a bank, which is good. I will also give him credit for putting the cash in to get us back up, regardless of whether he was rectifying his own mistakes, or getting the club promoted to protect his own investment, either way it is something that helped us all out. Sacking Sam Allardyce is another thing I will give him credit for, aswell as his pointless yet tough stance with the media.

So he has made some decent decisions then, but by god they are far outweighed by his poor ones. Appointing Kevin Keegan again was one of them in my opinion. Don’t get your knickers in a twist about it, but a motto of mine is ‘never go back’, and whilst it was a popular decision at the time, the ending was never going to be ideal. The circumstances and what happened next are well documented, and most of you will know what what went on. Which leads me onto to one of his next big mistakes, Dennis Wise.

Not so much Dennis Wise himself, more the power that Ashley seemed to give Wise, who in all fairness was probably not the best or most qualified candidate for a job that never existed in the first place. Still, it was Wise who was behind the scenes undermining the other guy who shouldn’t have been here, Keegan, which again led to those well documented circumstances that I wont go into.

Next up for me is the ridiculous decision to try to rename St James’ Park, by putting his Sports Direct brand name in front of it and making it look a bit like an e-mail address. I think it was SportsDirect.com@StJames’Park that the name ended up being showcased as, although despite the initial furore, it appears that it never really cottoned on and very rarely got mentioned to by it’s ‘proper’ name, with the media and TV commentators sticking with the more traditional version of the ground name.

There will be loads more beside what I have mentioned, so I shall leave it up to you guys to mull over.

Three years eh?

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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273 Responses

  1. Well that’s what is being a Newcastle united football supporter.
    Up and down 3 years.
    One thing for sure we were on the slide for a few years under shepherd but one thing for sure, We would not have been relegated under freddie.
    But we would have needed Gordon brown to fund us like he did with Northern Rock to stop us going into extinction

  2. Which direction will this article go?

    The man has a record like Ronnie Biggs – Total clown who was in it for a fast buck. That cannot be done in football and he deserves all he gets.

  3. 3 years…and possibly 5 more to go for him to get his cash back before he’s able to sell :-(

  4. 3 years….fook me it feels a hell of alot longer !
    If I started a new role at a company and did it for 3 years I would hope that I was at least learning the basics and starting to produce the goods day in day out.

    Not Mike Ashley though….running and laying the foundations for a successful Football Club just seems to be beyond him and after 3 years of it I would expect some signs that lessons have been learned and things are moving forwards-instead of meandering from left to right and then going into reverse.

    It seems like his agenda is if anything positive is happening let’s chuck in some negatives and see what happens.

    Mike if you are reading this cut your losses-Leave.

  5. No manager will do well under MA in the prem.
    They would all be tied up,starved of finances and any footballing ideas quashed no sooner had ink dried on contracts Nick.

  6. all things happen for a reason and i hope one day we’ll look back and laugh.

    i’ve never felt as low as the play-off defeat back in 1990 but with hindsight it turned out to be the best thing that coulda happened to nufc.

    hoping all this eventually turns out to be something similar.

  7. Mike Ashley is a major disappointment for a lot of reasons already covered in this midst. And some not.

  8. I think there will be many more bumbling episodes to come from Mike that is for sure.
    Clearly he listens to Nobody but himself,concerned only about profit,he has no fresh ideas on where to make a positive difference at the club,certainly won’t be backing a manager properly unless things get really bad and dent his investment…so I suppose it will be more of the same….nothing this cretin of man could do will surprise me…anything is possible.

  9. MA is easily the worst owner in our history. He is an embarrassment who bought the club to make a killing and has ended killing the club. A daily nightmare. Please go.

  10. FFS…………just yesterday you were saying you were pig sick of people going on about ashely and then this gem comes out.. you godda love it!! i may take some time to get my post out as i jsut dont know where to start about ashley. Then again, wots the point.

  11. I don’t know how Luke Edwards didn’t spill his cornflakes in this Journal Article this morning….

    CHRIS Hughton has admitted he is making slow progress in the transfer market as he looks to stretch a limited transfer budget as far as it will go.

    Although the Newcastle boss will rely heavily on loan signings and free transfers because of the tight financial situation at St James’ Park, The Journal understands there is still a possibility a transfer fee could be paid if it is clear it represents a good deal for the club.

    It is what I have been saying since the season ended…I just can’t see CH being backed properly by Mike.
    We have one of the UK’s richest men running our club with a massive attendance and marketing potential globally and we have to rely on kids,loans and freebies?
    I can’t see this man doing anything with us…not in 100 years.

    Look at it like this if you bought a circus and it wasn’t entertaining people the crowds would stop coming,I really think after a few bad results things will really start to get nasty next season.

  12. It’s not the best way to start a post BUT…

    I’m not a financial expert on football clubs (I’m good with numbers but not au fait with operational costs etc). However judging by the ballback figure on revenue and expenditure and having talked to some better placed than me, I’d be astounded if we didn’t spend money in the summer. Otherwise it seems we’d make a fairly healthy profit.

  13. “I really think after a few bad results things will really start to get nasty next season.”

    what exactly do you mean by ‘really start to get nasty’?

  14. The Journal understands there is still a possibility a transfer fee could be paid if it is clear it represents a good deal for the club.

    Haha :)

  15. sirjasontoon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 9:12 am

    The big marker on potential incomers is whether Hughton actually goes to the world cup.

    If he doesn’t, that’ll speak volumes!

  16. sirjasontoon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 9:25 am
    Malchick-Bedsheets,Swearing etc

    you’d think the fans would’ve learned by now though. how’s that gonna help the team?

  17. I’m not sure about him being the worst owner ever shepherd left the club in such a state the only MA was daft enough to buy it, anybody else would have looked at the books then walked away, if MA didn’t buy us, no one would have, and the longer shepherd was here the more out of control the club would be. We were already on the slide and signing shite like cacapa with massive wages and we would only keep younger talented player by offering them massive pay rises, it all would have come to a horrible end one day. Yes MA is a clown but I believe shepherd could have been the death of this club, things have been tough for us, but we still have a club to support and despite this us supporters moan about a lack of investment while at the same time complain that the club owes him money. In another 3 years I believe we will be in great shape, but only after a bit of financial stability and sense.

  18. What’s the point of CH going to the world cup?
    With his budget he would be going by Bus and miss all the games.
    If he does go it will be to take in some games as a football fan…can’t see him snapping anyone up though,unless they are free or very very cheap.

  19. Jay Jay-clubs in a worse state than NUFC get bought all the time,we have nothing to be thankful to Mike Ashley about….he will constantly fail as a football club owner after 3 years no lessons have been learned,more blunders will be made until he goes.

    The club could have been sold ages ago,but he is to stubborn and greedy to make a loss especially now we are back in the premiership….he is quids in and don’t believe any different.

    Retail is Mike’s game,which he does very well…Football and NUFC just aint his bag.

  20. What’s all this crap about MA being bad for the club, banners, things turning nasty etc?

    Doesn’t it occur that the mess the club’s in is a product of the previous regime? Newcastle United’s in far far better financial shape than it has been for years.

    Hav patience and support the team to survive a season in the Prem and doing so’ll assure additional revenue which will go to clearing the debts which’ll release funds for investments which’ll……..

    Come on peoples, it’s not rocket science……. or is it?

  21. agree jay jay there’s been worse owners, worse times and the club’s been in far worse situations. either some fans have very short memories or they’ve only been supporting the club 93 onwards. how anyone can say ashley’s killed the club when we had 50k+ gate at the last match and we’re now back in the premier league is beyond me.

  22. Well if you think our owner is bad, at least we only have the one, I mean look at cessepool, they have 2 bumbling yanks in charge & the club is in serious debt, no money for a NEW manager if they get one & most of there top player may have to be sold before they can buy anyone else!!!

    And then we have Manc Usa who’s owners are £1.1b in debt & think thats ok…..

    So having ashley who’s not in debt & could if he so chose too, could wipe off our debt but we all know if ain’t gonna happen but I’d rather be in this situ with Ashley than being in either Cessepool or Manc Usa’s situ any day of the week… :)

  23. I can’t think of many clubs who were bought when in worse finacial state than us SJT

  24. OH come on sirjason… if you think that selling to Moat would’ve been a good move then think again. He oould barely scrape the money togeter to meet a price let alone service the overdraft let alone invest.

    Sirjason, would you be happy to take a loss of tens of millions?

    If not, then why should Ashley be expected to take a big hit?

  25. a bit like the tories blaming labour for the forth coming cuts,didn’t the hall’s have the controlling shares?.

  26. sirjasontoon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 9:26 am
    The Journal understands there is still a possibility a transfer fee could be paid if it is clear it represents a good deal for the club.

    Messi for £1m!

  27. heh heh barry moat. gotta laugh.

    i reckon most of us would hope that someone decent and credible will come along and buy the club and offer ashley a way out. but until then, and in particular next season, we all have a responsibility as a nufc supporter to back the team especially when results start going against us. if you’ve any intention of bringing bedsheets and creating a poisonous atmosphere in the ground then just stay away, you won’t be welcome.

  28. malchick – I think what he means is that this particular episode in our history has a very real chance of being more divisive than any of the other grim times.

  29. SJT is anti-ashley & always will be, he’s not taken off his FFS tinted specs to see that if it wasn’t for FFS allowing managers like Souness spend £50m of useless players like Boumsong, then we wouldn’t be in the situ we are right now…

    I’m sure him & Ericles are as bad as eachother when it come to ridiculing what Ashley is trying to do at the TOON!! lol

  30. Yup Trojan-The tories are playing the Austerity game as well…..raise taxes,rob everyone blind and slash services to pay for a banking collapse that was staged anyway :)

    I am a football club owner,I get my team relegated,I sell of lots of assets and still manage promotion…..now do I invest and build to stay in the top division or go into hiding…it is a no brainer to me either invest or feck off !

  31. Cyprus all clubs make bad buys….we made a fair few….I would rather have Boumsong then Best.

    If MA couldn’t be bothered to get his mates to look at the books then than is not my fault…it has nothing to do with rose tinted glasses….I bet when players like Owen arrived you where wanking like a Monkey :)

  32. bbm – aye, possibly. any difference from the sack the board chants, match boycotts and protests of the early 90s though?

  33. SJT – You’d rather have a crap defender who couldnt stop a ball save his life & cost us £8m to a young striker who’s cost us next to nothing & could well do us a decent job given a chance?? you defo have lost it mate..lol

    As for when Ownen arrived, I said then & I’ve stuck with it, it was a waste of money, he’s a one trick pony so once his legs went, as they did, he wasn’t able to cut it & he cost us around £1.7m a goal, total spendage on him was £41m… another great buy by FFS :(

  34. Yup Cyprus it is easy with hindsight…so what is your solution?
    Loans,Train other teams kids,zero investment for fear of getting burned again?

    Football is a gamble,you can pay millions for a player and he can smash his leg on his debut and be out for a season…it happens.

    All I am trying to say is we will never be out of the woods with MA-The club has not moved forwards in 3 years and will continue to meander around while Bozo MA is in charge.

    If he treat NUFC like he does sports direct we would be looking at top 7 this season…his priority is Retail,not NUFC and CH will never be fully backed.

  35. ashley has been a total disaster..
    lets not forget most of the debt ashley had to pay was for the mortgage of the ground when sir john hall give up his controlling stake in the club,ashley would of knowen this if he had of checked the books first.

  36. Leon Best will do nothing in the premiership-I don’t think I have seen him have a shot on target since we signed him.

  37. people talk about trophy signings of the past as opposed to what we have now,leon best cannot understand why the bloke was ever signed,pancrate one cryff turn rest of time waste of space,kissing his willy what a corker he turned out to be,ryan taylor please and others who still have question marks against them,thev’e definatley moved on from the trophy signings top four here we come.

  38. Fact is, most fans are not expecting us to buy players and storm the league, a similar approach to the January window would suffice where Hughton is given what he asks for.
    Ashley needs to back the manager who in turn should demand what he needs for the season, also SJT mentioned that retail is Ashleys game?
    If thats the case, shouldnt he be wooing the supporters with the new home strip on the way instead of pissing on evryones chips?

  39. Many mistakes made by Ashley, which most of us have looked on with incredulity and frustration not knowing how he could have been so blind/stupid/inept to make those decisions. On the other hand he took a club on fast track to oblivion, which to quote the famous ex Treasury minister when the new govt started ‘there is no money left’, has invested a huge amount of his own fortune, and I believe has the club in a better financial state than it’s been for years. On balance I would prefer him to be here and have a club to watch, than the alternative as who else in their right mind would have bought us.

  40. its high time that people saw passed the fact that ashelys rants about the finance dont add up, regardless of what he tells us or prints. He is not a plc, he can and does get his army of accountants to twist the books all over the place to show as little or no profit as possible.
    Lets be clear, ffs did not want to give up newcastle, he was dead against it, ashely waited till ffs was lying in a hospital with life threatening pneumonia to make a hostile take over. Ashley thought the club had around 70 million debt when he came in, he found out that it was higher… the very highest quote being 110 million quid. So the truth will lie somewhere in between the two figures. So lets say (to keep the pro and anti parties happy, we had around 90 million debt, no bollocks, lets even call it 100 million to be on the pro ashely side of running the club. 50 millon of that was on the stadium which ashely had to pay off as soon as the club changed hands. So, stadium aside (as it can not be counted as reckless behaviour by ffs regime), we had 50 million debt. Now, look at how much we spent on players every year…. tens of millions, sometimes going up to 30 million+. Now, i am no brain box but if we have just oaround 50 million in debt on players etc and we can still manage to spend huge amounts of money on players every single year, year on year i fail to see how ffs was running the club in a bad way. Now since ashley has came in our tv revenue has DOUBLED, season tickets gone up by 10%, new NR deal now kicking in, new shirt deal, far less players, less wages, less everthing in fact. And yet ashley is reportedly loosing more money thatn we did under FFS when FFS had alot less income to play with. None of it adds up at all. An bearing in mind that we are now no longer a PLC, and also the fact that ashley has already admitted he lies to the fans all the time to shut them up….why would anyone trust a man that has already told you he is a liar. These my own views only like but i do not think for a second that he is loosing money. If he were loosing money to the extent of what he has said, and all he wanted was 100 million to sell why did he not sell it to a buyer for 60 million and not pump in the amount he says he has this year to keep us afloat??? Why did he just not sell up and be done with it?

  41. hitman says:
    June 8, 2010 at 10:27 am
    ashley has been a total disaster..
    lets not forget most of the debt ashley had to pay was for the mortgage of the ground when sir john hall give up his controlling stake in the club,ashley would of knowen this if he had of checked the books first.
    <<<< hitman no use trying too explain too the brainless c@nts m8

  42. SJT – I don’t think we should be getting loanees when our own young players can be given a chance, no, I think we should be looking at getting bosman type players in this season, yes we would still have to pay wages for them but that alone goes to show that there is some money put aside if CH is allowed to get some players in because even a player on £35k a week is earning nearly a million a year, so to say Ashley isn’t allowing any money spent is not exactly true is it??

    Hitman – Yeah we all know the story about due diligence & Ashleys lack of it, thats old hat, why does everyone keep dragging up all the things that happened 3 years ago, take the FFS & Hall specs off guys & see that if Ashley hadn’t brought us out, we’d be in adminstration by now & possible worse owing well over £200m & no one would buy us, I mean look at Cessepool, they’re in that sort of debt now & I don’t see anyone even looking to buy them even with their supposed superior heritage!!!

    Yes Ashley isn’t the ideal owner but who is?? name me an owner who you’d like to take over from him???

    I know yo’re all gonna say the Manc Al Citey Prince, warren Buffet, Bill Gate, etc etc….. dream on… lol
    As for your point regarding hindsight, wasting money on players like Boumsong £8m, Lique £9m, Owen £17m, Viara £8m etc etc, the list is endless is good business in your mind?

  43. geordie deb says:
    June 8, 2010 at 10:43 am

    Are you seriously trying to say we would have gone out of business if he hadn’t have bought us?

    We might well have neded up in administration but people would have been queing round the block to buy us in admin.

    Ashley has only himself to blame – He didn’t do due dilligence because he knew there was another interested party – He thought he was getting a money making machine, so he moved fast. Act in haste and all that….

    If were in better financial shape now why is it going to take us 5 years just to break even? That suggest there is no money left – Are we really going to survive in the PL for the next 5 years on a diet of free transfer and loans?

    Don’t make me laugh.

  44. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 10:49 am

    You give examples of expensive flops – Why? What if we’d have bought Ronaldo for £12m, or Rooney for £25m, or what about Jermaine Defoe for £10m?

    The only person to blame for the flops are the person choosing the players.

    If it was so easy to do a good job in the PL on bosmans and loans, why aren’t everyone doing it?

    Even the free transfers will require higher wages – Can we really compete with other clubs? NO!

  45. its funny how people on here say we would of went under under ffs,if thats the case why did ffs try and buy the club..

  46. getting in loans is just paperin over the cracks,we will be back to square 1 when these loans go back to there clubs,this club carnt be run like that no club can..

  47. June 8, 2010 at 10:47 am
    batty says:
    toonsy and lesh are defo stardust under studys lol.

    Batty, I resemble that remark….. LoL!

  48. Batty – you’re full of useful info mate, or should that be useless info, shut the crack & give your face a chance yeah!!!

    Ashley brought the club off Hall & FFS for £134m total, that was before he discovered further debts that if he’d done due diligence would have seen but as we all know, he didn’t, so he had extra money to pay out, something in the region of £111m…

    For the past 2 season, we’ve had loses of £37.5m & £32m as we all know, plus the OD for the 08/09 season was $47.7m, so all your mathematicians out there work out how much that is & if you’re any good you’ll see it’s approx £120m owed on top of the £111m which Ashley has said he doesn’t want paying back or am I the only one to read that!!!

    So the new sponsorship from Northern rock £10m over 4 years, new shirt sponsors Puma, no idea how much but not a lot isn’t going to pay that back is it, yes we have TV rev & ST sales too, shirt sales, food & beverages etc but do you seriously think they get all that for nowt, no, they have to buy it first before selling it on at a profit, that’s business…

    When we got promoted, we supposedly got £60m, next season we’ll not get that, so the profit will go to pay off the remainder of our debt & so on & so on for a few years until we are even….

    Then the season after that we will be able to spend £20-30m on players if needed but until then, you’ll all have to hate Ashley because no knight on a white horse is gonna buy us off him until we have little or no debt!!! Fact!!!

  49. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:05 am

    Then the season after that we will be able to spend £20-30m on players if needed but until then, you’ll all have to hate Ashley because no knight on a white horse is gonna buy us off him until we have little or no debt!!! Fact!!!

    What, you mean like Man City or Chelsea? All had debt and were bought within minutes.

    Liverpool aill be a differnt story – Not just because they owe £300m, but because the asking price is about £600m and they have to build a new stadium.

  50. u seem too know more aboot the club than fat ash but i suppose your just guessing

  51. watch this space this club will be in total chaos come xmas,and it will be all of ashleys making..

  52. Stuart79 says:
    June 8, 2010 at 10:57 am

    You give examples of expensive flops – Why? What if we’d have bought Ronaldo for £12m, or Rooney for £25m, or what about Jermaine Defoe for £10m?”

    If we’d brought players like those you’ve mentioned, then we wouldn’t be having this banter would we??

    If I remember rightly, didn’t FFS try to buy Rooney for £25m but afterwards admitted he didn’t have the money!!!

    Right lets have a look back at the previous year before Ashley took over under FFS yeah… :)

    Bottom half of table, spending X amount each season on players who did nowt, getting worse each season & heading into a relegation battle & you all think that was ok because FFS spent £30-40m on players????

    I know I’m fighting a losing battle here trying to get you lot to understand, yes Ashley isn’t the greatest owner in the world but you’d still rather have what we had 4-5 years ago, just because FFS spent money on player he didn’t have???

    If that’s the case, you carry on, feel free to wallow in what could have been because I know it would only have ended in tears & laughter… tears on our part & laughter on the Mackems part, I mean, yes they’ve got a owners who willing to let Sourpuss spend but for how long before he starts to cut the cloth & by that time, we’ll be sitting pretty & you’ll all be saying a completely different story then….. mark my words :)

  53. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:15 am

    I mean, yes they’ve got a owners who willing to let Sourpuss spend but for how long before he starts to cut the cloth & by that time, we’ll be sitting pretty & you’ll all be saying a completely different story then….. mark my words

    I remember everyone saying the same thing about Chelsea 7 years ago – Just remind me, who won the PL?

    We will be sitting pretty? After years of loan signings and free transfers? Where we going to be sitting? Div 1?

    As long as we have a brillianyt balance sheet though, it doesn’t matter though…

  54. I honestly think before ashley came in the club was built on sand and it was gonna happen sooner r later the club was gonna come crashing down. Ashley didnt help the casue and did make mistakes. But the club were going down the road we went down before ashley came in and he added to the clubs already massive problems.

    Yes we owe him 100 plus million which will have to be ( and rightly so imo ) paid back at some point. But id rather owe him than owe a bank and pay intrest.

    Im hoping the club ( ashley ) have learned from what has happened and i do belive the club is now on the long and hard road to re-buliding it.

    I dont know if ashley has what it takes to finish that rebuilding job , and from his recorded so far he prob doesnt , but i do think whenever he does leave the club as a whole will be in a better position than when he came and the club and the team will be on the up.

  55. Batty – it’s easy for yer to shut it mate, just sit down :)

    And btw, I don’t sell holidays & I don’t know alot about running a football club, I just read the crap-loids & use common sense to fill the gaps, its quite easy, you should try it sometime :)

    Hitman – Chelski & Manc Al Citey didn’t have £200m in debts when they were brought so that’s not a good example mate sorry, yes Cessepool do want around £600m for the club but remember Ashley could sell us for £80m just over 12 months ago, so what make you think he’ll sell us for a lot more now???

    It’s not rocket science or quantum physics guys, we have a owner who’s not popular but you’re forgetting that FFS wasn’t very popular with when him & young hall decided to call all the woman in Newcastle dogs or have you forgotten all the crap they came out with… mmmm short memories yeah!!!

  56. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:25 am

    It was actually me who gave the City and Chelsea examples and they were in debt.

    Chelsea was sold for about £80m with another £80m (approx) debt. City were bought for about £140m with debts of over £50m owed to their former owner before Shinawtra.

  57. Stuart79 – Yes Chelski won the PL title but that’s after spending well over £200m on players, they didn’t win it, they brought it…. as for the Mackems, their owner has already started to say they need to sell to buy, so….

    As for being in Div 1, I some how doubt that or we’d be there now, Ashley isn’t that stupid not to invest to keep his assets worth something or he’d have let us rot after being relegated…

    If at Xmas we’re not doing so well, not that I’m expecting to be sitting in the top 10 or anything, Ashley will revise his ‘plan of no capital outlay’ & will allow CH to get what we need to stay up.. just remember, a plan is a living thing & can change from one day to the next!!!

  58. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:25 am
    Batty – it’s easy for yer to shut it mate, just sit down

    And btw, I don’t sell holidays & I don’t know alot about running a football club, I just read the crap-loids & use common sense to fill the gaps, its quite easy, you should try it sometime
    <<<<< well it just shows how thick u are by beleiving the papers or are u saying u make it up as u go along

  59. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:33 am
    Sorry guys, getting all the posts mixed up now.. lol
    <<<< see what a meen head up arse comes too mind :lol:

  60. Batty – Who said anything about believing the crap-loids & making it up, I said reading them & using common sense, its a lot different to making complete, no-nonsense comment about something you have no idea about at all by the sounds of it!!!

    If you’re so full of useful information about the inner workings of the TOON, please feel free to let us all know, that way we wouldn’t have to read what rubbish is posted in the crap-loids, we could take your useful insight into consideration instead .. :)

  61. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:32 am

    Where does Ellis say Sunderland have to sell to buy? I’ve only heard Bruce and Quinn saying it’s only about bringing in quality now, not quantity and thanking Ellis for his continued support.

    Chelsea bought the league? Nmae me a team who hasn’t? Everyone who wins the league spends alot of money nowadays.

    Another point – You think Ashley will protect his invest in January if were not doing very well? You mean like the last January we were in the PL? He sold Nzogbia and Given and bought Nolan and R Taylor.

    That really protected his investment!

  62. Read the form book – 5 out of 6 transfer windows have shut with us selling players and replacing them with inferior players – Making a nice profit along the way.

  63. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:25 am
    Batty – it’s easy for yer to shut it mate, just sit down

    And btw, I don’t sell holidays & I don’t know alot about running a football club, I just read the crap-loids & use common sense to fill the gaps, its quite easy, you should try it sometime
    <<<< just read crap loids and fill in the gaps << well whats that dont try too act so stupid no 1 is that stupid surley

  64. It wasn’t Ellis that said it, it was Quinny in a report I read a few weeks back, I’ll try to find it if possible.. :)

    As for a team winning the PL without buying it, well didn’t Manc Usa do it a few times, I mean when they brought Becks, Nevills brother, Scoles, Butt etc out of there academy & won the title several years on the trot???

    I give you that regards the Zogs & Given point, he didn’t invest then because I don’t think he thought a club like ours could get relegated but imo I think he’s realised we’re not infallible anymore.. we
    ll just have to wait & see what happens now :)

    Batty- if only you knew what stupid was mate, oh you do, sorry ;)

  65. Fractured is a good word…..I think the blind faith of some bloggers is admirable.
    I am from newcastle,my dad has supported Newcastle since the late 1940’s and most people that are geordies fookin’ hate Ashley…end of story.

    He is a lying,penny pinching,shower of SHIT (my Dad’s words-not mine)
    :)

  66. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:50 am

    You forget the millions Ferguson had spend on the rest of the players – However that was 13 yrs ago and I did say nowadays.

  67. The long and the short of it is MA Digs deep now-gives CH a fighting chance of survival or we are back to square 1 by xmas,foot of the table,club up for sale CH sacked….History has a nasty knack of repeating itself.

  68. cyprus says>>> Batty- if only you knew what stupid was mate, oh you do, sorry<<<<< yes i do iam replying too him now and no need too say sorry for being so stupid cyprus suppose ya cannit help it

  69. If we all be honest non of us have any clue what is going on upstairs,what the real financial situation is,what the transfer policy is,what the stadium is called right now…..just a lot of confusion…..reminds me of 1984 by Orwell….Trust Nothing that any of the Board say.

  70. SJT well cyprus reckons he dus mate he gets it from the papers and make the rest up :lol:

  71. sirjasontoon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 10:07 am

    If MA couldn’t be bothered to get his mates to look at the books then than is not my fault…it has nothing to do with rose tinted glasses….I bet when players like Owen arrived you where wanking like a Monkey…

    ….HAHAHAHAHA…nice one sjt. & so very true.

    batty , i’m all good…how’s you m8.

  72. I’m not saying I like Ashley, I never have said that, I’m just looking at it from the other side of the coin, if he hadn’t taken over, we’d be in a worse situ than we current are, yes he should invest money but he won’t so what we going to do about it, moan, cry, throw our toys out the cot etc etc….

    There’s is absolutely nothing we can do apart from hurt the team, if we start up what we did the last time we were in the PL, banners, chants, name calling will only hurts the team & imo I think that didn’t help our course during the relegation battle either, I think it made the players want to leave & getting relegated made it easier!!

    Look what happened last season, we all got behind the team, no matter what Ashley did & we solely supported the lads & it came good, so why now should we go back to doing what we really know will screw things up again??

  73. This is what Chris said today:

    “It’s slow at the moment and that is to be expected,”“There isn’t going to be the same amount of money knocking around and I think everyone is trying to be that little bit wiser at the moment, because the market has changed.”

    “We don’t want to leave things until the last minute, and I don’t think that will happen, but we are also mindful of the fact everybody is waiting at the moment and assessing what they need. I don’t expect anything to happen in the next couple of weeks.”

    “The fact this is a World Cup year has not helped things move quickly because everybody is waiting to see what happens there as well. The situation is constantly changing though. It’s slow, but things are moving the whole time.”

    “There are players out there who are available who we never expected to be available, so that changes your thinking as well.”

  74. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 12:06 pm
    Batty – you’re so funny.. lol
    <<<< i might be funny but u are stupid your pots show that try reading what u write before u post

  75. chris , i’ll give you till xmas then you’ll be..up the road..like the rest of the unfortunates that try helping him run the club like it should be.

    GET OUT OF OUR CLUB ECT ECT…

  76. This Is What Chris Meant to Say today :)

    “It’s slow at the moment and that is to be expected when I have no money to spend,”“There isn’t going to be the same amount of money knocking around according to Mick..so we will be mainly chilling this summer and looking busy”.

    “We don’t want to leave things until the last minute like we always have done in the past, but I do think that will happen, but we are also mindful that players cost money so we will spend the summer watching other clubs strengthen and maybe do some window shopping if we find the time”.

    “The fact this is a World Cup year we are going to watch some matches round Mick’s house and are considering basing the next 5 year plan on an international side as the other models we have tried to follow recently don’t seem to be working”.

    “There are players out there who are available who we never expected to be available, but when we have enquired we are normally quoted a sum of money…so Mike tells me to put the phone down and mow his lawn and stuff”.

  77. Batty – So I’m stupid because of what??? please explain what makes you think I’m stupid??

    All because I read the crap-loids & read between the lines on what they’re posting, is that what you call stupid??

    Completely off topic I suppose but I’m interested in the way you think Batty!!!

  78. SJT – its obvious that he hasn’t read the article that said Manc Al Citey will be spending £150m this summers & thats why Villa are holding out for £27m on Milner, maybe thats why Ashley wont say how much, if any, we have to spend!!!

  79. Sensible investment is all I want-no Glamour-just sensible investment so we can stay up and continue to move forwards.

  80. There is absolutely no doubt that Sheppard lost control of the finances in his last 3 seasons, the Luque deal said everything about the way the club was been run.
    Ashley has been very slow to deal with the crippling wage bill and therefore the continual losses which he himself has to finance. We paid Champions Lge wages for very average players. The future looks a real struggle but i dont blame Ashley for trying to reduce his personal loan with the club but i can see no bright future until the club is sold by a owner who really doesnt want to be here.

  81. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 12:23 pm
    Batty – So I’m stupid because of what??? please explain what makes you think I’m stupid??

    All because I read the crap-loids & read between the lines on what they’re posting, is that what you call stupid??

    Completely off topic I suppose but I’m interested in the way you think Batty!!!
    <<<< cyprus i bet u are, and also i bet u wish u could think for yourself u poor bugger

  82. I just wish the Ashley Legacy (couldn’t think of a better word) hadn’t even began-always bad shit on the horizon with this Owner in charge.

  83. Batty – So your logic behind your comment is because ‘you think I am’.. lol lol

    Now thats funny, you bet I wish I could think for myself.. lol

    So me reading between the lines in what crap-loids post makes you bet I’m thick… lol

    I have to admit, you’re a class act Batty, a real class act.. lol

  84. all this world cup bollox is just that – bollox. Judging by these words CH must be looking at only bringing in world cup star players. Anyone else than players at world cup means he could be wrapping up that now. world cup my arse! I do nto think the world cup will effect bringing in some freebie who is not even in the world cup will it.

  85. cprus no your stupid for beleiving the papers and as iam a betting man ide bet u are thick as fck :lol:

  86. Batty – Where did I say I believe what the crap-loids said??

    What I said was, I read the crap-loids & use common sense to fill the gaps!!

    So me being thick is a bet you’ve certainly lost this time :)

  87. SJT @ 101

    What was the point of that stupid dig at Hughton, Do you not think the guy is doing his best with the hand he has been dealt.

    I could imagine the reaction i would get going up to my boss and demanding money.

    He has said that he wants to get Taylor signed up to a new deal, Which for me is the most important deal we will do this summer.

    There are some very good players on free transfers and some decent kids more than likely going to be loaned out, So lets wait and see what happens before we start slating him a week into the transfer window.

  88. Good post @ CC

    I agree there are lots of high quality bosman players this summer, a lot will be out of our wage cap but you never know what we maybe able to do otherwise :)

  89. CC all CH has done since we won promotion is waffle,waffle,waffle.
    I am not knocking him personally but he is going to find himself at Byker job centre at xmas if he isn’t given sufficient funds to strengthen in this window.

    If little or no money is spent then it will prove my point that CH is just grateful to be the manager,MA has the perfect puppet,doesn’t demand anything and only talks when the puppet master sticks his hand up his backside.

  90. the only thing the pro ashley peeps can come up with is the finance – NOTHING ELsE! no-one knows about the finance other than ashely and his inner circle of cok ends. Forget the finance its all crap. The man is a pathological lair. WE ARE FOOTBALL FANS. We follow the FOOTBALL CLUB NUFC, not its accountants. The pro ashleys .. please give me some good work that he has done and do not mention finance in that post. well, there is er, er, er… NOTHING. it is not our job to worry about ashelys finance, the same as he is not interested in ours. We are in it for the football. Our FOOTBALL club has been in a sharp decline for three years. ok, maybe we were a little up or down before he came but we would not have ever been relegated and would always have had a good chance of top 7 and uefa as it were then. On a footballing side only, we have sold all of our assets off (players), lost adidas after 16 years of loyal partnership, sacked loads of mamagers, became such a laughing stock that all of the big name managers (sir alex, arsene etc)said no-one would ever work under our regime, hense we have not had a real manager since KK, never once made a statement that made sense, got us relegated in double quick time, employed a casino owner to run a footy club, tried to hock us off twice and failed, lost in a very public tribunal and admitted to humiliating effect that we are all lied to just to shut us up, rebranding st james park, my god, i could go on forever with these FOOTBALLING side issues. As a FAN of newcastle FOOTBALL club….. no i am not happy with ashey ownership. Like my post the other day… we are like a long suffering wife. The odd good bit, but most times just a back hander and treated with contempt.

  91. And they also may not fit whatever model we are following that given week…or we may sign someone and they get lost on the way to the club due to various name changes and sponsorship deals.

  92. SJT

    Why does it matter about how much money is spent as long as we cover the positons we are lacking in.

  93. Good point CC-I am sick of hearing about the finance as well-if you can’t afford something and run it properly don’t buy it….if you are buying something expensive on the cheap and it looks too good to be true…..it probably isn’t true.

    Simple.

  94. CC If you read my posts I am not requesting Big Signings…I do object to charging people to come and watch you train kids for other clubs,in the championship yes,in the premiership no.

  95. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 12:50 pm
    Good post @ CC

    I agree there are lots of high quality bosman players this summer, a lot will be out of our wage cap but you never know what we maybe able to do otherwise

    Turn it up, man!

    If a player is on a free transfer and he’s half decent he will demand high wages and a decent signing on fee. We won’t be able to compete with other clubs on both counts.

    The free transfers who don’t command a higher salary – Well, that’s for a reason – Their shit!

    CC says:
    June 8, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    …And don’t count ya chickens – There won’t be many big clubs loaning their better young players out.

    Certainly not long term – We have to live on free’s and loans for the next five years!

    If you just ate lettuce for the next 2 months, you’d be dead!

  96. SJT – good answer re Age Gap mate.. lol

    Craig – What else is Ashley supposed to do apart from finance the club?? you’re asking a question that no one can answer!!!

    Well that’s not entirely true, Ashley, when he first took over did quite a lot, not including the finances, he sat in with the fans home & away, he went down the Quay side & brought people drinks, he got rid of Fat Sam because the fans wanted him gone… what else…. let me think… oh yeah, he brought back KK because he thought it’s what the fans wanted….

    So what else would you like him to do apart from finances??? give us an answer to your question???

  97. 120… yes we may get the odd bargin but basically speaking, in this day and age, if you are paying 1 million range for a player you are not getting prem quality. we do see the odd gem here and there for sure but that is not the norm. While i do relaise we can not compete with big deals with our present owners greed at stake, we should still be looking at a certain quality of player. CC… jsut to get numbers in regardless of quality which you do sugest, is madness. Lets say we need 4 players, we need at least two to be of a known quality, one kid and one pot shot. We simply can not get all chepos. You get what you pay for in every single thing it life. You pay shite, generally, you get shite. You have to get your foundations right. At newcastle the foundations are the 11 guys on the pitch. cos without them lads playing well and keeping us in the prem nothing else will fit and our whole structure will suffer. Our foundations are the the players, not the finance. get the players right, playing good football, your tema stay in the prem, giveing more revenue, you sell more tickets giving more revenue, you sell more shirts giving more revenue, you get the loyal backing of the toon army… cos you would have erned it.

  98. Cyprus he brought back KK-Appointed Dennis Wise behind his back-lied to him and the fans and then threw his toys out the pram and relegated us.

  99. Stuart – see that’s the problem isn’t it, you still want the big name players coming in the door every summer, you still looking for the stars to come play at the TOON, well mate, I’m afraid to tell you, it ain’t gonna happen, even if Ashley leaves & we have a new owner, we’re no longer that attractive club we use to be in the 90’s, there are quite a few clubs in front of us & that happened well before Ashley took over, the only way we could get top class players in after Sir Bob was sacked was to pay over the top prices & wages that would make the top 4 teams blush….

    We couldn’t sustain that then & we can’t now, so why hanker for it…

  100. 125.. no offense man but going to the quayside and buying a few pints does not cut it.ffs. haha
    i have told you everything that ashely has done under his time in post 118. read it again and in that post is everything wec were getting under pre ashley ownership. do not mention finance dude… or buying me a free pint (while having raised season tickets 10% to cover that pint!!)…. its a very simple question mate…. wehat has ashely done on a footballing level that you have been impressed with? me…. nothing.

  101. I was just thinking Craig if them new puma shirts on the Net the other week are real they have “Toon Army” on the Collar…maybe MA is planning to change the name of the team also :)

  102. I see City have released Petrov, Benjani and Sylvinho.

    They’ll be the quality of players available on frees. Or the odd Joe Cole.

    The first batch are too old and the second batch is way out of our league.

    Fulham talking to Senderos too.

    Glad we could steal a march on all the other PL clubs after our early promotion.

  103. SJT – I was just replying to Craigs question about what Ashley has done for the club apart from money.. thats all, I know he did the dirty on KK & stuck with DW, nowt we can do about that now is there….

  104. MA has done Zilch on a footballing level,I can not think of one thing that has benefited us footballing wise.

    Football quality even at championship level against pub teams was mainly awful to watch and I see our premiership season being the last one in a while if investment in the 1st team is avoided.

  105. 132-Yes we can do something CC-Make sure that it is never forgotten,take everything MA says with a pinch of salt,always bear in mind he Hates NUFC and will always look after himself whilst plodding along with a football club that means fook all to him apart from Money.

  106. Don’t be sarcastic Stuart, it’s not like you!

    You should really try to be positive and up-beat – try following sirjason’s example!

  107. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    he got rid of Fat Sam because the fans wanted him gone… what else…. let me think… oh yeah, he brought back KK because he thought it’s what the fans wanted….

    We believe Cyprus-Toon read that in the crap-loids but forgot to use his common sense and thinks its true.

    We believe mike did this because that’s what mike wanted to do.

    Comments Welcome.

  108. we all need to realise that we are doing naff all in the window, zip, nada, jack shite! we have no budget cos ashely wont give it. We could have got one of them without even effecting our wages and finance, butt has left, he was on 45 grand a week, we could bring in at least one of those freebies and have no effect on shit faces precious money grabbing antics. never mind… something will come up. you know what this window looks liek to me… keegans summer window in 2008. same blogs, same people – pro and anti saying the same things. On that occasion the anti’s won as we did nothing and the window closed. The frantic failed panic buy on the last day from man city and sunderland of all places. its coming again this time round. It 5-1 out of 6 windows against ashely at my last count. my guess is this will be 6-1.

  109. Craig

    Tell me where i said about bringing in players regardless of quality ??

    I said as long as we cover the positions we are lacking in, Meaning as long as we sign players good enough to be classed as cover not the likes of Fitz Hall and Marlon Harewood.

    Changed my name to avoid clashes.

  110. Craig mate, you’re deluded….

    When after the KK (1st stint) & Sir Bob were we ever in the chance of a top 7 finish?? oh yeah when Roeder took control under FFS, another manager who wasn’t given any money because FFS has given it all the season before to the previous manager who he sacked…..

    FFS sacked more managers, blow more money, put us in a relegation battle more times & slagged of the Geordie nation more than Ashley has ever done, so I say again, your deluded to think that we were much better off with FFS than we are now….

    I go back to what I said before, if Ashley gave any of our managers £50m to spend, you’d all be singing his praises but because he wants to run the club properly & not waste loads of money, he’s the worse owner ever…

    Classic….

  111. Cyprus-Toon @125

    “oh yeah, he brought back KK because he thought it’s what the fans wanted…”

    He did, didn’t he?

    Then he repudiated Keegan’s contract, which I think is fairly common knowledge, and the rest is history.

    I’m baffled as to why you would bring up KK in defense of Ashley.

  112. Darth – I brought KK in as Craig asked for things Ashley did outwith finance, no other reason & if you carry on reading you’ll see I said that later on in another post!!!

    As for your comments Ed, so you’re saying that fans didn’t want Fat Sam gone, are you saying that the fans loved the way Fat Sam played his football & that they were happy, yeah right, what ever….

    As I’ve said before, I’m playing devil advacate here, I never said I like Ashley, I’ve never said I want him to stay, all I’ve said is, the situ is better now than it was under the previous owners in the last few years…

    But I suppose it doesn’t matter what I say as it will always go agains what someone else thinks, so be it….

  113. Wow. Quite a thread. As always, some utter lobbox here, but those in the middle ground seem to be the only ones making sense.

    Nobody can say Ashley’s done a good job, and he has openly admitted he’s made huge mistakes.

    He still has the wrong man running things for him, and whoever is in his PR department isn’t fit to empty the bins.

    I can understand those who think last season was the exception and that the other 2 years of total ineptitude and nastiness represent what we can expect. I think different.

    I think CH will be able to get the players we need – and that lots of people on here will moan because they’re not famous enough and can’t be any good because we didn’t pay through the nose for them.

    I also think the club will continue to have a disastrous relationship with the press and the fans.

    We’ll survive in the prem, then improve the squad a bit further and keep edging up each year.

    I’ll take that.

  114. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Ashley sacked Alladyce – I don’t know many fans who wanted him sacked after only 5 months.

    He brought KK back – Why? Stupidity – You don’t bring KK in and tell him there’s money to spend and what we do spend you won’t be choosing the players we spend it on.

    He backs Denis Wise instead of his choosen manager – Starting the spiral of complete and utter shambles.

    He puts the club up for sale – Only saying it won’t be a fire sale and if I don’t get what I want (A profit) I won’t sell.

    He employs JFK – Complete joke!

    He gives Hughton the caretaker role when JFK has a dodgy turn – How ridiculous!

    He offers JFK a two year contract – Why?

    Appoints Shearer – Good move – Got the city back together.

    He lets the world know that appointing Shearer as manager was the best thing he has ever done and lets Llambias announce to the world they want Shearer 110% as boss. – Utter lies!

    They totally ignore Shearer, who constantly made it clear he wanted the job – They didn’t even acknowledge him – How not to treat anyone, let alone a club legend.

    He puts the club up for sale again – ON E BAY!

    Have I missed anything?

    He really has been excellant for the club.

    ps Did I mention we got relegated…

  115. They totally ignore Shearer, who constantly made it clear he wanted the job – They didn’t even acknowledge him – How not to treat anyone, let alone a club legend.

    I could be mistaken sjt but didnt they talk to him for 2 days?

  116. Has any1 ever thought of setting up a ‘we hate Mike Ashley blog’ so that SJT and the rest of the Mike Ashley hate squad can go vent their anger and spread the doom and gloom on there before coming back to talk about something different instead of repeating the same stuff over and over again.

    i respect your opinion’s and even agree with some of it but its really repetitive…..change the bloody record!

    just an idea but why not try being optimistic about the coming season or something??

  117. Whumpie says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:30 pm

    If you think we can move the club forward on a diet of free tranfers and loans, you’re living in cloud cuckoo land.

    I’d like past examples please.

    The reason players are on a free is either:

    They have one last big move in them, on big money or;

    Their just not very good and have been released because their not worth another contract.

  118. Johno Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    Call me Stuart, that would be an idea.

    They spoke to him for one a couple of days and then left him in the dark about everything.

  119. Oblong says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    Read the title of the article you prick!

    What do you want us to discuss on a ‘3 year anniversary’ blog for Ashley? The one way traffic system in town?

    Moby!

  120. Good post Whumpie WTG :)

    Yes Stuart, we get your point, he’s not good for the club but are you seriously expecting any other owner to be any different??

    Fans say they want hims to tell us what’s happening & when he does, they don’t like what he says!!!

    The only way all the fans would be happy is if we had owners like Manc Al Citey who’re able to pay off all the debt without blinking & then throw a few hundred mil in for transfers… it ain’t gonna happen, not now anyways, we supposedly had that chance but, yes I know, Ashley turned it down…. now if he really wanted money, wouldn’t he have sold us then???? or was it because they wanted full ownership & he only wanted to sell a 49% share & keep control…mmmm make you wonder!!

    As for me reading crap-loids & using my commonsense to fill between the lines, where is everyone else getting their so called information from??? know any good sources do you??? lol ;)

  121. “I could be mistaken sjt but didnt they talk to him for 2 days?”

    That was my understanding, Johno. I don’t recall if there was any official conclusion/statement, but I got the impression that he’d priced himself out of the job from what little came out around that time.

  122. @146.. you should change your tune in telling us to change our tune dude… do you get it?? you are just as repetitive. Besides. for once our rant is in tune with this actual blog, or had that slipped you?? the header of the blog is about ashey.. .what else did you expect us to be chatting about. we go on about him on every blog anyway, let alone a one where we are meant to be!!

  123. but i think shearer would have been shite too…. i just dont agree with the way ashley dissed him thats all. They should change the name shearers to ‘ashleys’ for all the jolly hockeysticks that seem to love what he has done for our club… for some strange reason.

  124. Good afternoon ladies and gents :)

    I’m remarkably surprised that this has ended pretty civil 8O

    Hats off to you all :)

  125. fair do’s you have got me there it is an Ashley blog so what else are you’s going talk about.

  126. So a straight question here now:::

    Would you prefer we have a club under Ashley?

    or

    Would you prefer to be in the same situ as Pompey under FFS?

    I know what I’d prefer & no I’m not an Ashley fans, I’m just playing Devils Advacte today :)

  127. 150.. .there you go again about the debt man!!! i dont give a hoot about the finance side of the club, its not my issue, its not my business, its not yours or anyones other than ashelys.
    I dont want much, i would however like some money spent on the team to keep us in prem. is that too much to ask? do you knwo that nufc is the only club in either prem,ccc or league 1 to have spent no money on players in three years??? i would actually pat ashely on the back if this amazing capital -lack of outlay – had worked. but it didnt did it… it sent us down and ruptured the entire club. cost three hundred staff their jobs, making honest familes suffer. all in the name of the greenback.
    no, i dont want mega signings, i would like something though, something which will be able to make me thinkl that we have something to look forward to other than a relegation fight which may or may not end up in us going back down… and trust me, if we go down again we will not get back up under this owner… and the reasons are obvious.

  128. does that mean in toonsy’s next blog that doesn’t have Ashley in the title you might give the doom and gloom a rest??

    thought not!

  129. Stuart.

    Do you not think Fulham are an example?

    Have they not used frees like Baird, Schwarzer, Kelly, Gera, Nevland and Kallio and Loans like Greening and Shorey.

    They have spent money on players like Johnson, Zamora, Duff, Etuhu, Hangeland, Konchesky and squad players but i bet Coloccini, Enrique, Barton, Nolan, Jonas, Smith, Guthrie and our squad players cost a fair bit more.

  130. 158.. there you go again… finances and money. i do not think we would have gone bust under ffs. only a person without a subjective brain would fail to acknowledge the reasons forthis thinking too. read my post 47 on my thoughts on the question you have raised.

  131. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    Don’t kid yourself.

    We would either have been bought by someone who could service/pay off the debt and continue to invest or we would have gone into adminstration and we would have had billionaire vultures all over the club hoping to get the club on the cheap and pay 1p in the £ to the creditors.

    It’s ridiculous to insinuate that we wouldn’t have a club if Ashley hadn’t rescued us!

    Utter garbage!

  132. the worrying thing for me,why is hughton willing to put up with this situation he finds himself in.
    if he is going to say nothing and just get on with it,what does this say about him?.
    i think i would have had more respect for him if he’d of walked out.chris deserves a pat on the back for last season albeit having the best squad etc,but in the long run if he’s not going to challenge the hierachy,then what good is he?.
    the last thing we need is another friendly face to the ashley regime.
    is this another glenn roeder situation in the making,got the job when he wasn’t looking for it,then was happy to just be the manager that he would put up with any old crap.
    the same paralells seem to be drawn decent man etc but invaribly will carry the can when it all goes wrong,the one brightside to it was glenn roeder’s resignation then sort of heralded the beginning of the end of the hall,shepherd tenure.
    hopefully if this does go tits up,it may also herald the end of the ashley regime.

  133. Craig – you have a go at us for mentioning Ashleys finance & say it’s nowt to do with anyone but Ashley, then in the next sentence you say ‘I dont want much, i would however like some money spent on the team’ now how can you say not to mention finance but expect to spend money on player????

    Money is the be all & end all of football whether you like it or not, if you don’t get any money, you don’t expect to go very far but if you spend too much money, what ever money you do get goes to pay off what you’ve spent, so in the end, you can’t have anymore… thats the situ with the Toon right now!!!

  134. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    As for your comments Ed, so you’re saying that fans didn’t want Fat Sam gone, are you saying that the fans loved the way Fat Sam played his football & that they were happy, yeah right, what ever….

    We believe Mike sacked Sam because it was not his appointment and did not like him personally.

    We dont recall any newcastle fans calling for Kevin Keegan to be appointed the newcastle manager and therefore our post @ 136 stands.

    We also believe batty has made some very valid points regarding you.

    Comments Welcome.

  135. Cyprus – Aye, I wrote this earlier after i got in from work and went to bed to hide :D

    As I say, i’m impressed :D

  136. CT says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    We aren’t going to be spending the money that Fulham have spent.

    Also don’t forget they have a manager with millions of years experience, contacts worldwide and they have the backing of their owner in the transfer market.

  137. 166… getting back to my intitial q for you…. what has ashley done in footballing only that you are pleased with? i still can not find anything as much as i look. pls dont say sack sam and bring in kk and give us a free pint thing again (that cost me an extra 50 quid on my season ticket!).

  138. craig @155

    “i just dont agree with the way ashley dissed him thats all”

    Dead right, I would say.

    It’s that kind of lack of respect; that kind of disregard for being seen to deal honestly, and to do things in the right way that has made people angry in the past.

    I think most of now acknowledge that there’s something of a revolution coming in terms of the way the game is financed, and that a few teams might go under because of their accounting practices in the last few years.

    And I reckon that people are right to say that any change of hands of the club at this stage would likely bring result in us having another owner intent on doing things on a strictly controlled budget.

    But I’d settle for that if it meant a new era of the club dealing honestly and openly with the fans and the media alike.

    Personally, I’ve still not discounted the possibility of MA eventually coming good – but he really needs to get on with it.

  139. Stuart@164 – Is that so mate, so is that why there are loads of people looking to buy Pompey or Cessepool is it???

    I mean, they’re in administration & have had 5 owners in a season, so why have none of them been able to pay off there debt & spend a fortune on transfers???

    Craig@163 – is that so mate & you know this how?? Only a person with inside information would know FFS didn’t get us seriously in debt, so who’s being subjective now!!

  140. Geordie Deb – I’m use to getting abuse from people for my comments, it’s all part & parcel for having an opinion & not following the crowd.. lol ;)

    Toonsy – It’s still early mate, we could still have tears before bedtime & I’m 2 hours ahead of you guys.. lol

  141. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    I’ll go through them one at a time for you then.

    Portsmouth – Owed £120m – That’s more than their worth. Their average attendance is 20k and they don’t really have much scope for making money.

    Liverpool – Debt of £300m – Asking price of £500m – New stadium to build at £400m. That’s more than £1B outlay.

    That could explain why they haven’t been bought. Althougg reports this morning suggest Liverpool have had a coupld of offers but the owners are sticking to their asking price.

  142. Craig@172 – Imo I think Ashley saved us from the route of Pompey & Leeds before them..

    If we’d been relegated under FFS, we would have slid into oblivion, then FFS & hall would have chucked in the towel & taken us into Administration without even thinking about it, as neither of them had the capital to get us out of that sort of debt.

    Don’t say we wouldn’t have gotten relegated because the only way that would have happened is if FFS had spent even more money he didn’t have, thus catch 22…

    So what do I think Ashley has done for us, saved our club from extinction, that’s what!!

  143. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Absolute bollox!

    We wouldn’t have got relegated under Shepherd. I know he was bad with managers but even he didn’t go through five in one season – That ultimately got us relegated.

    Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t that on Ashley’s watch?

  144. Stuart – Paompey are £135m in debt mate & they don’t own their stadium either from what I’ve heard but thats no reason for them not to be brought by someone who’s got money, I mean, they could pay off that debt, build a new stadium & get the fan base up quite easily, so no reason for them not to be brought!!

    As for Cessepool, You say that the owners won’t drop their asking price but when Ashley tried to sell the Toon, he supposedly asked for £400m & no one wanted it, so what the difference??

    Did you expect him to sell if off cheaper than he’d payed for it, same at the Yanks at Cessepool, it’s not the way, they want £500m because they think it’s worth that much & so did Ashley at the time, then at the second attept he tried selling for £80 & still couldn’t sell it, so unless you want him to sell the TOON for the same price as the Mackems sold for (£10m) then we’re stuck with him, sorry :)

  145. half decent point bout the 5 manager thing Stuart79 but i dunno if you can say we wouldn’t of got relegated under Shepard. we had a lot of over rated, over paid players playing for us who didn’t give a f**k about the club which played a bit part in our relegation!

  146. The cards are dealt, this is the hand we’ve got,
    man up and deal with it.
    Stop moaning about it.

  147. Stuart @ 143 & 146:

    Firstly, I like your summary of Ashley’s worst moments. Apart from the Shearer bit which people have covered – but overall I’m with you, and with Toonsy when he says that the bad has outweighed the good.

    But I also agree that we could have got a hell of a lot worse, and you have to wonder how bad things could have been if the muppet had done due diligence…

    As for advancing on free signings and loans… example?

    Lovenkrands.

    Nuff.

  148. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    There’s a massive difference that you keep missing – Both them clubs have more debt than us, both need hundreds of millions spent on a new stadium and in Portsmouths case they don’t have the same fan base or attraction as us or Liverpool.

    We have a stadium that is the 3rd biggest in the league, with a huge fan base.

    Liverpool only have the fan base and history now – Their a £1B project – That’s too much, mate – For anyone.

  149. Stuart@188 – So you think it’s because we had 5 managers that we got relelgated? I thought everyone thought it was because Ashley didn’t spend any money on players that we got relegated, even though the teams was said to be valued at well over £200m :(

    You see, I alwasy thought paying some player upto £115k a week would keep us in the PL but obviously it doesn’t, it seems we need to increase our wage cap to £150k per week, not drop it to £35k… lol

    Oh yeah & get a manager who’s willing to work with no transfer budget either lol

    Since the concept of the PL, we’ve only had two really good spells, 1 when KK was in charge, theo ther when Sir Bob was, both got backed big time in transfer money & both got us in the CL, now I wish that we could get back there but I can’t see that happening anytime soon, no matter who the owner is, so I’ll just sit back, watch the games, pray we keep winning & enjoy my football…

  150. Whumpie says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    Don’t go overboard on them free transfer examples will you….

    Although before holding him up as a shining example I would wait until he has had a full season in the PL – He could make you look silly if he only score 4 goals.

  151. Staurt@194 – So do you think Cessepool will be relegated this season then, due to no money, smaller fan base, 2 crap owners & no manager at present?

    Good point Oblong, what if Ashley had done due diligence & decided not to buy, then all the debt would have come out, as it has now & FFS would have been up crap creak without a boat, nevermind a paddle… lol

  152. bottom line is whatever the reasons,we sold our more creative players,that would have gave us a better chance of staying up.the final match against villa was evident as you could of drove a bus between the gap of midfield and the strikers.
    next season we will line up similarly with slow poke nolan and the rest,and i’m afraid it will no different or worse than last time around.

  153. @175… wrong mate. under ffs we were a plc… all info open to public. under ashley we get to see his doctord accounts. little bit different.
    yes of course we bought players in january. I am talking about the whole picture. from the time of takeover to now, players sold over players bought. that sort of thing. Until this window ashely was in the black with sold to bought.
    girlymag… nice way with words haha. i am trying to figure out which one you arr… hiding under this new name??

  154. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Selling good players and replacing them with poorer ones really didn’t help. But the fact we had five managers in one season is a major reason for getting relegated.

    Forget the amount of money we paid for players or we paid them – Blame the people who choose them players.

    Souness spent £50m in 18 months on shite – If we’d have spent that money wiser we would have been top 6 – With a better man spending it.

  155. I think the example we should be looking at is Stoke City!!

    Get promoted, spend wisely, no debt, no over priced players, just solid, hard working players who want to play for the shirt on their backs, not the pay packets, then once you’ve got a season under your belt in th PL, then you can invest some money & look at bettering your playing staff year after year :)

    And their owner is only half as well off as ours & they only have a 15000-20000 seater stadium too.. lol

  156. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:37 pm
    Stuart@188 – So you think it’s because we had 5 managers that we got relelgated? I thought everyone thought it was because Ashley didn’t spend any money on players that we got relegated, even though the teams was said to be valued at well over £200m
    <<<<<< its because fat man made mistake after mistake after mistake and yes that includes 5 managers and also he didnt spend enough on decent players when he should of done

  157. geordiedeb… for once we are only talking about the actual blog title. if you recall, on yesterdays last blog i kept it on the subject matter and not on ashley. you cant have it both ways… you cant complain if we talk about ashely on a none ashley titled blog but then also complain of we talk about him on a blog that is dedicated to the man.. can you?? haha

  158. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:41 pm
    Staurt@194 – So do you think Cessepool will be relegated this season then, due to no money, smaller fan base, 2 crap owners & no manager at present?

    Why would they be relegated? They have players like Gerrard, Torres, Benhyoun, Reina and Mascherano.

    When they start selling Gerrard and Torres and replace them with the likes of Nolan and Ameobi and go through five managers a season they might be in trouble. Until then, they’ll be ok. Although they won’t see Champions League again while their current owners are there.

    What you on about smaller fan base for? Liverpool have a massive fan base.

  159. Im just a defender of the faith.
    I only say something when the wan*ers take over with their constant
    shitehawkery.

  160. craig chisholm says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    “under ffs we were a plc… all info open to public. under ashley we get to see his doctord accounts.”

    Those doctored accounts that have to be independently audited and filed with the government at Compnaies House?

    Any hint if anything dodgy in them and they wouldn’t be accepted, Craig.

  161. craig chisholm says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    I believe only you and I were actually talking football on yesterdays blog, Craig.

  162. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:44 pm
    I think the example we should be looking at is Stoke City!!
    <<<< coates bled the club dry when he owned it the 1st time and when he went back he said he owed the fans big style

  163. Girly Mag says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:48 pm
    Im just a defender of the faith.
    I only say something when the wan*ers take over with their constant
    shitehawkery.

    We believe it may well be Girly Mag’s time of the month and perhaps she should go and lie down in a dark room with a wet blanket over her head.

    Comments Welcome.

  164. 210 acuna says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:50 pm
    Martin Petrov!!!!!!!!!!!free agent

    Too old.

  165. 202… stoke have spent decent money in three years.. .we have spent zero.

    stu@201.. .your post alone proves that we were not a sinking ship under previous stewardship. we were 100 million in debt when ashely took us, half of that was on stadium. that means with souness alone spending 80 million there is 100 million. if we were truly a sinking ship in financial melt down we would be accruing debt none stop from every manager year on year. but we clearly were not. we had 50 million of debt as we can not take into account the stadium expansion. it would not be fair to say that was fool hardy. 50 million debt with the amount of players we havfe bought pre ashley – is nothing. and all of this on half the tv revenue we are getting now. pls dont anyone tell me ashely makes nothing out of nufc.

  166. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:44 pm
    I think the example we should be looking at is Stoke City!!

    Get promoted, spend wisely, no debt, no over priced players, just solid, hard working players who want to play for the shirt on their backs, not the pay packets, then once you’ve got a season under your belt in th PL, then you can invest some money & look at bettering your playing staff year after year

    And their owner is only half as well off as ours & they only have a 15000-20000 seater stadium too.. lol
    <<<<<< 28 thou council owned ground and now half of the fans want puilis oot

  167. Girly Mag says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:48 pm
    Im just a defender of the faith.
    I only say something when the wan*ers take over with their constant
    shitehawkery.
    <<<<< aye and ur the top w@nker of w@nkers

  168. Craig – You seriously think that Ashley cooks the books to show us in debt?? that’s seriously deluded mate, there’s no way he’d get away with anything like that, especially with the tax man, it wouldn’t be worth his other businesses if he did!!!

    Stuart – Nolan was brought in after the work he done at Bolton, we weren’t to know he’d have a crap season which ended up with us getting relegated, as for selling Milner, if we’d gotten less for him, then yes I would have agreed but to make £7m profit, that’s a chance worth taking…

    It’s a common fact that all the players we buy seem to play far better for their previous clubs than they do for us, not sure why but it must be down to the training we give them & that’s why they liked it when Shearer took over as temp-manager because his training was far superior to what they previously had under JFK, go figure!!!

  169. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:55 pm
    Craig – You seriously think that Ashley cooks the books to show us in debt?? that’s seriously deluded mate,
    <<<<< we dont know what do the papers say :lol:

  170. toonsy… i agree, but with the complexity of ashleys financial comings and goings he can move money with ease to suit. all still egal and giving any impression he chooses. For instance, on the last set of results he was very vague, didint mention that he had already re morgaged ground, spent the 13 million we are owed on players sold etc… see my point. we see what he wants us to see.
    hey toonsy.. you must have been mad putting this blog out today haha. were you not thinking, shit, this is going to kick off today?! haha

  171. can’t handle it back at you.

    Lets start a bullying circle because someone doesn’t like your constant bullshit.

  172. stoke city have spend best part of 50 million over their two seasons,to stay in the league.

  173. Cypus Toon-Nolan had been Shit at Bolton for 18 months before we bought him.

  174. 219.. nolan was brought in as a last minute rush job as barton went out with season long injury. it was panic stations. If barton had not got injured nolan would not be a mag today.

  175. Batty – I’ve no idea what the papers say mate as we don’t get them until the day after over here in Cyprus or did you just ‘bet’ my username is from holidays?? lol

    I get my info from the same place as you guys, the web, the internet, etc :) unless you have insde knowledge but somehow I doubt it ;)

  176. Trojan Stoke have put in a 12m for paluchenko from spuds today as well so make that possibly 62m

  177. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 2:55 pm

    SBR asked who did the scouting for the Nolan signing, intimating that he wasn’t the player he once was. But obviously we didn’t do any scouting, as Ashley told Sir Bobby.

    Selling Milner a risk worth taking! What an idiot! How could it have been? The risk didn’t pay off – We got relegated!

  178. Craig – The thing with cooking the books is that everyhting will leave a paper trail, you can’t just make money disappear.

    The mortgages were there, in the paper trail, and eventually they were found. The point being is that everything gets found out in the end, no matter where it is.

    And making money disappear would be of interest to the taxman if Ashley had done it, and we all know the taxman will chase you half way round the world for 50p. If there was any hint if it, then you can guarantee that the accounts would have been passed to the taxman.

  179. cyprus toon… you on ya own mate! i admire your fight though! even in certain defeat you keep on going…you dont have one hand tucked into your waistcoat do you?

  180. craig chisholm says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    “i think on the balance of play today the anti ashleys are winning and common sense is winning!”

    Is that what it is all about? Winning? It’s not a fecking game of tig is it? Or is a discussion about Ashley, and how people percieve what he is done? How can someone win when everyone has an opinion?

  181. it would be very easy to portray a real life legal loss on the bookes toonsy as you know. i would imagine its what stjames park holdings is all about. ashley is a semi crook and bully. blacks/ffs/office of fair trading etc.
    tell you what i do find strange is that many of the sportsdirect shops ih the high street dont even have our nufc tops in. dunno why but thats daft eh.

  182. Geordie Deb

    Newcastle was about 130mil in debt when Ashley bought us. However, most of that debt was owed on the Stadium expansion. What do you think the stadium is worth. At least double that debt.
    So for a club our size, with the player assets we had, Given, Martins, NZogbia, Milner, etc and filling a 52 000 seater stadium. With rising television revenue – th debt of 130mil isn’t anywhere as bad as it sounds.
    Now – we still owe that same amount – have no assets.

    Yes, Ashley has cut costs, but he has drastically but income too! And only through his own errors.

    Had he controlled the debt, and invested properly in players and managers. We would have been challenging for a top four spot.

    Instead he turned us into a championship side – and cost us millions in assets and income as a result.

    The mere fact he didn’t do due dilligence just demonstrates how utterly clueless he is.
    His only business skill and having no conscience exploiting people by doing everything on the cheap.

  183. toonsy says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:07 pm
    Craig – The thing with cooking the books is that everyhting will leave a paper trail, you can’t just make money disappear.

    Roulette :lol:

  184. craig chisholm says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    It’s not about winning, mate. It’s just about the fact that people cannot argue with the facts. I outlined most of Ashley’s cock ups earlier and they are the reasons why were here.

  185. as in the term common sense toonsy.. yes. common sense should win out. right should always win over wrong. clearly the first team two seasons ago had your thought train though, cos they wernt to bothered about winning either. haha

  186. Stuart79 says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    “It’s not about winning, mate.”

    Thank god, I though it was going to turn into a playground squabble with Craig’s claims of his team winning :roll:

    FSS, we all want Newcastle to do well in the end. We all have a common goal.

  187. football’s about opinions,for a bit of interest lets call one side the pro ashley lobby,anyone got any names for the so called anti side lol?.

  188. craig chisholm says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Go to Team Valley and go to Sports Direct – It’s full of Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs merchandise. I couldn’t believe it!

    The fact remains if were skint, we need to increase revenue – Why aren’t we trying to so that? It certainly doesn’t look like we are.

    Our shirt sponsorship with NR is nothing short of theft on their part.

    Ever since Ashley has had the club, our revenue has gone down – When it has gone up it’s been down to TV money, not his or his employees expertise.

  189. 239 jj…….man…i have been saying this same thing all day long but its all a waste of time man.
    i tell you what, if ashely had owned us ages ago we would never have seen the stadium expansion as he has no desire for our club and never did have.

  190. Stuart – It’s the same down here with the shirts. No JJB/Sports shop stock our merchandise, it’s all Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc.

  191. I’m always on my own mate, as I’m not a follower you see, I have my own opinions & I’m very open about giving them when asked, as I’ve said before, I’m not an Ashley fan, I’m just playing devil advocate :)

    I try not resorting to name calling or mickey taking if I can but I’m always up for the fight in any conversation ;)

    No point in banter if you can’t just walk away from it if you know what I mean lol

  192. toonsy says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:18 pm
    Stuart – It’s the same down here with the shirts. No JJB/Sports shop stock our merchandise, it’s all Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc.

    I understand that, toonsy. But it’s unforgivable that Ashley’s own company are promoting London clubs in Newcastle over NUFC merchandise.

    We need to increase revenue and the club aren’t doing that!

    Why?

  193. I think you’ll probably find that all our stock has been removed due to the new branding coming out as most shops know they won’t be able to sell anything with Adidas on it now :)

  194. TROJAN 69 says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:15 pm
    football’s about opinions,for a bit of interest lets call one side the pro ashley lobby,anyone got any names for the so called anti side lol?.
    <<<<< u could try true newcastle united supporters trojan

  195. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:22 pm
    I think you’ll probably find that all our stock has been removed due to the new branding coming out as most shops know they won’t be able to sell anything with Adidas on it now

    What last summer?

  196. Stu – I don’t know, but as a guess, perhaps Ashley assumes that in Team Valley, most people will at some point head into Newcastle to get the shirts?

    Even so, I still wouldn’t see the harm in them (our shirts) being stocked.

  197. Toonsy mate, I intend to or else all we’ll hear is anti-ashley posts & that would drive me stupid ;) ;)

    I’m always up for a good argument, sorry I mean banter.. lol

  198. Cyprus-Toon says:
    June 8, 2010 at 3:03 pm
    Batty – I’ve no idea what the papers say mate as we don’t get them until the day after over here in Cyprus or did you just ‘bet’ my username is from holidays?? lol

    I get my info from the same place as you guys, the web, the internet, etc unless you have insde knowledge but somehow I doubt it
    <<<< the way ya spout ya shite we would think ur in cahoots with fat man :lol:

  199. toonsy – I guess the big question that should be answered is why have we not increased our turnover through the clubs ideas and initiatives?

    Is that not a way to get a bigger transfer kitty, rather than just not spending anything and hoping we’ll be ok?

  200. Maybe he’s not promoting our stuff because of all the negative stuff he reads on these bloggs.. lol

    He’s a businessman in the loses terms, he’ll sell what every sells & if our’s don’t, then he’s gonna sell other teams instead… :(

    They don’t sell any Toon tops over here either, it’s all Manc, Spurts, Chelski, Cessepool etc… and all the european shirts too :(

  201. Another thing besides the player assets, premiership money, that Ashley has cost us.

    Season ticket sales down, gate receipts, Advertising (which he is using for himself at no charge), Corperate box sales, clothing outlets selling Newcastle Merchandise leased out.
    What happened to getting money for the Stadium name (still Sports Direct is it?)
    Wasted money sacking useless people and managers.

    He has taken every benefit he can out of the club – RAPED IT OF INCOME – and yet when the club suffers losses because of his poor ownership, the losses stay on the clubs books under the name of Newcastle – to be repaid when/if we get sold.

    Will he repay the income he has cost us through advertising/merchandise/ticket sales/relegation costs/etc when he goes?

    Come on people wake up and smell the stench that comes from the man!
    He has stripped us and then “loaned” back what he has cost us! Only to be repaid…

  202. The dire state of the finances wasnt so much the debt but the fact it was costing us 7m a year in interest+the wage bill was out of control it meant we had no money for transfers, so it was becoming borrow, borrow borrow-i still contend the wage bill is far too high.
    Also Stoke spent 34m net in the past 2 seasons-the club that survives and never spends is Blackburn.

  203. Ok, here’s how I see it, admittedly with rose-tinted specs on, but also a from a gut feel which started at the end of January and has generally grown since:

    I expect CH and co to have an effective, but unspectacular transfer window, mainly based around young talent, frees and loans.

    We’ll stay up quite comfortably, albeit getting thrashed a few times on the way, but also pulling off some good results here and there.

    Having got the wages down but now benefitting from PL income, we’ll make an operating profit, and start paying off the Ashley loans.

    Once those are gone (about 3 or 4 years), we’ll up the spending on players, and I honestly don’t expect to see Ashley, for all his well-documented faults, taking profits out of the club. It will all go into ensuring continued progress.

    In a few years, we’ll be doing just fine.

  204. Phew !
    Fear and loathing in Newcastle !
    Wow, certainly had them coming out of the woodwork there Toonsy.
    The bedsheeter`s, (that`s sheeter`s) Keeganites, Ashley pro & con`s and whack jobs of various sorts.

    I tend to agree in general with what you stated, a pretty fair account of what took place.

    For what it`s worth, IMO what this club needs right now is (and i have been advocating this forever) is an astute footballing managing director, (a Geordie would be a added bonus)to replace Llambias.
    Otherwise i cant see much progress being made.
    NUFC are still, even with a year in the second tier, an enormous club with great earning power and potential.
    Forget those dumb ass five year plans, markets and circumstances change too fast.
    A well run club with a footballing pro. at the helm, someone with a track record is what`s needed,that more than anything.