Newcastle no longer own St James’ Park.
Posted on June 2nd, 2010 | 230 Comments |
The Guardian have managed to track down some of the inner workings of what is going on behind the iron curtain, with the focus yet again being on the financial side of the club.
In quite stunning fashion, The Guardian have revealed that Newcastle no longer own St James’ Park, or the training ground, or the youth academy. They have also revealed that all the money owed to us from the sale of players such as James Milner and Obafemi Martins has already been borrowed against and is due to be repaid as and when we recieve it.
I’m struggling to make sense of it all as the numbers just don’t add up. One side of me is wondering just how The Guardian managed to get hold of such figures, bearing in mind that the accounts for that period are yet to be filed. Whilst the other side of me thinks that there could be some truth in all of this as The Guardian, aside from one very serious recent slip up, is generally a paper that can be believed.
If you want to read the article yourself, then please do so here, or alternatively you can stick with me and I will try to rattle through it.
Basically, it all apparently stems from relegation. As of the 30th June 2009, Newcastle had an overdraft of £47.87 million, which is a staggering amount. Whilst this amount is deemed acceptable for a team that has a Premier League income, unfortunately that is something we couldn’t guarantee in the season just passed. As a result the bank decided that having such a sum unsecured was too much of a risk.
On the 1st July 2009, Barclays took steps to reduce the risk they faced by registering a mortgage on St James’ Park, the training ground, and the youth academy. Not only that, our brand name was also taken into consideration, aswell as any trade secrets, although god knows what they are! So from where I am sitting, and according to The Guardian, by having a mortgage it is actually Barclays bank that owns most our assets, including St James’ Park, although technically we don’t own the land, but the buildings on it we do…. or did.
It gets worse…
In October 2009, Newcastle acquired a secured loan based on the income of player sales that was yet to be paid. This includes payments for James Milner, Obafemi Martins that were due into the club and, I hoped, would have been money already earmarked for transfers. Apparently not…
As I said earlier, I really don’t know what to make of this, and the sums just don’t add up. Is it more press scare-mongering? Or is there actually some truth in these revelations? I think what this needs is some clarificati….. oh wait, we wont get that will we?
In all seriousness, if this is true then it is an awful blow on our return to the Premier League. I must stress though that there is nothing about this ‘mortgage’ on St James’ Park or the training ground being repaid. For all we know it may have already been paid, or there could be plans afoot to pay it back, or the story could be pure fabrication. Who knows?
Unfortunately, Mike Ashley has backed himself into a corner on this one. Something like this needs to be categorically denied as it has the risk to become a very serious issue with fans, very very quickly. And with the current “no comment” policy, I don’t expect a denial to be forthcoming.
Granted we have been told to ignore what is read in the papers, but when it is something as potentially serious as this then it has to be given the light of day. St James’ Park is a sacred place, and revelations like this will not sit well with the fans, unless they are nipped in the bud and denied quite quickly.
If this turns out to be true then you have to ask, where has all the money gone? I know relegation costs, but has it cost us the ultimate possesion? Managers and players come and go, St James’ Park doesn’t, it is THE constant.
Have we paid the ultimate price for relegation?
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
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