NUFC’s latest accounts: Turnover up, profit down.As many of you out there will be aware, Newcastle United recently announced their figures for the year ended 30th June, 2012. This corresponds to our second season back in the Premiership which, of course, is last season.
In the last few days the accounts were finally made public thorugh Companies House, and as usual, I obtained a set there to publish online here. You can peruse these at your leisure by downloading them from the link below:
Vampires.“And how the poverty of these unfortunates, among whom even thieves find nothing to steal, is exploited by the property-holding class in lawful ways.” – Frederick Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England.
It is no longer news that Internet loan shark “Wonga” will be the club’s sponsors from next season for a period of four years.
I was going to write this piece a few days ago, but on reflection, I decided to leave it for a short while to see what emerged in terms of further details about the deal itself, and also the level of opprobrium which was inevitably going to follow the announcement. The exact amount is still shrouded in secrecy, though a figure of £24 million for the four years (£6 million per year) was bandied around in the media after the announcement was made, then the Telegraph claimed that the figure is more like £8 million per year (£32 million over four years). When this was put to the Managing Director, Derek Llambias, he suggested that the £8 million figure was “not far off.” As it’s Llambias though, this may not be true, but it is all we have to go on. As well as this, it is also been claimed that Wonga will be investing a further £1.5 million in the club’s Academy.
Llambias had the following to say on the new deal: (more…)
The road to Amsterdam.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
With the sides evenly matched at 1-1 after last week’s first leg Europa League tie in Athens, Newcastle United entertain FC Atromitos at St James’ Park this evening to determine which club will take the road towards the Amsterdam Arena (with some welcome additional revenue), and which team will pack away their passports and sun tan lotion for another season.
Should we prevail and make it through to the Group Stages we’ll be one of 48 teams split into 12 groups who will play one another, home and away during the next few months. After which, if we finish in the top two, we’ll move on to the Round of 32 having been joined by the eight clubs finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group.
Europa League Finances
So what exactly is at stake tomorrow evening? While we all know that this revamped second tier competition is the poor man’s version of the Champions League, it is encouraging for all competing clubs to learn they will now benefit from a greater proportion of the “Market Pool” to help add to the official UEFA prize money. (more…)
What went wrong?“We do not want to put prices up. People might say we have put membership up on the season tickets. But that is going straight into the Academy. It was discounted for the first year but that is going into the Academy because we need to find the money from somewhere.”
Said Derek Llambias defending the introduction of compulsory membership to buy season and away tickets, and also it’s subsequent increase from £15 to £25 after only a year.
There was also much bragging about the huge sums being invested in the Academy, with Newcastle seeking to emulate the Barcelona “la Masia” model started by Johan Cruyff, which has acheived so much success for the Catalan club. As we predicted back in June, and now know for sure, when it came to attaining “Elite Player Performance Plan” Category One status, it turned out that they didn’t even manage to emulate the Wolves, Stoke City and Blunderland models, with even Championship neighbours, Middlesbrough looking likely to achieve what Newcastle United couldn’t. The other clubs who have now been informed they have been successful are Fulham, Southampton and West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, Aston Villa, Reading, Bolton Wanderers, Norwich, West Brom and Watford still waiting to be audited by the organisation carrying out the inspections, “Foot Pass England.” Troubled Blackburn Rovers and Crystal Palace are the other clubs who have been told they have failed in their repective attempts to obtiain the highest designation.
S.Taylor and Derek Wright displaying the new SD arm patches.It seems that Newcastle United have somehow managed to pull off yet another sponsorship deal with sportwear giant, Sports Direct, this time for the club’s training kits.
This adds to the company’s existing sponsorship of St James’ Park stadium, the pitchside hoardings, the roof, the walls, the players’ tunnels, the dugouts, the Benton training ground, Kath the tea lady and so on.
The amount agreed for the latest “sponsorship” remains uncertain, but whatever it is, here’s hoping that it’s at least something. Despite finishing in the top five last season, qualifying for the Europa League, and reaching complete saturation in terms of sponsorship opportunities, Newcastle United still receives one of the lowest amounts in sponsorship revenue in the Premiership, and is currently £140 million in debt, the highest figure in it’s history.
It is also uncertain whether the new Sports Direct patches will be appearing on the club’s matchday kits in the coming season. (more…)
