Displaying financial acumen?Newcastle United are set to announce strong financial results, have settled a dispute with the tax office and have frozen season ticket prices for 9 years.
According to an article in The Telegraph, Newcastle’s results for the 2010/2011 financial year – which are due out later this week – are set to show that the club is in good shape. The Telegraph goes on to suggest that they will show the club has made a profit for the first time since Mike Ashley bought it in 2007.
Apparently said results will not include player trading, although we should still have change from the £35m windfall we received from Liverpool for the sale of Andy Carroll.
In a separate article, The Telegraph goes on to say that the results will also confirm that we’ve reached an agreement with the tax office over ongoing disputes we’ve had with them.
The main dispute with HMRC has been about players’ ‘image rights’. This was a kind of tax avoidance scheme where payments to players were labelled as ‘image rights’ rather than ‘salaries’, which meant that such payments could be made to companies rather than individuals and thusly attract 26% corporation tax rather than 50% income tax. This is something that at lot of Premier League clubs have been up to and most have reached agreements with the tax office about it. Allegedly the settlement agreed by Newcastle has already been accounted for by a contingent liability put aside in the previous year’s accounts. (more…)
Pardew: More sponsorship, or the players will go!In a move which may or may not be coincidental with the kerfuffle over the club’s recent stadium rename, Alan Pardew has told the Sunday Mirror that though Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias have put the club in a much stronger position finacially, it still needs to bring more sponsorship in.
He also added that if the club failed to bring in more sponsorship, we may lose our best players. The grey gaffer started with praise for Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias’ financial stewardship the club, though it is still in more debt than it was when Ashley gained control of the club in the summer of 2007.
Identity crisis for our ground.The renaming of Newcastle United’s ground continues to rankle people, this time in parliament where a Commons motion has been taken out to object to it.
Ashley’s plans to rename St James’ Park after his T-shirt company have certainly caused a stir, one that stretches as far as House of Commons.
12 MPs have signed a Commons motion condemning Ashley’s attempts to strip away 100 years of history in favour of shifting a few more shirts. Those that signed the motion – should you wish to either vote for them or pelt them with eggs, depending upon your particular stance on the matter – are Labour MPs Ian Mearns, Pat Glass, Catherine McKinnell, Chi Onwurah, Nick Brown, Ian Lavery, Dennis Skinner, David Anderson, Mary Glindon, Stephen Hepburn, Alex Cunningham and Sir Alan Meale.
Their motion brands the act as ‘corporate vandalism’ and David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon, said:
“They’ve got no interest whatsoever in the ordinary football fan. They are ignoring the people who have made this the club what it is, who spent more than 100 years building this club up into an icon for our region.
“It is total disrespect for the history and culture of our region.” (more…)
Ashley's ninjas move in.“All this was inspired by the principle – which is quite true within itself – that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
Vertonghen: Top notch but will be £10 million+.Of all the defensive targets (allegedly) pursued by Newcastle United, Ajax’s 24 year old Belgian defender and captain, Jan Vertonghen, is by far the most interesting proposition.
At a potential cost that will almost certainly be over £10 million, along with the abilty to command a Coloccini sized salary package he should be really. However, despite another thing being almost certain, that he will also be pursued by other clubs (most with more “clout” than Newcastle United too), he’s still the one that Alan Pardew should really push the boat out for. After taking my advice from last year telling him to stop messing around with forwards such as Modibo Maiga and buy Papiss Cisse instead, and also to stop being silly and put Hatem Ben Arfa back on the flank, hopefully the Silver Supremo will heed my sage advice once more!
Cultured, powerful, versatile, attacking…
Jan Vertonghen first came on to my radar quite some time ago when Johan Cruyff named him as his favourite Ajax player in the current squad. When the greatest Dutch master of them all says something like that I tend to listen, and look. After watching a few Ajax games I could see why. (more…)
