Matt

Anyone else a little disturbed by Lua Lua's stroking of the trophy ribbons?

That's true, but equally the academy players train together almost every day, some of the lads in Blyth squad rarely get to train with the rest of them due to work commitments and travelling distance- I'm surprised that wasn't more of a decisive factor seeing as the game went the distance. No wins since 1994 for Blyth, Newcastle last won two years back at the Wheatsheaf in what was a cracking game. On Adam Bartlett, he actually now coaches at the Academy on top of his playing job and a certain Adam Sadler was actually signed by Blyth a few years back but wasn't allowed Saturdays off! Bartlett has been superb this season and is rated as one of the best keepers at that level and could well make a full-time return yet.

With all these strikers, it's looking like a top-heavy formation.

No, he backed them on IG index, so it depends if he still has a position open. Doubt he'll get his money back soon, but his losses have narrowed somewhat. Joe Lewis (Spurs guy) owned a slice of Bear Sterns that was worth about £600m and will get little more than his bus fare home in return.

Do you know what a change of ownership clause is, by the way?

I wouldn't recommend studying business at Northumbria if that's the sort of stuff they come up with. Good lord. Experts suggest researching articles properly, but that's never stopped the Ronnie before. This is very much a 'rough guideline' for football clubs. Cost:Income ratios differ wildly across various sectors.

You need assets to asset strip. The only thing we have are players and a stadium. The men on the pitch aren't worth that much right now and the stadium is tied up with covenants galore with the Freemen of Newcastle, who own the freehold on the land.

High revenues mean nothing if it's all going out the other door. Certainly businesses can make a loss and still be in good condition. People are arguing whether profit or cash was more important, yet we haven't been ticking either box. The fact we had borrowed against future earnings for transfers is enough to show that the game was up and that the club would either have to curb its spending or look for fresh equity. I've not yet been through the accounts but I will have a look later on to get a better picture. As for amortisation- it's a cost, simply an apportionment. If you like you can ignore it and charge everything on one go (theoretically, not legally) but the net result is the same, we'd simply have made some staggering losses a few years ago. I disagree that the business was fundamentally sound. I think the model as was had run its course and it was absolutely the right time to sell. Would we have gone bust? No, becuase as Chez points out, there's too much future income at stake. However we could have been treated to some lean years of transfer spending- I don't see where we would have got the funding from without crippling the club.

You need to be a qualified accountant to earn that sort of money for a bit of aborted advice You don't have to be an accountant (thankfully!) We'll just put you onto Ocean Finance anyway!

Keegan's been out of the game for three years. Either he has to rely on others to help him build the backroom staff or he brings in all the old boys. Either way the whingers would be queueing up.

The Liverpool fans on 'general' footy forums I frequent paint Riise as their version of Alan Smith.

Money was paid up front and promptly spent. We could of course cheekily pay up the contract on the cheap and look for better terms elsewhere.

Ashley may not be held in high regard, but present any bank with good security and good cashflow and they'll be preparing an underwrite no matter who is running the ship. A few bps over libor wont kill us.

My thoughts exactly. We get rid of Dyer and this fucka takes up his mantle, bigger transfer fee and more wages....piss take I think the FA will be getting the bill for this one. What's the odds we start with Smith and Viduka up front against Liverpool?

Maybe domestically, but the foreign kids will still be heading straight to Dubaibury.

I'm assuming seven are for their midfielders to train on.

Well, he doesn't really need PR- he bought the club and sorted a large chunk of debt. I think he's finding it all a lot more fun than he expected- why not have a laugh along the way?

Such a miserable bunch. Thing is- no matter what we do or how we do it, Mackems will find a way to slate it and show how they are somehow superior. And you have to love the way that any thread where one of our fans is making a good point features the 'this is an SAFC board, we say what we want, you f**k off' etc. Do they just sit on there agreeing with each other all day?

The area around Pilgrim St- from the Fire Station round to the old bus depot, the NCP Car Park, Bank of England House and round again has been acquired by one developer- Multiplex I believe (though I may be wrong). They will make a lot of money from the development IMO- well positioned and barely used at present- it's a complete shambles while the rest of the city has largely got itself in order. As for Leazes terrace, a short-distance move would not be that expensive (in the grand scheme of things) provided that it is only the facade that is listed (like Monument Mall) and that none of the inner working are also considered to be of architectural merit. Long-distance moves are unfeasible. The only solution would be for the club to buy the majority of the properties adjacent to the ground- that WOULD cost a few bob.

RIP. Watched him play on loan at Blyth earlier this season and he looked a decent player.

Dear Lawro, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosman_ruling

It was Defcon 6 in the SE corner. They even had the 'Response Team' out in force (I've never seen them before so assume this is the first time there's ever been anything worth responding to). The stewards all nicking off with a minute to go was quite humourous, I must admit!

Lockwood sounded like Joe Pasquale. Some kids won a shirt for being able to stick a ball past a bloke in a 7ft bird costume from 3 yards out. Bring back half-time-heroes, we can't have ran out of players surely?

But most likely they'll just add it onto your swipecard. Certainly those of us in the cheap seats should be OK.

More to the point, 'portfolio' suggests that it contains a run-down of local golfing facilities.