UV

When did Ashley hold his hands up ? Google 'Mike Ashley apology' if you're curious. I did this as I was curious as to which mistakes Ashley had admitted to. Unfortunately I didn't find the answer to that, but I did learn that Shearer is 110% the man for the manager's job, he'd be the perfect appointment and that bringing Shearer back to Newcastle United was the best decision he has made. So fair play to Ashley on that, all is forgiven.

I'm loving this idea. Mike can really show just how much he wants to strengthen the team even more than he already has since taking over. How about this for Mike: http://imgur.com/MEcFC.jpg and seeing as Barry thinks it's such a good idea how about one for him too: http://imgur.com/GWaT9.jpg

I don't think he did a terrible job (ie that we got worse results with him than we would have with Hughton as caretaker), but nor do I think he was working under "impossible circumstances", unless you are talking about the inadequacies of the squad he inherited or the actions of his bosses. Even so I think that there are many, many other managers out there that had they been given the job when he was, we would not have been relegated. I hope he retires for his own sake. I am indeed talking about just that, plus the incredibly low morale of the club and the untimely heart problem. Apart from that he had it easy. I think the main point about Joe's appointment was at the time (post Keegan) no one would touch us with a bargepole and at least he had the balls to come into the cauldron and take the job on. He was never the man for this job long term but I always admire people who are brave enough to take on tough jobs and see them through, anyone can do it when the going is good and everything is plain sailing. Those aren't "impossible circumstances" though, they come as standard for most teams in the premiership. As bad as they were relative to squads we'd had in the recent past they were nowhere near the worst squad in the league. At the start of the season, many on here were declaring it to be the best squad we'd had in years. We've been through this before, but the reason noone wanted the job wasn't because it was Newcastle United the poisoned chalice, but because they were only being offered a 1 month contract. No in-work manager is going to give up their job for that, so you're already limiting yourself to those couldn't get a job in any league prior to the season starting. There are plenty of managers however who would have taken the job on even if they'd only been offered a 1 year contract. If I was unemployed I'd have taken on the job had it been offered me even if I was on the lowest wage in the premiership and the contract was only for a month. Would you think I had balls for taking it? If I also had a known heart condition would you think I was brave or just stupid?

I don't think he did a terrible job (ie that we got worse results with him than we would have with Hughton as caretaker), but nor do I think he was working under "impossible circumstances", unless you are talking about the inadequacies of the squad he inherited or the actions of his bosses. Even so I think that there are many, many other managers out there that had they been given the job when he was, we would not have been relegated. I hope he retires for his own sake.

So how exactly does the experience you get managing lower league teams taint you as a manager and make you less able than when you had no experience at all? On precisely which matters are all lower-division managers "found out" in the Premier League?

Can someone remind me...where the FUCK Ashley got Kinnear from? I mean, how in the world did he know about him? http://imgur.com/aKoYI.jpg

How do you expect your "Proper manager" will react when you "Get rid of the big earners"? Arsene Wenger works within a wage structure, he not proper enough for you? Working within an existing wage structure (which is massive at Arsenal btw) is completely different to the chairman coming in and saying right Arsene, I'm going to sell or renegotiate the contracts of all your top earning players. So because there isn't an existing wage structure, it means it wouldn't be possible to implement one? Give over. This place is full of retards. Sorry, of course you're right Wenger wouldn't bat an eyelid if his chairman told him he'd have to suddenly find replacements for Fabregas, Van Persie, Arshavin & Gallas (guessing at top earners here) because they're over a wage cap he's just come up with. He's already shackled with having to work within a tight £100m+ wage budget so he probably wouldn't mind at all being told which players were going to be sold off for him.

How do you expect your "Proper manager" will react when you "Get rid of the big earners"? Arsene Wenger works within a wage structure, he not proper enough for you? Working within an existing wage structure (which is massive at Arsenal btw) is completely different to the chairman coming in and saying right Arsene, I'm going to sell or renegotiate the contracts of all your top earning players.

Thats a hell of a lot of work on your first day Thats what I like to see a hard worker, you'll get my vote when the day comes. To be fair it would only take a day to rectify some of the horrific errors that the club currently endures. Thats providing I could pre-book the crane to tear down that hideous sign. If I had time before taking office as President, I could have the staff already researched, so it would just be paperwork in terms of getting them in. Paperwork and a hell of a lot of cash to pay up the existing staff's contracts and/or pay out on their unfair dismissal claims.

To answer the OP - Change my title from president to chairman.

How do you expect your "Proper manager" will react when you "Get rid of the big earners"?

I'm pretty sure anyone stumping up £1500+ would have the £10 subs waived and automatically become a member of the NUST. Or would you want someone on the board who wasn't willing to put up even £1500? If I were voting on board members I'd certainly want them to be materially invested in it. Specifically who and specifically why? Or are you just basing that statement on the anti-NUSC propaganda spread about by Ashley sympathisers last year?

Do they sell suits (not shell) @ sportsdirectdotcom? If not, there's no chance he will. I'm sure Ashley wouldn't be happy with his head coach raising the tone of the club anyway. Probably not long before he and the players have to have sportsdirectdotcom tattooed on their foreheads.

Personally speaking, I'm embarrassed by the current lack of demonstrations etc. The assumption always seems to be that any effect protests will have on the players will be a negative one. However quite often the best and most supportive atmospheres are caused by the crowd uniting over having someone or something to hate. When there's an an on-pitch injustice from either the referee or an opposition player, or when we're playing a club we hate, the atmosphere and support is far better than normal even if it's fuelled by negativity. The fact that people are already "up" for chanting and shouting at a pantomime villain means that when it comes to the team attacking it's a far easier transition for the crowd to cheer on the team than it is when everyone's sat silently in their seats muttering about how poor we are. I bet the support for the team will be much better on Saturday than usual.

Yeah, because that's exactly how it works at Barcelona. I do tend to agree however that IMO the majority of supporters would make the wrong decisions about the people to put in charge to run a successful club, and we'd kneejerk our way through chairmen if they weren't unrealistically perfect in every way.

no such thing as NUSC anymore but if the NUST did somehow manage to buy the club the couldn't do a worse job than Ashley! Well it could, as without ashleys money we'd be in administration. Where are NUST gonna find 20m per season. The only reason the club needs subsidising is because of Ashley. Unless the NUST were to run the club as disastrously as he has, we would not need to (allegedly) find £20m per season.

That's part of the "media" turnover. But 4 more league home games. Nearly spot on though.

I'm curious as to where the 50% drop in turnover has come from. It doesn't add up to me. In 07-08 turnover was around £100m, made up of 32.4 matchday, 41.1 media, 25.9 commercial. 08-09 had a turnover of £100m too, and the split will have been much the same. From this interview we know the media revenue this year will be around £15m (a reduction of £26m). Average attendance last year was 49k, this year it's 41k - a drop of 8k equates to around 16%, say a drop of £5-6m in matchday revenues. That still leaves around an £18m reduction in forecast turnover meaning we will only have £8m from commercial revenue? A 70% fall? That's massive even if we have been relegated and people are not buying merchandise in protest. Doesn't sound right to me. If it's true though it just shows how we as supporters CAN make a significant dent in Mike Ashley's pocket despite what the pathetic defeatists amongst us say about being powerless to do anything. Additionally, I would have thought net income from player sales would count towards the turnover (perhaps someone like quayside could clear up whether this is true or not). In all previous years in recent history we have made a net loss on players trading (yes even under Ashley due to his pay up front but sell in instalments policy). This year we must have a significant net income from players sold - not only initial payments on players sold this Summer, but from instalments on the likes of Milner, Given, N'Zogbia, etc. Most if not all of the players bought last year were paid for up front (which is part of the reason the accounts look so bad and poor Mike had to "pour money in to keep us afloat") and so will not count against this income. Where is this money going if it is not going into the club's turnover figures?

1 - Assumption based on nothing substantial. Would change if we were promoted. 2 - Assumption based on nothing at all (though highly likely). 3 - It's over £10M currently. However, I'll use these numbers anyway. Say a buyer has £20m cash, and can get someone to loan him £60m using the club itself as security for the loan. He pays Ashley £80m for the club and takes on a £10m overdraft. What do we end up with? A club which owes £70m, with everything secured on the existing loan (so absolutely no scope for more loans), and a massively weaker squad with far less inherent value (saleable players) than the one Ashley took over. What Ashley paid for the club, the fact that he paid up debts to previous lenders, and the amount he has subsequently had to put in to cover the cost of his cockups are all irrelevant as to how any new owner will finance the purchase of the club in the future. So saying the club is "effectively free of debt" when it is currently over £130m in debt and future owners are a complete unknown is meaningless.

Its the stadium before the Milburn and Leazes extension. Its the leaked stadium redesign for the ground downsizing to better meet the demands of the new streamlined club under Ashley.

I've read it a dozen times and I don't understand what this post is trying to say at all, but it's got me intrigued as to what you think Ashley's plan was/is. Are you also saying we should be grateful we're not Chelsea or something? There is a clause against his loan saying he can charge interest at 0.5% over the inter bank lending rate (from 07-08 accounts). He didn't charge it that year but he could in the future (though to be fair, it's still a very good rate for a football club loan even if he does charge it). He could be charging the club for it now for all we know (but it would currently only be just over £1m a year). There's nothing to stop a buyer from borrowing money against the club to fund the purchase (apart from the current difficulties in borrowing cash, but that will ease in the future) so saying that the debt to Ashley will be written off is meaningless and not even necessarily true. If Ashley manages to sell the club (even if we're promoted) for anything near what he has spent on it, it will be absolutely criminal considering the significantly worse state the club will be in. If Ashley doesn't sell I have no doubt that at the very best we will be a constant PL struggler as he claws back his investment bit by bit.

But macca, isn't that where the tactically inept Keegan always went wrong? Strange that your incisive tactical advice seems inconsistent.

That doesn't make sense though, he isn't making any money from NUFC, or 'draining anything out'... he's losing millions. And protests and boycotts do little more than make us even more unattractive to serious bidders (if that's possible) thereby prolonging Ashley's ownership. i.e. the protesters end up achieving the opposite of what they want. You couldn't make it up. It seems like you just did.

If the last year or so has shown anything it's shown that for the most part Newcastle supporters are either unwilling or too apathetic to do anything to effectively express their anger at how the club is being run. Sure, there'll be people who ring in irately to phone ins, write angry letters to papers, or stand outside the ground and complain to any TV cameras present, but that's as far as it goes. Very little has been done which would actually affect Ashley in a tangible way and make him think twice about what he does or how he runs the club (don't fool yourself that the limited Keegan protests made Ashley decide to sell the club, with hindsight it's obvious that there was plenty of truth in the numerous rumours that he'd been trying to flog it from the minute Keegan was appointed). The fact that Sports Direct shops are still healthily trading in the centre of a city where the majority of the population are supposed to be mad supporters of the club shows that saving a couple of quid on a pair of trackie bottoms is more important to most than making a stand against the destruction of the club. If anything the people or groups who have actually tried to do something or organise things to try and get Ashley to even acknowledge the supporter's views have come in for more criticism and even blame from a lot of people than the owner and his cronies themselves - don't rock the boat sailing into the iceberg, or it's your fault if it sinks. Welcome to <your name here>FC. Shit all over us and we'll keep on giving you our cash.