NewJerseyMag

Oh come on, be realistic. So it hasn't happened yet. But it will. Well that's a different question. It might, but then loans are usually paid back. We're lucky we don't still owe the money to a commercial bank TBH. Well I hope it doesn't cost us, this brinkmanship of attempting to have just enough quality to prevent relegation. Last time they tried it, we ended up in the Championship. Now, seemingly, after learning nothing from the last time the roulette wheel was given a spin, we are doing exactly the same again. So do I, but stop changing the argument. We were discussing whether he's paid himself back, which he hasn't. We wont know that until the accounts are published. He may have, for all we know, or the money may be just sitting in the bank. Who knows.

Oh come on, be realistic. So it hasn't happened yet. But it will. Well that's a different question. It might, but then loans are usually paid back. We're lucky we don't still owe the money to a commercial bank TBH. Well I hope it doesn't cost us, this brinkmanship of attempting to have just enough quality to prevent relegation. Last time they tried it, we ended up in the Championship. Now, seemingly, after learning nothing from the last time the roulette wheel was given a spin, we are doing exactly the same again.

Oh come on, be realistic. So it hasn't happened yet. But it will.

Maybe its a conspiracy. If we are banned from buying but can still sell ...... well that would be perfect for the Fat Controller.

Exactly. You cant just count next years (new) salaries against the 30 million Carroll money. Once you do that, all of the other income and expenditures for the year should be counted. This would then be a Profit and Loss Account Statement. What they are trying to do is assume everyone is a thick as mince. If anything, given the player sales, I would suggest the 30 Million hasn't been touched.

You really think that? He often scores out of nothing when he's looked horrible for most of the game.

Yawn. Does anyone care about England? Most of the people you can't stand playing on one team. Oh joy.

Only demo that would work would be an empty stadium, but it will never happen. An empty SJP would have them gone in a few weeks.

Actually find this rather amusing. Go on Joey, refuse all moves and keep on Tweeting. Gold dust for the hacks but we all know that he isnt far from the truth.

I'll sign for a ham stottie and a packet of Tudor crisps. Would that be too expensive?

Yeah that would be good to see as our starting 11 Doesn't look too shoddy does it? Lets all pray to the "injury god" to stay the f away this season eh?

Boredom, quite possibly. Oh, for a game or some transfer news.

To whose "original rule of thumb" are you referring? As someone who lives at the very centre of the North American continent, equidistant from the coasts - I think this is unadulterated crap... it's an old joke that i've heard from jimmy tingle, will durst and at least one other stand up i can't quite remember. it's a quite well worn line actually. I just saw the opportunity to use equidistant and unadulterated and jumped at it! You mean you guys are edjumacated? Erm ... I'm from "The Jersey Shore" .... who am I to talk?

01:30. 6 hour difference. This is correct. Oh s***, sorry, my bad, I forgot that other parts of the country exist. So it's at 8:30 for me then. Among 18- to 24-year-old Americans given maps: 87% cannot find Iraq 83% cannot find Afghanistan 76% find Saudi Arabia 70% cannot find New Jersey 49% cannot find New York 11% cannot find the United States I live in New Jersey. At least I think that is where I am. Lets look at a map and make sure.

Shouldn't that be Shay "Post Waddle but pre Andy" Judas Given?

I'm not trying to defend Shepherd, I hated him. Our income should be much higher than Villa and Everton because of the size of the stadium and much higher prices than sunderland. Tron's point about Sports Direct is a good one. The club must be losing millions in revenue due to most of the advertising space within SJP being coated in Sports Direct blurb. i'd guess that we will have a bigger income income than villa and everton for the season gone. however it has to be viewed in the context of years of losses. pointless having a bigger turnover than club X if you are going to live beyond it constantly. as in the past i've said i have no problem with the club having debt, the problem has always been the sustainability of that debt and i'm not at all sure we were headed a good way. interesting that people blame him for the large wages given to smith,geremi etc when thats exactly what people want, an owner who'll just say yes to the manager all the time regardless. which way do people want it ? I dont think its quite like that. Its glaringly obvious we have not replaced Carroll adequately. The rational of the sale was that the proceeds were to be used to revamp the squad and make us a better team overall. In fact, as far as I can make out, the net spend is NIL; the saved wages plus Nolan money offsets the new signings. So, we have been misled once again with double speak.

I guess we will. One of my main issues right now is that we dont seem to be trying to grow the business; this requires increasing revenues. It all seems to be about cost cutting. That suggests MA believes there isn't a realistic chance of increasing income. This equals mid table mediocrity forever; I think MA knows everyone will show up pretty much no matter what, so whats the point speculating when not much extra money will be generated.

I'm not trying to defend Shepherd, I hated him. Our income should be much higher than Villa and Everton because of the size of the stadium and much higher prices than sunderland. Tron's point about Sports Direct is a good one. The club must be losing millions in revenue due to most of the advertising space within SJP being coated in Sports Direct blurb. Interesting point. Does he get the advertising for free? Since Sports Direct is a separate entity from NUFC, SD should be charged the going rate like any other firm, but I bet they are not.

You're on form lately. I thought I saw nets at Sports Direct 50% off, we should be fine.

Can't be arsed to get into the debate - given it's been done to death on here, but I'm interested in watching an entertaining, achieving team on a Saturday and throughout the season and not really arsed about debt (Ashley's own making) and whether we've got the biggest bore-hole in the North East (which should have been paid for out of the clubs many other revenue streams), we've got some of the biggest arse-holes in the North East but Derek Llambias, Pardew etc are a different story. I'm sorry, what the f***? NJM: Enrique hasn't gone, so he's still in this years squad. We've replaced Nolan with a better CM. Carroll and Ba have done the pretty much the same in the Premiership, a good 6 months each, but Ba has been good throughout previous seasons (I'm not saying Ba is a better player by any stretch of the imagination, but to say Carroll is a far superior player is also a stupid comment). Marveaux is an additional attacking option, which we didn't have last season. We've also brought in a new youngster, who I'd imagine/hope will be looking to make an impact here or there, and other youngsters who have improved over the course of last season. So yeah, I think the squad is better this season. You forgot to add that we also have Ben Arfa & Gosling available this season when they were conspicously absent last. I think we are better in the midfield area. My main worry is that if Ba gets hurt we are really in the clarts, and I'm worried because I think Enrique will go. His criteria havent been met. If I were him, I wouldnt be staying at this point since I dont believe there is any chance of CL placing in the next 5+ years.

In : Ba, Marveaux, cabaye Out: Carroll, Nolan, Campbell, (Enrique) I'm not sure how the squad is "better". One cant make a strong argument for that, I dont believe.

Cant argue with that. They even try to make us look like idiots by saying the weeky wage * contract length comes out of the 35 million. What a load of twaddle, wages are revenue based and should not be included, since if you want to do that you have to take a look at all the incoming revenues over the same period.

I might be totally wrong on this but all I hear from the club is references to cutting costs rather than trying to generate new revenue streams. I think (but correct me if I am wrong) that Shepherd was pretty good on the commercial side of things and I am sure our corporate revenue has plummeted hugely since Ashley's arrival and our sponsorship deals are bringing in less money that before. Whilst the current economic climate and our relegation can be attributed to that, I am aware that there are corporate clients who have taken their business elsewhere because of Ashley and I also think we are a damaged brand that many businesses do not want to be associated with. And if that is the case, then it can only be down to Ashley. The impression I get is of a club (deliberately) cutting itself off from the community by their refusal to engage with the city and if this continues for any length of time, the damage will be irreversible as more and more fans drift away. We have seen before that when the club reaches out and embraces the city, that it can be a powerful thing and hugely beneficial to the club but all we seem to have now is mistrust and conflict. With regards to the incoming players, I see them purely as having been bought with the intent of selling them on for a profit within 2-3 years max. For example, Cabaye is 24-25 with a 5 year contract so by the end of that, he will be at the age where the club will no longer be prepared to offer him a new long-term deal and they will not want him to run the contract down so that means they will have to sell him probably in the third year of his contract. I see Ben Arfa as being their trump card because if he does prove a hit in the Premier League, then he will be a very valuable player. I'd be interested to know how they are selling the club to the incoming players as I have no expectation that there is any serious intent to build a team to challenge for European places only to do enough to comfortably survive. If we do start to look like we can achieve something it will be because of how well our players are doing which will then make them targets for other clubs and therefore they will be sold. At present, you can argue that the squad is better than last year and the club may yet surprise us with a couple of quality strikers but we still have little strength in depth. I fully expect there to be more outgoings - will they be replaced? I only hope that those leaving will be the fringe players rather than the likes of Tiote and Colo and that will be a concern until the transfer window closes. Sorry but I am a cynic and have absolutely no trust in the board or Pardew and with whatever soundbites they feed the media in order to appease fans. Most clubs do run with a substantial amount of debt. In fact, most companies, not just football clubs run with debts of various levels. Leveraging a company in this way can increase its profits if the borrowed money is used to INCREASE revenues. Obviously, we sometimes in the past made bad signings with borrowed money, but this is the risk you take to increase revenues. The way we are headed now, I don't see how we can increase our revenue easily. Surely that would be speculating somewhat and trying to get into the top 6, which would then increase revenues with the added European competition. Right now we are just cost cutting with no plan as to how to grow the business. Hopefully, its to make us an attractive sale to someone else who will do just that. Alternatively, its a safe course, that will ensure mid table mediocrity for the foreseeable future (although IMO this is not without risk also) as we could end up relegated once again.

That strategy worked (just) last season, and got us relegated 2 seasons before that. For me to be happy with this strategy we should BUY the replacement FIRST We have. So you think that this is Cabaye, and if he gets injured, then what?? Half of last season we played with 1/2 a team, you have to have way more of a squad than we have. Ashley is a chancer, in that he just plans for us to scape by and get lucky that we wont get too many injuries to get us relegated. If he gets injured then we play Gosling I imagine, one thing I do know is the club won't want players on huge wages sat on the bench. Gosling, who played for 20 mins last season??? Jeez, is this really you Derek? Man U had whom on their bench? And why such expensive players to largely sit? The PL is about a SQUAD, we will never break into the top 6 with the threadbare squad we have. Are you really comparing us to Man Utd? We can't afford to have players on the wages Nolan will be on warming the bench, what part of that can't you understand? Whose this "we"? Last time I checked, we were "owned" by one of the richest men in the UK? So, Derek, how much is YOUR salary?

That strategy worked (just) last season, and got us relegated 2 seasons before that. For me to be happy with this strategy we should BUY the replacement FIRST We have. So you think that this is Cabaye, and if he gets injured, then what?? Half of last season we played with 1/2 a team, you have to have way more of a squad than we have. Ashley is a chancer, in that he just plans for us to scape by and get lucky that we wont get too many injuries to get us relegated. If he gets injured then we play Gosling I imagine, one thing I do know is the club won't want players on huge wages sat on the bench. Gosling, who played for 20 mins last season??? Jeez, is this really you Derek? Man U had whom on their bench? And why such expensive players to largely sit? The PL is about a SQUAD, we will never break into the top 6 with the threadbare squad we have.