OzzieMandias

Fixed.

It might stop this idea that he's "welcome back" for starters. So where do we all go from here then? Not as a deliberate campaign but ST renewals will show him I think. Think you missed my point. What I'm asking is if he can't go and he isn't welcome back then what happens now? he will either accept a reduced price or be forced to accept a reduced price due to relegation, because I can't see him having a change of heart for the simple reason seriously competing with the big boys again was never on his agenda to start with. IMO anyway. And if no-one makes an offer? Why would someone whose aim was to compete with the big boys not give him what he's asking for the club? They will at a realistic price. The alternative is we wait out the recession for a couple of years - probably relegated by then. So basically what you're after is someone who's less reckless with their money than Mike Ashley is? How does that square with wanting to compete with the big boys?

It might stop this idea that he's "welcome back" for starters. More likely convince him that the fans are too stupid to bother about what they think.

It remains fucking idiotic. They've tried to sell the club; they couldn't. What good does insisting they should be "out" achieve?

"If I could" I'd probably also replace Taylor, Guthrie, Duff, Carroll and the Zog.

Score draw with a team who started and finished the day one place above us in mid-table. Would be happier if we'd won it but hardly a cause for major depression. All the wallowing in misery on here is ridiculous.

Michael Chopra!

In the last ten years, though...

Not everyone gets all the practice at being laughed at that you've had.

I disagree. I'd be very happy to see West Ham get a points deduction.

If only he could remember what he was supposed to be talking about. The above drivel is supposed to prove something about football being a "level playing field".

Save it. You might as well argue that the moon is made of green cheese.

People should be applauded for their honest thoughts and not called tools / knobs etc just shows how fckin stupid and immature some of our fickle fans are. well done Keith! What if your honest thought is that someone is a tool / knob etc?

Utter bollocks.

I don't see much hope of currency rates swinging in our favour. Sterling will regain some ground, but it was overvalued before and it won't get back to where it was.

The credit crunch will affect every club, not just us. And the immediate effect (for everyone) of the collapse of sterling against the euro will be to make EU players more expensive for English clubs and English wages less attractive to foreign players. We've now passed the high-water mark of Premiership spending power. It's downhill for the whole league from here.

Eh?

The part I've highlighted tells you where they've got their information from, I think I would be right in saying that we haven't published our accounts since the takeover either. Doesn't paint a pretty picture about the financial state of the club back then but we all knew that. Exactly, that list has nothing to do with Ashley and everything to do with where Shepherd and the Halls had taken the club by spending money we had little prospect of recouping anymore. Especially considering their managerial appointments, we were just looking less and less likely to achieve the success needed. The gamble failed and they (well, at least the Halls) were desperate to bing in new money and move on. Took them an age to find a buyer unsurprisingly but at least they got someone who had the cash to be able to clear the important debts and start afresh. Now though, the chances that he is the one to put us back on the front foot and start competing near the top again is looking unlikely. He said himself that even as a billionaire on paper he needed outside investment if we were to break back into regular European football. I think the turmoil and unrealistic expectations some have in the current climate have already fatally damaged his enthusiasm for the project, but in the likely event that an insane investment team ala QPR/Man City isn't just around the corner, I hope he can be canny and go back to building us up slowly and keep up the search for local sugardaddies to help out. Good post. Perspective: Ashley's current wealth: £800 million. The amount that Abramovich has so far pumped into Chelsea in the form of interest-free loans: £650 million.

There's no business like Sho business.

Fair enough.

Has he won four titles with two different clubs and three manager of the year awards?

I don't believe in pissing contest in general but when it comes to football, people who put time, effort and money into actually supporting the team deserve credit for that - I have no problem with anyone anywhere calling themselves a fan and supporting the team in spirit but to pretend they are the same level of fan as those who go to games is ridiculous imo. Nowhere near as ridiculous as calling someone an "enemy of the club" because they disagree with you. It wasn't primarily because you disagreed with me - it was because you implied that the banner could be used by "enemies" which I think is bollocks and leading on from that I think people who support Ashley as fully as I get the impression you do are in my opinion just as much enemies of the club as nebulous media or fans of other clubs. How anyone can be labeled an enemy of the club because they support the present owner is strange to say the least. He may have upset Keegan he may have appointed Wise but he also probably saved the club from the financial Armageddon it was heading towards. Ashley may not be right for Newcastle (personally I think he could be given a chance) But if he is not who is ? While everyone carps on about how bad Ashley is, no one comes up with any tangible, realistic or specific alternative, just the usual abstract slavver - "someone who'll spend big" - "someone who'll back the manager" - "someone who we'll all love" etc etc. Who is this person ? Do we want Freddy and Doug back ? Can we name the Russian oligarch, Saudi prince or Texan oil man who we want to head up NUFC ? Or do we just continue to harp on about what went before and pile abuse on the only person who right now can ACTUALLY do something about NUFC. I'm actually fairly sceptical of Ashley, but I'm still in wait-and-see mode, and I definitely think the way everyone decided Ashley was the devil incarnate five minutes after Keegan walked (or in NE5's case, five minutes after he bought the club) is pretty... hysterical.