TRon

Not many.

That's what I was getting at earlier, just didn't phrase it that well. So if the 'real' loss is £2.5m, are people justified in claiming Ashley should have spent more on the first team? Only if someone else is prepared to put their money where their mouth is. Can you think of anyone?

Signing a full back is a massive priority. if he's fit, this could be a shrewd move.

Just out of interest, how many goalkeepers in their 30's get transferred for £10m +?

You can add Duff to that list as another who drains the club of a hefty salary and offers very little.. Is it any wonder the likes of Geremi and Smith are so hard to budge from this club? Who else will be dumb enough to pay them £3.5m a year?

Mort was not paid a salary by the club, fees of £1,357,000 were paid to Freshfields for his services. Wise, Vetere etc are included in a lump sum of about £70 million spent on wages I guess. As I said a few posts up that Ashley has taken nothing out by way of salary or dividend - or interest on his loan for that matter. That's £6.6million saved on last year according to those figures. Explains why Mort said at the time paying off the loan was just as important as any new signing. Shame Allardyce finally persuaded Ashley to blow so much wad on Smith, Viduka and Geremi etc.

I'm sorry but that is possibly the worst post I think you have ever posted on here. Of course he was expecting payback for his loan, we all knew that from day one that if he was a sensible businessman, the money was only going to be given in an assumption that the £100m was going to be given back to him via an increased valuation of the club. And quaysides OP makes it clear that he has underwritten a £20m loss in the past year, hence giving that £20m a year he promised. With that in mind, it is clear that it is unrealistic to expect anyone coming in to do much difference unless they are genuine multi-billionaires who want some personal glory. All Ashley's faults must therefore by with regards to his handling of management affairs, as opposed lack of investment. Sorry mate, but how many times have we heard people praise ashley for putting his hand in his pocket to clear our debts? a thousand times? ten thousand times? this is just a big YOURE WRONG to all those ashley arse lickers. funny how great financial brains like LLLO missed that one, yet i suggested it over a year ago. clearing debt can be great if the club is up for sale as it means the new owners dont have to address that and inherit a club with a good balance sheet. this doesnt apply in our case as ashley wants this money paid to him. it can be good for a second reason - avoiding interest and loan repayments means money can be put back into the club for the manager to spend - once again, this doesnt apply to us. for us fans, you know, people who watch football being played on a football pitch, it can be good if having a reduced debt consequently improves our on field performance. i dont need to tell you that this has not happened. the £20m loss is primarily player amortisation, a paper loss. if owen moves into the last year of his contract the club would lose, say, £4m from the value of a year of his tenure at the club, something restricted to the balance sheets rather than cash flowing out of the club. in fact, £17.8m of that £20m is player amortisation. as with previous accounts which saw us make something like a £30m loss, this was reduced to £300,000 once amortisation and trading was taken out of the equation. the club is making a small loss, nothing substantial, which is no suprise considering how poorly the club has been ran on the field in shepherd's final years and the entirety of ashley's reign. the way to improve this is to invest in the managerial & playing staff. any business that wants to move forward has to go into debt, you have to make expenditures in the short-term to reap the rewards in the medium to long term. if ashley is not prepared to do this he should bugger off. trying to run a premiership club on a shoestring is counter-productive - you end up in situations like the one we are in currently, and it could get worse. those who like to defend ashley any chance they get need to wake up and realise this. Not that I don't agree Ashley has to invest in the squad, but if he doesn't want to dip his hand in his pocket, for him to bugger off, doesn't he need someone willing to buy the club for that to happen?

Hence the stories of all of our top players being available for the right price and who can blame them? These so called top players haven't got us anywhere near Europe which means they just aren't worth their wages. Why not get them out and bring in younger players for half the price and half the wages? Providing you can of course identify those who have the talent to perform in the first team. It's all making a lot more sense now. Ashley should have just been more open about all this from the outset. You don't get anywhere as a football club by selling your best players and then bringing inferior ones in to replace them. And havent these "top players" conclusively proved that they arent worth it. Top 4 wages, top 15 perfromances.... That's the crux of the problem, and has been since Shepherd's last couple of seasons. Big spending, big wages and shit performances. Look at the three games against Hull this season as an example. Michael owen probably gets paid more than their whole team put together.

No wonder he wants to sell up

I doubt they will be so keen on Owen having bought Bellamy. At least they will wait until summer when they can pick him up for free.

Definitely. I think it just might be too, as there is no way they would even dare to offer £5 million cash straight up. Why not? It's worth a go, he is 33 after all. My concern is that by the time they up it to closer to £8m for which we'll sell IMO, we'll be left with too little time to spend it as happened with the Milner money before the last window closed.

Abdoulaye Faye I think. He's clearly mental.

Whether anyone from the club reads it or not action the need for investing in the squad to safeguard our premiership future is vital, if Ashley isn't aware of this then he must be an idiot. He has to the end of this month to put it right. I've got a feeling Given is going to be sold to release funds to buy in.

Guthrie's done his hamstring according to reports in the Journal. Kinnear better have another look at M'Bia's Youtube vids.

We need players in now, if the budget's as tight as we are led to believe, I don't think we can afford to blow any of it on a player we won't be able to pick till next season.

Disagree with this slightly. This might be the season I have feared relegation the most since we were promoted in 1993, moreso than last season, and regardless of what happens I don't think that will change until May. So the first team may be in the worst predicament for many a year. BUT ... as a CLUB there are a lot of things in the background which have improved. I think it's generally acknowledged that for the first time perhaps ever we have a decent Academy set up, and a proper youth recruitment policy. We have no bank debt, which is a massive positive in the current banking market. Relegation this year would be a disaster, but if the unthinkable does happen, we are better placed to handle it than if it had happened a couple of years ago. This sort of thinking shouldn't even be entertained by fans of a club with the stature of Newcastle. I don't have an issue with the players signed so far, there are always going to be good signings and bad signings. It would be unforgiveable though, if the squad shortcomings weren't addressed in this transfer window, nothing would send a clearer message that we are willing to play russian roulette with our Premiership survival.

No one is going to pay £15m for a 33 year old keeper who usually isn't even noticed when he's gone. What on earth is that supposed to mean? By the way, 33 for a keeper is like 28 for an outfield player. Any club who's willing to pay £14 million for a 29 year old Craig Bellamy (who could barely play 20 games a season at 24) should have no problem paying £15 million+ for Given. Selling him for £8 million is a joke. Well if someone agrees to pay £15m I'll agree you're right. Otherwise you'll have to agree I am think.

Was that from the freekick where any other player on the planet would have shot? He backheeled it to no-one? That's the one. Ferguson definitely made him scared shitless of putting a ball anywhere near the goal when he tried to convert him into a DM. That's the only role he could possibly fill as Fergie recognised years ago.

When you say pay off are we 100% sure he has? Is it not a case of NUFC owe Mike Ashley? Maybe, im not sure of the finances and im certainly in no postion to categorically comment on them, but in my opinion the debts we did have to 3rd parties were strangling the club in terms of interest etc, if it is the case, then id rather they were owed to Ashley than to the banks. Much like Chelsea owe Roman, either way, Chelseas future is much more stable with there form of debts than Liverpool are with theirs. The only things that i heard that are outstanding are transfer fees, and as far as im aware, they arent classified as debt. Good points.

No one is going to pay £15m for a 33 year old keeper who usually isn't even noticed when he's gone.

but it makes good headlines for people looking to get their boot in.

Feb 2nd - he has until then.

Ashley has till the end of this month to prove that article wrong. While comparisons have been made to the McKeag era, I don't think it's accurate - yet. We are the fifth biggest wage payers in the premiership and our position isn't reflected by that so obviously changes have to be made. Supposedly Ashley is going to make a statement when the transfer window closes, and there's still time to do business if he is going to put the situation right. There is still a basis of a decent team which if we can make a few additions in the right areas could became a decent squad. If signings aren't through the door by Jan 31st then we can safely assume not only is Ashley a tight-fisted cunt but also a complete idiot because we could easily go down.

If we look back at last season we were heading for relegation while Keegan stuck with Smith. If Kinnear makes the same mistake it might mean us going down.

Some lunatic journalist claiming that Geremi wants to leave but we are dragging our heels in getting him off our wage bill. Make sense of it if you can.