Parky

Most definitely they do. It's how we ended up getting Parker and Duff, to name just two. Yes they do and a good thing it is too. blueyes.gif Thing is, if we had one at the same level as Spurs do we could struggle to sign the so-called "top players", mainly because of our location more than anything else. The other side of the coin is that we might find ourselves mostly buying players who want to play for Newcastle more than they want to earn an extra few grand a week at a smaller club who pay bigger wages, which is the exact opposite of the decisions Parker and Duff seem to have made. I'm sure Parker was a Spurs fan as a boy, as well. The wage-cap is the sort of thing that makes sense though, for a club of our size, it gives a clear indication of the club's standing and is a structured way of bringing in football players on a completely manageable budget. It's exactly the sort of things I was talking about in my first post on this subject - having some sort of plan in every area of the club, all focused on exactly the same goal. I don't think overpaying wages will ever be anything more than a short term solution and it also reeks of desperation. Arsenal have a structure of sorts only broken by Henry if iirc. Players imo want to play for clubs that are competing and have good support. We have one of those already.

Most definitely they do. It's how we ended up getting Parker and Duff, to name just two. Yes they do and a good thing it is too. blueyes.gif

.....and? "It can't be done on a shoestring. Mid-table stuff yes, top 5 NO." Are Bolton not 5th on a very small budget? Signing Anelka is the only big money purchase they've had. Yes I give you Bolton. What makes that worse is that their turnover is actually tiny compared to us.

As you have alluded and I agree, the hidden cost of transfers is the huge wages we pay and Spurs don't. I don't think Spurs are shoestring as we aren't either but we cannot compete with the top 4 without regular CL football or new finance from an investor. I agree with you and Ally Bolton are much more shoestring. My point is that guraranteed competing for top 5 ( as of right Euro football every year) is something that is impossible without spending money now. I think 10 years ago the pic was different, just the sheer nunbers and quality of the top 4 clubs in players purchases alone regaredless of other infrastructure makes it very very difficult to compete.

.....and?

Spurs have more or less the same spending power as us now. Last few years. Also they have no debt. Newcastle United Football Company Ltd 87.117 90.195 96.473 70.891 Tottenham Hotspur plc 70.550 66.324 66.506 65.033

It can't be done on a shoestring. Mid-table stuff yes, top 5 NO.

That should be our goal Dave.

Whichever way you look at it to challenge for the PL you need 3/4 world class players and that will cost money. Without having around £100m contingency for this, we can forget it.

"Manchester United said turnover was £165.4 million for the year, against £157.2 million for the 11 months to June 2005. Pre-tax profit for the year to June 2005 was £10.8 million. Since June 2006 the club has brought in more money from its four-year £56.5 million shirt sponsorship deal with AIG and has seen match day revenue increase with the growth in its Old Trafford stadium capacity from 68,000 to 76,000. In addition, the latest round of three-year domestic TV deals, which start with the 2007-08 season, generated £1.7 billion in total for Premier League clubs and could see a 65 per cent increase in Premiership TV money for every top flight club, according to Barclays Capital." http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/161163/manchester-united-predicts-dramatic-growth-in-income Liverpool: After Les had warmed up the meeting in his inimitable fashion it was time for Rick Parry to take to the podium. Doubtless the presence of the European Cup was a factor in Rick's sartorial decisions for the meeting. The risk of a reflected Parry special being beamed into the eyes of the great and good of LFC was too great and it was a relatively subdued shirt and tie combo that our Chief Exec was sporting. I removed the protective goggles and settled back to enjoy the speech. "After last year's heated affair this AGM was a doddle for RP. To his credit he didn't dwell on Istanbul, but it was always in the background of any summation of the past year. The figures invested in players compared well with our rivals bar the obvious one, and the brave decision to look to Spain for the new manager was thoroughly vindicated. RP had some interesting news concerning the negotiations for a new Champions League deal, total income was likely to rise by 25% although English clubs would see a likely increase of 12%" It was only a handful of years ago our turnover was practically the same as Liverpool's. The CL rollover qualifications have seen to that mind.

Five to ManU and five to Chelsea had a nice ring to it. In all seriousness what that list shows is that the top 2 are buying one or two Micheal Owens every year in recent years. When's the last time we paid £20m+ for a defender? It is clear that buying Owen and then another £10m on Martins has stretched us to the max and had the knock on affect of leaving us virtually no money for a balanced side ie the defence. In sponsorship terms we are 5th we get £4m a year from Northern Rock.

That was one thing I was mulling when I was researching this, but you see their turnover is now £121m, that is some £40m a season more than us, althought they are carrying more debt (figures hard to find on PL debt). Arsenal have stayed competitive purely by an insanely successful scouting structure and also hoovering up the 2nd tier of talent in Europe.

Most Expensive Player Transfers in English Football - up to August 2006 Player From To Amount £m Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan Chelsea 30.0 Rio Ferdinand Leeds Man U 29.1 Juan Sebastian Veron Lazio Man U 28.1 Wayne Rooney Everton Man U 27.0 Michael Essien Lyon Chelsea 26.0 Didier Drogba Marseille Chelsea 24.0 Shaun Wright-Phillips Man City Chelsea 21.0 Ricardo Carvalho Porto Chelsea 19.85 Ruud Van Nistelroy PSV Man U 19.0 Michael Carrick Tottenham Man U 18.6 With our turnover hovering around £80m plus our continuing debt financing and high wages, I very much doubt we can compete for the PL title for at least another decade. Top 6 finishes are the best we can hope for sadly for the forseeable future. For the biggest names it is really just a head to head between ManU and Chelsea over the last 5 years...And although ManU already have Carrick and are reported to having purse strings tightenend there are persuasive rumours they have offerred £25m for Hargreaves. We need to have 3/4 world class players on our books to think about challenging againg for anything atm we have ONE Owen, who if we are luck will play 50-60% of matches next year. We used to be able to compete financially and infact we are still in the Euro top 12 on turnover, the key aspect that is missing from our portfolio is regular CL qualification, for this we are going to have to shift one of the top4 and to do that we are going to have to finance the core of a new side.

to be honest, they have been re-hashing the same stuff for months now. They also backed Martin O'Neill as our saviour, who is currently below us in the league and has been for quite a while too. that makes the whole article wrong i guess.. but still do you think Glenn Roeder was a better choice for a manager? on paper, or by track record, Kenny Dalglish was better than both of them put together ..... You can't prove by example, as they say. 4 League Titles with 2 different clubs, and 3 manager of the year awards proves the point. But you can continue to make an "opinion" not based on fact, if you like. But we don't appoint top managers. You miss my point. It's some record he has, sure. And yes, I'll concede that appointing a manager with that sort of record isn't 100% guaranteed to go perfectly. But it's no reason not to, say, look for one better, or at least as good. Perhaps there are some criteria Dalglish was lacking. Is Roeder better than Dalglish? What about Souness? You're the one forming a faulty opinion. Regardless of any sentiment of mine, you can't _prove by example_ as you're attempting to do. Are you arguing that we shouldn't continue to employ top managers, as Dalglish failed? Well, that'd be marvellous! Everyone forms opinions based upon the facts as they see them - or as they choose them - for some reason you think you're unique in basing your arguments on selective criteria. I'm afraid everyone does that. Yes he didn't have Jack Walkers millions and he didn't have the bootroom. Just shows you need a solid structure/bottomless pit and management alone sometimes isn't enough.

Good article. But there is a simple solution and one big step forward in the right direction cures a lot of nerves....Get a decent management team. Aye well, if only. /You wouldn't believe the caliber of manager Shepherd can attract. Prepare to be pleasently surprised! FF should hire an management intervention team for 6 months to look at what needs changing at the club and also take advice on the new appointment. Aye, it sounds a bit management speak, but he could do a lot worse than paying a team of consultants to look at our current setup and at successful management/coaching structures at other big clubs and trying to implement similar here. He'd probably be looking at a hefty bill for it, but it would pay for itself in the long term. such as expanding the stadium and building a new training complex ? Yeah, but I think the consultants might have gone a bit more indepth than that. They might even have advocated hiring competent people to work in them. Aye.

Too kind, sir. You as well.

Bez needs to counter sue.

HTL is on of the best football posters on here IMHO.

I thought not proven was a Scottish thing?

Udo is this you? What's an Udo? It's an username as you well know............Udo. Is it you? Um...in case you didn't notice my username is KaKa! I don't know what your up to dude but your scaring me... Where is this Udo from??? He's English, but with a Nigerian background. Maybe I have you mixed up....Apologies if that's the case...... Udo. No worries.

Udo is this you? What's an Udo? It's an username as you well know............Udo. Is it you?

I could do a job. Would need appropriate company car. share dividends, ability to talk down to supporters (once my comfy board postion is secured)....

Good idea/mad idea.....Good idea...Bit mad. FF would have a heart attack.

I would add Milner to that list. He's worked hard and has been a bright spot on the squad this year. I'm also in the camp that says Roeder has got to go, and it has to be sooner than later. We need an experienced mananger who has a better grasp of tactics. Yes add Milner.

Udo is this you?