S.S.R.

Alan Smith and Nicky Butt. Now Wes Brown and Louis Saha. Why don't we just go and sift through their wheelie bins while we're at it? I'm afraid that's what we've been reduced to thanks to the 2 fat bastards that have put us in that position.

Alan Smith and Nicky Butt. Now Wes Brown and Louis Saha. Why don't we just go and sift through their wheelie bins while we're at it? I could watch Man U tv for £6 a month if I wanted to watch their reserves.

No need to be so disparaging.

Alan Hansen looks like he's dressed for a funeral.

Next season's aren't currently on sale, but when next season's were offered before Xmas, they had went up from £480 to about £500 in Leazes level 4, if I remember correctly. Yes, compared to some clubs, it looks comparatively cheap, but some of those clubs are in areas where house prices and average earnings are a lot higher too. Whatever extra money they generate from this must pale into insignificance when you consider the last tv deal. There is simply no real need to turn the screw tighter.

The scary thing is, the 39th game would be a test of the waters; they probably want a much bigger share of the games played overseas. But they'll do it gradually, sneakily. They're just giving us a little finger before they eventually fist us.

Luque £6m in, Smith £6m out. Parker £7m in, Barton £6m out. Dyer £8m in, Enrique £6m and Beye £2m out. Solano £2m(?)in, Faye £2m out.

Given that little old Sunderland's backers have wiped off their debt, and spent over £40 million on transfers; is it too much to expect at least £80 million on transfer fees in the summer, when you consider our net spend this season?

Do you think the current pricing of our season tickets is fair, and is the recent rise - which is above inflation - justified? The Premier League have recently negotiated lucrative new tv deals - How come we're being squeezed for even more money?

The logo thing is totally irrelevant to anything, it's a f****** advert, just like all the other adverts all over the ground, why are you being so precious about the appearance of a banner covering what's little more than a piece of grey corrugated-iron? You realise that the "Northern Rock" on the shirts is an advert and not a statement of regional pride? The other things you mention are relatively small-fry, they're hardly going to get him well on his way to his third billion are they!?! He's not going to turn extra income down is he though, or were you expecting him to give you a free season ticket and that's why you're bitter? I notice you've failed to address the issue of him using his own money, not only to buy the club, but to clear the debts, would you care to explain why he'd do this? Nice to see you hold our ground with such high esteem. I would also be offended if we got an embarrassing sponsor on our shirts. I'm not bitter about the tickets going up, or his other little money spinners - although I am fuming about the 39th game - it's just that they seem a little unnecessary for someone who supposedly is doing this for the love of the game, and your point that they are worth a pittance to him only serves to emphasise this. I've already posted at great length - and tedium - about how he hasn't done us a favour by paying debts off. If the club wasn't in so much debt the Halls would have no doubt held out for much more, so it doesn't make a difference anyway. He's paid out for something that's worth what he paid for it. He's made a transaction, not a donation. From the tone of my posts, anyone reading would think that I was against Ashley, but I'm not. What I am against is the sycophantic attitude towards him, as if he's made a big sacrifice and done us a big favour, and somehow we owe him unquestioning loyalty. He's just some rich bloke whose taken on a big responsibility and we shouldn't let him get away with doing anything he likes. Nobody is saying or doing anything you've just said, so why are you arguing about it?... You're acting as if there are only two possibilities here, either Ashley wants to milk the club for all its worth or he loves Newcastle United with all his heart and has done since he was 6. All indi is suggesting is that Ashley probably bought Newcastle for reasons other then money, that doesn't necessarily mean he's doing it out of charity. There are plenty of reasons to do things other then monetary gain, especially when you're already a billionaire with far bigger and far easier investments at your finger tips.. So it's okay to exploit us, because he could have made more money exploiting someone else? I'd say whoring our club overseas and arbitrary price rises to tickets that are already overpriced are the actions of someone milking the club for all it's worth. What difference does it make if he's a c*** or a hobbyist c***? Man you've got one massive chip on your shoulder.. Oh, I'm sorry. Do I have an opinion that differs from yours? Best change it quickly to get your approval, then. (Not the first time you've hurled a personal insult at me from the safety of your keyboard)

[irony] Dave, it's the Newcastle Brown Ale Stand, by the way. [/irony]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Stadium_of_light_Haway_the_lads.jpg/800px-Stadium_of_light_Haway_the_lads.jpg Wouldn't it have been better to do it like this? You know, with one of those scoreboard thingies I've heard so much about.

Pontius Pilate washing his hands of it. Doing nowt to stop it, but voicing his disapproval. If it gets cancelled, he's a hero; if it doesn't, he's still a hero and rakes in the money like everyone else.

The logo thing is totally irrelevant to anything, it's a f****** advert, just like all the other adverts all over the ground, why are you being so precious about the appearance of a banner covering what's little more than a piece of grey corrugated-iron? You realise that the "Northern Rock" on the shirts is an advert and not a statement of regional pride? The other things you mention are relatively small-fry, they're hardly going to get him well on his way to his third billion are they!?! He's not going to turn extra income down is he though, or were you expecting him to give you a free season ticket and that's why you're bitter? I notice you've failed to address the issue of him using his own money, not only to buy the club, but to clear the debts, would you care to explain why he'd do this? Nice to see you hold our ground with such high esteem. I would also be offended if we got an embarrassing sponsor on our shirts. I'm not bitter about the tickets going up, or his other little money spinners - although I am fuming about the 39th game - it's just that they seem a little unnecessary for someone who supposedly is doing this for the love of the game, and your point that they are worth a pittance to him only serves to emphasise this. I've already posted at great length - and tedium - about how he hasn't done us a favour by paying debts off. If the club wasn't in so much debt the Halls would have no doubt held out for much more, so it doesn't make a difference anyway. He's paid out for something that's worth what he paid for it. He's made a transaction, not a donation. From the tone of my posts, anyone reading would think that I was against Ashley, but I'm not. What I am against is the sycophantic attitude towards him, as if he's made a big sacrifice and done us a big favour, and somehow we owe him unquestioning loyalty. He's just some rich bloke whose taken on a big responsibility and we shouldn't let him get away with doing anything he likes. Nobody is saying or doing anything you've just said, so why are you arguing about it?... You're acting as if there are only two possibilities here, either Ashley wants to milk the club for all its worth or he loves Newcastle United with all his heart and has done since he was 6. All indi is suggesting is that Ashley probably bought Newcastle for reasons other then money, that doesn't necessarily mean he's doing it out of charity. There are plenty of reasons to do things other then monetary gain, especially when you're already a billionaire with far bigger and far easier investments at your finger tips.. So it's okay to exploit us, because he could have made more money exploiting someone else? I'd say whoring our club overseas and arbitrary price rises to tickets that are already overpriced are the actions of someone milking the club for all it's worth. What difference does it make if he's a cunt or a hobbyist cunt?

The logo thing is totally irrelevant to anything, it's a fucking advert, just like all the other adverts all over the ground, why are you being so precious about the appearance of a banner covering what's little more than a piece of grey corrugated-iron? You realise that the "Northern Rock" on the shirts is an advert and not a statement of regional pride? The other things you mention are relatively small-fry, they're hardly going to get him well on his way to his third billion are they!?! He's not going to turn extra income down is he though, or were you expecting him to give you a free season ticket and that's why you're bitter? I notice you've failed to address the issue of him using his own money, not only to buy the club, but to clear the debts, would you care to explain why he'd do this? Nice to see you hold our ground with such high esteem. I would also be offended if we got an embarrassing sponsor on our shirts. I'm not bitter about the tickets going up, or his other little money spinners - although I am fuming about the 39th game - it's just that they seem a little unnecessary for someone who supposedly is doing this for the love of the game, and your point that they are worth a pittance to him only serves to emphasise this. I've already posted at great length - and tedium - about how he hasn't done us a favour by paying debts off. If the club wasn't in so much debt the Halls would have no doubt held out for much more, so it doesn't make a difference anyway. He's paid out for something that's worth what he paid for it. He's made a transaction, not a donation. From the tone of my posts, anyone reading would think that I was against Ashley, but I'm not. What I am against is the sycophantic attitude towards him, as if he's made a big sacrifice and done us a big favour, and somehow we owe him unquestioning loyalty. He's just some rich bloke whose taken on a big responsibility and we shouldn't let him get away with doing anything he likes.

Shepherd and the Halls got their cut before that. Foreign investors coming out of every corner of the world, desperate to get a piece of the pie, season tickets and tv deals rising every year, but still, nobody makes any money out of it. Who's denying that there's money to be made? However, for a number of the investors that is not the primary motivation and I think Ashley falls into this category. By the way: 2006 (pg 13 (16)): "The board is not proposing a dividend at this time..." So if they weren't getting their cut that year, do you reckon they would be this year? There's also the fact that he could invest his money more effectively elsewhere, which you've conveniently ignored. You keep stating that as if it is a hard fact, when it's opinion. Erm, it is a fact. If I can get 6% on my meagre savings then he can get more on his HUUUGE savings. http://www.ingdirect.co.uk/ So the Halls were martyrs for sticking round then, instead of selling up and investing their money more 'effectively'. Does that website promise to quadruple your money in ten years? What exactly is your point? You seem to be just thrashing around bringing up random stuff and asking random questions. The Halls had been trying to sell up for years, because Dougie and his sister had fucked up Cameron Hall so badly that they were pretty desperate for the cash. No they weren't Martyrs, but SJH has basically retired and his kids are brain dead no-hopers who basically sold off the family silver (nufc) to survive. They probably couldn't have done better with the money, for the simple fact that they're fucking idiots. Mike Ashley is anything but an idiot and it's quite clear he has the skill to use the money he's invested in NUFC more effectively if he so desired. He hasn't which suggests that making a shit-load of cash isn't his motivation for doing this. I'd suggest that although he probably intends to make some money (which is fair enough), he's doing this mainly as a "vanity project". As for quadrupling his money, are you trying to suggest that there is scope for football to go through an equivalent period of growth over the next ten years as it did over the period that the Halls were involved with NUFC? I seriously doubt that's possible, what makes you think that it is? I love your 'Les Dawson's piano playing' theory, where you suggest that you have to be a successful millionaire/billionaire businessman to be able to invest your money so badly. Mike is a shrewd man, so he must be doing something so stupid deliberately, because he loves us so much. Again, you simply don't seem to understand what I'm saying. Does a rich man buy a big house as an investment? A Ferrari? A yacht? No. Does that mean he expects to lose a shit load of money on them when he sells them? No, probably not. But that doesn't mean he bought them in order to make a big fat profit, does it!?! He's on record as saying that he wants to have some fun with his money. Afterall, he can't take it with him can he!?! I doubt he's going to run short any time soon. The concept of someone rich buying something to mess around with isn't hard to grasp, it's just that I don't believe he's doing that. Oh, he just so happens to fancy a laugh at the same time there's a bandwagon of greedy people trying to sink their teeth into premiership clubs. What a coincidence. But he's not like everyone else. He says so, it must be true. He wears a shirt and everything. Funny how he raises the ticket prices, puts his logo - Cheap, nasty and completely at odds with the look of the ground - on our Gallowgate end and gets a hardon for the 39th game just like the other greedy fuckers.

Shepherd and the Halls got their cut before that. Foreign investors coming out of every corner of the world, desperate to get a piece of the pie, season tickets and tv deals rising every year, but still, nobody makes any money out of it. Who's denying that there's money to be made? However, for a number of the investors that is not the primary motivation and I think Ashley falls into this category. By the way: 2006 (pg 13 (16)): "The board is not proposing a dividend at this time..." So if they weren't getting their cut that year, do you reckon they would be this year? There's also the fact that he could invest his money more effectively elsewhere, which you've conveniently ignored. You keep stating that as if it is a hard fact, when it's opinion. Erm, it is a fact. If I can get 6% on my meagre savings then he can get more on his HUUUGE savings. http://www.ingdirect.co.uk/ So the Halls were martyrs for sticking round then, instead of selling up and investing their money more 'effectively'. Does that website promise to quadruple your money in ten years? What exactly is your point? You seem to be just thrashing around bringing up random stuff and asking random questions. The Halls had been trying to sell up for years, because Dougie and his sister had fucked up Cameron Hall so badly that they were pretty desperate for the cash. No they weren't Martyrs, but SJH has basically retired and his kids are brain dead no-hopers who basically sold off the family silver (nufc) to survive. They probably couldn't have done better with the money, for the simple fact that they're fucking idiots. Mike Ashley is anything but an idiot and it's quite clear he has the skill to use the money he's invested in NUFC more effectively if he so desired. He hasn't which suggests that making a shit-load of cash isn't his motivation for doing this. I'd suggest that although he probably intends to make some money (which is fair enough), he's doing this mainly as a "vanity project". As for quadrupling his money, are you trying to suggest that there is scope for football to go through an equivalent period of growth over the next ten years as it did over the period that the Halls were involved with NUFC? I seriously doubt that's possible, what makes you think that it is? I love your 'Les Dawson's piano playing' theory, where you suggest that you have to be a successful millionaire/billionaire businessman to be able to invest your money so badly. Mike is a shrewd man, so he must be doing something so stupid deliberately, because he loves us so much.

Aye, actually. Do measure success in how quickly he does it? How much are you willing to bet that the club is worth more than double what it is now in three years? How come the season tickets are going up for next year? He's pissing millions away, apparently. Why does he need an extra £20 off me? Naive beyond belief.

Shepherd and the Halls got their cut before that. Foreign investors coming out of every corner of the world, desperate to get a piece of the pie, season tickets and tv deals rising every year, but still, nobody makes any money out of it. Who's denying that there's money to be made? However, for a number of the investors that is not the primary motivation and I think Ashley falls into this category. By the way: 2006 (pg 13 (16)): "The board is not proposing a dividend at this time..." So if they weren't getting their cut that year, do you reckon they would be this year? There's also the fact that he could invest his money more effectively elsewhere, which you've conveniently ignored. You keep stating that as if it is a hard fact, when it's opinion. Erm, it is a fact. If I can get 6% on my meagre savings then he can get more on his HUUUGE savings. http://www.ingdirect.co.uk/ So the Halls were martyrs for sticking round then, instead of selling up and investing their money more 'effectively'. Does that website promise to quadruple your money in ten years?

Shepherd and the Halls got their cut before that. Foreign investors coming out of every corner of the world, desperate to get a piece of the pie, season tickets and tv deals rising every year, but still, nobody makes any money out of it. Who's denying that there's money to be made? However, for a number of the investors that is not the primary motivation and I think Ashley falls into this category. By the way: 2006 (pg 13 (16)): "The board is not proposing a dividend at this time..." So if they weren't getting their cut that year, do you reckon they would be this year? There's also the fact that he could invest his money more effectively elsewhere, which you've conveniently ignored. You keep stating that as if it is a hard fact, when it's opinion. There may be safer bets, but he's looking for a bigger return, and he's got the money to make the gamble. When you consider Man Utd are worth four times as much as us, you can see the potential for growth.

Shepherd and the Halls got their cut before that. Foreign investors coming out of every corner of the world, desperate to get a piece of the pie, season tickets and tv deals rising every year, but still, nobody makes any money out of it.

"One of the principles was we wanted short-term success on the field," said Buck. "If we had not accepted that as a basic principle maybe we would have developed a different business plan." "We realised from day one we had to find a way to make this club profitable in the long term." "We are working towards a long-term position where this club can sustain itself without outside financial support." Just a few quotes from Chelsea's chairman. By the way, the money Abramovich has spent on Chelsea is in the form of 'non-interest-bearing loans'. For what it's worth, I hope Ashley makes a shitload of money - off the back of the success he hopefully steers us towards. Not thanking him until he does, though.

Oh, sorry. We're a co-operative then.

There's a huge difference between revenue and profit. So you reckon we spend more than £87 million a year on wages and transfers?

Why give a fuck? It's not like a works lottery syndicate, where they divvy it all out to us at the end of the year.