AyeDubbleYoo

It's a bit harsh to put everything bad he does down to incompetence/evil and everything good he does down to pure luck.

Which clubs are spending a lot less than us? I can't be bothered to look for exact numbers, but the point is that unless you have guaranteed regular European football must Premier League clubs are spending very modestly. Or if they are spending, they're being charged over the odds for average players and are increasing their levels of debt. I don't want to have the entire Ashley finance debate again from scratch, I just thought that we had started to come round to the way he was running things. I'm as angry about the name change as anyone BTW, I think it's a disgrace, I just don't think those NUFC.com arguments against it are the right ones.

His lack of due diligence which ultimately will lead to us being stuck with him unless someone of Man City's owners type wealth comes in to save the day. His lack of due dilligence was a godsend, hate to think where we'd have been without it. However bad he's been. I agree with what you're saying, and I too acknowledge what Ashley did- and financially has done for us- but we can't keep saying this after every insult, lie, and catastrophic decision thrown our way. You would think that four years on he would have adapted and learnt from mistakes. But as we continuously see, he simply doesn't. Literally every season he has been here uproar (mid-season, too) has been caused by something rash, needless or completely illogical. I'm very pleased to see where we are in the table and that what we have achieved so far is through prudent spending on players, but as .com have said....will whatever we receive- if we ever do find a sponsor- help us that much? I don't think so. Not one bit. Ashley should be working towards qualifying for Europe as that in itself would bring in good money. He simply cannot keep going the way he is. On the other hand, most of the decisions he has made were incredibly unpopular at the time but actually turned out to not harm us that much or even leave the club in better shape. Pretty much the only exception to this is the gamble on staying up in the relegation season, and even that worked out OK in the end. I don't think the name change fits into this category, as I think some things are more important than finance, but I thought we had started to reassess some os Ashley's past decisions in a better light.

I don't understand the point of saying that "we should already be competing with everyone except the top 4". Should we? Why? The fact is we aren't, the finances speak for themselves. It also conveniently ignores the collection of clubs who are spending a lot less than us, and the like of Everton who are totally skint. And like Toon Pack says, imagine if Ashley had done proper due diligence and decided not to buy us. Fuck knows where we'd be then. None of this justifies the name change, but it's pointless to argue against it based on some magical assumption that our finances should be better than they are. Ashley's naivety didn't cause our financial problems, it just meant he made himself responsible for sorting them out.

Yup. Guess we can only "hope" for someone from the Middle East or China. Or we'll be stuck with Sports Direct for ever.

Yeah, I'd genuinely like to ask him and Derek why they've put finances above such an important part of Newcastle's culture. I'm not sure I'd get a reasonable answer, but still.

Exactly, I don't understand this 1881 range, it's totally pointless and will sell terribly.

I'm guessing the target must be the overseas market, so the inevitable local backlash won't matter so much. They must have expected this to go down incredibly badly in Newcastle and the UK.

In a way I wish I could be this small minded. Life might be easier.

Is this game two-legged?

We'd need a high-horse-ometer for posts like these as well then.

We're not powerless, we're just shit at getting our act together. And we all don't hold the same views to the same extent.

The apathy, the overreactions, the superior ones, or all of the above?

I think that's the most frustrating thing about these changes for me Conjo, I would love to just boycott the games or even to just stop caring about football in general, but I know I won't be able to. This is basically why football can't be treated just like a business, it's the biggest monopoly going.

Honestly don't know why he bothers saying stuff like that. If he believes it's essential to sell the naming rights, he should just say that.

I do look at European clubs that have multiple sponsors all over the shirt and shorts in disgust, I must admit. Might not be long before we have stuff like that - Sports Direct along the back of the shirt and the player name on the bottom. I can't see the colours changing, but I can see the addition of more and more sponsors.

Pleased to hear it, hope all other media companies will also refuse to mention the "new name".

Hows that? I would be class advertising, will be great for our future spending power etc Howay man.

Fuck them. Pissed on the region and done a runner. Exactly what I was thinking. It's not even brewed here any more, everything changes.

Exactly. FWIW I don't think that means we should raise income from any source. The stadium name I think should be sacred. Just to clarify like.

Way to make everyone feel worse for no reason at all.

The stadium naming is our future transfer kitty according to Llambias. Obviously any income is (in theory) beneficial to our future spending power. I still don't see the point in raking over so much old ground. Anyway, nothing to do with me really, go ahead.

Don't see the point in revisiting the entire Ashley and transfer spending debate just because of the stadium naming.

Kadar is playing internationals over the break as well IIRC, might help him get up to speed.