quayside

Yup you have to think it's got "deal" written all over it. It's the way the club works. The KK tribunal revealed what the substance of the Gonzalez loan was all about and the thinking wasn't a million miles away from this.

If that's true I'm impressed. Can you imagine Graeme Souness even contemplating that level of preparation? Ah yes - the days of "Tactics are for schoolteachers. Just give me 11 proper players working their socks off."

For those of our fans who like to pick faults that should be essential reading. Plus Jamie Redknapp having a w*** on Sky Sports about him being like a younger Essien. Him, Enrique and Colo are a class above everyone else in the squad for me. Tbf, it shouldn't be. That Chelsea fan probably just read the rumours in the paper. 'OMG Tiote linked with us, must be awesome'. And Jamie Redknapp is just a spacker. Still awesome though. French speaking young African and a beast of a midfielder. The one club out of the top 5 or 6 that really need him are Arsenal. If Wenger wants to prove that he hasn't got premature senile dementure he needs to stick in a £20m bid in the summer and see how it goes. I wouldn't enjoy that but it would be revealing to see how it would pan out and how we would play it.....

He did.

Got a point at home against ManU - based on form and recent history that's ok. Respect.

It's f*cking frustrating but it is the old syndrome of - same players, different opposition, different mindset. We'll take anyone out around us in the table playing like we did tonight. But we were up for it tonight, and we aren't always.

Hall would have rejected the Cole bid if KK had wanted him to. Woodgate was and is finished and Shepherd knew it. Pair of ridiculous comparisons. I'd look more at the players Spurs have sold in recent years for examples of offers that couldn't be turned down tbh.

Constant turnover of top players? Isn't that to exaggerate a bit? Carroll's sale was the right thing to do. The deal was terrific. And Enrqiue wants to be sold. That's only two players. Together they have generated a whopping £50 mill. Used wisely, we could buy us a hell of a team that will be much stronger than a team consisting of Carroll and Enrique and mediocre recruitments. Ashley's PR department would be so proud of you. Isn't what he said fact? Even Enrique hasn't left, so actually this is all based on one player sale. While complaining about players on high wages who don't earn it, haven't we sold one or more of our best young players at the time on lowish wages every season bar his first? Milner, N'Zogbia, Bassong, Carroll? I guess you'll argue there were good reasons for selling all of them, but when it's exception after exception after exception, at some point you have to start thinking they're not really exceptions don't you? Don't you have to ask where the priorities lie when deciding whether or not to sell a player? Were they all sold with the aim of the on-field benefit of the club? Was Milner sold so we could improve the team? Was N'Zogbia sold so we could strengthen the squad? Was Bassong sold so we could free up his wages to bring in someone better? Another way of looking at it is who have we resisted serious offers for to hang on to? Then again I'm just one of madras' typical cockney haters who can't look at anything rationally, so Ashley will more than likely prove me wrong in the coming years and will go against practically everything he's done at the club so far and in business in general, and will act competently to hire the best staff available within our means with the on-field success of the club at the top of the priority list, and strive to constantly improve the product he sells to his customers. As ever loaded with sarcasm, but that apart - as a matter of interest how would you define "within our means"? The club has operated well outside it's means for years, and that hasn't changed since Ashley took over. Even the Premiership seasons under Ashley consumed money, hence the millions he is owed.

it doesn't f***ing matter any more does it? it's done man, live with it, no-one has to be happy about it but there's no point in rehashing it everytime he does/doesn't do something for Liverpool Why should we just sweep it under the carpet and forget about it? It's this kind of apathy that will let this regime do whatever they wish at our football club. Ashley owns the club so of course he can do what he likes with it, just as the owners of every other football club can. It's such a bitch that people have control over things they own isn't it? As far as the Carroll deal is concerned who on earth was going to stop that happening? You had 3 billionaire owners all involved in a chain of transactions for tens of £millions and a player with the possibility of earning 2 or 3 £million a year more. If you think anyone could have stopped that deal then you are deluded.

Loved Carroll's third against Villa, he started it and was there too finish it. But I do think Tiote just shades it, the significance and timing of that goal in the match as a whole adds to its cedentials imo.

12 goals this season I think, who needs two legs?

Love that, I also enjoyed: "Pardew takes time for Frenchie"

That's fair enough, as Colocho said his performance against Reading was also class, and he did alright for some other games under Roeder when he played a holding role. But he was too often injured and/or went missing.

But you must know that he runs round in circles man

Not sure you can say that on here....

Just took the figures out: 2003/04: 4,2m profits before tax and dividends, and 3.95m dvidiends was paid out to the shareholders, aso nothing left 2004/05: Breakeven, but again, 3.95m dividends was paid to the shareholders, so we have a 4m loss 2005/06: 12m loss, and on top of that, 2.6m dividends paid out (2m in shares, 0.6m in cash) Would appreciate if someone can complete the figures afterwards 2006/2007 £30m loss 2007/2008 £20m loss 2008/2009 £15m loss 2009/2010 £17m loss

Charlton away, we lost 2-0. Was there, remember Duff having an awful time at LB. One of my worst experiences as a Newcastle fan, that match. His first start was against Charlton, we lost 3-1. He came off the bench at Chelsea in the FA Cup on the Wednesday before. Damien Duff played for Chelsea. I was wrong in my earlier post about him playing his first game in January, it was March and you are right about the Chelsea and Charlton games.. Moore then played in the next 7 games from which we took 19 points. He did ok. I remember going up to the Spurs game that started that sequence. Our back 4 was Carr Ramage Moore and Elliott, I couldn't believe we did them 3-1 with that line up but our midfield was excellent with Bowyer in particular playing out of his a*se.

He was bloody awful man! Ah yas, Craig Moore. Shepherds big masterstroke. He was so please with him self, and bragged in the press about how he had sold Hughes for £1m and replaced him with free agent Moore, which strengthened the squad at the same time Moore was ok in the 05/06 season. He emerged from injury some time in January and put in a decent shift until the end of the season, he only really had the World Cup in mind and wanted to get some game time imo. The following season with the World Cup out of the way he played utter rubbish and his contract wasn't renewed. And yes Hughes would have served us better I think.

I don't blame people for being suspicious, I myself am still sceptical in fact I might use the word agnostic. As you say the jury is still out. I have been appalled by some of the things that have happened under Ashley - but not everything by any means. And my post was directed at the idea that anyone who doesn't immediately and automatically rubbish anything and everything that the club does is an "Ashley lover". And an "Ashley lover" as defined is perfectly content with everything that has happened during the last three and a half years, thinks no mistakes were made and is quite happy to watch the club make no progress in the future. I happen to think that no genuine fan thinks like that.

I've been meaning to stick this on here for some time but now is as good a time as any. It is about the "Ashley lover" thing that gets thrown at anyone who doesn't automatically reject anything and everything that the current regime do. I think everyone and I do mean everyone on here is quite aware of the sheer idiocy of decisions made over the past 3 years or so. There has been a palpable lack of honesty at times as well. But it seems to some that anyone who might even consider the economic and financial realities of our situation (some will, and indeed should, stop reading there) is branded an "Ashley lover". The football consequences of the crap decisions have been obvious and the financial consequences are there for anyone that wants to look. The theory seems to be that anyone who meets the assumed definition of an "Ashley lover" is quite content to sit back and watch mid table mediocrity (at best), Ashley crapping all over the club, taking the piss out of the fans, as long as the finances work etc etc. I just want to say it is utter bollox. That is all.

Other than a smallish overdraft and the normal trading debts that figure won't be too far out. Without access to a league table of debt I don't know what debt other clubs have but l would think we are well up there. The key thing is what Ashley wants to do with that debt, and despite speculation no one has a clue what the answer to that is. The other factor of course is that our debt can only be "called in" by the owner of the club and there aren't many other clubs in that situation.

I'm waiting for that as well! I've only got what's on the official site as the full accounts still aren't available. It all just seems pretty much what was expected from our season in the Championship tbh. Income well down, wages well down, made a profit on transfers, but overall the club made another loss which Ashley has funded by sticking more money in. There was no other result possible really. The only piece of the jigsaw that is now known is what the wage bill dropped to post Owen, Viduka, Martins etc. It has always looked likely that something approaching breakeven was possible when Premiership revenues kick in on top of our reduced cost base. There have been a few mentions of Spurs on here. If Ashley has a vision to move the club forward (and I fully expect derision from some at that suggestion) it is to emulate what Spurs have done. The Spurs accounts are freely available on their website. They have no vast debt owed to their owner and no great chunks of money spent that they don't have, their total debt only stands at £90m and a fair amount of that has gone on property development not on the football side of things. They get value for money when they buy players in the market and (importantly) they also sell well. They pay wages they can afford. And they do not lose money. The key difference is that their annual income is £120 million compared to our (Premiership) income of about £90m. Ashley may have addressed the costs but if he wants to be able to build a successful squad he has to address the income.

there are different sections of thought about ashley. one that he's put more cash into the club than anyone else, another understands that right now and in the recent past we weren't in a position to spend like we had in the past, another is that his handling of the club in the remainder of the season after keegan left was the massivly major factor in us getting relegated and that last season and this he's gone a little way to digging himself out of that. however there are some for whom he can never do any good and if we won the league next season would whinge that had he done blah blah blah earlier then we'd have won it earlier and has as a result cost us 2 years on the path to world domination. Aye righto. What about the school of thought that he did indeed f*** up the relegation season and he's doing his damnedest to f*** this one up as well? Can he not just be like the owner/chairman at real football clubs and leave the f*** alone unless things are really going down the tubes? If he'd kept Carroll and kept Hughton, I'd have been absolutely dandy at this point in time. I still wouldn't like him and would happily see him thrown off the Tyne Bridge with rocks tied to him but at least make some pretense towards not making an utter arse of things just because he can. People continue to be downhearted and comment on it because he continues to make f***ing ridiculous "mistakes" on a regular basis. pretty much this. swapping hughton for pardew so he could sell who he wanted when he wanted was the final straw for me. i'd been extremely understanding of him up until then. Of course "iron man" Hughton would never have allowed Andy Carroll to hand in a transfer request or be sold to Liverpool for £35 million would he?

The accounts aren't showing as filed yet, I guess Pardew means they are being filed today. There is always a delay after filing before they become available. Based on the figures from Ashley's holding company (see OP) I don't think there will be any great surprises revealed. The club has not made any money so there is no chance that the Ashley debt is going to be down to £17m unless either he has converted a lot of it into equity or he has written a lot of it off.

If/when SI gets on the pitch he will make a difference. IMO.