quayside

Depends if anyone would offer him more than we do, unlikely I think. But I could see the club deciding not to renew when the time comes tbh. How motivated would he be by then? They'll look to replace players like him with someone younger, hungrier and quite a bit cheaper.

Hope so. That desperate? Because we have every reason to hate the manager that won us an FA Cup, a CL, a SuperCup, and took us to another CL final and within a few points of the Prem. 7 surely he is the reason you are where you are now. That would be Hicks and Gillett. Hmmmm. Without knowing too much of the Politics, your sqwad looks awful, and some of his buys were shocking. Surely down to him? Every manager makes a few shocking buys. In the end, there simply wasn't the money to buy the players we needed to improve. The Yanks were taking every penny the club made to pay down their debts. If you haven't got the money to buy nailed-on quality players like Torres, Masch and Alonso (though he was a bargain), you have to take risks. No, Rafa wasn't the best in at the transfer market, but making out that Rafa is some kind of Souness in the transfer market is well wide of the mark. Basically. I thought that would be entirely obvious to an NUFC fan. Admire the loyalty and, of course, you won things under him. But surely the £60m spent on Aquilani, Lucas, Babel and Keane (for example) is indicative of more than just taking a risk because funds weren't available to buy better? That is pretty serious money that should have bought something a whole lot better imo.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1340313/Newcastle-sell-Leon-Best.html Seems a pretty obvious move. I think most of us would do the same if we were manager. There was always some hope that he might turn out to be a diamond but, on admittedly limited chances, it never really looked like anything more than hope.

He's known for being good at PR and dealing with the media. But it will become obvious soon enough whether he's got any real influence or if he's just being put up as another puppet. He is known for being BAD at dealing with the media. Got my info from talking to fans of clubs he's managed - and you? "In 2003, the BBC described him as being a "dangerous and distant animal" in the media, referring to his public relations abilities, which has led him to making several rash comments. When at West Ham, the club employed a media advisor for Pardew to help him win over sceptical fans." Wikipedia. Look the notes up if you doubt the information. Yup got that BBC comment. The West Ham fans that I know all reckon he was good at PR and playing the media. The point I originally made was in response to someone saying that Pardew was making all the right noises (and several others have said the same) so he's showing signs right now that he is GOOD at dealing with the media. My point was merely that making noises is one thing but you can't deliver if you have no influence.

He's known for being good at PR and dealing with the media. But it will become obvious soon enough whether he's got any real influence or if he's just being put up as another puppet. He is known for being BAD at dealing with the media. Got my info from talking to fans of clubs he's managed - and you?

He's known for being good at PR and dealing with the media. But it will become obvious soon enough whether he's got any real influence or if he's just being put up as another puppet.

I shudder to think how bitter I'd be if I were an Espanyol fan. No worse then being a Mackem

Yup. It would be interesting but I just don't think anyone would trust him with a shitload to spend. He had a chance here to work with a squad set up to play football and it just got worse and worse (fwiw I don't think we would have been relegated under him but hey that's irrelevant tbh). His skill is survival on a low budget and in that niche he's as good as it gets. There will always be a desperate club owner who needs to stay up at all costs so there will be a job out there for Fat Sam for a few years yet.

Carroll being used as an impact sub and: Either 3 centrebacks with Simpson and Jose doing the wingback bit. Or Man Citeh type midfield with Colo and Tiote holding Or perhaps Sky are spouting utter bollox

It's more or less just facts and numbers. yep, and there was more in favour of ashley and less in favour of fred Telling, isn't it. f***ed if i know, they're both c***s

Everyone plays pseudo accountants when this old chestnut comes up. Large debt can have agreed payment plans that would never bring a company close to administration. It's commonplace in big business. There is absolutely ZERO evidence that the banks didn't have a comfortable agreement with the last regime. Accounts were s***...yeh. Business model flawed...yeh. But this talk of being saved from administration holds no water at all. It just didn't happen. No matter how much people look into the hypothetical future of the time. I'm in no way defending FS's time here, btw. Of course the club didn't go into administration but any sort of analysis of the situation (as it was at that time) reveals some serious issues. You are saying that in the summer of 2007 the club could have scheduled its existing debt to suit the needs of both the banks and the club itself, thats quite possible but its not really the biggest problem. A more pressing factor is how it was going to avoid incurring further debt. A loss of £30m had just been incurred - what collateral had the club got to raise debt to fund that? How was the club going to turn itself from making huge losses into a profit making business that generated positive cash flows and didn't need further debt financing? There is also the fact that the club was technically insolvent as I mentioned above - unfortunately that situation and its implications won't go away. We do of course have the benefit of hindsight now, and there was nothing hypothetical about the collapse of the financial markets that was just around the corner in 2007. How that might have impacted on the club's already distressed situation is open to debate but there has to be a likelihood that the effect would not have been positive.

Without a doubt. The key difference is that although the debt has increased sharply under Ashley it is not owed to some external creditor who has foreclosure rights. There was no possibility of increasing the debt in 2007 as we would have nothing left to borrow against so how was the club going to transform a £30m loss into a profit and avoid further debt? Bear in mind also that the £30m loss was incurred in a year when we were playing in Europe. There is another point in that the club was technically insolvent at the time Ashley bought it and the accounts were only given solvent status because Ashley guaranteed to fund it. Who would have given that guarantee if we were under our previous ownership? Edit: sorry just noticed that you said if he were to leave. Ashley would either have to write a chunk of debt off or the new owner would wrap it up in the seliing price so the answer is probably still yes.

Keegan only got £2m iirc so I reckon the figure of £5.3m includes the legal fees. This would have included not only the club's fees but also KK's because the club lost the case.

You would be correct sir. That is my ire with people saying ashley inherited a mess from shepherd, he did and then promptly made it even worse. True. Although at least he was able to find the finance to fund his cock ups. Q - Can I just say I only listen to you about the books @ NUFC & not some f***ing random blogger. I am flattered and thank you But the blogger has blogged very accurately and his interpretations are spot on imo. However there is a lot of detail for a casual reader.

Hughton = a victim. In the case of Allardyce the only victims are those that have to watch his sides play,

You would be correct sir. That is my ire with people saying ashley inherited a mess from shepherd, he did and then promptly made it even worse. True. Although at least he was able to find the finance to fund his cock ups.

Tricky one that. He'd just bought the club having done no due diligence so didn't have much idea about what he'd got, let alone the economics of it. And he probably decided to go along with Allardyce. The crap hit the fan when Barclays called in the loan and Ashley had to cough up tens of millions far sooner than he might have expected. His finance people then presumably got to grips with the true situation and this was what prompted Chris Mort's "review". That "review" led to the appointment of Wise and presumably this was a measure designed to keep a check on what was being spent on players.

Yep, Colo, Enrique, Barton all came in from memory. But we got rid of: Dyer, Parker, Bramble etc. So how the hell is their a 11M difference between those who came and left. Colo was later when KK was here. In the transfer window you are talking about (in summer 2007 which was just as Ashley was buying the club ) Fat Sam bought in Viduka, Cacapa, Smith, Beye, Rosenhal (spelling?), Faye and Geremi all on good wedge I'd think.

What about all the profit he's made from transfers. Lol, WHERE DID THE MILNER MONEY GO FFS????????????????? Ah so you did mean it. Well the club has been making large losses and thats even after taking account of any profits made on player sales.

Waiting expectantly for UV to pitch up on here and explain how everything would have been fine under the previous regime.

What about all the profit he's made from transfers. I assume that's a piss take

His attitude on the pitch is fantastic as well. No sulking or tantrums or getty lippy with the opposition players and the ref, he just gets on with the job, never gives up and puts in 100% every time - even when he's playing poorly.

As far as the Premiership is concerned they aren't alone in that respect tbh.

The payoff he got from us was more than £4m iirc so its more like £6m or £7m.

If it really is true that it might take 2 months to find a replacement then it clearly shows that the new owners are laughably naive. Getting rid of Allardyce may well be a great idea but 2 months is a very long time in the Premiership and a lot of damage can be done. It sounds as though the Rao family are taking all their advice from Kentaro and that includes what players to buy. Yet another example of clueless owners not grasping what the football business is all about. In the mean time Fat Sam has got a cracking result imo, walking away from a s*** situation having trousered another £2.5 million payoff. And he will be back.