http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/mark-douglas-you-need-join-7716045
Six, five, six, six, five, six, ten.
These are not the merit marks for Newcastle United’s outfield players during their disappointing draw for Crystal Palace – they are the lengths of contracts doled out by the Magpies during a summer of upheaval at St James’ Park.
In the frenzy of claim and counter-claim that curdled into a fire sale of black and white outcasts, it almost escaped our notice: Newcastle have become Premier League pioneers. Few others in the top flight are signing off those kind of deals to all and sundry.
Jack Colback and Ayoze Perez got five years; Daryl Janmaat, Remy Cabella, Siem de Jong and Emanuel Riviere were all tied down for six. Kit makers Puma – a close commercial ally of owner Mike Ashley – signed up for another decade. These are long-term and substantial deals for an ownership that is ready to batten down the hatches again if results begin to turn.
In one way, it is a further show of faith in the judgement of the razor-sharp Graham Carr for Newcastle to be handing out these kind of deals and so it should be. Back in the summer of 2012, Carr and Derek Llambias struggled to persuade Ashley to break the policy of signing players over 24 when it came to negotiations for Mathieu Debuchy.
But Debuchy moved on this summer at a substantial profit to confirm further proof that the model works. Ashley doesn’t even need convincing any more and the long-term deals are, in one sense, an acknowledgement that a player’s worth is just as much about the length of time remaining on his contract as it is about his value as a player.
Look at Moussa Sissoko, whose representatives made noises about trying to move on after a flurry of decent performances during the World Cup. Thanks to the long, lucrative deal he signed after joining from Toulouse, he has another four years left at Newcastle. Buying clubs either needed to blow United out of the water or sit back down again. No-one bit.
Another possible reason for these long deals? There has been idle chatter in the United boardroom about the oft-misunderstood Webster rule, which apparently states that players could buy out any contract three years after signing it.
Despite some perform speculation it is yet to be tested in a court of law, but longer deals might undermine the case of any player agitating to move. Longer deals provide insurance and balance.
But there is something else at play here that is worth noting. While transfers are fun, the most intriguing development of the entire summer was Ashley moving to consolidate his interest in Glasgow Rangers.
Improbably, the fallen Glasgow giants seem close to financial meltdown again, just a few years after their original problems forced them out of the SPL. Cannily, Ashley is waiting in the wings, ready to increase his share in a club that has a global reach and a much easier route to the Champions League than Newcastle. He has, it seems, pledged money to support the Ibrox club.
So does that mean a fast-track exit from St James’ Park? Hardly. These long deals, especially the commercial one, ensures that the Sports Direct flag is planted on Newcastle’s lawn for a few years yet. No new owner in the next six years can break these deals without hurdling financial hurdles.
For those imploring Ashley to sell up and move on, it is worth considering these long contracts when they consider the likelihood of attracting potential buyers. The scope for making radical changes at St James’ Park is diminishing with every long-term deal that he signs off.
Consider this: the scenario of a big, high-profile owner wanting out has already played out at another Premier League club this summer.
In the Second City, there was plenty of business in and out of Villa Park over the close season but Randy Lerner’s post-season pledge to try and find a buiyer for Aston Villa amounted to very little.
“I have come to know well that fates are fickle in the business of English football. And I feel that I have pushed mine well past the limit,” he wrote in a statement that confirmed he had instructed the Bank of America to find a new owner.
Yet Villa remain in Lerner’s hands, trading as normal. Paul Lambert even signed Tom Cleverley, while making major changes to his coaching staff. The warning at the time of his announcement – that the new financial fair play rules would limit the interest of potential benefactors – is proving to be correct.
Financial Fair Play is supposed to reduce the risk of another Leeds, Bradford or Portsmouth playing out. But the rules attach such stringent controls on club’s bottom lines that it means no new owner can realistically plough cash into their club like Manchester City’s owner did.
It has firmed up the Premier League elite, and made it much less likely for a billionaire to take a look at a club with the potential of Newcastle or Villa and roll the dice. A major spending spree would probably bring financial penalties and points deductions.
With Ashley making long-term plans, it reduces the changes a new man could make even more. Puma’s ten-year deal is good business for Ashley’s Newcastle but it has blocked off a commercial route that a new owner might look to go down while consolidating the owner’s own interests.
Sometimes you need to join the dots to get the full picture. Newcastle’s new direction feels rather like more of the same.
The bold is most likely bobbins:
1, Ashley can own both us and Rangers without any issue. The only issue would be if we both qualified for European competition and Ashley can quite easily prevent this by keeping us sub standard.
2, What does the Puma deal have to do with Sports direct?
