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Is Ashley actually in a position to save us?


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I know everyone thinks now Ashley has to spend a fair bit of cash to save us from relegation but does anyone actually think he's got the cash? If he's lost £1bn then he will be worth a maximum of about £800m-£900m. With that he has to continue funding Newcastle United and all of his other businesses which are all making losses and their is no credit available at the moment. It makes me wonder that even if Ashley idd want to spend £20m on transfers whether he actually could.

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No idea whether Ashley has the funds available or not, as liquid assets at least. What is clear is that no one else is going to save us either. Not SJH, not Freddie Shepherd, not American investors, not NUSC or a fans consortium. No one will put the money down required. Let's face this fact.

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I've had doubts he's rich enough to own a Premiership club from the word go tbh. He's a chancer who saw an opportunity to own the ultimate executive toy and leapt in without having a clue what he was buying into and what funding and structure was needed to make it work

 

None of us knows his true financial status (and neither do the press although they'll tell you otherwise) but the moment he bought the club in the 2007 summer transfer window we started operating on a "sell before you buy" basis which was a major clue imo.

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3 sources of money:

 

1) Loan to the club from a third party eg a bank.

The latest accounts show the club to be technically insolvent by almost £40 million. The auditors were only prepared to sign off providing Ashley undertook to support it financially. Given what has been going on in the banking world recently I don't know how easy it would be to get a bank to lend. Of course servicing any loan would drain cash resources further. But calling in the debt in the event of default would be a messy business and could result in poor PR for the bank, especially if the loan was asecured on an asset such as the ground. If anyone on here can give an insight into what a banks view of lending to the club would be it might be interesting.

 

2) Another investor. I don't know Ashley but if you read about the way he has run Sports Direct - contempt for the shareholders, poor communication, dreadful PR, sticking with employees who aren't perceived to be good enough but are mates of his etc. And then you look at his running of Newcastle and there are parallels you might say. You do get the impression the  bloke is a bit of a cock tbh. Would any investor want to come in and co exist in a financial relationship with Ashley? Especially as it might involve being a minority shareholder? Not so sure.

 

3) He sticks the money in himself. See this thread for views on whether he can or can't do that. He's already stuck in £40 million as working capital just to keep the club from going under by the way.   

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Guest timmy boy

What was the state of Villa's finances  before Learner took them over, hasn't he got around the same personal wealth as Ashley?  He's done ok in finding the money for O'Neill to spend.

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What was the state of Villa's finances  before Learner took them over, hasn't he got around the same personal wealth as Ashley?  He's done ok in finding the money for O'Neill to spend.

 

Prove it. And don't believe what you read in the press - they don't have access to any bank statements.

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Guest toonlass

None of us knows the state of Ashley's personal finances. Yes the papers have reported the losses he has made, but how do we know that he hasn't invested money elsewhere and made more? There is no point in us guessing. Ashley probably has a set limit to how much he is prepared to put into Newcastle United.

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Guest Heneage

It should no longer be a matter of saving Newcastle, it should be him saving his bloody investment. He can't seem to accept he's going to make a loss.

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It should no longer be a matter of saving Newcastle, it should be him saving his bloody investment. He can't seem to accept he's going to make a loss.

 

I agree but sadly it looks like its sales before buys.

 

He aint putting a scoop of cash in.

 

 

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How is 20mill going to save us anyway ? We have spent more than that in our 5yrs going backwards rapidly.

 

It'll buy 4 or 5 half decent players which could make the difference between finishing 3rd or 4th bottom.

 

Going down will make the last 5yrs look like a cakewalk.

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I know everyone thinks now Ashley has to spend a fair bit of cash to save us from relegation but does anyone actually think he's got the cash? If he's lost £1bn then he will be worth a maximum of about £800m-£900m. With that he has to continue funding Newcastle United and all of his other businesses which are all making losses and their is no credit available at the moment. It makes me wonder that even if Ashley idd want to spend £20m on transfers whether he actually could.

 

I've been wondering the same thing.

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