NG32 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 So that’s that then. Another Ashley transfer window over and another empty feeling at the pit of our stomachs. Another sign we are on the road to nowhere. Lovenkrads (free), Nolan (£4m) and Taylor (£2m) in for a total of £6m and Given and N’Zogbia out for £13m-ish. This is called strengthening the squad apparently. You can only speculate whether we’d have spent as much had Barton not been injured so seriously as he was last week at City. What’s happened to the Milner money? What will happen to the excess on the Given-N’Zogbia deals? What will happen to the money invested into the club via season tickets in the summer? Does that just disappear into a big, black Ashley shaped-hole? Are more players sold and the monies used to buy lesser ones? It seems to me the club is being hollowed out from the inside. SJP looks the same, there is a team wearing B&W stripes but it isn’t Newcastle United Football Club. It’s a Mike Ashley version. Not the real thing. Snide. It is only a personal opinion but I have absolutely no confidence or trust in Ashley or any of the people he has appointed to executive positions at Newcastle United FC. If you think I’m wrong please drop me a line and explain why. I’ll publish it online here and give it star billing. It seems to me the game plan from Ashley is to re-arrange the deck-chairs on the Titanic by selling players to raise money for new ones (cheaper - therefore on balance not as good) and the profits going to well … er, where exactly? We have had four transfer windows under Ashley and over that period the squad has become progressively thinner in terms of quality and quantity. Its not like we were starting from a position of strength either. That is why we are where we are. Its not rocket science. It’s because the club has not been building a team. We hear a lot of rubbish – usually from the slack-jaws of his apologist and lickspittle Joe Kinnear about what Mike Ashley has done for Newcastle United FC. According to Kinnear, Ashley has “INVESTED” £200m into NUFC. Utter bollocks. The club cost him £140m (or near enough) and that is the purchase price of the football club. That is not investment it is purchase price. For reasons best known to himself but which are pretty unfathomable to a scrote like me Ashley failed to conduct due diligence and as a result bought something which has bitten him badly on the fat arse. He didn’t check out the club’s debt and he didn’t check out its revenue correctly, which means he got into NUFC for a seriously inflated amount of money and any thoughts of a quick carpet-bagging style sale with a few mill down his sky rocket has gone down the tubes. The club is seriously all over the place because Ashley, in my opinion, has never had any intention of being around for very long and that is why he has had Mort on a 12-month, short term secondment, followed by Llambias whose tenure at NUFC reeks of impermanence. Who knows how the club is run on a day-to-day basis. I hear rumours of shadow men from Sports Direct moving in and out of the corridors of power in the upper levels of the Milburn but as the club is about as approachable and transparent as the former Soviet Union, no-one can really be sure how the operation is organised. Then there’s the football side – I mean, who in their right ‘kin mind would have Dennis Wise as Executive Director Football for Newcastle United FC based in London and apparently it would seem with a season ticket for Watford? Who would appoint Joe Kinnear as manager of a major PL club and keep a fucking straight face? There are no serious, credible football people in any of the top positions of authority at NUFC. Increasingly, the only way I can see us being delivered from this purgatory is for Ashley to sell the club at a realistic price, take a massive hit on his investment, put it down to experience, go back to his pile Berkshire and stick pins in a Sir John Hall doll. Sell up and go. Ashley has nothing to offer. No money. No good intentions in my opinion and no brains. * Shay Given has left Newcastle United. Quite obviously, he was desperate to get away. Kinnear has stated he bent over backwards to get him to stay – as if anything he thinks he could have done would have worked. Dennis Wise pulls his strings. Mike Ashley visited the training ground last Monday I’m led to believe and the meeting between the owner and our ex-keeper (that hurts writing that) ended acrimoniously, though too little, too late springs to mind. Its been reported that the club offered Given an extended deal (if you can believe that) but from where I’m watching, it was never about the money and always about the football. Shay has given up on an Ashley-owned NUFC. Forget the claptrap from Kinnear about a new challenge. It was to get away from the absolute mess we’re in. That he has joined a club, which is likely to be binning the manager in the next few months only underlines how bad the situation is at our club. Also leaving is Charles N’Zogbia who amazingly (for him) isn’t going to Man Utd to keep Ronaldo out of the team. Nope – it’s Wigan for you my boy. He hasn’t cut a very sympathetic figure in the last couple of seasons and his reputation as a surly twat spread all over Tyneside. That said, I’d wager KK would have had him happy and playing full of confidence. I can’t imagine KK or SBR giving it the “Insomnia” nonsense – that was cheap and pathetic of Kinnear as much as it was a complete over-reaction on N’Zogbia’s part. Some will sneer when N’Zogbia talks about Wigan being a step up. Unfortunately, he’s right. Steve Bruce is a million times a better manager than the muppet we have in the dug out and Dave Whelan is light years ahead of Ashley in every regard. Not perfect by any means but if we could punch above our weight as Wigan have done their’s then we’d not have much to complain about. * So that’s the derby over eh? A pretty good game in a kind of Division 2-1989-kind-of-style with virtually zero quality on display. All perspiration and little inspiration! Hilariously, the Mackems believe Chopra over-hit his pass to Jones in the dying minutes because he’s a Mag. Will you tell them or will I? I think we can all have some fun with this. It was a game we should have won. Any quality at all from us in that midfield going forward or a bit magic in the final third and we’d have won easily. They are rubbish and the gap between us has narrowed not because they are anything particularly decent but because we have become shite. That was always how it was going to happen. * May I encourage you to attend the NUSC Meeting at the Tyneside Irish Centre this Wednesday – 7pm for a 7:30 start. Even if it’s cold! * West Brom (a) on Saturday is another one of those must-win games that we have been screwing up all season. The team played with application and endeavour in the derby and nothing g less than that will do on Saturday. Kinnear’s results are shit but he needs to get his finger out and get the points on the board rather than kissing Ashley’s arse and making a twat of himself! Keep On, Keepin’ On … Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It struck me as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 To be honest, I've stopped looking out for what True Faith have got to say... I think it's about time they changed their name. They could have written this before the transfer window and just filled in the names of whatever players we ended up getting. And I don't know why they keep returning to the 'Wise based in London' arguments and all the other shit we've heard done to death. Saying that Ashley's £140m was the 'purchase price' and not an 'investment' is just ludicrous as well, it's not like buying a Mars bar FFS. When you buy an asset for that money of course it's an investment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 The first paragraph seems to show there shear ignorance to the cash flow problem currently within the club suggesting the money is all going to Ashley. When will people learn. Never mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cp40 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. not in the 80s my friend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Wow ... I mean I can't believe what has happened this window. I was so confident they wouldn't screw it up because they just couldn't afford to quite frankly. There is something very very dodgy going on. The fact they couldn't even go for loan signings is the real killer. Even if it was for players that weren't as good at least we would have got extra bodies in, whic is the main problem. At the end of the day if they really had £8 million to spend on Johnson why couldn't it go towards something else if Man City weren't willing to sell. This window was the final test for me. They have failed massively. Ashley must be out of his mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. have to agree with the 80's bit, thought so myself...what else was gonna happen with that front line though? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest teepee Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 please let us survive this season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 please let us survive this season! Dont beg man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
relámpago blanco Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 To be fair though, despite making stupidly late bids, they did actually make 2, 8m bids. It wasn't a great window but at least we actually brought someone in unlike most January's and both Nolan and Taylor will be good signings I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. You were comparing us challenging for the top of the table compared to now. That's just plain daft, we've not been in the position for years. If your hopes are that high you need to drag them back down to the earth quick smart as this won't change over night. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. You were comparing us challenging for the top of the table compared to now. That's just plain daft, we've not been in the position for years. If your hopes are that high you need to drag them back down to the earth quick smart as this won't change over night. What we had then and what I expect now are totally different things. I am quite happy to see us spend wisely and follow the Wenger blueprint. I don't see any evidence of it though. We have a temporary manager who has over-stayed his welcome and looks to be recruiting footballers a million miles from Wenger's preferred types. The Tony Pulis blueprint would be a better description. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. You were comparing us challenging for the top of the table compared to now. That's just plain daft, we've not been in the position for years. If your hopes are that high you need to drag them back down to the earth quick smart as this won't change over night. What we had then and what I expect now are totally different things. I am quite happy to see us spend wisely and follow the Wenger blueprint. I don't see any evidence of it though. We have a temporary manager who has over-stayed his welcome and looks to be recruiting footballers a million miles from Wenger's preferred types. The Tony Pulis blueprint would be a better description. What looks to be to be happening is the board ballsed up at the start of the season. We were then left with no manager wanting to take the job. JK was given the job. He took over and the club was already up shit creek. It was decided due to the debts the manager would be given £10m cash to spend, this was spent not buy the right people though that was the mistake. We got to January we had another £10m to spend but needed to cut the wage bill because it was to high hence losing all the money. Seems to be a massive clear up will happen this summer with loads of players going and coming in basically to sort the wage bill out. Once that is done the club will be self sufficient and money can be spent to improve the squad keeping the wage bill around the 50% mark. Forget the whole wenger blueprint, that all starts at the youth end of things. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 my thoughts on that article - less is more boys Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalker Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. You were comparing us challenging for the top of the table compared to now. That's just plain daft, we've not been in the position for years. If your hopes are that high you need to drag them back down to the earth quick smart as this won't change over night. What we had then and what I expect now are totally different things. I am quite happy to see us spend wisely and follow the Wenger blueprint. I don't see any evidence of it though. We have a temporary manager who has over-stayed his welcome and looks to be recruiting footballers a million miles from Wenger's preferred types. The Tony Pulis blueprint would be a better description. What looks to be to be happening is the board ballsed up at the start of the season. We were then left with no manager wanting to take the job. JK was given the job. He took over and the club was already up s*** creek. It was decided due to the debts the manager would be given £10m cash to spend, this was spent not buy the right people though that was the mistake. We got to January we had another £10m to spend but needed to cut the wage bill because it was to high hence losing all the money. Seems to be a massive clear up will happen this summer with loads of players going and coming in basically to sort the wage bill out. Once that is done the club will be self sufficient and money can be spent to improve the squad keeping the wage bill around the 50% mark. Forget the whole wenger blueprint, that all starts at the youth end of things. Why do you think anyone was ever given any cash to spend? We've run a surplus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonTastic Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I also got the feeling watching the Derby we were back in the 80s. It was worse. I remember Keegan taking Newcastle to Roker Park and they huffed and puffed for 90 mins but we picked them off and won 2-1 because we had class players like Ginola and Beardsley and they had a team of Kevin Nolans. This time they had Cisse and Jones, we had carroll and Shola. Wrong decade man. I know but that was what was going through my mind watching on Sunday. You were comparing us challenging for the top of the table compared to now. That's just plain daft, we've not been in the position for years. If your hopes are that high you need to drag them back down to the earth quick smart as this won't change over night. What we had then and what I expect now are totally different things. I am quite happy to see us spend wisely and follow the Wenger blueprint. I don't see any evidence of it though. We have a temporary manager who has over-stayed his welcome and looks to be recruiting footballers a million miles from Wenger's preferred types. The Tony Pulis blueprint would be a better description. What looks to be to be happening is the board ballsed up at the start of the season. We were then left with no manager wanting to take the job. JK was given the job. He took over and the club was already up s*** creek. It was decided due to the debts the manager would be given £10m cash to spend, this was spent not buy the right people though that was the mistake. We got to January we had another £10m to spend but needed to cut the wage bill because it was to high hence losing all the money. Seems to be a massive clear up will happen this summer with loads of players going and coming in basically to sort the wage bill out. Once that is done the club will be self sufficient and money can be spent to improve the squad keeping the wage bill around the 50% mark. Forget the whole wenger blueprint, that all starts at the youth end of things. Why do you think anyone was ever given any cash to spend? We've run a surplus I'm stupid and believe JK when he said he was told he had £10m to spend. And I seem to remember something in the summer when people still liked Ashley and he did an interview he said he would put £20m into the club to cover the over expense and would put £10m in to transfers the rest would come from the club (which I now realise he meant selling players). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChezGiven Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 What i like to do with these articles is take out the flannel from the text and pick out the main ideas and then shrink them down to their basic form. I've posted my summary below. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 What i like to do with these articles is take out the flannel from the text and pick out the main ideas and then shrink them down to their basic form. I've posted my summary below. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil K Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 All together now..."WEEEE'RE GOING DOWN AGAIN.....WE'RE GOING DOWN AGAIN.....WE'RE GOING DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN AGAIN......." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 To be honest, I've stopped looking out for what True Faith have got to say... I think it's about time they changed their name. They could have written this before the transfer window and just filled in the names of whatever players we ended up getting. And I don't know why they keep returning to the 'Wise based in London' arguments and all the other shit we've heard done to death. Saying that Ashley's £140m was the 'purchase price' and not an 'investment' is just ludicrous as well, it's not like buying a Mars bar FFS. When you buy an asset for that money of course it's an investment. Investing in football clubs is madness. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 To be honest, I've stopped looking out for what True Faith have got to say... I think it's about time they changed their name. They could have written this before the transfer window and just filled in the names of whatever players we ended up getting. And I don't know why they keep returning to the 'Wise based in London' arguments and all the other shit we've heard done to death. Saying that Ashley's £140m was the 'purchase price' and not an 'investment' is just ludicrous as well, it's not like buying a Mars bar FFS. When you buy an asset for that money of course it's an investment. Investing in football clubs is madness. I know, in terms of return, all I mean is that it is now one of Mike Ashley's assets which will either increase or decrease in value. It's not like buying a product. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now