Is Mike Ashley steering Newcastle United in the right direction?

[Guest bobthemag]

You fail to mention the fact that Bassong, Duff, Martins, Beye etc wanted to leave, as did Given, Insomnia and Milner before them. We made a substantial profit on some of those transfers and as you well know, we no longer had any financial clout so they had to go.

 

He could have sold more too, but he didnt.

 

Are you disatisfied with the backing he gave the manager in January? You would find the vast majority of supporters would say they were highly satisfied, considering not many expected anyoine to come in, especially after the Beckford/Kilgallon farce.

 

The summer is a long way off. In January, there was still a chance we could fail to gain promotion. In the summer, I would expect him to invest further, but far more sensibly the the previous administration who virtually sealed our fate into oblivion.

 

are you happy at him changing managers as often as he has, selling those players and being relegated ?

 

do you think the new players are as good as those he has sold ?

[Guest Wally_McFool]

Cant stand Ashley and I think he is an idiot and a twat.

However, if he has to stay as is his right to do, he could do worse than get a professional footballing person in to run the club affairs for him instead of that ridiculous speccy  chum of his Derek, who hasn't got a clue and drops himself and the clubs image in the shite every time he opens his gob. 

 

[macca888]

It is obvious for all to see.

 

Whilst he was largely responsible last season with some bad decisionmaking, the fact that the following has occured leads most people to believe he has learned from his mistakes.

 

He could have reduced the salary commitments further by selling more players.............he didnt.

He could have called in the administrators when all was against him....................he didnt

He could have refused to back his manager with signings in January..............he didnt

He could have refused to pour more money into the club to pay salaries in January.....................he didnt

This season has largely been reasonably quiet off the park, wouldnt you say? Less interference and allowing the manager and the players to get on with their jobs,

 

Like I said in my previous post, he has learned a few things and the fruits are there for all to see. Top of the CCC. Allegedly, Middlesbrough were a better run club than us and look where they are in comparison. They will probably not make the play offs. I think a great deal of the clubs problems stemmed from the Shepherd era, especially on the financial side of things and Ashley, for some time now, has been covering those loses. Time will tell whether the improvement continues but I would call ytou a liar if you said to me that you would have expected us to be in the position we are now, if asked for an opinion back in August.

 

Credit where credit is due and the next 12 months will be crucial for this cluib. The start has been made and maybe, just maybe, sensible financial control allied with shrewd signings could see us continue to improve over the next few years.

 

they will have to be shrewd if the reported wage levels are anything to go by, do you think the recent signings are good enough for the premiership, do you know the length of their contracts ?

 

 

Bob, we wont actually know until we see the likes of Routledge, Williamson etc play in the EPL. What I will say is that the likes of Dann, Johnson at Birmingham, Lescott at City, Baines at Everton and quite a few others, have come from lower divisions and done well in the PL so it is not beyond the realm of mpossibility that our signings will also succeed. Furthermore, if you look at the teams near the bottom of the PL, I dont think any of them are that much better than us, if at all. Also, there are plenty of good quality players around who would more than likely jump at the chance of coming to NUFC at realistic prices and whilst most peoplke on here would like to see Arsenal type football played, realism says that workmanlike performances are the order of the day under Hughton and that hasnt done the likes of Birmingham, Villa, Everton any harm this season at all. Maybe we can see a sim ilar response next season.

[macca888]

You fail to mention the fact that Bassong, Duff, Martins, Beye etc wanted to leave, as did Given, Insomnia and Milner before them. We made a substantial profit on some of those transfers and as you well know, we no longer had any financial clout so they had to go.

 

He could have sold more too, but he didnt.

 

Are you disatisfied with the backing he gave the manager in January? You would find the vast majority of supporters would say they were highly satisfied, considering not many expected anyoine to come in, especially after the Beckford/Kilgallon farce.

 

The summer is a long way off. In January, there was still a chance we could fail to gain promotion. In the summer, I would expect him to invest further, but far more sensibly the the previous administration who virtually sealed our fate into oblivion.

 

are you happy at him changing managers as often as he has, selling those players and being relegated ?

 

do you think the new players are as good as those he has sold ?

Bob, of course not. But lets be honest, relegatioin was a reality going back to the Souness era. Roeder and Allardyce also had us sliding towards the inevitable. As for the loss of the players, if they didnt want to mplay for the club any longer, then yes, I was glad to see the back of them. What I am saying is that noone expected us to be in the position we are now, after the summer of discontent. Ashley appears to have learned a few lessons whereby we have had stability in the management side, getting results, provioding finances for players etc etc etc. I am hoping that this current situation will continue in the future and to be honest, I would much rather have keen, eager, young up and coming performers in the side than overpaid injury prone prima donnas like Owen, Viduka and Geremi. After all, these were the main players who got us relegated in the first place.

[Guest bobthemag]

It is obvious for all to see.

 

Whilst he was largely responsible last season with some bad decisionmaking, the fact that the following has occured leads most people to believe he has learned from his mistakes.

 

He could have reduced the salary commitments further by selling more players.............he didnt.

He could have called in the administrators when all was against him....................he didnt

He could have refused to back his manager with signings in January..............he didnt

He could have refused to pour more money into the club to pay salaries in January.....................he didnt

This season has largely been reasonably quiet off the park, wouldnt you say? Less interference and allowing the manager and the players to get on with their jobs,

 

Like I said in my previous post, he has learned a few things and the fruits are there for all to see. Top of the CCC. Allegedly, Middlesbrough were a better run club than us and look where they are in comparison. They will probably not make the play offs. I think a great deal of the clubs problems stemmed from the Shepherd era, especially on the financial side of things and Ashley, for some time now, has been covering those loses. Time will tell whether the improvement continues but I would call ytou a liar if you said to me that you would have expected us to be in the position we are now, if asked for an opinion back in August.

 

Credit where credit is due and the next 12 months will be crucial for this cluib. The start has been made and maybe, just maybe, sensible financial control allied with shrewd signings could see us continue to improve over the next few years.

 

they will have to be shrewd if the reported wage levels are anything to go by, do you think the recent signings are good enough for the premiership, do you know the length of their contracts ?

 

 

Bob, we wont actually know until we see the likes of Routledge, Williamson etc play in the EPL. What I will say is that the likes of Dann, Johnson at Birmingham, Lescott at City, Baines at Everton and quite a few others, have come from lower divisions and done well in the PL so it is not beyond the realm of mpossibility that our signings will also succeed. Furthermore, if you look at the teams near the bottom of the PL, I dont think any of them are that much better than us, if at all. Also, there are plenty of good quality players around who would more than likely jump at the chance of coming to NUFC at realistic prices and whilst most peoplke on here would like to see Arsenal type football played, realism says that workmanlike performances are the order of the day under Hughton and that hasnt done the likes of Birmingham, Villa, Everton any harm this season at all. Maybe we can see a sim ilar response next season.

 

I've seen these players, I'm not going to watch the smoggies or anybody else, as you are telling people to do, but I don't think they are as good as the players he has sold. What do you think of them ?

 

[Guest bobthemag]

You fail to mention the fact that Bassong, Duff, Martins, Beye etc wanted to leave, as did Given, Insomnia and Milner before them. We made a substantial profit on some of those transfers and as you well know, we no longer had any financial clout so they had to go.

 

He could have sold more too, but he didnt.

 

Are you disatisfied with the backing he gave the manager in January? You would find the vast majority of supporters would say they were highly satisfied, considering not many expected anyoine to come in, especially after the Beckford/Kilgallon farce.

 

The summer is a long way off. In January, there was still a chance we could fail to gain promotion. In the summer, I would expect him to invest further, but far more sensibly the the previous administration who virtually sealed our fate into oblivion.

 

are you happy at him changing managers as often as he has, selling those players and being relegated ?

 

do you think the new players are as good as those he has sold ?

Bob, of course not. But lets be honest, relegatioin was a reality going back to the Souness era. Roeder and Allardyce also had us sliding towards the inevitable. As for the loss of the players, if they didnt want to mplay for the club any longer, then yes, I was glad to see the back of them. What I am saying is that noone expected us to be in the position we are now, after the summer of discontent. Ashley appears to have learned a few lessons whereby we have had stability in the management side, getting results, provioding finances for players etc etc etc. I am hoping that this current situation will continue in the future and to be honest, I would much rather have keen, eager, young up and coming performers in the side than overpaid injury prone prima donnas like Owen, Viduka and Geremi. After all, these were the main players who got us relegated in the first place.

 

those players played well under KK, so why did they want to leave the club ? Does anybody think we would have been relegated if he had still been manager ?

[Happy Face]

It is obvious for all to see.

 

Whilst he was largely responsible last season with some bad decisionmaking, the fact that the following has occured leads most people to believe he has learned from his mistakes.

Most people?  I don't think so.  You're clearly among the minority in this thread.

 

He could have reduced the salary commitments further by selling more players.............he didnt.

Which players still in the squad did we receive offers for?  EVERYONE was up for sale AFAIR.

 

He could have called in the administrators when all was against him....................he didnt

Why would he throw away £250m

 

He could have refused to back his manager with signings in January..............he didnt

Having lost 3 players in January, the squad would have been down to 15 men with previous first team experience.  No defensive cover whatsoever and 1 spare midfielder.  He had no choice having neglected the first team for a year.

 

He could have refused to pour more money into the club to pay salaries in January.....................he didnt

He did.  As has been pointed out, Geremi's departure covered salaries

 

This season has largely been reasonably quiet off the park, wouldnt you say?

You mean apart from the court case where he admitted he's a liar, the fraud investigation, the naked streaking across the pitch, the BBC program about unethical business practices and the disastarous announcement that the stadium would be renamed?  Yeah, pretty quiet otherwise...off the pitch.

 

I think a great deal of the clubs problems stemmed from the Shepherd era, especially on the financial side of things and Ashley, for some time now, has been covering those loses.

Hasn't this myth been put to bed yet?  How many times does it need repeated that Ashley signed every contract at the club.  The debt was cleared the day he walked in and no interest is payable.  Ashley has more than doubled the Shepherd debt though.

[STM]

It is obvious for all to see.

 

Whilst he was largely responsible last season with some bad decisionmaking, the fact that the following has occured leads most people to believe he has learned from his mistakes.

Most people?  I don't think so.  You're clearly among the minority in this thread.

 

He could have reduced the salary commitments further by selling more players.............he didnt.

Which players still in the squad did we receive offers for?  EVERYONE was up for sale AFAIR.

 

He could have called in the administrators when all was against him....................he didnt

Why would he throw away £250m

 

He could have refused to back his manager with signings in January..............he didnt

Having lost 3 players in January, the squad would have been down to 15 men with previous first team experience.  No defensive cover whatsoever and 1 spare midfielder.  He had no choice having neglected the first team for a year.

 

He could have refused to pour more money into the club to pay salaries in January.....................he didnt

He did.  As has been pointed out, Geremi's departure covered salaries

 

This season has largely been reasonably quiet off the park, wouldnt you say?

You mean apart from the court case where he admitted he's a liar, the fraud investigation, the naked streaking across the pitch, the BBC program about unethical business practices and the disastarous announcement that the stadium would be renamed?  Yeah, pretty quiet otherwise...off the pitch.

 

I think a great deal of the clubs problems stemmed from the Shepherd era, especially on the financial side of things and Ashley, for some time now, has been covering those loses.

Hasn't this myth been put to bed yet?  How many times does it need repeated that Ashley signed every contract at the club.  The debt was cleared the day he walked in and no interest is payable.  Ashley has more than doubled the Shepherd debt though.

[ToonTastic]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

[madras]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

[ToonTastic]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

[Happy Face]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

 

At the very very best, if all you (and they) say is true and he's making the tough financial decisions to sort us out and the past year has been beneficial in terms of cost cutting, then I think the most you could say would be that he's put the brakes on our decline and there's a lot more work to do to start moving in the right direction.

 

I don't believe that's the case though because, as I've said, the debt has been increasing at a far greater rate since Ashley arrived (and continues to do so).

 

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

It's a logical fallacy.

[madras]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

 

At the very very best, if all you (and they) say is true and he's making the tough financial decisions to sort us out and the past year has been beneficial in terms of cost cutting, then I think the most you could say would be that he's put the brakes on our decline and there's a lot more work to do to start moving in the right direction.

 

I don't believe that's the case though because, as I've said, the debt has been increasing at a far greater rate since Ashley arrived (and continues to do so).

 

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

It's a logical fallacy.

does that mean i have escaped being labelled an ashley supporter ?

[ToonTastic]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

 

At the very very best, if all you (and they) say is true and he's making the tough financial decisions to sort us out and the past year has been beneficial in terms of cost cutting, then I think the most you could say would be that he's put the brakes on our decline and there's a lot more work to do to start moving in the right direction.

 

I don't believe that's the case though because, as I've said, the debt has been increasing at a far greater rate since Ashley arrived (and continues to do so).

 

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

It's a logical fallacy.

 

Doesn't the debt he has created this season get paid back when we get the money for going up ? I agree the debt has gone up since his arrival he was daft just on about the continuing to rise part.

[ToonTastic]

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

If the club did nothing next season and simply tried their best to stop up without spending any money they would end the season having made a profit wouldn't they ? Its that cash I'm looking for him to spend on players. Like I said I'm looking at £10-£15m tops.

[ToonTastic]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

 

At the very very best, if all you (and they) say is true and he's making the tough financial decisions to sort us out and the past year has been beneficial in terms of cost cutting, then I think the most you could say would be that he's put the brakes on our decline and there's a lot more work to do to start moving in the right direction.

 

I don't believe that's the case though because, as I've said, the debt has been increasing at a far greater rate since Ashley arrived (and continues to do so).

 

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

It's a logical fallacy.

does that mean i have escaped being labelled an ashley supporter ?

 

I hope I have as well, my first comments when he bought the club were that he would do exactly what he did. I was very unhappy to be proved right.

[quayside]

Think people need to look more at what happened at Leeds to see where we could have gone if Ashley didn't turn round what he had started. Yes he was crap last year and made plenty of mistakes not many will argue that. This season however he did the right things to get us promoted.

 

Press reports were everyone was for sale but players and the board seem to suggest this wasn't the case and it was more players who wanted to leave left those who didn't stayed. Ashley could have very easily sold off the high earners to get some cash in the bank and still paid some of their wages like Leeds had to do. He could have sacked our management during the blip around Xmas when people were saying Chris wasn't good enough to get us up, then having to pay more money on sacked management and more money on new managers.

He could have not spent a penny in the January window and he could have took out a bank loan to cover the payments he's been making this season backed by our promotion money which would have cost us alot more than him taking on that debt.

 

So yes he was crap and sent us down but he is steering us back in the right direction by the fact that we're more or less promoted, the wages next season will be again close to 50% of turnover and the club should be bringing some cash in. It's then just a case of progression again and hope he doesn't do anything stupid when we're back up there like try to sell the club straight away and not buy players because of that.

wages maybe closer to 50% of turnover but that will mean little if he uses any excess to pay his loans back before the club is ready.

 

I agree he has a lot to prove next season, like I said he has to spend some cash in the summer, we can't expect huge sums to be spent but he has to buy quality and replace the likes of Butt and Nolan. And yes he has to hold back on getting some of his loans back but nobody can predict what he'll do, but the question is, is mike ashley steering Newcastle in the right direction, I can't see how the answer can be no.

 

At the very very best, if all you (and they) say is true and he's making the tough financial decisions to sort us out and the past year has been beneficial in terms of cost cutting, then I think the most you could say would be that he's put the brakes on our decline and there's a lot more work to do to start moving in the right direction.

 

I don't believe that's the case though because, as I've said, the debt has been increasing at a far greater rate since Ashley arrived (and continues to do so).

 

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

It's a logical fallacy.

 

I've seen nothing to suggest he would spend whatever is needed to guarantee Premiership survival. The two options for me are either punting that we creep through somehow with a minimum spend - or he tries to sell the club sharpish.

[stalker]

A lot of people raise the issue of wages being 50% of turnover but this doesn't make sense to me. 7 or 8 years ago it was apparently appropriate for wages to be around 50% of turnover (not sure how they worked this out but I'll accept it was correct then). However, in the intervening years revenues have increased massively (in the premiership) but other costs, with the exclusion of wages, shouldn't have altered that much. Therefore the 50% figure which is consistently bandied about appears no longer to be appropriate to me and I don't know why people preach it as the gold standard of financial management.

[ToonTastic]

A lot of people raise the issue of wages being 50% of turnover but this doesn't make sense to me. 7 or 8 years ago it was apparently appropriate for wages to be around 50% of turnover (not sure how they worked this out but I'll accept it was correct then). However, in the intervening years revenues have increased massively (in the premiership) but other costs, with the exclusion of wages, shouldn't have altered that much. Therefore the 50% figure which is consistently bandied about appears no longer to be appropriate to me and I don't know why people preach it as the gold standard of financial management.

 

I'll leave that up the finance people to answer

[quayside]

A lot of people raise the issue of wages being 50% of turnover but this doesn't make sense to me. 7 or 8 years ago it was apparently appropriate for wages to be around 50% of turnover (not sure how they worked this out but I'll accept it was correct then). However, in the intervening years revenues have increased massively (in the premiership) but other costs, with the exclusion of wages, shouldn't have altered that much. Therefore the 50% figure which is consistently bandied about appears no longer to be appropriate to me and I don't know why people preach it as the gold standard of financial management.

 

I think the idea is if you are running a football club as a business (as opposed to the Man City, Villa model) it's virtually impossible to make it work if you spend more than 50% of your income on wages.

 

The last set of accounts for us were when we were in the Premiership in 2007/2008. Income was £100m wages were £70m and other running costs were £50m so we lost £20m as a result. Whereas if wages had been at 50% of our income we would have broken even - so in our case the theory sort of works.

[Cunning_Linguist]

I personally think that Mike Ashley is doing a good job for Newcastle.

 

I fully agree with the previous comments that state that we could have gone down the pan the same way as Portsmouth (crystal Palace, Southend etc etc) but he has helped us through by stopping the influx of money grabbing players.

 

That said, He has made mistakes and i believe he has learnt from these mistakes (Xisco, Dennis Wise for example). When KK came back onto the scene I, as well as pretty much every toon fan, was absolutely delighted BUT I think we ALL new deep down that there was a chance he might just walk away again. When it was reported in the media that KK was trying to sign the likes of Thierry Henry I perosnally wondered wtf was going on!

 

I have faith in Ashleys progression as he has lowered the wage bill, and cleared some of the dead wood and NOT started sacking managers as soon as things dont go right.

 

I personally think that it is about time that this whole saga of last season is left well alone and EVERYONE concentrates on the future of the club!

[OzzieMandias]

Look, those people on here who cannot see the woods for the trees (and I dont have to name them) need to understand several points here.

 

Ashley has admitted to the mistakes and is trying to rectify them

The previous regime took this club to the brink of oblivion. They have to share the blame.

Ashley is trying to put the club on a sound financial footing and I, for one, will be glad to see the back of these so called superstars who have been holding the club for ransom for years.

Rome wasnt built in a day, or in our case, rebuilt. Ashley seems to have decided to keep the club. Love him or hate him, he has backed his current manager and we have had an unexpectedly excellent season. Maybe he has turned the corner and promotion being achieved against everyones expectations. Crucial period will be next season to see whether we can build on it.

I am no Ashley supporter but I find the one eyed opinions of some on this thread to be childish, lacking in knowledge and simply downright unsupportive of the club.

 

Simple answer to this, if you dont like it, go and support someone else, maybe like Leeds or Middlesbrough, perhaps even Portsmouth, Palace, Chester City, Luton, Hull City or the plethera of other clubs facing financial meltdown in the years to come. We were so close under Shepherd and like it or not, Ashley saved our bacon...............fact.

 

he had a chance to rectify his mistakes when he appointed KK again but didn't support him.

 

I imagine quite a lot of people have supported Newcastle for many years, watch them every game home and away, and aren't about to stop 

 

So what mistakes had he made before appointing Keegan?

[Guest malandro]

Buying the club on a wimp, not checking the books properly, bringing in players on high wages / not backing Fat Sam in the transfer market (he complained about having to go for 3rd and 4th choices). Letting Mort give the impression the debts had been paid off when in fact they’d just been moved around. Contracts without relegation clauses. Selling off valuable advertising space to Sportsdirect on the cheap. And  I would also say hanging around with the away supporters and flashing the cash in Blu Bamboo, though some can’t see how this made him look like a tool and raised questions about his attitude.

[OzzieMandias]

Buying the club on a wimp

 

So he should have bought it on Vin Diesel or something?

 

not checking the books properly

 

Only rectifiable by a) putting in enough of his own cash to keep the club out of insolvency and/or b) selling the damn thing again. Both of which he has done, or tried to do.

 

bringing in players on high wages / not backing Fat Sam in the transfer market

 

So he spent too much money but he didn't spend enough money?

 

Allardyce got upwards of £16 million to spend on transfers, so the claim that he wasn't backed is ludicrous, whatever his whinging. I agree that more high wages was a mistake, though I don't suppose Ashley had had time to realise that, and was under pressure (I remember Allardyce moaning in the press that time was running out) to rush through signings.

 

Letting Mort give the impression the debts had been paid off when in fact they’d just been moved around.

 

Pure speculation and basically daft. Mort may well have knowingly dissembled. I also recall a stress on "external" debts. And if you still can't understand the difference between money owed to commercial lenders, and a loan as a form of investment by an owner, then there's not much point in you attempting to discuss the club's finances.

 

Contracts without relegation clauses.

 

Yes, a dumb mistake also made by his predecessors.

 

Selling off valuable advertising space to Sportsdirect on the cheap.

 

Surprise me by supplying some facts re that one. How much did he pay, and for what? How much would an external purchaser have been charged?

 

And I would also say hanging around with the away supporters and flashing the cash in Blu Bamboo, though some can’t see how this made him look like a tool and raised questions about his attitude.

 

Yes, I'd agree that was a mistake, though not an egregious one.

[Happy Face]

If we go up all The Ashley supporters are insisting he'll spend the money needed to keep us up....undoingh all the "good work" he's done bringing down costs.

 

If the club did nothing next season and simply tried their best to stop up without spending any money they would end the season having made a profit wouldn't they ? Its that cash I'm looking for him to spend on players. Like I said I'm looking at £10-£15m tops.

 

If that is his plan (or using profits to pay off debt) then the question is whether we survive.  Would taking us from 17 years of uninterrupted top flight football to being a yo-yo club be deemed as the right direction?  It seems for some people the answer is yes...as long as the books balance.  Personally I can't imagine celebrating the books being balanced after a defeat on a Saturday night.

 

Either way, until the club actually does start losing less money than it was in 2007, or finishing in the top half of the Premier league I don't see how it can be said we're going in the right direction either on or off the pitch compared to when he bought the club.