Three years under Mike Ashley today.

[Dave]

Mick's quite slim for a man of his age.

[Parky]

Too early to judge.

 

[Mick]

Mick's quite slim for a man of his age.

 

[colinmk]

The summer we signed Colo for well over the odds, Jonas on a bosman who went on to cost us £5 million & Xisco =  . The KK fiasco. Going down. Day 1 he found out there was no silver & soon as he gave the good Shepherd the bullet he would have to fork out a few million. The manager when he started was Big Sam. He has to live through Bartons journey to be: Average footballer, average human being.  Has found selling NUFC harder than donnay socks or a SPORTS DIRECT logo with a St George behind it. I would love to say it has been rollercoaster with the big man at the helm but it has been more like a slide with a few bumps on it.

 

Sums it up for me.

[Mowen]

The correct comparison isn't where we are now versus where we were hoping to be. It's where we are now versus where we would have been if Shepherd had remained in charge.

 

Which is hypothetical of course.

 

Bullshit. Regardless of what fred would or wouldn't have done, there's no way of denying Ashley has repeatedly made monumentally shit decisions on a regular basis and has fucked up big time.

[Mick]

With hindsight, keeping Allardyce was his first major cock-up.  He should have gone as soon as they gained control of the club.

[colinmk]

With hindsight, keeping Allardyce was his first major cock-up.  He should have gone as soon as they gained control of the club.

 

Definitely.

[Guest Pedro_de_geordieo]

It amazes me that someone with so much experience in running a business and making so much money would walk in to a massive club with his eyes closed and with no support or experienced backup. Yet he did and he continues to ignore advice from people in the game to even inform the fans on what the plans are, they even declare that they will not spend any money on the team just before season tickets are due for renewal.

The guy just seems to shoot himself in the foot every step of the way, I thought that after the season in the CCC he might learn from his mistakes but clearly this shit looks destined to continue.

[madras]

Ashley wasted a massive opportunity here and has rarely made a correct decision.  Even if it turns out that we can stop pissing away cash and become a stable Premiership club, it does nothing to prove that we wouldn't have been better off if decisions had been made differently.

 

So far he's been a monumental failure as our owner.

 

where was the massive opportunity ?

 

a club on the slide,losing money and already hocked up to the hilt. of course he could have invested heavily from the off in order to run at a bigger loss though this time a personal one and not a corporate one.

[Mick]

where was the massive opportunity ?

 

a club on the slide,losing money and already hocked up to the hilt. of course he could have invested heavily from the off in order to run at a bigger loss though this time a personal one and not a corporate one.

 

The massive opportunity was when he first arrived which created a lot of good will.  He could have tried to build the club up to break even rather than cutting costs to do it.

[madras]

where was the massive opportunity ?

 

a club on the slide,losing money and already hocked up to the hilt. of course he could have invested heavily from the off in order to run at a bigger loss though this time a personal one and not a corporate one.

 

The massive opportunity was when he first arrived which created a lot of good will.  He could have tried to build the club up to break even rather than cutting costs to do it.

how was he going to do that without cutting costs and didn't costs actually go up during his first year ?

[garth]

3 years! my goodness, how time flies. Lets hope there are many more to come.

[Mick]

how was he going to do that without cutting costs and didn't costs actually go up during his first year ?

 

Gates were up on the season before and our popularity in foreign countries is shit because of our poor profile abroad.  If we're to bring in new income then we need to move away from trying to rely on what we can bring in locally.  Costs were up in our first year for a few reasons, we sacked every director who was tied into a long term contract and we also allowed a manager to build up his back-room staff which we also got rid of, he was still bringing in people almost until the day he left. 

 

 

[jdckelly]

where was the massive opportunity ?

 

a club on the slide,losing money and already hocked up to the hilt. of course he could have invested heavily from the off in order to run at a bigger loss though this time a personal one and not a corporate one.

 

The massive opportunity was when he first arrived which created a lot of good will.  He could have tried to build the club up to break even rather than cutting costs to do it.

how was he going to do that without cutting costs and didn't costs actually go up during his first year ?

yup fat sam signed geremi viduka cacapa barton smith all on large wages, probably the reason he decided to use a dof

[madras]

how was he going to do that without cutting costs and didn't costs actually go up during his first year ?

 

Gates were up on the season before and our popularity in foreign countries is s*** because of our poor profile abroad.  If we're to bring in new income then we need to move away from trying to rely on what we can bring in locally.  Costs were up in our first year for a few reasons, we sacked every director who was tied into a long term contract and we also allowed a manager to build up his back-room staff which we also got rid of, he was still bringing in people almost until the day he left. 

 

 

what i mean is how much were we losing in freds last year ? to go from that position to a break even position (with costs for investment aswell) wasn't what i would call a massive opportunity.

[rocksammy]

Hard to imagine Ashley could be so astute in his business dealings and so inept (in so many ways) in his purchase of NUFC.

 

I doubt his regime will see the supporters turning up in the numbers they have so far. If we struggle badly I can see minus 30k attendances this season. I still haven't renewed and unless the team is strengethened I doubt I will.

 

 

Running a sporting club and running a business is completely different.

[Mowen]

He did invest heavily from the start. We spent a hell of a lot on wages that summer.

[Cronky]

With hindsight, keeping Allardyce was his first major cock-up.  He should have gone as soon as they gained control of the club.

 

Definitely.

 

That would not have been a realistic option. We would then have gone through the close season with no manager and therefore no-one to direct any transfers. And what new manager would have fancied coming here when he'd seen the previous one - a bloke with a good record - sacked without a ball being kicked?

 

 

 

 

[quayside]

With hindsight, keeping Allardyce was his first major cock-up.  He should have gone as soon as they gained control of the club.

 

Definitely.

 

That would not have been a realistic option. We would then have gone through the close season with no manager and therefore no-one to direct any transfers. And what new manager would have fancied coming here when he'd seen the previous one - a bloke with a good record - sacked without a ball being kicked?

 

 

 

 

 

Yup - plus Ashley didn't know anywhere near enough about football to make a decision like sacking Allardyce. 

[NG32]

So many mistakes, so much pain and misery.

 

Which all could have been avoided.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ocho]

So many mistakes, so much pain and misery.

 

Which all could have been avoided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One plus side, is that we've seen the back of Owen and all the other high earners.  I'm sure he would have been still raking it in if we hadn't have been relegated.

[NG32]

So many mistakes, so much pain and misery.

 

Which all could have been avoided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One plus side, is that we've seen the back of Owen and all the other high earners.  I'm sure he would have been still raking it in if we hadn't have been relegated.

 

The negatives far out weigh the positives,  We could have stayed up with tha team if there was leadership from the top to the bottom.

 

IF the club could have stayed up, they could have introduced a salary cap whilst in the prem the following season. 

 

Made an annoucement along the lines that they can no longer afford wages above 50k a week.  Put all the pressure on Owen to either sign a new deal at 50 k a week or move on.

 

Thats what he did with manu anyway.

 

It was all totally avoidable, and lets not forget they treat us the fans, their customers like fucking dog shit.

 

Captain cunt face and his little cockney terrier are in for a fucking shock if suffer another avoidable relegation.

 

 

[maze]

[Dan Gleebals]

So many mistakes, so much pain and misery.

 

Which all could have been avoided.

 

 

Our demise was only accelerated by a few bad decisions by Ashley and Co IMO.  FS and his ideas were simply not sustainable and we would be further in the mud now I reckon.

 

Anyway, if we can get through this season in one piece, with a much lower cost compared to the last season in the premiership we should be a bit further up the road in terms of having a more financially stable club.

 

 

 

 

[Dokko]

With every post in this thread my admiration for NE5 goes up a little.

 

By god he could bring a forum down on its knees, crying for mecry, but he was right, and was the only one.