madras Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 And won't put anything else into the club before FFP rules come in, it's infuriating tbh, now is the time to maximize capital investment in the club to the hilt. it really isn't. Explain. i don't find it infuriating when someone who has already put a lot of money in, is unlikely to get it all back, doesn't put more in. especially when we carp on about the man city's and chelseas of this world you want us to do the same but on a smaller scale. I find it infuriating, so u can't just say that I don't The guy is one of the richest men in England, and he won't improve the ground/commercial aspects with capital investment that he won't be able to now from FFP rules what sort of capital investment in the ground/commercial aspects do you advise ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 And won't put anything else into the club before FFP rules come in, it's infuriating tbh, now is the time to maximize capital investment in the club to the hilt. it really isn't. Explain. i don't find it infuriating when someone who has already put a lot of money in, is unlikely to get it all back, doesn't put more in. especially when we carp on about the man city's and chelseas of this world you want us to do the same but on a smaller scale. I find it infuriating, so u can't just say that I don't The guy is one of the richest men in England, and he won't improve the ground/commercial aspects with capital investment that he won't be able to now from FFP rules what sort of capital investment in the ground/commercial aspects do you advise ? I'm not an expert in the field, but some investment in marketing abroad to build our fanbase further in Asia like Japan and China, and places like Qatar in the oil rich countries. Maybe a partnership with an MLS club where we play friendlies there in offseason and vice versa to promote an American fanbase and additional revenue stream via demand for Newcastle matches in the states and merchandise. Pay for the sponsorship all over the stadium and for the naming rights, Liverpool have a 100m deal with Warrior clothing, yet Ashley owns several brands yet won't do this either. Money could be used to lay foundations for the future rather than short-term player purchases. Perhaps the club as a brand itself could invest in external companies and enterprises to generate other revenue streams altogether. Things like this would take us from a club that turns over less than 100m a year to one that does a great deal more, and can make us able to push for CL football off our own backs every year without then having to rely on Ashley himself to provide the funds directly. It's not something that can be done overnight I appreciate that, but to seemingly do nothing at all is what infuriates me as a supporter of a club owned by one of England's richest countrymen when the clock is counting down to when we will just not have any option to do this at all very soon due to the new rules. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 And won't put anything else into the club before FFP rules come in, it's infuriating tbh, now is the time to maximize capital investment in the club to the hilt. it really isn't. Explain. i don't find it infuriating when someone who has already put a lot of money in, is unlikely to get it all back, doesn't put more in. especially when we carp on about the man city's and chelseas of this world you want us to do the same but on a smaller scale. I find it infuriating, so u can't just say that I don't The guy is one of the richest men in England, and he won't improve the ground/commercial aspects with capital investment that he won't be able to now from FFP rules what sort of capital investment in the ground/commercial aspects do you advise ? I'm not an expert in the field, but some investment in marketing abroad to build our fanbase further in Asia like Japan and China, and places like Qatar in the oil rich countries. Maybe a partnership with an MLS club where we play friendlies there in offseason and vice versa to promote an American fanbase and additional revenue stream via demand for Newcastle matches in the states and merchandise. Pay for the sponsorship all over the stadium and for the naming rights, Liverpool have a 100m deal with Warrior clothing, yet Ashley owns several brands yet won't do this either. Money could be used to lay foundations for the future rather than short-term player purchases. Perhaps the club as a brand itself could invest in external companies and enterprises to generate other revenue streams altogether. Things like this would take us from a club that turns over less than 100m a year to one that does a great deal more, and can make us able to push for CL football off our own backs every year without then having to rely on Ashley himself to provide the funds directly. It's not something that can be done overnight I appreciate that, but to seemingly do nothing at all is what infuriates me as a supporter of a club owned by one of England's richest countrymen when the clock is counting down to when we will just not have any option to do this at all very soon due to the new rules. right, the best way to market is through exposure (so basically you are saying buy better players to get more exposure....chelsea/citeh). pay for the sponsorship (same as the previous brackets). what you are saying is bankroill the club like chelsea and man city. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I specifically said not to buy players as a short term measure :/ Did you read any of what I wrote? It was all about how to lay the foundations for future revenue, absolutely nothing to do with bankrolling? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I specifically said not to buy players as a short term measure :/ so how do we do this , we've done the far east tour and american tour and it didn't matter, what matters is winning the big stuff then doing it, guess what that takes ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 I specifically said not to buy players as a short term measure :/ so how do we do this , we've done the far east tour and american tour and it didn't matter, what matters is winning the big stuff then doing it, guess what that takes ? So you're telling me it's impossible to invest money into a PR company to build exposure abroad as a top-half PL team without winning a trophy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 tell you what hawk, if you can think of a way to market us in the far east/america without the expenditure on players/winning stuff then you will be a millionaire as every club in europe will want you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hire me Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 call +44 (871) 911 1200 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roger Kint Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hmm majority shareholder dumps shares tomorrow. or he could re-start paying dividends or give himelf a pay rise. Or start charging interest closer to home Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2012/may/01/newcastle-united-cockney-mafia-order How Newcastle's 'Cockney Mafia' turned the tide from ordure to order Kevin Keegan's sacking and Newcastle's relegation brought flak for Mike Ashley but Derek Llambias feels the club's controversial business model has been vindicated David Conn guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 May 2012 18.27 BST Newcastle United's managing director, Derek Llambias, tells a story to illustrate the ordure he and the club's owner, Mike Ashley, endured before the club's sudden blossoming this season. While they were out and about with a friend from London, a van suddenly veered towards them, the driver rolled his window down, and hurled a volley of abuse at Llambias. His friend stopped, horrified. Llambias, though, had just kept walking, having barely registered it. "We had so much of that, I don't hear it any more," Llambias smiles. With Alan Pardew's team challenging for Champions League qualification, with a crucial appointment at Chelsea on Wednesday night, the Toon Army's contempt for Ashley, Llambias and others they scorned as the "Cockney Mafia" has been reappraised. It is now accepted that the period from Ashley's 2007 takeover – which saw him drinking and grinning with fans in the stands – to the 2009 relegation was a car crash for the club. Then and since – Llambias accepted what Ashley had promised would be "a horrible job" in May 2008 – three key episodes struck at the heart of what Newcastle fans have long held precious about their club. First was the fallout with Kevin Keegan, a club legend, then last January's sale of Andy Carroll, that totem, a Geordie at No9. Just as it was starting to go right, in November the roof fell in, when they replaced the name of the hallowed St James' Park with Ashley's pile-it-high business, the Sports Direct Arena. Yet the turnaround since, sparkling signings bought with the Carroll money, Pardew's air of authority and the cleaned-up finances, can make these moves look courageous now, by hard men prepared to be unpopular. Llambias suggests that although Keegan walked out and won a constructive dismissal case which showed the club in an appalling light, he had not anyway believed that Keegan, the populist choice he inherited, was right for the modern role. Of Carroll, he says they did not want to sell until Carroll himself fancied the five-year deal Liverpool were offering. They dug in with Liverpool's then director of football, Damien Comolli, not to budge from £35m. "They came in late, the day before deadline day [31 January 2011] which pushed the price up," says Llambias of Liverpool's approach. "We had no time to replace Andy, so they had to pay a premium." Liverpool were receiving £50m from Chelsea for Fernando Torres and were not prepared to run until the summer without a replacement. "The football side [Pardew and his staff] didn't want to sell him. But once he wanted to go, we all agreed to sell." Llambias characterises Ashley, who can look a good-time Charlie with his replica shirt and lager, as in fact an obsessive business operator with a ferocious appetite for figures and the detail of an operation, who thrives on doing deals. Ashley floated Sports Direct for £1.9bn in 2007, sold shares for £1bn cash, still owns 70% and recently announced a profit of £100m last year. After selling Carroll, they took waves of criticism. "We had a fan backlash, people asking where's the money gone, saying the £35m would never be spent," he recalls. "Then we did spend it all." The £35m for Carroll, and the players spotted by chief scout, Graham Carr, signed with the proceeds, could be the best ever transfer dealing by a Premier League club. Demba Ba (free, from West Ham) arrived, Yohan Cabaye (£4.8m from Lille), Papiss Cissé (£9m from Freiburg), Davide Santon (£5m from Internazionale) and Gabriel Obertan (reported fee, £3m, from Manchester United). Two of this season's revelations, Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) and Cheik Tioté (£3.5m from FC Twente), were already there – some say their talents were repressed until the big British presences of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan were moved on. When he bought Newcastle in June 2007, the only English buyer in the wave of overseas takeovers, Ashley gave Sir John Hall and family a final payout of £53.4m for the stake they bought for £3m, and £38m to Freddy Shepherd and his brother, Bruce. Newcastle had been overspending for years; around £70m was owed in short-term debts, and the club made a £34m loss. The Halls and Shepherds had also earned prodigiously over the years in dividends and salaries. Ashley paid off all external debt, personally lending the money, now up to £140m, interest free. He has taken no money out of the club in five years. After his initial foul-ups which propelled the club towards relegation, Ashley put the club up for sale, but Llambias says nobody with solid money made an approach. "Then you reflect on where you are. There was a responsibility for us. Failure is not a word in Mike's vocabulary. So we decided to get back into it, and to be brave, to keep the core of the squad, add to it and try to bounce back." They allowed for a £33m loss in 2009-10 to retain a squad good enough to win the Championship 11 points clear of second-placed West Bromwich Albion. Then, in December 2010, they invited vitriol again by sacking the manager who delivered it, Chris Hughton. Llambias maintains "great respect" for Hughton, who did "a fantastic job" at Newcastle and, Llambias adds, has done so again this season with Birmingham City in the Championship play-offs. However, he says he believed that Pardew had the "vision" they needed to "push forward". He dismisses as nonsense, as Pardew has too, rumours which have gone around that Pardew had gambling debts, saying the manager does not gamble. Llambias is from the world of gambling, rising from dealing at blackjack and roulette tables to running casinos in Las Vegas and London. Between 1992 and 1998 he was managing director of Les Ambassadeurs, the Park Lane casino and hang-out for football dealers including Pini Zahavi and Kia Joorabchian. Llambias met Ashley when he opened Fifty, a casino club in Mayfair owned by the American, Robert Earl. Llambias took his family to West Ham, and when Pardew won promotion with the Hammers in 2005, then took them to the FA Cup final the following season, Llambias says he was impressed. Of St James' Park's rebranding, the next big row, Llambias supplies an explanation of surprising depth. He begins with an appreciation of fans' financial realities, rare among football executives who too often appear to think everybody is as comfortably off as them. "There is not a lot of money in the north-east," he says. "The area relies heavily on public sector jobs and now the public sector is being cut." Seeing empty spaces at the ground, they did deals: a 10-year price freeze option, a 50% discount for the final 14 games for season ticket holders' friends and family, interest-free payment plans. "People in the queues were telling me they couldn't afford it before, or that they couldn't afford to bring their kid too. We don't want empty seats." While Hall famously invoked the plastic patriotism of a "Geordie nation", Llambias straightforwardly explains that the region's financial constraints mean they struggle to compete with the richer clubs. He understands St James' Park is sacred, and that no major club's traditional home has ever had its naming rights sold. But he argues that should not preclude them from making extra revenue to strengthen the club. There is a suggestion in his explanation that Sports Direct was used as a kind of buffer, to take the criticism and prepare supporters for the idea: "Sports Direct is being used to showcase the naming rights opportunity to a global audience. It is about being able financially to put another Yohan Cabaye on the pitch." The flak was torrential and many fans continue to resent the degree to which the old ground has become an advertising vehicle for the owner's company. All of which suggests again that Ashley and Llambias do not want for thick skins. Having seen key decisions vindicated, and the club reducing its operating loss by almost £30m to £4m last year, Llambias says they do not have to sell players this summer, although with growing interest in the flourishing players including Tioté, he will not rule changes out: "We will continue to follow our financial and transfer model during the summer," is all he will say. So after a season of exceeding expectations, even given Saturday's 4-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday, anxiety at St James' Park is not wholly allayed. Pardew and his team are playing in fine harmony, but with Mike Ashley and Llambias now recognised not as maladroits but sharp operators who love a deal and are not scared to take flak, anything could happen next at the Sports Direct Arena. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameritoon Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Two of this season's revelations, Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) and Cheik Tioté (£3.5m from FC Twente), were already there – some say their talents were repressed until the big British presences of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan were moved on. wot Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Barton and Nolan stopped Ben Arfa's leg repairing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdckelly Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 somehow it wouldn't surprise me if Barton was attempting to sabotage Ben Arfa's recovery, got images of him sneaking into HBA's house and resmashing his leg, probably unfair of me to think that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormy Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Two of this season's revelations, Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) and Cheik Tioté (£3.5m from FC Twente), were already there – some say their talents were repressed until the big British presences of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan were moved on. wot Amused me, that. Gave up a couple of paragraphs after. Do we need one of these articles each week now, with the same Llambias cliches re-hashed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGuv Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Fuck off with the SDA shit man. It's not showcasing it at all, they'll never sell the rights to it IMO, even if someone came in for it. And if we've got an operating loss of £4million, it'l be down again next year, so why would we even need the money for a sponsorship of the ground? Also how would Llambias know about Keegan? He was here for 2 fucking months. God i hate the cunt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wally_McFool Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Said it before, will say it again, Llambias should be gagged and banned from talking to the media by Ashley. He does nowt but cause shit storms and bad feeling between the board and the fans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 It's the author of the piece that says that about Ben arfa, not lambias. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 It's the author of the piece that says that about Ben arfa, not lambias. No shit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 tbf 2m for Ben Arfa is pretty amazing He's still a massive c*nt tho. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniatmoko Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) that's daylight robbery Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiemag Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) that's daylight robbery 2 million pounds that would buy you around 3 and a half million greggs pasties. Now thats money better spent Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniatmoko Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Hatem Ben Arfa (£2m from Marseille) that's daylight robbery 2 million pounds that would buy you around 3 and a half million greggs pasties. Now thats money better spent ok lets trade obertan with 1.5x of that amount shall we.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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