Shearergol Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 You can choose to believe the excuses of Mike Ashley if you want, i choose to believe he's full of shit and the same thing will happen next summer. Correct. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbelievable Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 You'd be hard pressed to find a football club who isn't paying wages to players they no longer need. What matters in relation to others for the purpose of determining if the excuse is valid is a) if it happens more here than average and b) if it impacts our wages to turnover to such an extent that it prevents us from doing the incoming business we need. I can't be bothered to find out if a) is true, but b) shouldn't as we've had a relatively healthy w/t ratio for years and haven't gone mad with wages recently, whilst our turnover will increase dramatically in the next few years providing we stay up and do well (for which we need the investment). Even if a) is true, it's a natural result of our transfer policy and shouldn't come as a surprise or hinder our progress. Buy loads of cheap players with the aim of making massive transfer profits on individual players and you're bound to end up with loads of players who aren't good enough and hard to shift. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 But then he'd be risking his own money. This way he never loses and only gains. If we go down the losses are always going to go against the club, not him personally. I never follow this line of Ashley vs 'the club'. All of it is his own money. If NUFC loses money, Ashley loses money. The whole lot is his and his alone. And he's lost repeatedly. Even now there is no guarantee that he would get back every penny he's put in, never mind a decent return over 10 years- all very well big TV deals pumping money in, but if it all goes out on players then you are no further forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFEE Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 But then he'd be risking his own money. This way he never loses and only gains. If we go down the losses are always going to go against the club, not him personally. I never follow this line of Ashley vs 'the club'. All of it is his own money. If NUFC loses money, Ashley loses money. The whole lot is his and his alone. And he's lost repeatedly. Even now there is no guarantee that he would get back every penny he's put in, never mind a decent return over 10 years- all very well big TV deals pumping money in, but if it all goes out on players then you are no further forward. Ashley's net spend per season here is £4.4m before this window I believe. Have a think how much TV money we've had in that 10yrs. The club is in more debt than it was when he took over. How does that work out? When you've done the math for me please let me know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nufc4eva Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 You can choose to believe the excuses of Mike Ashley if you want, i choose to believe he's full of s*** and the same thing will happen next summer. Correct. If we have a good season and invest a bit, then some of our players could be getting touted about for 30-40 million. Surely Ashley sees that a good season ( mid table / top 10) would see the value of his assets rise significantly, although obviously we wouldn't want to lose our best players, that money could then be reinvested to even the squad as a whole. Mind I accept it's a lot of wastage on players each month, however, Rafa should be given 50-70 million net minimum to ensure we stay in the division / push on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I think it's the "invest a bit" part that people are most skeptical of. We improbably finished 5th under pardew and the only investment the following summer was Anita. They'll never want to push on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohmelads Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 But then he'd be risking his own money. This way he never loses and only gains. If we go down the losses are always going to go against the club, not him personally. I never follow this line of Ashley vs 'the club'. All of it is his own money. If NUFC loses money, Ashley loses money. The whole lot is his and his alone. And he's lost repeatedly. Even now there is no guarantee that he would get back every penny he's put in, never mind a decent return over 10 years- all very well big TV deals pumping money in, but if it all goes out on players then you are no further forward. You're forgetting the free advertising of Sports Direct, which after all is his main interest and what made him a billionaire. Our stadium is absolutely covered in Sports Direct advertising beamed out to global audiences. Companies pay enormous amounts for that - he pays nothing. To Ashley, 17th place every season would be success because he can break even on the club and expose his brand to global audiences. He runs the club accordingly; it's no coincidence we always have a squad deemed just about good enough to survive. In spite of two relegations, nothing has changed. To him, it isn't worth spending the money required to come 10th or even 5th - yes he could speculate to accumulate (as we wish he would), but why do that when you're breaking even and getting free advertising worth a fortune? Of course he can't come out and say this, but it's pretty obvious by the way the club is run. Our goal is to survive in the Premier League - not consolidate and strengthen but survive. If we find bargains and build a good team, they'll be sold. Some saw the hiring of Rafa as a change in direction, but it's looking more like he sees him as someone who will keep a cheap squad up. The best we can hope for is that Rafa can make us hard to beat and somehow establish us as a solid Prem side until an investor comes in. It'll take a very good offer for Ashley to sell up though. There's a reason he's stayed despite all the sh*t. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chopey Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 The team Rafa is putting together reminds my of Sir Bobby's in a way, Young, Quick, energetic and so long as they are well coached we should have a good season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Just missing Shearer, Robert, Bellamy, Solano and Speed. But pretty much the same sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnNUFC Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Just missing Shearer, Robert, Bellamy, Solano and Speed. But pretty much the same sure. And Shay... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbelievable Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 We have a few players who should be good enough for a midtable team in the Premier League. Not a single player you could argue is ready or good enough for a top side. Some serious underestimation of our, and Rafa's predicament going on lately on the back of a few young playes signing, most had never even heard of and without much proven ability at this level, who we hope can hit the ground running. As it stands I'd be amazed if we weren't anything other than lower midtable or worse, and if we are that will be down to one man and one man only: the one whose patience is being seriously tested and to whom promises made are not being kept so far. We're miles away from where we were under Sir Bobby, miles away, and once again our cheapskate owner is gambling with the future of the club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I am concerned about our GK and our attack currently. I think the very core of our team is very mid-table or below, but it's all based on them being fit + in form entire season. One or two injuries to our main men like Clark, Shelvey, Ritchie and Gayle our spine is very unstable. Signing say Pepe Reina, Lucas Perez and a winger like Lucas Vasquez on loan and I think we are comfortably mid-table. However again, fine margins. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 The team Rafa is putting together reminds my of Sir Bobby's in a way, Young, Quick, energetic and so long as they are well coached we should have a good season WAT. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I thought it was canny obvious that he's on about the 'young guns' from that era. Jenas, Dyer, Viana etc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 i'd like to argue that going the spurs route is our best way given the market; scout and sign younger players, sell when daft bids come in for the ones we develop, invest that money on a bit better player and so on and so forth to be honest this is our best route and we already have the manager, however we also mike cunting ashley Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 i'm pure fed up like, wish we'd buy some cunts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Spaceman Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 In a way I'm glad we're not going down the McClaren route and just making signings for the sake of it. At least the people we're bringing in are players Benitez actually wants, albeit fourth or fifth choices. It seemed like under McClaren we signed Riviere and Saivet for the sake of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 In a way I'm glad we're not going down the McClaren route and just making signings for the sake of it. At least the people we're bringing in are players Benitez actually wants, albeit fourth or fifth choices. It seemed like under McClaren we signed Riviere and Saivet for the sake of it. Riviere was signed in The King's regime. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chopey Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I thought it was canny obvious that he's on about the 'young guns' from that era. Jenas, Dyer, Viana etc I was and I thought it was obvious as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figures 1-0 Football Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I thought it was canny obvious that he's on about the 'young guns' from that era. Jenas, Dyer, Viana etc I was and I thought it was obvious as well It was, for most people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Hopefully Rafa can convince sleeping bag to let Perez come to us on loan with an option to buy, as we're unambitious and maybe even skint. Deportivo are about to sign Adrian Lopez which should rule them out at least. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 We're absolute idiots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Newcastloan United Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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