Guest firetotheworks Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Helicopter crash in Yorkshire knowing our luck it would be Staveley. Knowing Dokko he'd be happy with that luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Helicopter crash in Yorkshire Ashley would walk out of the wreckage like the T-1000 from the T-2 movie, hell bent on destroying NUFC and its soul. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Little Waster Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 By the time Ashley dies he’ll have handed it over to his kids with the proviso to make us suffer forever ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_NUFC Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Mike Ashley's Will In the event of my passing, I would like full ownership and day to day control of Newcastle United Football Club handed over to my dear friend and footballing genius, Joe Kinnear. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Have to wonder what he has planned for us should he suddenly depart this plane. Probably has told his kids to completely fuck us over. salt the pitch with his ashes so that happiness will never grow there again Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 How many times does it have to be said that we don’t always pay up front in full anymore? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Regarding our accounts and Ashley himself, they have been manipulated no doubt, but the most telling thing for me is that Ashley is personally making it incredibly hard for the club to grow it’s revenue streams and of course to fund signings due to (not always as Greg rightly points out) paying for players up front which hamstrings us going forward in an ever increasingly fast moving league. Financially we are OK of sorts because our only debt is to the owner really and we have the huge TV revenues of course, but all that enables us to do is to be self sustaining which with a good manager adding to the squad sensibly here and there from the limited money available to spend will see us remain a PL club. But that’s not going to keep fans happy, the manager nor the more ambitious of our players. As a business man myself the way Ashley runs us makes total sense, keep costs low, keep the product cheap enough to get people to buy it and don’t take on any debt or overextend yourself outside of what’s coming in and what’s going out. Even our transfer policy over the years has made total sense from a business point of view, by young, unproven, potential at lower cost and develop them and sell on for profit or retain to keep the club in the division. If we were a smaller club who hasn’t had the taste of the high life if you like and didnt have a huge fan base to satisfy, everything would make sense on all fonts and he’d be considered a good owner which many outside of the club consider him to be. He’s an owner Sunderland for example would hero worship if he took over them instead of Short and proceeded to preside over the decade we have had under him even with two relegations thrown in. Minus their 6 in a row of course, which they wouldn’t swap for the world. But we are a big club with a huge fan base who want our club to do much better because the potential is there and always has been and certain managers have unleashed that which has given our club some great years and times. In a sporting context for us however, he’s been ands is a poor owner. In terms of our history, heritage, culture, identity and the depth of feeling we have for all of that he isn’t just a poor owner, he’s an awful owner and quite clearly the wrong owner. But alas we seem to be stuck with him and I cannot see a way out or a way of progressing much, I say much, because again a good manager improving the squad sensibly here and there will keep us ticking over and progressing, but only in establishing ourselves as a mid-table team which I don’t know about you, I wouldn’t accept as a fan, but reality means I will have to and so will players and managers alike. If that is to be the case, we need a carrot or two dangled here and there. A cup run, better football, youngsters coming through and developing into good players and of course the main man the manager being respectable, honest, hard working and able to put out a team who tries, who competes or tries to, who has passion for the shirt and club and who want to play for the club and represent us all out there on the battlefield. Basically what we have now in terms of the team, manager and connection with the fans. What Ashley can do that doesn’t require him to spend his own money or lose a grip on finances is to allow the manager to improve facilities, the academy set up, scouting, medical and coaching. The foundations of the club basically. He can also alter the transfer policy to enhance the manager’s ability to develop the squad which admittedly he has done to some degree in the form of allowing players to be signed over the age of 25 and from non preferred past ‘markets’ (countries/leagues/nationality) which only ever weakens an already limited pool of players we can bring to the club. He can loosen our policy on loan signings and the fees that can enable us to bring in a better standard of player or a more suitable player for what we required. It is well known we would t pay the loan fees or match the loan fees for Abraham and Cabaleero who went elsewhere. He can do our transfer business quicker too as we did in the Championship, by getting players in early and in the one window it benefits everyone. Had we signed Dubravka and Kennedy in the summer of last year, we might not have flirted with relegation and might have finished higher than we did in the table, maybe in a Europa League spot. We also need to look at our wage policy. If we can’t afford to pay x amount wages, let’s see if we can do something with bonuses to incentivise players to choose us over another club or even if it enables us to sign a player on the basis of using us as a stepping stone. How we pay for players needs addressed too. We pay for players up front the majority of time which means we use up money and while it’s good for the books, it means we can only spend a certain amount on a player which is probably one of the main reasons why we haven’t broken our transfer record, well since we bought Diame anyway. Just by changing tactic in regards to recruitment of players, wages and how we buy a player can help the manager enormously because it gives him some leeway, some control and enables him to plan more ahead in terms of future recruitment knowing we can go up the ladder or down the ladder rather than there literally being no ladder, just a step you either climb on or don’t as it is now. I call that the Joselu who Rafa had to bring in, the alternative was nothing or rather no-one. Now that’s not to say for the same money we could have gotten someone a bit better, but that leads us back to scouting, timing and wages. We could have signed Defoe on a free for example, but his wages would have precluded us. Remember the money given to Stoke for Joselu if indeed we paid it all up front, in Ashley’s financial model, doesn’t go down on the books as 5m out of the business even though it obviously did come out of it. Change that model and that 5m could have went towards the wages of a free transfer like Defoe. That’s if I’m reading our accounts right. Anyway... If Ashley loosened up on all of that and allows Rafa to improve facilities to an acceptable standard which they currently are not with some lower league clubs having better facilities, scouting, coaching, academies and medical teams than we do, Rafa would be happy even with a ‘meagre’ budget of say a max net of 40m a year to spend plus whatever the club brings in by way of selling players. And why? Because he’s good enough to build a team that can win a trophy, finish in the top 10 regularly and get into Europe on that kind of budget. Because his scouting, coaching, player development and fitness/injury prevention/recovery methods and ability to manage a game from game to game to get points is him playing his upper hand if you like over rivals. That’s what great managers do and what separates them from shit managers. Big Sam needs lots of money and a certain style of player to keep a team up and finish mid-table. Rafa’s ability as a coach alone and eye for a player get you that even with a limited team or poor to average players as he has shown. Move the scale up a notch or two and he achieves more, gets more out of a team, delivers more as he did at Valencia, at Liverpool, at Napoli. But you have to give him some tools to work with, he’s not a miracle worker despite showing he can work minor miracles like keeping us up and finishing in the top 10. That won’t continue though if we are ran the way we are even if the transfer kitty grows because Rafa has never been about spending big money, he’s not a cheque book manager or can only operate with a huge budget. He prefers to develop players so he can mould them to fit his way of thinking and how he wants his team to play and not have to reverse undo the mechanics of a proven finished article which is much harder to do and less likely to work. Think of Torres, a sort of proven striker for his club and La Liga, but he went from being a very good player to world-class and credits Rafa with teaching him to become not just a better person and player, but an actual better goalscorer. Obviously if he was to be handed a huge transfer kitty of say 80-100m I think we close the gap quicker and in a better way. It’s not instant success, but it’s going to fast track us and turn us into a better team and a team who would finish much higher. Do that every other year and he is more than capable of building a team to get into the CL. We are never going to spend that kind of money though while Ashley is our owner because we can’t, it’s as simple as that. And if we did and we didn’t make it into the CL for example we would be screwed like how we would have been had we not won promotion the first time of asking. Conversely, if we don’t spend (decent money) we run the risk of being relegated and being screwed even more. If Ashley and Rafa can mutually agree and accept a certain budget and way of buying/selling and to develop facilities and other areas of the club without going into debt, him having to put his own money in or over extend ourselves in other ways, I think we can move forward, but only ever slowly because for every 2 steps we take, most around us are also making the same steps or making even more. I think that would keep Rafa happy enough and as long as e’s our manager, fans happy enough. Well Crump asid For me, if that is to be how its done give me better football and a cup. I’ll take mid-table and baby steps because we have to ace reality. Oh I’d love to se us win a trophy if only fo the manager and sections of our support who were around when we last won one. For Ashley if he is to stay, start paying some kind of rent for occupying our property. Stop squatting and tidy the fucking place up while you are at it. All that advertising, pay for it. Rename the stadium, plaster SD on the front of the shirt, I never want to see, but if that’s what it takes do it, but pay for it. Allow the club to make money, to profit. After all it’s a business. Let it thrive and succeed and not jus exist and get by. As things stand the only thing keeping the business solvent is us fans who fill the stadium, buy shirts and pay to subscribe to the TV companies who in return pay to televise (be it live or highlights0 Newcastle United playing out to full houses and of course the PL who pay us to be part of their product which is a better product for a) having us and b) us doing well. It’s no solvent because of Mike Ashley, don’t be fooled by them accounts that paint him as someone who is keeping us afloat. He had to put some money in because he effectively relegated us. The club doesn’t owe him any money. he fucking owes us though, big time. Hopefully one day we will rid ourselves of him. In the meantime... It’s in Rafa we trust! 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KaKa Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 HTT man That has to be the record for longest post right there. My goodness! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinport53 Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Just finished that post and thought I'd missed the WC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 For what it's worth I admire your passion HTT Ever considered being a writer at all? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaizero Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Just finished that post and thought I'd missed the WC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Sorry, but I’ve basically wrote down and posted a lot of my thoughts that go around my head when it comes to Ashley, our accounts, us as a business and where we stand. ts;dr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 For what it's worth I admire your passion HTT Ever considered being a writer at all? I’d need someone with a huge capacity for reading who at the end of my diatribe would still have the will to live! Thankfully I have all that on this here great forum of ours Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawK Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Harsh but true Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varadi Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Can someone do an executive summary? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Can someone do an executive summary? Pls Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Crooks Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Can someone do an executive summary? Pls Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemagpie Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 How does he find the time to run a business? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menace Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Thought it was just me.. feels like a dissertation every single time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Away Day Gadgie Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I dunno how you do it like HTT. I dunno about anyone else, but I don't think I've read any of your posts that are longer than a paragraph in the last decade. Harsh but true I’ve only been on this forum a couple of years but i adopted this policy a while ago. I just don’t have enough spare time to read that much of one man’s thoughts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shays Given Tim Flowers Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Definitely no letters left on his keyboard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest reefatoon Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pi_D Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 I love a HTT essay!! Keep em coming, bud! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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