The Present State Of Play

[Unbelievable]

your putting words into my mouth now.

 

i don't assume everything will be as it was, but i feel Ashley is under no obligation to speak out at the current time, so complaining about it serves little purpose.

 

Just reread your post. Where did I put words into your mouth exactly?

 

He's under no obligation to speak, nor will he ever be as he owns the club and we don't have a say in anything. What's more worrying is that there's no pressure on him to come out and speak. You may be right that it doesn't serve any purpose at this point in time to complain, but I feel many people on here will soon come round to the idea that the new owers and directors need to keep us, the fans/customers, informed of their plans. If he doesn't the honeymoon period will soon be over as UV correctly points out, and everything that is currently interpreted to be positive by the majority will then be looked at more sceptically.

[Guest optimistic nit]

here:

 

"You seriously believe Ashley and his men would have no answers to these questions!?"

 

 

i say its possible he doesn't yet have the answers to some of the questions (e.g. scouting network, which will need to be discussed with football advisers, such as allardyce, to see what he thinks) and suddenly its being said i think that ashley does not (not might not) have the answer to any of these questions (as opposed to some of these questions).

[Unbelievable]

Your concerns seem pretty unfounded. Why would a businessman buy a company to let it slump and rot, it makes no sense. I'm not an expert in this particular field but at the end of the day a businessman the be all and end all of a businessman actions are to make money. How the hell will he make money if he is planning to abandon us after paying a pretty big price to purchase us in the first place. A plan would probably be sensible but like Nyt pointed out any kind of plan presented to the plans is only going to read what they want us to read. Even if we desperately wanted to know the truth it would be naive to think it would be published in a neat little statement, so what exactly would it achieve?

 

(...)

 

I think it's safe to assume whether your a billionaire or a pauper a 130 million pound isn't a snip, but just to clarify you seem to think this bloke is going to pay a massive fee for us, then run away and leave us in the gutter? There's skeptical and then there's damn right cynical...

 

 

Looking at your statement in bold, if there is a way to make more money out of his new acquisition or to be more certain about making money (less risk) by doing anything else than investing big on the pitch and trying to get us back in the higher regions of the Premieship table and into Europe (which is what most people assume the long term ambition and/or plan to be), do not you think he will consider it? Was there not talk of plans for a supercasino in Newcastle? Did Shepherd not recently launch a plan to build a stadium expansion and top class hotels etc at the tune of 300M? Have there also not been talks in the past of moving the stadium to outside the city centre? Is it therefor unreasonable to think that the 130M paid to take over the club could have been about more than the club alone? I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions worth of development plans here. This in combination with the fact that 130M is not altogether that much for a football club of this size and potential in this day and age (yes it is a lot of money even for a billionaire, but it's only a fifth of Man U and Liverpool's worth, and reportedly not even half of what Spurs is valued at and value is not absolute (130M is a lot of money), but it is relative (what can 130M buy me in today's marketplace)) means nobody can claim to know for sure what is on the agenda. I'm not saying I think this is the case as you suggest, it's just I'm aware that there are possibilities beyond the "everything's going to be better than before by definition" view that most people on here seem to hold. When there was talk of a takeover by a hedge fund six months ago people's first concern was that they tend to strip and sell in parts at a profit. Now we've been taken over by an individual businessman we know next to nothing about and nobody even wants to ask questions!? I don't reject the notion that I may be verging on cynical, but in my book people who are not concerned at all by wanting to know what the new owners have in stock for us are verging on naive.

[Unbelievable]

here:

 

"You seriously believe Ashley and his men would have no answers to these questions!?"

 

 

i say its possible he doesn't yet have the answers to some of the questions (e.g. scouting network, which will need to be discussed with football advisers, such as allardyce, to see what he thinks) and suddenly its being said i think that ashley does not (not might not) have the answer to any of these questions (as opposed to some of these questions).

 

Fair enough. My apologies..

[Coxaux]

Your concerns seem pretty unfounded. Why would a businessman buy a company to let it slump and rot, it makes no sense. I'm not an expert in this particular field but at the end of the day a businessman the be all and end all of a businessman actions are to make money. How the hell will he make money if he is planning to abandon us after paying a pretty big price to purchase us in the first place. A plan would probably be sensible but like Nyt pointed out any kind of plan presented to the plans is only going to read what they want us to read. Even if we desperately wanted to know the truth it would be naive to think it would be published in a neat little statement, so what exactly would it achieve?

 

(...)

 

I think it's safe to assume whether your a billionaire or a pauper a 130 million pound isn't a snip, but just to clarify you seem to think this bloke is going to pay a massive fee for us, then run away and leave us in the gutter? There's skeptical and then there's damn right cynical...

 

 

Looking at your statement in bold, if there is a way to make more money out of his new acquisition or to be more certain about making money (less risk) by doing anything else than investing big on the pitch and trying to get us back in the higher regions of the Premieship table and into Europe (which is what most people assume the long term ambition and/or plan to be), do not you think he will consider it? Was there not talk of plans for a supercasino in Newcastle? Did Shepherd not recently launch a plan to build a stadium expansion and top class hotels etc at the tune of 300M? Have there also not been talks in the past of moving the stadium to outside the city centre? Is it therefor unreasonable to think that the 130M paid to take over the club could have been about more than the club alone? I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions worth of development plans here. This in combination with the fact that 130M is not altogether that much for a football club of this size and potential in this day and age (yes it is a lot of money even for a billionaire, but it's only a fifth of Man U and Liverpool's worth, and reportedly not even half of what Spurs is valued at and value is not absolute (130M is a lot of money), but it is relative (what can 130M buy me in today's marketplace)) means nobody can claim to know for sure what is on the agenda. I'm not saying I think this is the case as you suggest, it's just I'm aware that there are possibilities beyond the "everything's going to be better than before by definition" view that most people on here seem to hold. When there was talk of a takeover by a hedge fund six months ago people's first concern was that they tend to strip and sell in parts at a profit. Now we've been taken over by an individual businessman we know next to nothing about and nobody even wants to ask questions!? I don't reject the notion that I may be verging on cynical, but in my book people who are not concerned at all by wanting to know what the new owners have in stock for us are verging on naive.

 

The point was we can build all the super casinos/ stadium extensions we like but if we don't perform on the pitch we aren't going to attract the people who pay for these facilities in the first place. If you have a stadium full of empty seats your going to end up with nothing in the long run, but yes you are correct nobody knows what's on the agenda. That's why your cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded.

 

Yes many people including myself weren't overly impressed by the idea of being taken over by a hedge fund but this is a completely different kettle of fish. Yes I'm intrigued about the new era we are entering, but your cries for a plan to be unveiled to the public are utterly pointless, at the end of day we will only here what Ashley and his board want to tell us.

 

 

[Unbelievable]

The point was we can build all the super casinos/ stadium extensions we like but if we don't perform on the pitch we aren't going to attract the people who pay for these facilities in the first place. If you have a stadium full of empty seats your going to end up with nothing in the long run, but yes you are correct nobody knows what's on the agenda. That's why your cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded.

 

Yes many people including myself weren't overly impressed by the idea of being taken over by a hedge fund but this is a completely different kettle of fish. Yes I'm intrigued about the new era we are entering, but your cries for a plan to be unveiled to the public are utterly pointless, at the end of day we will only here what Ashley and his board want to tell us.

 

The success of supercasinos and building plots is strictly dependent on how well a football teams performs on the pitch is it? You're right that my cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded. The whole point of the message however is that it is just as foolish to be overly optimistic purely based on speculation, rendering it just as unfounded as my cynicism. This in turn is the exact reason why I want Ashley to come out and make statements regarding the many unanswered questions about his intentions and plans..

[Coxaux]

The point was we can build all the super casinos/ stadium extensions we like but if we don't perform on the pitch we aren't going to attract the people who pay for these facilities in the first place. If you have a stadium full of empty seats your going to end up with nothing in the long run, but yes you are correct nobody knows what's on the agenda. That's why your cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded.

 

Yes many people including myself weren't overly impressed by the idea of being taken over by a hedge fund but this is a completely different kettle of fish. Yes I'm intrigued about the new era we are entering, but your cries for a plan to be unveiled to the public are utterly pointless, at the end of day we will only here what Ashley and his board want to tell us.

 

The success of supercasinos and building plots is strictly dependent on how well a football teams performs on the pitch is it? You're right that my cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded. The whole point of the message however is that it is just as foolish to be overly optimistic purely based on speculation, rendering it just as unfounded as my cynicism. This in turn is the exact reason why I want Ashley to come out and make statements regarding the many unanswered questions about his intentions and plans..

 

Fair enough it isn't strictly dependent but it is certainly a factor that must be seriuosly considered. We have fans all over the country who travel miles to watch the side. So presuming this casino is built into the stadium fans living in more southern regions going to come up north just to gamble in the casino when they are plentiful elsewhere or are they more likely to have a quick flutter after the game. Hence if we are languishing in the relegation zone it is worth taking into consideration.

 

Anyway that's beside the point. Over optimism and over pessimism are equally unfounded at this time which is why I suggested taking the wait and see approach which you also dismissed. You can't have it both ways, it just seemed your eagerness for Ashley to come forward with a plan was based on the speculation that you agreed was unfounded, so how about a little patience on the matter.

[Mick]

 

The success of supercasinos and building plots is strictly dependent on how well a football teams performs on the pitch is it? You're right that my cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded. The whole point of the message however is that it is just as foolish to be overly optimistic purely based on speculation, rendering it just as unfounded as my cynicism. This in turn is the exact reason why I want Ashley to come out and make statements regarding the many unanswered questions about his intentions and plans..

 

Chris Mort gave an interview and answered what he could at that time, it was limited because his knowledge of the state of the club was at that time limited.  He said he would reveal more when he had more information to give out, he's still doing a review which will give him that information.

 

I'm glad he didn't come out and just spout a load of rubbish only to look stupid at a later date, at least we know that he's not just going to come out and say what we want to hear, personally, I'll be more likely to take his word when he does speak with a bit of knowledge and understanding of our position.

 

I find it refreshing that they are going to the bother of finding out what they have to work with before telling us anything, it would have been far too easy for him to drop a few sound-bites into the press conference to make people happy while having no idea where the club is or is going.

 

The club looks to be a more professional outfit already, long may it continue.

[UV]

Today was an historic day in the history of NUFC. After 10 years as a PLC the club was delisted from the stock exchange and taken back into private ownership. The owner of the club saw fit to mark this historic day with the following statement:

 

"The directors of Newcastle United wish to announce that, following an application to the UK Listing Authority, the listing of the company's ordinary shares of 5p each on the Official List has been cancelled. The shares have ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange, in each case with effect from 8am this morning"

 

Couldn't take the time to come out with a statement of his intentions or simply say that he's waiting for the results of the review.

Couldn't be bothered to get a PR person to put out a generic statement with the usual new owner platitudes.

Couldn't even be arsed to run the statement through a spell checker.

 

What does that tell you about what he thinks about us, the supporters? It says to me he doesn't give a shit about us or what we think. Great start.

[Guest optimistic nit]

 

 

 

tbh i doubt mike ashley himself wrote that, so your comment on the spell check is pretty pointless unless you want to report it and ask for the guy to be fired.

[Tsunami]

 

 

 

tbh i doubt mike ashley himself wrote that, so your comment on the spell check is pretty pointless unless you want to report it and ask for the guy to be fired.

 

What about the other comments?

 

I am a paying customer of a private club. I pay an annual fee to watch the games, spend money within the stadium and purchase goods through the club shop for myself and family. This will amount to around £1000 a year or so. I am a loyal, blue chip customer & it is through others like me that the club largely enjoys it's status as a big club (let's face it it is not through success).

 

Do I feel that the new owner cares about me, his most precious assest? No, I don't. He's not even trying to build a relationship & I find that worrying.

[Karjala]

Present state of play:

Our defence is still pants and we need 2 solid defensive signings (CB & LB) ASAP.

 

...nothing SA doesnt know of course.

[Guest Gemmill]

Today was an historic day in the history of NUFC. After 10 years as a PLC the club was delisted from the stock exchange and taken back into private ownership. The owner of the club saw fit to mark this historic day with the following statement:

 

"The directors of Newcastle United wish to announce that, following an application to the UK Listing Authority, the listing of the company's ordinary shares of 5p each on the Official List has been cancelled. The shares have ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange, in each case with effect from 8am this morning"

 

Couldn't take the time to come out with a statement of his intentions or simply say that he's waiting for the results of the review.

Couldn't be bothered to get a PR person to put out a generic statement with the usual new owner platitudes.

Couldn't even be arsed to run the statement through a spell checker.

 

What does that tell you about what he thinks about us, the supporters? It says to me he doesn't give a shit about us or what we think. Great start.

 

You picked all that up from a stock exchange announcement?  Wow.  Do you interpret people's handwriting too?

 

"You want answers?"

 

"I think I'm entitled to them"

 

"You want ANSWERS?"

 

"I want the PLATITUDES!"

 

"You can't HANDLE the platitudes!"

[Scribble]

[UV]

Today was an historic day in the history of NUFC. After 10 years as a PLC the club was delisted from the stock exchange and taken back into private ownership. The owner of the club saw fit to mark this historic day with the following statement:

 

"The directors of Newcastle United wish to announce that, following an application to the UK Listing Authority, the listing of the company's ordinary shares of 5p each on the Official List has been cancelled. The shares have ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange, in each case with effect from 8am this morning"

 

Couldn't take the time to come out with a statement of his intentions or simply say that he's waiting for the results of the review.

Couldn't be bothered to get a PR person to put out a generic statement with the usual new owner platitudes.

Couldn't even be arsed to run the statement through a spell checker.

 

What does that tell you about what he thinks about us, the supporters? It says to me he doesn't give a s*** about us or what we think. Great start.

 

You picked all that up from a stock exchange announcement?  Wow.  Do you interpret people's handwriting too?

 

"You want answers?"

 

"I think I'm entitled to them"

 

"You want ANSWERS?"

 

"I want the PLATITUDES!"

 

"You can't HANDLE the platitudes!"

 

No I picked it up from his message to the supporters:

 

 

 

I didn't think you were naive enough to believe this level of lack of communication will be acceptable to most supporters in the future.

 

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

 

Present state of play:

Our defence is still pants and we need 2 solid defensive signings (CB & LB) ASAP.

 

...nothing SA doesnt know of course.

 

But he quite clearly doesn't know how much he has to spend on them. Don't you think that's a bit of a hindrance to the manager? (Note I am not saying WE should be told how much he has to spend).

[ChezGiven]

Do people know that the new board are inviting fans to meet them?

[UV]

Do people know that the new board are inviting fans to meet them?

 

I know I didn't. If that's true, then that is a positive sign. How are they going about it?

[NSG]

Do people know that the new board are inviting fans to meet them?

 

Sounds good. Where did you hear that?

[Tsunami]

Do people know that the new board are inviting fans to meet them?

 

Not heard this. It would be a positive step.

[merlin]

I reckon everyone is just going to have to get used to a very different attitude at NUFC now.

Ashley has a reputation for doing things quietly and keeping a low profile whereas NUFC has always been a high-profile club - for the WRONG reasons.That has been all too clear to most fans during the past 3 years...

 

It IS frustrating when you see other Clubs signing good players, but look what happened at Villa when they got taken over last year.

The time to worry is if we start the season with no MORE new signings, esp in defence - there is no doubt we will be weak there, but if we get 3 more decent defenders, we should be OK ; not Top 4 material, but OK; the squad is too weak at present if we get injuries.

 

Personally, I am sick of hearing the club linked with this player & that player without any real foundation in the rumour - it will be much better if we get back to the situation we had when KK was in charge ; they went out & signed someone without the Press etc knowing it was coming(Andy Cole, Tino, Batty, Shearer etc).

I've always thought this season would not be a dramatic transformation, but as long as progress is being made(we DO need at least UEFA Football at the end of it), I will be reasonably satisfied - anything less than that will be disappointing.

[ChezGiven]

Mort has been emailing members of this site and others about meeting for an informal drink and a chat about plans for the club.

 

Not going to say who the members are but i know of at least 3 from here who will be going. I will ask them by PM if they mind having a thread about it where people can post questions.

 

You can rest assured that there will be lots of articles on the main site when it happens.

[Unbelievable]

ChezGiven, how do you know this? If it's from one of the three members a confirmation would be nice. It would be great if this was true, although I'd not entirely understand why he would want to liaise with a few individuals from an Internet forum rather than address all the club's fans.

[ChezGiven]

I'm giving you some info that others havent shared, i was asked if i wanted to go, thats how i know.

 

Its all the internet forums and fanzines as fas as i understand.

 

The new guys know that the internet is how they will grow their business when braodband carries the games live all round the world for £20* a pop as Sir John mentioned the other day. Doesnt surprise me in the slightest, its called qualitative market research.

 

* made up.

[NSG]

Very interesting and a good idea from Mort. Would be interesting to hear what they talk about.

[Tsunami]

I'm giving you some info that others havent shared, i was asked if i wanted to go, thats how i know.

 

Its all the internet forums and fanzines as fas as i understand.

 

The new guys know that the internet is how they will grow their business when braodband carries the games live all round the world for £20* a pop as Sir John mentioned the other day. Doesnt surprise me in the slightest, its called qualitative market research.

 

* made up.

 

So Mort could be using this as a possible opportunity to sound you out about opportunity rather than you asking any questions of MA?