Simon Birds Attempt to Answer the £35 Mill Question

Genrally don't like this guy, but think this has some good reasoning in it as far as the AC money and transfers etc.

How Newcastle can already claim they've reinvested the Andy Carrol cash in the squad


There will be one big question Alan Pardew will have to answer at the end of the month following his first summer in charge.

Is Newcastle’s squad stronger than in May?

There are other questions looming in the background that managing director Derek Llambias will also be judged on, by his boss Mike Ashley.

Is Newcastle’s balance sheet looking healthier than it was last May? Is the wage bill still under control? Are United breaking even, or even making a small profit yet?


Will Ashley have to put in a few more million to keep the club running? (these sums have amounted to tens of millions in recent seasons and not surprisingly he doesn’t want to add to his £160 million of interest free loans)

The conflicting questions do not sit happily together and are at the heart of most clubs’ transfer dealing, not just Newcastle.

Pardew and his players will want investment, competition for places and fresh talent brought in.

Llambias, while obviously wanting the team to improve, will try to keep a lid on spending.

Pardew wants a left back (Erik Pieters is favourite, but Aly Cissokho the other option being scouted) and a striker (Modibo Maiga is the man and wants to join).

If he gets those targets, and no other crucial first teamers leave – and that means Fabricio Coloccini and Joey Barton – Pardew may be able to answer “yes” to questions about whether the squad has been strengthened.

With time running out now is the time for Newcastle to push through both deals and get their buying out of the way.

Llambias and Ashley have proved tough operators screwing the maximum price out of rivals for the likes of Andy Carroll – £35 million, with £30 million immediately put in United’s bank.

But with that kind of cash in the bank they may have to pay slightly over the odds for Pieters and Maiga to get the deals over the line.

Winning the North East derby has raised the mood on Tyneside and created a positive momentum, and new arrivals would fuel that feel good factor, so it is in United’s interests to act quickly.

What we don’t want to see is Newcastle scrambling on transfer deadline day for new bodies.

The old trick of bidding big, but not quite big enough, for a star player (I’m thinking Charles N’Zogbia last January), losing out, then saying “oh, well, you see the money was there, we were ambitious, but we just couldn’t get the deals done,” simply won’t wash.

The other big question United have to answer is whether they have spent the Andy Carroll money.

Newcastle do not accept the old notion of “spent” when doing their sums.

Spent for most clubs and fans means headline fees.

Newcastle take a more accountancy led version, representing the sort of money that has been committed over the first year of a signing.

They believe it gives a more rounded picture of the actual cost of a deal. Naturally it adds up, conveniently you might say, to a great deal more than “headline fees” which fans usually use as their benchmark.

United’s sums include transfer fees (Newcastle pay it all up front unlike most clubs who pay in instalments), agent fees (which can be millions ie 10-14 per cent of the entire worth of a contract), signing on fees, and the first year pay of a new recruits.

For instance Yohan Cabaye cost £5million. But add agent fees of, say £1million, and first year wages of say around £3million, Newcastle will have it down as a £9million deal for this season.

Demba Ba may appear to be a “free” transfer. But agents fees, a signing on fee and first year of wages could, using Newcastle’s calculation method, make it a deal costing £6 million this season.

When the cost of this summer’s deals are added up this way, assuming they spend on the new left back and striker (headline fees for £6 million and £7 million) mentioned, those sums, on my calculations, add up around £47 million.

Take away the money banked from selling Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique (around £11 million) and the season wages saved for the pair (£4 million) and that total is around £15 million.

Which leaves a commitment in wages and fees on this summer’s deals of slightly more than £30 million.

These educated guesses will be fleshed out when club’s accounts are published in the coming months, but United might just, being charitable with the figures, be able to say they spent the Andy Carroll cash like they said “in wages and fees.”

Of course the wheeling and dealing is far from over, and surprise deals may materialise.

In the eyes of many fans, even with two more new signings in, the club could have spent more.

But the only proof of whether United are stronger will ultimately come on the pitch, not through arguments over the minutae of accounting.



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...-Bird-column-article789260.html#ixzz1VrRqnWAj

 

I'm sure Chappaz said the same thing in the last couple of weeks.

Chappaz. Have you ever met Joe Kinnear?

 

Paying all these fees upfront and setting money aside for wages put us in a far more stable state than we have been for a long time. I can see the reason we're doing it. As long as they buy a (decent) LB and ST then i'm happy with how it's been spent so far

 

He's my father.

Chappaz
Khappaz
Khapear
Khanear
Kinnear

Surprised none of you have never noticed.

 

Simon Bird is a briefcase ****er.

 

Did we actually get all the 35 million off liverpool... could the deal be set up in installments.. say we got 15million straight off and then so much over the years?

i know we have apparently stopped the whole installments thing for incomings but is it the same for outgoing?

 

Using transfer money to pay for, or be represented, to pay for a 'first years wage' may sound perfectly reasonable and intelligent to an accountant. But the facts are a football clubs income ie turnover pays for all of the players wages and therefore the truly intelligent thing to do (in a football sense) is to keep transfer ££ totally OUT of the equation when buying new players.

All it does is reduce the transfer budget and use up good money that should be used on transfer fees. Simple maths tells you that if you use up £3million of transfer money to pay for a first season's wage; then you save £3million from the clubs annual wage bill costs which the turnover pays for. I just hope the clubs accounts will show this or take it into account. If not, than wouldn't this £3million be being put down twice in the books....? (hypothetical question)

All of this talk of first years wage and agent fees and signing on fees is a fancy way of saying; we just dont want to spend all of our transfer money gained, on improving the squad. We would rather improve the balance sheet.

Good or bad; Why cant the club just tell the fans this?? We aren't entirely stupid.

Treating us with contempt never goes down well.

 

Is that for definate?

 

Well most clubs run this way, or at least they should. You cant plan to pay for wages by transfer fees that may or may not come in, season to season. Asking for trouble. And is actually stupid. Turnover is guaranteed. Ours is in the top 20 in europe lets not forget, or used to be before the Championship season. £100mil by my count.

 

Agree don't like the guy, BUT what he says does seem to make sense in terms of or transfers.

Instead of people harping on about how we should still have X amount to spend etc. or Ashley is pocketing the money which if he was doing that would be paying him back for the intrest free loan the club has from him and keeping the club a float!

 

I guess, though we may be referring to different Simon Birds...

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A bullseye me thinks

 

Is there a bloke in that picture somewhere, I can't take my eyes of Emily .

 

He's always been pretty fair writing about us, a lot of people seem to dislike him after Kinnear publicly called him a ****, I think he's generally one of the better journalists. Doesn't say much considering most of them are **** but...

Disagree with his first point though, it's how the squad compares with January that's important.

And this is all crap, Cabaye is on £60k apparently, and £80-100k for Ba? Rookie error, we all know the wage cap is £2.5m.

With the outgoings he's completely ignored Campbell and Carroll's wages.

Bano's points are valid as well, if wages are coming into this, then where has gate receipts, sponsorship money, merchandise sales and all the rest of the cash gone? I defended Bird, but this is lousy - pie-in-the-sky figures and complete neglect of important factors, good for a journalist, but still ****e.