I predict that he will sell us for circa 400 million. Then identify that there is a seriously depreciated asset down the road he can pick up for 99p and splash Sports Direct logos all over while selling all their players, replacing them with Ligue 2 players they can sell on for a profit while doing just enough to keep them in the football league.
I really hope that he does sell because I can't see anyone as good as Rafa coming in at the helm if we have a change of skipper.
If Rafa leaves in the summer because he believes he is going to be given no support to take the club forward we are in deep sh*t. Now is the time for whoever owns the club to get serious and give us a chance.
Rafa is everything, it's mental how much of the club's future rests in his hands. If Ashley drives him away it'll be his worst ****-up yet.
I think Rafa's bonds up here would take some shifting. We love him, he loves us. He could go to Arsenal and the crowd would turn on him at the first loss. Would he leave us for that?
I don't understand why anybody thinks Ashley will drive Rafa away. Rafa is great for Ashley. He will do everything he can within the confines of the clubs finances. He just won't spend his own money.
So if he won’t supply money to buy players what exactly is Ashley doing in the “He will do everything he can” to keep Rafa?
The money that is or isn't made available is all that matters here. Rafa has to be allowed to bring in quality or he'll be off, he won't put up with battling for mid-table on a shoestring every year when he could be managing some elite club. If Ashley won't sell up and won't cough up then that'll be that, and it'll probably be a decade or more again before another proper manager arrives.
My big problem is that if he wants to sell why invest now in the playing side? It only makes sense to spend if there is no sign of a deal happening by the transfer deadline. The ray of light is that hopefully he recognises the value of Rafa and consequently there will be a deal on the table that commits a certain amount of money if he extends his contract over the Summer. Trouble is Ashley may see that a new owner may want his own management team so why risk money committing to Rafa (and the transfer spend) when he can park any cash surplus until he sees what will happen. I can actually see a situation where we have a window similar to the last January one, get a few panic loans in at the end of the window, and end up treading water at best.
As an aside, why not have a look at signing Jack Rodwell? He's a proven international, aged 27 so should be in his prime, and would jump at the chance of playing for a big club And he would be cheap! EDIT: No, on second thoughts, let him and the mackems stew
Maybe I'm missing something, but there seems very little point in a lower level football club generating any profit? Every penny should be reinvested as it's the only chance of a) success, and subsequently b) higher revenue/greater profit. It's a bit of a funny one, but football owners should really only be in it for ulterior motives, not dissimilar to Mike. In a horrid reality, we actually have an enviable model. Not borrowing against future earnings, not over-spending, it's not the norm but it's probably right. If Mike just paid a little more for the sponsorship - maybe even deducted £5m-£10m from his loan every year - and expanded our back office exec team, and then continued to allow Rafa full, unfettered access to the funds, I'm all for Mike hanging around. Honestly I think the fat one is missing a real trick, as he's stumbled on a balanced, low-risk model, and managed to employ the best manager we've had and are possibly ever likely to have. Couple of operational directors, bit more clout in negotiations, few more quid from sponsors to prop up youth and training, we could be sat pretty in 7th or 8th most seasons, with the occasional push for a cup or a European spot. Getting new ownership is a risk - as long as they dont fck about too much and tweak those things, we've got a hell of a club to support.
If he expands the exec team and they start interfering in Rafas plans that could unsettle him. This exec team thing we’d have to see what other clubs are. We spend more than many on players wages at the last time of checking. If we start taking on more overheads at backroom then I wouldn’t want it impacting our ability to outspend others in wages. Players staff and managers, good one, are the life blood of a football club. That should be priority no 1 for me. With the sponsorship I think we just need to move past that issue. We can’t pretend Mike hasn’t paid his way here while at the club. We have interest free loans in place. As a businessman it his pay back and stated intention at the outset was fostering growth for his sports business. We get a decent deal from our owner. When we’ve gone down, which any club with our financial clout can, he has put his money where his mouth is. Look down the road. It can go the other way with owners just cutting the business adrift.
I know, that is the biggest worry. If we take on anyone else at backroom we might STILL not be able to afford keepers on 40k By the way when did you last check, 2009? We trim this wage bill anymore and I expect to see a sad looking Dubravka on my screen. "Martin wanted to to join Newcastle this season, but they couldn't afford him. Please give hope to him and all fans for just 40k a week so Newcastle can pay his 15k wages"
On the interest free loan point it may technically be that depending upon who exactly the money has come from. In reality it's just another Mike Ashley red herring. If you ask who, in real terms, owns NUFC most people would say Mike Ashley. If you then ask who the "loan" is from and, again, most people will say Mike Ashley. How, therefore, in practical terms , as opposed to strict legal terms, is there a loan as Mike Ashley has loaned Mike Ashley some money. Really? It was an input of needed capital but described as a loan only because Mike Ashley wants his money back for which I don't blame him, but it's not a loan.
Don't be daft our wage budget dwarfed a fair few in the PL when we were in the Championship. I know its popular to hit Mike with a stick in these parts, but at least choose a stick he deserves. I think our current situation is we sit about 14th on the average wage list and 15th on overall budget. At least I seem to remember reading something to that effect. Not bad for a promoted side with no sugar daddy. I'm sure we sat about £18k below the median average wage for the division - which to be fair is skewed by some clubs paying silly wages They reckon Shelvey is on £80k per week. So I think we'd pay 40k for the keeper if he was good enough. To give it some perspective though keepers don't earn a lot. Pepe Reina was the 15th highest paid keeper in world football in 2018 at £45K. Bit of a reality check for those thinking a newly promoted club can just chuck money around like confetti.
Sorry this is silly. Just look at Sunderland and Short if you think there is no such thing as an interest free loan. Would you prefer we had an arrangement like Sunderland had with SBC which is costing them about £8m a year? Short himself has loaned £160m to Sunderland but capitalised £100m of it which is why they have such a difficult position currently. Its very easy to sit and do Big Michael down and ignore the obvious around us. Our owner isn't perfect but he has looked after the long term future of our club if nothing else.
Or Mikey could accept he made a mistake when he bought the Club by not doing due diligence and take it on the chin and write the money off. Thereby stop pretending he is doing the Club a favour by granting the Club an interest free loan and then allegedly off setting free advertising against it. PS I do believe in interest free loans but only where it is a genuine loan. Are we saying Mikey can loan money to himself?
Let me be clear here you are asking any sane businessman to write off over £100m? Back in the real world... Also this isn't just money loaned at the start either. You do realise he's had to pump in money when we went down? I'm sure he loaned us 33m the first time. Then it was another 30m last time due to a lack of funds because of the sale transfer arrangements being staggered over a longer period. He could have went to the bank and took an interest loan to cover this. He could have loaned it and want it paid with interest. He could have just refused and gave Rafa 30m less. He didn't he put his hand in his pocket and had the vision to get us to where we are today. If you are not grateful for that, then you're not a Newcastle United supporter IMHO. Of course we'd prefer some arab country bought us and just chucked money around like Obi in pizza shop, but we have to deal with the reality of what we have. Which ain't too shabby looking around.
