Lessons to be learned from Leeds...

I gree with Pards here in that MA's prudent path is important to avoid doing another Leeds....


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...earned-Leeds-ahead-Capital-One-Cup-clash.html

Prudent Pardew reminds Newcastle fans of the financial lessons to be learned from Leeds

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has admitted the plight which befell Leeds more than a decade ago remains a salutary lesson for clubs tempted to spend beyond their means.

Magpies owner Mike Ashley, often to the fury of the Tyneside public, has spent the years since relegation from the Barclays Premier League at the end of the 2008-09 season, working to a strict financial model which has slashed expenditure and made marquee signings a thing of the past.

The penalties for not doing so have become abundantly clear in recent years with Leeds in particular having paid the price for over-reaching themselves as they marched to the brink of Champions League glory.


Currently spending its ninth successive season out side the top flight, the West Yorkshire club has had to rebuild on and off the pitch, and as manager Brian McDermott and his players prepared to head for St James' Park for Wednesday night's Capital One Cup third round clash with Newcastle, Pardew admitted the Sky Bet Championship outfit's difficulties served as a cautionary tale.


He said: 'We get criticised a lot for perhaps not over-spending and not perhaps being a little bit more ambitious in terms of our signings.


'But you can look at those other situations where it hasn't gone well, and Leeds are an example of that, unfortunately.


'But they are rebuilding and I know it is a much tighter ship now and hopefully, they are putting down the foundations to return to the Premier League.'


Disgruntled: Toon owner Mike Ashley and director of football Joe Kinnear have come in for fierce criticism from the fans

Newcastle, of course, secured their return to the Premier League at the first attempt, and have re-established themselves in the division, although not without a scare last season.


However, their wait for a major trophy, which dates back to 1955, remains a weeping sore which has shown few signs of healing in recent seasons.


Local evening newspaper the Chronicle ran a poll during the summer in which fans were asked whether they would prefer to see the club lift silverware or finish in the top six, with the former option attracting two-thirds of the votes.


Pardew said: 'That probably doesn't tell a lie. Those polls are usually pretty accurate and I would suggest that's somewhere our fans are.


'They want to win a trophy, they want to go to Wembley or whatever and see some silverware - and so do I, trust me. I have come very, very close before and I want to win something.'

He has only taken charge of one at St James' Park since his appointment in December 2010, although the FA Cup third-round tie against Blackburn in January 2012 appears to have escaped his memory.


He said: 'It's my first domestic tie at home - I am absolutely delighted with that and I certainly don't want to lose it.


'I have had some really tricky away ties in domestic competitions as manager of this club.


'But we had a little taster at home last year in the Europa League of what a night fixture is like here, and they were brilliant nights.


'For us, with Leeds bringing 5,000 fans and the great club they are, it's going to be a really good occasion.'


Pardew intends to field a strong team, but there will be starts for Academy graduates Paul Dummett and Sammy Ameobi, and they will be joined in the team by Ivory Coast international Cheick Tiote.


The 52-year-old said: 'We are putting out a strong side tomorrow.


'But I do need to look at one or two to see if they can push to be starters for this team, and in particular two young players from our Academy, Sammy Ameobi and Dummett, who have done absolutely brilliantly and are really knocking on the door of the first team, so those two will definitely play.'

 

Thing is, we don't see the benefit.
As a fan all i see is it becoming the excuse becoming synonymous with our failure to sign players. Now don't get me wrong, fat freddy's way wasn't right either. But considering we have been breaking even for some time now how can anybody use 'doing a leeds' to justify our lack of signings? We needed one friggin striker, nobody was asking us to go out and buy modern equivalents of ferdinand and fowler. Christ, i didnt even want gomis but how can anyone say after spending all summer vaguely courting him and PEA that they are really be surprised that they wouldn't come cheap? Hardly unknowns are they. That's the problem because we will NEVER do a leeds,we wouldn't have been chasing gomis if they were any real risk of that. Why are we the only ones in danger of doing a leeds by the way? Are we still in the championship and financial freefall?.
Just getting sick of Pardew, he's beginning to come across a bit patronising despite the fact he has zero say in transfers.
He talks a perceived lack of ambition?
Yet most fans agreed many useful strikers would have come cheaper but now i've gota wait til jan for us to sign Gomis who i don't rate highly.

 

Poor from Pardew in my opinion.

By signing one striker & a winger we clearly wouldn't have "done a Leeds" or else we wouldn't have even bid for the players in the first instance. For him to suggest that the club needs to be careful of going bankrupt or in to administration is ridiculous (which he is effectively suggesting by mentioning us in the same breath as Leeds). As a club we just received the biggest commercial deal in our history (the television money) and the year before we broke even so there is not a chance in hell we'd "do a Leeds" if we'd have signed the two players we clearly needed. We were asking for two players Alan, just two.

Comments like this just make him look so inept and out of touch with our fans it's beyond belief and he's just trying to hide the fact that we do indeed lack ambition. It's the soul reason we didn't make a permanent signing, we were the only premier league club not to. Is Pardew really trying to tell us that the other 19 premier league clubs are all financially better off?!?!?!?!

We are in the top 20 richest clubs in the wolrd, who is he trying to kid with these comments?

As for his "I've done well in the cups before" comment that is another joke, you've got to one FA Cup final in 15 odd years of management and that was with another team which surprisingly we don't give a sh*t about. Your record with us reads Stevenage away (defeat), Brighton away (defeat), Brighton away (defeat). It's PATHETIC.

Yes you did win the Jonhstone's Paint Trophy Alan, I'll give you that. However you were in League one at the time and had just paid 1.2m for a certain Rickie Lambert which although was a great signing, that signing alone probably cost double the budget of every other team in that league & competition. Although that said, you can only beat what is in front of you.

We wanted two players, that's all. Comparing us to Leeds is absolutely ridiculous, we will never go in to administration under Mike Ashley. His risks are taken on the field, not on the balance sheets.

 

Well said once again Pardew's P45.

 

This is fcking bobbins. Convenient excuse in my book. Leeds massively overspent against revenues they HOPED to achieve - they projected hugely inflated amounts of money coming in then just threw cash at far too many player. Risdale was little more than a Yorkshire Freddy Shepherd.

Newcastle have ACTUALLY received additional income from player sales and TV revenues, but the owner has chosen to not spend it and instead start the process of repaying himself from the clubs coffers. All completely legal, of course, but a zillion miles away from any Leeds' comparison.

Sick of the fcking sight of Pardew, to be honest. Treats us like fcking idiots. It's as if none of us are aware of Leeds or don't have access to the internet. "Ah, yes, oh sage one - we don't want to be Leeds. Thank christ we've decided to stick with Shola Ameobi, for buying ONE fckign striker would have sent us into the abyss."

The only thing this club is scared of is ACTUALLY achieving something, as it'd mean we'd have no choice but to spend some money on frikkin players.

 

Sorry, PP45 - probably should have just replied and said "this" than posting separately!!!!

 

No harm in getting things off your chest in your own words.

 

No worries

You added the part where Leeds spent on projected income rather than actual income which I completely missed. We already have the money in the bank so I don't know why Pardew is even mentioning them. It's a complete non comparison.

 

Pardew is Pardew, it's rather typical of him to open his mouth and spout rubbish.

 

Thing is, everyone knows this, instantly. If I'd been sat having a drink with Pardew and he mumbled something about not wanting to do a Leeds, I'd literally smack him round the head.

"What?? What the fck are you talking about? No more drinks for you. Leeds/Newcastle is a complete non-starter. We don't have a chairman throwing money at the likes of Seth Johnson - in fact, Ashley has pretty much ONLY bought from France because a relatively low salary can get you a French International. We've already had a tight wage structure for the past 3 or 4 years, so how on God's earth is that anything like Leeds United?? You could easily say that Newcastle United have the MOST anti-Leeds business model in World football. We buy CHEAP. We pay LOW. We rarely stretch, we have ZERO ambition. It's the worst possible comparison as it just highlights how utterly out of touch you are - if you believe your own rhetoric, you're even more fcking idiotic than I ever imagined. If you're trying to pull wool over supporters eyes, then you're STILL an idiot for believe all fans to be so blind. It staggers me why you would sit with your cohorts and use this cup-tie as an opportunity to try and show how important it is to be prudent - but surely, surely you must be aware that all Newcastle fans wanted to see was someone better than Ameobi on the fcking bench? For the club to just, for once, invest in a player that we desperately needed? You, sir, would do well to just simply not talk again."

 

It's a pity that his bottom lip wasn't stapled to his gum the way his top lip is.

 

Summed up my thoughts too P45.

So if we had pulled off the £15/16 million deal for PEA (as was rumoured) we would now be in financial meltdown. Is that was you are saying Pardew? If that's the case then, phew what a lucky escape. Thank goodness JFK couldn't negotiate himself out of a paper bag.

Funny that none of this was mentioned whilst the transfer window was open.

 

Selected PP Match odds:
Tie to finish 0-0 in normal time @ 11/1
Newcastle to qualify in extra time @ 13/2
Newcastle to qualify on penalties @ 12/1

Why no 3-1?

Baldy wouldn't be able to have a bet on the game if he was up for it.

 

Nonsense from Pardew and more from him as usual. Trust me, Trust me Trust me.

Pards is just going through the motions, I pity him a little actually. He's being forced up front as the figurehead of all the board's dumb decisions and at the frontline taking the flak from the media and fans. Ashley , as we all know, will never put himself in front for any decision he makes, and JFK is an idiot who's appointment itself was a disaster, even Derek Llambias is out of the picture and that leaves Pardew alone.

I have literally given up caring what Pardew says in such conferences as we all know what he is saying is just trying to appease the fans, and also try to string us along as if we're ******s. Sometimes I really do wonder, if Pardew is gone, is there ANY other manager out there who would want to do what Pardew is asked to do on a regular basis...... Keegan had his say, and got his compensation over it all, I just can't imagine some managers going out of their way to accept being used as a puppet, having to talk dumb decisions to the media alone, just for this already high-pressured job.

 

P d c?

 

But that's the problem.

Can anyone name any other Premier League club that would take Pardew on as their manager??? I can think of one, and that would be Palace as he's well thought of there due to his time as a player. However I can hardly see them ditching Holloway so that means that in reality there are no other Prem clubs for Pardew and he knows that, hence the fact that he won't walk.

In summary we have an innept board that make their manager work within difficult constraints but on top of that we have an inept manager who knows he's landed on his feet by getting this job in the first place which means he won't stand up to the board. It's a vicious circle and one we are stick with until results are so bad that the board have no choice other than to dismiss Pardew or until the constraints are so tight that Pardew himself desides to walk.

I just don't see how the club is going to improve with the current set up.

 

I think the sentiment is the big take out here chaps.
Under Shepherd we were heading for a Leeds issue, I don't think this has ever been disputed.
The first thing MA started banging on about was financial stability which was, at the time lacking.
I hate the porker with a major passion but Fat Mike has delivered financial stability, his only positive legacy yes, but one of the most important ones IMHO.

 

Can't argue with that. Financial stabilltiy is what was needed at the time but he's now achieved that and the next stage is to kick on and slowly add depth by signing players that are better than what we already have to gradually build/improve squad depth season by season. Not through over spending on players we don't need but by buying the one or two we will need each summer and he's simply not done that.

 

Pardew's never going to walk. He may not mind getting the bullet with a nice compensation package, but he'll never walk.

 

Difference is they went over the top we don't even spend a penny