Long term plan?.....

With Tiote and Carver signing new deals today (with well publicised efforts to offer Barton and Jose extended deals), Ranger and Pardew on a 5.5 year deal and comments from the gaffer about the club being self sufficient, it appears the final blocks of his apparent "five year plan" are falling into place. Is anyone else feeling positive?

As Carroll proved, contracts are worth precisely nowt and we all know that if, for example, Man Utd offer £35 million for Tiote then he'll be away but I genuinely feel that FCB won't let our top players go unless it is for stupid money. £35 million for Carroll IS stupid money and if he wanted £80k per week then Cashley was right to get rid.

Basically, unless clubs are willing to pay over the odds for our top players I think they'll stay. Liverpool paid well over the odds because they had £50 million to spend and 24 hours to find a replacement for Torres.

If the pie man wants to make money then he's gotta get us into Europe and I'm sure he's aware that the TV rights, merchandise profits and season ticket sales will be sky high if we manage it. This sort of income can equate to £100's of millions over a few seasons whereas selling our best assets can only bag the occasional £10-£20 million with the bulk of that needing to be spent on replacements.

I'm feeling quite good about the rest of this season and if we keep our best players, sign up a couple of crackers in the summer and get our other top players back from injury then I don't mind admitting I'll be GLORIOUSLY DELUDED in my expectations for the 2011/2012 season!

HOWAY THE LAAAADS!

 

Good article. The way things are going, i'm ashamed to say i'd be disappointed if we didn't get a top ten finish now. Bet the result tomorrow will bring us back down to earth though Whenever we get good news, it's always followed up by a **** result or more **** behind-scenes-goings on.

 

It's been a mad roller-coaster of a season but when you think about it, all of Ashley's decisions have been pretty good. The Hughton sacking was more to do with the timing and manner in which he was dismissed but there's no doubt that Pardew has sorted our defence out. And yes, it does stick in my throat to admit that because I think Hughton is brilliant but there's no doubting the changes Pardew has made to our play.

 

Yeah agree with that. Hated Pardew for the first few weeks just because of the circumstances that he came in with. Now I'm coming round to him, good technically and sorted out defense and hiring John Carver was certainly a shrewd move. Onwards and Upwards

 

You're not the only one, i'm feeling positive too!

I think financially we are very much heading in the right direction and with efforts underway to tie up our best players on long term deals, as well as scouting for promising youngsters from around the world I think we are making solid steps on the footballing front too.

Like you say we cannot stop the other clubs from putting in silly offers for our best players and stupidly over-inflated prices are probably going to be accepted. But that may not be a bad thing. With the new financial regulations if other clubs want to give away huge chunks of their income to us so that we can build a european class team whilst they struggle to meet the new regulations then let them! It will increase our chances of getting back into europe at their expense.

 

Fat Mikes taking after Stalin, bloody brilliant

Sorry for nit-picking a small piece of your comment and commenting on that comment, I know how certain posters hate that.

But yes, to relate to the article, its looking good that we are tying players down to the long term, and I can understand why we haven't given Barton a 5 year extension, he will be 33(ish) by then and theres no telling how good he will still be. Other than that, things are looking bright. We will win the league by 2016! !

 

agree totally

lets not forget . . . . we still get the crowds turning up week in week out, something which doesn't happen down the road

mackems have been extremely quiet all week, can't think why

 

That's why I wrote it in quotation marks, I personally think it's bollocks but everyone's aware of it and that's what I wanted to refer to. The Barton thing I agree with to an extent, maybe a 3.5 or 4 year deal would still be good business tho but no way a 5.5 year deal for a 28 year old.

 

Good article.

Agree with the comment about Barton too, he'll only be 33 and if he keeps his attitude as he has done for most of this season he's a pretty damn good leader (just look at his epic battlecry against the gunners). Perhaps we could make him the official vice-captain and captain when Nolan gets injured; a bit of responsibility may be just the thing he needs to persuade him this is the club for him.

 

Couldn't agree more. There was a lad on twitter who said he ran in to Ashley and Lame-arse at the Brum game when they were steaming! He said Ashley was going on about how he really did want the best for Newcastle, how he's made mistakes, but he's always tried to do the right thing...

To be honest, I believe it. Obviously for different reasons than us (he's not doing it 'cause he was born and bred in black and white), but even if it is for money, I bet he still gets the same sinking feeling we get when we lose and the crazy levels of elation when we win!

At the end of the day, since John Hall handed over to FFS, we've never had a sensible chairman (and some people would even be dubious of the JH era) so often his actions are difficult to take, but as long as it ends with us doing better than we were, who actually gives a ****?

 

The club had big problems when Ashley took over, they have for the best part been rectified, i don't agree with some of the decisions Ashley and co have made, but they are slowly turning us round. Enrique is the big one for me, if we sign him up to a long term deal i will run round my house naked again (last time i did this was when Ben Arfa signed)

 

Ashley does seem to be looking after our long term future, and I really hope we stay steady because we are definitely moving in the right direction.

Enrique, Barton to follow and I hope Danny Simpson is rewarded with a new deal for his efforts this season.

 

The one thing this club has lacked in decades is stability from a management perspective as we've had far too many managers with different ideas on how to play football.

Every managerial change meant a change in playing staff to match their ethos.

Ashley's five year plan must include sticking with a manager for the long term and I think that he's identified Pardew as that person.

His appointment can be seen to have been underhand in respects to Chris getting fired when he'd done a brilliant job but Mike has made his bed and now he has to lie in it.

5 year plan and a 3+ year manager.

 

Yeah, agree with this, although what would your expectations/desires be from this period?

Mid-table mediocrity? Europe? A cup?

I'll honestly be happy with another 3 seasons like this (results wise) in and around the european spots (if not too close to the top 4) and at least one decent cup run, even if we don't get a european spot, that's still 6 cup runs to do well in at least one...Wembley would be immense!

 

I think I'd be more happy to focus on mid table security for a few seasons if I'm honest. Focus on Europe and a cup after a few seasons once we've secured complete stability.
Not too fussed about a cup next year. A good cup run would be appreciated, let the youngsters have a run out, but not a priority. Securing top 10 finish next year is definitely priority.

But let's get through the rest of this season first eh. Don't want to be too ahead of myself.

 

This.

 

Imagine being back on channel 5 (or espn now) for when you just get back from work on a thursday...

 

Expectations would be to see year on year progress and development in terms of league position and youth squad players coming through the ranks as that's a fundamental part of Ashleys plan.

I'd accept happily that just maintaining the same league position can be construed as progress because all teams strenghen year on year.

Cup run would be nice but to have a strong squad that can compete and fear no-one in the league would be just grand.

 

agree

excellent article