You gotta laugh though, why are we only going from mid January. I reckon I could present some whacky tables if I just cherry picked certain brackets of time. The good thing is though Rafa can falsely claim its down to Mike giving him 20m for Miggy. Maybe Mike will fall for it and think "Give this bloke 100m, we'll be in the CL"...
I think you could pick any season at any club and look at Rafa's record; well known he's a conservative manager during the first half of the season which in his opinion sets you up for a stronger finish. Still, Almiron + change of tactic to our strengths away from 4-2-3-1 has been a huge factor. Miggy has been a pivotal part and I'd like to think the board recognise the importance of a) signing a quality player, and b) retaining this manager. There's a lot of hysteria about the aims/goals of the club; Charmless doesn't help himself when he says it's been a "good season for NUFC" - it's been a necessary season, something to build from, but far from "good". He then rubs salt in saying the club won't pay for the training facility, but in reality for next season we probably do need another £20m player first. We can build training facilities the year after. Our ability to be self sustained is important if any takeover is going to happen. SD paying (under the odds) for advertising will help, good to see us going to the Far East for a friendly tournament, you have to exploit commercial revenues and the club seem to be learning and progressing. The Far East is also a very good source of investment; look at Leicester and Wolves. Hell, it may already be part of a deal to takeover the club.
I was disappointed in the training ground comment I have to say. Probably not for the same reason as some fans. Fans are screaming they said many years ago they were going to do this, why cant they just pay for it and still do the necessary transfers. Looking at the accounts, there isn't enough money to do that. It feels like they are caving to the fans constantly wanting money invested in the first team. I want more money invested in the first team, but if it isn't there, it isn't there. Looking at our accounts it isn't there. Ashley is not going to pump money in and isn't going to allow the club to saddle any debt bar what he is owed which is just added to the value of the club in a sale. They are the rules of engagement. We have an 11m surplus in transfer funds. Instead of putting that into the pot for next season, surely it would be better to take it, add 9m from the transfer budget and do the training ground. Just because they come in for stick about transfer funds they should not be caving and allowing the infrastructure of the club to fall back. It is absolutely crucial to update this because it directly impacts your player trading anyway. He said something along the lines "have we lost out on a player because we don't have a state of the art training ground - no" - I think he is delusional if he doesn't think the players and more importantly the agents are looking at these supplementary matters. It wouldn't be the no.1 criteria but if he thinks those pictures we saw over the last two seasons of players in wheelie bins and paddling pools present a good image to potential players, he is a ****ing nutcase. Personally as a long term fan I'd rather we sign one less player. We need to be taken over to do what the fans want with all singing and dancing changes. Fans need to be realistic. There have been quite a few been sat saying we are sitting on loads of money or taking money out. All Ashley has done is paid off his loans to get him back to the 111m debt. We are not sitting on any money so the fans screaming about that for the last 2 years need to just shut the **** up as they are of no help to the club. I mean ideally Ashley pumps in £20m to pay for the training ground and adds it to the price. However I don't think the fans would be happy with that either. Some have their argument that he should be paying to upkeep his asset like any business. Indeed and like any business the upgrades and upkeep need paid for by company funds not an individual. It would seem very short termist to me to only invest in the first team. We need to develop all aspects of the club. If that means spending less in the transfer market then that is what will have to happen. The cold hard reality is that Newcastle United is a money pit for any potential owner. The only way it wouldn't be is if you had Man C or PSG type money. I have sympathy for Charnley. He is trying to run a PL football on a shoestring budget and whatever he says will be castigated as a result. But don't come out with stupid **** which only confirms your lack of knowledge of what football is about. Also lets not start pandering to fans. I love our fans but I wouldn't trust many of them to run a ****ing football club.
Personally I think that investing in the training facility is crucial and should be done as a priority. You need it to be able to sell the club to players of the required quality.
I just think we’re one year from affording it. Of course it’s vital and at any other club would be done, but this isn’t any club and I think it’s vital we consolidate in the division first; in terms of performance we’ve over achieved last season, equalled it this year so will benefit from the financial stability. One more year around 10th will see us able to grow.
We have stabilised this year. We'll finish roughly in line with the ability of our squad. As long as we make additions, and keep the manager, we will be ok again next year. Obviously it depends on budgets. If we have 20m to spend then its a different conversation. However we know we have at least 29m plus sales available. If we added 40m to that then I'd be happy to sign two quality players and use the remainder to upgrade the training ground. There is a feel of mañana mañana about the training ground and youth facilities under Ashley. We need to do it now and do it quickly. Every year we let pass without it getting sorted, the less and less attractive we become. It feels like we are working under the FAI under Mick McCarthy "we've got new bibs lads, enjoy"
I think go and try for 1 quality addition and invest in the facilities outside of that. Bit of a problem is we have to sign Rondon to stay still so really you are talking 2. Totally agree on the point that infastructure just keeps being bumped down the list but it needs to happen now otherwise we will just keep falling behind
Yes but surely Rondon will be a Dwight Gayle and Jacob Murphy type deal to be done. Rondon may get quite a bit cheaper in the summer if they fail to progress through the play offs. He'll have one year left and they'll suffer a tapering of their parachute payments. An additional season in the championship is where teams hit problems. Ashley will be circling like the vulture he is.
Interesting article on Rafa on BbC today https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47910640 Rafael Benitez: The games that shaped my managerial career He chooses the last day 5-1 win over Spurs when we were relegated last time as one of those as the fan reaction at that game made him stay on to manage a relegated club. Also interesting how often he complains that it was transfer activity that was the cause of most of problems with owners.
