Breaking Even

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2110941/Newcastle-announce-break-financial-results.html

Nearly 3 years after dropping out of the richest league in the world and looking close to "doing a Leeds" we are set to announce that we are breaking even with figures that don't include transfers in or out. So as a club we have the ability to keep the finances in a healthy shape, very few clubs can say the same, fair play to MA he's really changed the club round financially.

 

I'm amazed. This is huge news. We are now at the point where we can spend equal amounts of transfer money out as we receive, without Ashley having to dig into his pockets at all.

 

Massive news this, we really are heading in the right direction, off the field and on it. What with the rumours of 15m to be invested in youth talent in the summer, we should be well set if these FFP rules are as strict as they need to be.

 

I'm sorry, where has everyone been?

I was under the impression we all knew these results were going to be released? Its not rocket science.

The reason we are breaking even is because the wage bill has come down by about £20m. And the reason for this is because we got relegated, where most of the top earners all left.

What with 'this is huge news'? Its old news.

just saying. Come on people

 

Credit to M.A, he came into the game without any football knowledge but he brought plenty of business acumen with him and he's turned things around financially. We're in a much better position now than we were when he took over.

 

Yep fair play.

The most effective way to reduce the wage bill and biggest expence is to relegated a club, in the process missing out on about £40m in revenue, but yea fair play to Mike Ashley.

My god.

 

No, I'm not a god, just an ordinary guy like yourself.

Well, not quite like yourself.

 

And in the process we've gone from Championship club to a top 7 club in the premiership, howay man give some credit where its deserved.

 

He's also learned from his early mistakes and involved football people at the club now, the likes of Carr & Pards I think deal with a lot more of the footballing issues that he, Mort etc tried to involve themselves in to start with. I guess he tried that earlier on but apparently thought Dennis Wise was the man for the job

 

His biggest mistake.

 

I think even MA would agree with that in hindsight

 

Despite what Theoski thinks it's not as cut and dry as getting rid of Mark Viduka and Michael Owen via relegation release clauses etc. Getting big earners off the books probably equates to about 5% of what that guy has been doing since he took charge of Newcastle. Hasn't he completely restructured your entire recruitment policy i.e. you don't owe a bean on transfers? I seem to remember reading that somewhere. Ashley's model for your club works, he cuts right to the bone with every decision he makes. When he's made mistakes in the past (such as hiring fantasy div Kevin Keegan) he's held up his hands and apologised (albeit through his right hand man).

He's even lost a shed load of timber for you so you can drop the "Fat" from the verse of your song - what you guys don't want to admit is that after all these years, even though you'll never fully trust the guy, you're in a far better position BECAUSE of him, not IN SPITE of him. Give credit to the players, Hughton, Pardew, even take credit yourselves because you are great fans but the guy at the top of the tree who has transformed your entire club is Mike Ashley, he employed those managers and players.

I understand trust is earned but it's far better worrying what players might leave for bigger/better/money reason, than worrying whether you're going to have a team to support in 6 months time, just ask Rangers or Portsmouth fans. That's what you were going to face under your old, non-cockney fat bastard owner.

 

NUFC were losing around £20mil due to transfer costs and wages. Mike Ashley didnt make anymore high profile signings, took on the debt to stop himself paying tax when he doesn't need to (he is a billionaire you know) and the players that left were because their contract ran out anyway, jumped off the sinking ship or were sold after we went down.

Mike Ashley deserves credit for not acting like a mad man like freddy shephard. High praise indeed....

 

Ashley has done fiscally what obviously needed to be done, slashed the wage bill and the transfer funds going out and we've been on a meteoric rise over the past few years so fair play for that.

It has been a very steep learning curve for him as he was totally pig ignorant when it came to running a football club when he arrived and made a lot of monumental blunders turning us into a total laughing stock. Consigning certain things to the past and moving on would be possible were it not for his continual desecration of the club's stadium and heritage, and the way he and his cronies still think it's okay to mislead fans on integral issues. Where is this mystery benefactor for the stadium naming rights, all quiet on the western front conveniently enough, it was a ruse all along to try and calm people down as many suspected. he knows that if he just does these things people will eventually just forget. I haven't forgot though, I still think he's a proper twat.

 

Well said. Apart from this myth that 'he slashed the wage bill'. Owen & Viduka were earning £150k a week between them. Their contracts ended in the season we got relegated. So he wasnt responsible for that. Also Martins, Duff, Given, etc etc jumped from the sinking ship of their own accord.

He didnt reduce the wage bill. It took care of itself on the whole.

What he didnt do was then go and replace these players with more high earners. But who would when you have just been relegated?!!! Well done for that Mike, well done...

 

I'm over the moon with breaking even but I never agree with all the slapping Mikes back. He has only carried out his job and mainly through self interest. Just because he set the bar low after his arrival, does not mean he is now some kind of hero because he is doing things correctly.

Still we're incredibly well set for FFP

 

He deserves credit for how he has transformed Newcastle both from a financial point of view and how they were the laughing stock of the transfer marker... £8m for Jean-Alain Boumsong anyone? £9m for Albert Luque?

What he does not deserve credit for is alienating a number of club legends such as Keegan (actually doing a decent job results-wise until he left) and Shearer, changing the name of SJP. The name change is toxic. What company would want to invest in to that? It's been called St James' Park for 100-odd years, it's not going to change. Especially as the name change is not making the club money. I'm guessing if Virgin came in and were willing to pay £10-20m a season for the rights, a lot of fans could understand that decision. It would also be a company of prestige. The fact is, the famous name has been changed to a name synonymous with mickey mouse brands like Slazenger, Dunlop and Lonsdale, it is effectively putting Newcastle United in the same bracket. It would be a bit like re-naming Anfield 'The Woolworths Arena' or Old Trafford 'The Cash Converters Stadium'. This I believe is why so much ire is directed at Ashley. Pointless acts that chip away at the history of Newcastle United.

 

Once again, I agree with your second paragraph.

However, once again, you are praising Mike Ashley based on what somebody else did badly before him. What freddy did has nothing to do with Ashley. I took a job once that apparently the guy before me who did it was awful...does that mean I deserve a pay rise or praise?! Why? Because I am not the same as this other person? Its a bullsh*t theory that doesnt wash.

And while i'm on it...you say we bought Boumsong for £8mil and Luque for £9mil. Well the first thing Mike Ashley did was buy Coloccini for £10mil and Alan Smith for £6mil on £75k a week and £60k each.

Just because Colo has come good (after 2 seasons, one after being relegated) doesn't mean this should be forgotten.

What financial status we are in now ALL come's down to the fact that we were relegated. If we had stayed up then possibly Owen may have been given a contract extension (imagine that?!) Martins may have stayed, Duff may have stayed etc etc etc etc.

The greatets thing Mike Ashley has done is accidentally gotten the club relegated...!! Woop de f*cking do!

Get real people.

 

Relegation.. The Best thing that could of ever happened to us... Who Knew!!!

In saying this though a big thanks has to go to our talent scouts.. some of their spots have just been insanely good (Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa).

Money wise... One thing we dont have to worry about which other teams do is our stadium.. Arsenal are paying off the Emirates, Chelski are looking at a new ground, WHL is a littel small for the Spuds and even liverpool are looking at other places... that is hundreds of millions worth of debt we wont see for a looong time!

 

Well, I am not acting like a smart ass, but when we went down I said as long as we come straight back up, its the best thing that could have happened.

The wages and the type of players we used to always buy, would change by default and would have to change.

Its worked out pretty perfectly.

However, what would have been better is we didnt need relegation and had an owner who could recognise this on their own.

My god I wish I was a billionaire. Really do.