Simon Bird Mirror - NUFC Financial Report

Mike Ashley has spent a staggering £285.8million on Newcastle United it can be revealed today - and he wants the Geordies to start challenging for Europe and to "always be in the top 10 of the Premier League".

Newcastle issued financial records detailing how they survived being relegated, and their plans for the future, yesterday. In an amazing turnaround, the club will break even this season - even without the £35m Andy Carroll windfall.

Cost-cutting measures at the club have even included switching off lights and escalators at St James' Park, which has helped save £250k a year, with that cash being ploughed back in to pay for under-soil heating at the training ground. Even the training ground's £40k water bill is being cut thanks to a new bore-hole.

MD Derek Llambias brought good news for fans as he announced an improved financial situation which has seen the wage bill slashed from £71m to £47m.

However, the club are still going to revisit the controversial issue of raising millions by selling naming rights to St James' Park to a major corporation.

A chunk of the Carroll fee, which manager Alan Pardew was promised for his transfer fund, has already been spent on the cost of Cheik Tiote's new six-year deal. But cash raised from player departures this summer WILL be added to Pardew's spending pot.

Ashley had to plough another £42m in loans into Newcastle to keep it afloat and in shape for their successful Championship promotion challenge last season.

The amazing financial drain that Newcastle had become for Ashley will be shown in club accounts published today up to June 2010 - the season United spent in the Championship.

Ashley, spent £133m buying Newcastle and since then has pumped in £152.8m in interest-free loans from his estimated £1billion personal fortune.

After relegation in May 2009, turnover fell from £86.1m to £52.4m in the Championship, with TV revenue tumbling from £37.6m to £16m.

Newcastle recorded a loss of £33.5m. In the same year in the top flight, West Ham lost £21m, Bolton £35m and Sunderland £27m, meaning this season's break-even financial position is relatively healthy.

Ashley is aiming for a time when the club pays for itself without needing regular loans from him. The plan is for a £10million profit in a year or two, which will be reinvested to buy players.

Season-ticket sales fell 4,000 after relegation and is down to 29,000, from a 38,000 peak. In five years' time, the club wants a return to 40,000 with deals rewarding loyalty.

There has been no serious interest from any potential new owner. Anyone asking for talks is told to buy a £50k-a-season corporate box for five years to prove their commitment. No-one has.

Llambias said: "Our vision for the club is to finish 10th or above every year - year after year. That is our target, we want to be challenging for Europe every single year.

"Mike Ashley's money has kept this club buoyant. Quite honestly, Newcastle United would not be here without him. It's as simple as that. He has never taken a penny out of the football club but he knows what he has to put in every year and is keen to grow it.

"He knows where we want to be and where we should be in four or five years. But we are a very tight unit here and a much better unit than we have been previously. At the end of the day Mike is a football fan - a Newcastle fan - and he loves coming here.

"We are starting to get the stability we need into the football club, both financially and within the squad. That stability is one of our most important goals.

"That would give us the security that the club and the playing side needs. We need to get that stability back here, including on the managerial side."

Llambias revealed Ashley had to pay £37m in outstanding transfer fees after buying United.

The Geordies get £2m from shirt sponsorship, but Liverpool's income from the same source is 10 times that amount.

That is why Newcastle are still talking to partners about naming rights for St James' Park - which is currently officially known as sportsdirect.com@St James' Park.

Plans for a big screen at St James' are on hold. It would restrict the view from 5,000 seats and cost £1.2m, but they do have planning permission.

Director and staff pay has been frozen for the last two years.

Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/new...r-it-can-be-revealed-today-article718115.html

 

I think this is genuinely brilliant! Shows that he is just trying to scare off people, and wants to stay at the club! But also, if someone comes along and actually does this, then they will know that they are properly serious!

 

I must say, that did impress me. It seems we're doing the right thing at our club for once.

 

Along with the little things, lights and escalators being turned off and somehow saving money on water. Also, freezing board and directors pay for 2 years, even the most hardcore Ashley hater has to give him credit for this!

Is Simon Bird trying to get back into the good books or something? He's been a lot less of a **** (Joe Kinnear's words, not mine) recently.

 

Seems MA isn't such a bad guy after all.

Very good article!

 

Definitely, let's just hope he can make us a successful club both off the pitch and on it.

And yes haha, I remember JK's rant.. it involved a lot of swearing if I recall rightly?

 

It's a simple task that many new owners undertake when purchasing a business. You look at some of the overheads and see if it's at all possible to reduce the costs.

I saved a business £18k a year by simply finding a cheaper supplier of envelopes

He's done well to reel in the costs though and these are fantastic savings that he's already utilised elsewhere.

I still feel that if someone slapped an offer of £200 million down in front of him; he'd take it.

 

Kind of thing that will impress most of us Son of a pitch.

Rep for you too!

 

Simon Bird, cheep cheepie cheep cheep.

Have a bit rep too Wein.

 

True OT, but these were simple measures that were not being carried out beforehand. Therefore credit where due, also, good to see he didn't just leave the saved cash there to try to break even. Training pitch needed heating, so it went there.

Top effort on the envelopes btw!!

 

We just have to hope that this isn't simply a white picket fence and reflects the general direction that our club's moving in. For all we know, the fat man might have a disagreement with Pardew, sack him and then we're right back where we were in 2008/09.

Cheers for the rep by the way, have some back.

Edit: Or not, it says I have to spread some rep for both Wein and you AB. OT got some though, just for the hell of it.

 

Cheers mate! Have rep for breaking 3000 posts!! When did that hapen You are uber active AB!

 

Came and went quite quickly, a little bubbly etc etc.

 

Considering the circumstances of having been relegated that was an excellent effort on the finances. With increased revenue from the premier league you can really see where the financial plan is going to take us. As long as we can keep some sort of stability it looks like good news for us and bad news for some of our competitors. Can Sunderland and Bolton afford the level of losses they made last year for long? Are they actively seeking to sort their finances out? Think the answer to both those questions is no.

We are currently competitive at premier league level on a severe cost cutting budget. As the level of debt reduces and our revenue increases this should allow us to gradually increase our wage budget, whilst remaining in profit, at a time when many of the other clubs in the league will be forced to enter cost cutting periods of their own in order to meet the new FIFA regulations. Could well give us an opportunity to take a consolidating step towards regular european football.

We have to stay up this year of course otherwise most of that goes up in smoke!

 

****ing **** Ashley! Selling all our ****ing players to line his own ****ing pockets! Why the ****ing **** does the club need to be financially ****ing viable? Just pay Barton £1-****ing-million a week you tight ****! **** off to ****ing Greggs you ****ing fat ****! And you didn't ****ing wave at me or my girlfriend Gigantor last ****ing week! (come on, we'd have missed a decent ill informed rant)

Goods news all round, my only concern is they are expecting to lose some players this summer, hopefully Sol, Smithy etc rather than Jose or Joey.

 

Excellent financial report, really impressive stuff. Just need MA to realise that the majority of his re-investment from cost cutting HAS to go back into the squad now, if he wants to push on for Europe then that's where it's done. Hopefully in 2-3 years we'll see a plan for pushing into CL football and not just "top 10 every year." But really good structure at the club at the moment.

 

Personal favorite bit in bold!!

I know what you mean about Jose. But we will not clear and transfer funds with Sol, hopefully with Smith/Xisco especially we can generate a bit more spending money, not to mention wage moneys!

 

Sunderland are looking to Short as some kind of cash cow ploughing money into them. Wonder how long till he realises
that. On MA next season will be the big one

 

As long as fat Mike has learned from his mistakes and poor man mangement previously and doesn't make them the future's looking brighter, just have to stay up this season.

 

How the hell does he know that