Ashley's spending spree (or lack of)

All we can do, because of Mikes silent approach, is speculate on numbers. The accounts are due out soon which should make interesting reading.... wonder if our debt has shifted from the £130 million? If Ashley hasnt plugged all the Carroll money into transfers then this figure should have dropped, which would mean, he has, put it all back in the club. If the debt situation is improving its a sign he is doing well on the behind the scenes issues most people seem to overlook. It should be reducing looking at the transfers over the last few seasons and the wage bill dropping.

End of this season Shola, Lovenkrands, Smith and Guthrie are out of contract. The wage bill will take another significant drop. Couple that with Nolans departure (£50k a week) and the fact we may end up seeing the back of Enrique and Barton (i hope not) who are also out of contract end of the season then MA could be saving to the tune of around £300k a week!!! I know there are some players we have gotten in but with his new wage policy they cant be on the same level as the lads leaving the club.

Going into the 2012/13 season Harper (who will be past it), Colocinni, Raylor, Xisco and Best are out of contract. Say £200k a week there, again i would hope there are some incoming transfers so it wont be entirely a saving. Other than perhaps Col (who would probably need to take a pay cut) cant see any of the rest getting new deals. End of the 2012/13 season we have cut off all the deadwood and players we are "carrying" on high wages. The 2013/14 season will be interesting to see what Ashley does in terms of transfers/investment. Debt should be reduced, wages more manageable. Its worth noting that season is the 6th year of his reign which would mean his "5 year plan" would have been rolled out and a new approach may well be on the cards.... or he will look to sell us, which again might not be a bad thing.....

Time will tell, for now we can just speculate and second guess.

 

I might be wrong but seeming as he owns the club it might just be his stadium, also just as a point on this clubs don't work financially to seasons as such, they like all business's report on an annual basis.

 

For me I reckon the idea is for the club to run at a profit (on a yearly basis) to eat into the massive debt we have. He wants to reduce this figure, more than likely so that when there is an upturn in the economy he can sell the club at the best possible price. Of course fans aren't best pleased because this means operating a selling club mentality. And they don't see why they should pay for his foolishness. i.e. he took it on so he knew (or should have) what the finances were.

But really fans should just concentrate their efforts and energies on whatever 11 is on the pitch. There is little to be gained by trying to over analyse things we have no control of. i think we just need to look at for what it is. We have a very rich owner who doesn't want to invest money. I think his love of the footballing world slipped away with all the fallings out. He currently has a club which is not the best bet to prospective buyers. Should he get the finances in order, it will be a very desirable asset for the rich. He could walk away after all the trials and tribulations with a profit. People will say that is shameful but funnily enough it benefits the club long term. This is not his goal, but I think the club becomes much better run as a by product of his needs.

Now for my last ever comments on the 35m and transfers, and the excuses now being rolled out. We are operating at an acceptable level according to them with regards to wages and turnover. So yes it is understandable when taking into consideration all the different revenue streams why fans are saying "where has the 35m gone" Agents fees, training grounds etc are all just part and parcel of the game, they know that and shouldn't be churning out the excuses and telling fans to not do the maths. They knew when they made the reinvestment statement to quell the discontent about Carroll, that it implied 35m would be spent in transfer fees. However they also knew that 6 months was a long time and it could be explained away in various ways. To be honest this is the only thing I wish they'd stop, the misleading the fans. Most have enough up top to just ignore their patter and see it for what it is. But some were genuinely sucked in by the promise of 35m. You might say "more fool them" but these twits have a responsibility to the club and all its supporters. Some of whom can't see the bigger picture. We're massively in debt! And even allowing that he does not actually want rid (i'm 100% he does from what we're seeing), we have financial fair play rules on the horizon.

All in all I'm fairly relaxed about the club as a whole. We are decent shape looking ahead. yes we badly need a striker but even they wouldn't want to risk going in with no new striker. And if Jose goes as expected I'm sure we'll sign a left back too. I just think we need to move on from transfers and this 35m. It won't be spent and was never going to be. We operate in a different financial sphere these days and we should just accept that and get behind the lads.

 

Hate him tbh

 

hate the man but why blame him for all our woes(a lot of the financial **** we're still trying to get out of was created by the previous regime),do the blinkered haters prefer to have shephard back?Newcastle has always had years of mismanagement even as far back as Seymour and Mckeag the one constant apart from hall (but not totally blameless)with Newcastle is we've always had **** owners just some of us can remember worse owners than the fat **** that's in charge now and just because we don't slate everything he does doesn't mean we like him

 

This