Breaking Even

For the first two years, Mike Ashley did about as badly as it is possible for an owner to do.

His last bit of serious madness, though, was firing Hughton - - and that, surprisingly, has worked out. Since Pardew has been hired, he has done well: stayed out of the football decisions and driven some very good deals in the trasnfer market, pursuing a coherent policy while doing so.

The SJP name change is a sign of complete contempt for the fans, and serves no real purpose. That doesn't really change the fact, though, that the actual job of running the club is being done well.

 

Newcastle United has been very healthy for decades as far as finance is concerned.

The massive attendances and huge influx of money from the Premier League have meant we've been able to sustain the huge debts that FFS rang up

The problems were over-spending on transfer fees and wages by Fat Freddy and piss-poor-purchases by Graeme Souness.

These 'new' figures show that without transfer dealings,(from which we've made a huge profit in the last couple of seasons), the club is financially successful.

Mike Ashley has tried his best to completely **** that up with his terrible decision making... DOF? KK? BFSA? DW? JK? AS? He got lucky with Chris Hughton as he was simply looking for a cheaper option but soon got rid of him once his contract was up for renewal.

The thing that bothers me most is that because we're having a really good season results-wise, so many people seem overly keen to suck-up to the fat ****ing parasite and sing his praises.

The whole name-changing episode is a complete ****ing outrage, anybody not offended by it needs to look at their passion for the club.
St James' Park is not, and never will be The Sports Direct Arena, so Mike Ashley can get ****ed as far as i'm concerned.

He has done nothing but cut costs and got lucky with his last two managers - tell me honestly, if we were in the relegation mix, would you all be so smug and cheery concerning Mike Ashley?

The way he takes the piss out of Geordie fans sickens me to my core - I refused to step back inside SJP after Chris Hughton's sacking in December 2010,(just before his birthday, nice touch Mike), until Ashley left. Nothing he has done has convinced me otherwise. I was so sick of all his bullshit that I accepted a job offer from a completely different area of the country.

Mike Ashley always saw us as a cash-cow and now he's really starting to reap the benefits - fair enough we're doing well on the pitch, but that just makes it easier for him and Lame-arse to keep pulling the wool over some people's eyes.

 

The name change is a massive kick in in the teeth as was the sacking of Hughton but as much as im against the guy usually you do have to admit he has worked it quite well... We arent spending millions and millions on washed up players, we havent got that waster Dennis wise around anymore and the positive attitudes around are being reflected in the results...

We have a young team and for once in a very long time we dont have a massive scandal regarding our team... Hughton provided the right team to get through a tough, gritty and physical championship with players like Barton and Nolan and now Pardew has came and has taken us to the next level... Hopefully we give him a long run for at least a few years (The passion he showed in the Derby showed us all he is committed)! After all we have had the same amount of managers as Chelsea have since Abramovic came and he gets through them like theres no tomorrow.

 

Agree with this

 

I havent been to a game for about 4 and a half years...i've never seen Ash in the flesh.

EDIT: I almost met him in Blu Bamboo when he was dishing out free beers...but I only saw Chris Mort. If I saw the c*nt in the flesh, he would probably regret losing so much weight as it would cushion the blows I would lay into him.

 

Hate MA by all means. He has done enough over the years to warrant it.

That said, your statements about finances are incorrect.

NUFC has not been financially sound for a long time. It has been spending money before it was received and borrowing to make up the difference. The last loans it took out were are credit card rates. We were about a year from waking up and finding we were Greece when Ashley took over. If you want a complete analysis of our situation pre and 1 year post Ashley's buy out, check out the article by the Swiss Rambleer, Newcastle finances in Black and White.

We are not and never will be a cash cow. We have been a cash drain until now. We are nowing paying our own way.

Ashley may make a profit when he sells the club. I doubt it but it's possible. He will be lucky to even get any payments towards his existing loans to us until then.

 

We were heading for Administration. We were not financially sound. Ridiculous statement to make.

We are lucky Mike Ashley didn't have a clue what he was doing or buying or he would have kept his money in the bank. Which actually makes me laugh. Stupid f*cking c*nt. Buy a club without checking the books?!!! hahahahaha

 

People seem to forget that Ashley pumped £20m of his own money in half way through our Championship season to cover players wages. Players that he could have quite rightly turned round to Chris Hughton and told to get rid of. Barton, Nolan, Colo, Enrique, to name a few. Without those 4 players I'm fairly certain we would probably still be in the Championship.

I've never been anti-ashley as I prefer to look at the bigger picture, and they have always said that they have had a plan, and it now appears that whatever plan they had is working, and working well. Over the next year or two we will have Smith, Xisco and Best off the wage bill, perhaps Simpson as well and we can really start to push on and build even further.

If we can secure European football for next season I think this will not only help to keep hold of players like Tiote, Cabaye and Ba, but also help us to lure players such as Pieters and Vertonghen whom I think would be amazing additions to our squad.

Happy times ahead for definate.

 

There was a time when being anti-Ashley was perfectly ratonal - - he was ****ing things up horribly.

At the moment I think he cares nothing about the fans, and may even get a kick out of annoying them. I do not know if he cares about the club beyond its financial implications to him but would guess that he is in fact quite interested in seeing it be a success to prove a point.

I don't really care what his motivations are, though, so longas he running the business well and letting football people make the football decisions. He is.

 

I dont understand why people have to pigeon hole themselves and others to be anti-Ashley or not.

I look at him in what he does. Nothing more. He's made some good moves but mainly bad and some plain disgusting.

It's quite possible we could be playing in the Championship (or lower) at the Sports Direct Arena with Joe Kinnear as our manager and Dennis Wise buying players....imagine that.

 

Mike Ashley

Financial changes - Good
New Transfer Policy - Good
PR ability - Horrible


On balance I'd say he's done an okay job. I don't feel it's out of love for the club but he has stabilised us as a club and improved our image from being a mid-table club for aging stars. The stadium naming fiasco is the biggest current issue most (including myself) have with him, that aside he's probably become one of the better chairmen in the league.

He's done a good job in the same way the taxi driver who drove me home from Newcastle the other night did. Didn't crash the car, didn't overcharge me and didn't drive into a dark forest and attempt to molest me, though his conversation wasn't the best.

 

Also Sport Direct appeal,
Finances: prices are cheep
Transer policy: margin on own brand, low margin headline grabbers
PR: awful, but if you know your customer will come regardless of reputation does it matter.

As a business plan, it's not nice to look it but it works and delivers sustainable results.

 

Fair enough, except that I think running a football club is more difficult than driving a car. There are quite a few clubs crashing out there.

 

West Ham United 2011/2012

 

Not really a fair or logical statement. If he is a money grabber, why would he alienate the people who buy tickets, merchandise etc? Look at clubs like City and Arsenal selling the naming rights to their stadiums. How do we compete if we were to ignore this potential revenue stream? I know people say "oh but they are new stadiums etc" but that, at the end of the day, means f*** all if they are bringing 10m+ every season and we have nowt, surely? If changing the name of SJP is the price that must be paid in order for us to have a decent and competitive team then I'd rather we did that than finish below, for example, Sunderland!

 

I don't think the argument is solely about the name change of the stadium. If a blue-chip company like Etihad or Emirates put an offer in for the naming rights of SJP, I think most supporters would understand that it is an extra revenue stream the club would be silly not to take. Most of these companies though would respect the heritage of the stadium and would probably prefer something along the lines of 'The Emirates St. James' Park Stadium'. The fact is Ashley has exploited the fact no-one is interested in buying the rights by peddling Sports Direct in an exercise which makes the club no money and pi$$es on about 100 years of history.

 

Yea they did enter my head as I was typing. I really hope they miss out on promotion and see what they are doing is insane.

 

This.

.........it's not like anyone has actually bought the stadium rights. He's gave our dignity away for free to promote his own sh*te. Disgrace

 

This.

I am not at all sure that he didn't do it to annoy the fans.

 

I'd be happy to have our ground sponsored in a multi-million pound deal. But it aint.

fat f*ck