Fantasy Financial Dilemma... OT

I don't know if you've read the article (about Man Utd Shares on bbc sport), but here is the top clubs in terms of revenue in the premier league (2011):

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Top 10 Premier League clubs by revenue
Club Revenue (£000s) Wage costs (£000s) Operating profit/(loss)(£000s)
SOURCE: DELOITTE. FIGURES FOR 2011
Manchester United 331,441 152,915 100,687

Chelsea 228,574 191,214 (48,679)

Arsenal 226,825 124,401 34,150

Liverpool 183,690 134,768 (2,795)

Tottenham Hotspur 153,486 91,255 32,294

Manchester City 153,185 173,977 (81,636)

Aston Villa 92,028 94,795 (34,241)

Newcastle 88,464 53,584 13,287

Everton 82,021 58,026 (529)

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Some surprises there, like Villa being higher than us and Spurs making huge profits, but this was based on figures for last year. Overall it paints quite a good picture for us financially, and you can see why Ashley is trying to exploit every cynical profiteering manoeuvre possible, which would actually bring us in line revenue-wise with the so called "big clubs". It also highlights just how good our squad did last year to finish where they did.

So, to the typically ridiculous point of the thread... If your long lost, agoraphobic great great uncle Mortimer had died and left you his acquired £220 million (possibly from shares in ye Olde Tesco, or an incredibly successful career in the emerging "pounds, pounds, pounds" schemes the newspapers advertise ), and you'd done the prerequisite stay in the haunted mansion (where your good friends Scooby and Shaggy also happened to, whilst hiding in a cupboard, finally succumb to those years of intimate desperation and closet attraction, ending that Ross-Rachel-like story forever (yayyyyyyyyyyyy)), and Mike Ashley reneged on his sexual-urges to rip-off business men, would you buy Newcastle with the money?

At present, given the full payment of Mike's interest free loan, Newcastle represent a decent investment if run a-long the same lines as Ashley's game-plan, but would owning the club be something you'd actually want? Do you think you could do the job? Would you prefer to spend it on a desert island and luring a sexy model/celebrity there (with the promise of food, love and copious cocaine, probably), just so you could tell her/him you're the last people alive and today is "official re-population day"...?

More seriously(/boringly), do you prefer the type of system we have than the never-heard of sand-people with untold billions turning up on the doorstep, with numerous World Cup winners and world renowned head coaches in tow? Is 5th an acceptable limit which we could be content to call "relative success" if these squiggilionaires stick around, because any higher will require greater investment and possibly disrupt what is currently a natural growth of revenue and status? What's the next thing big Mike will pawn off for extra dosh?

 

Guessing Villa are higher than us as it's for 2010/2011 season, I'm sure when the accounts for this past season are released they'll reveal we made more than them.

 

You have to question how the BBC think they know all of these numbers as they aren't all floated companies and i don't see why they would make the figures available (please correct me if someone else knows otherwise). We have seen in the past couple of days alone that the BBC publish some very shakey football stories.

If these figures are true then Villa stands out to me. Havings wages higher than revenue is insane (Man City can get away with it) and i assume this is prior to (and explains) the sales of Downing and Young - I think the wages under O'Neill were clearly unsustainable. He's a class manager but he's going to have to operate differently at Sunderland or he'll bust them!