This says it all really...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27360032

Top 25
Sri and Gopi Hinduja, £11.9bn, up £1.3bn
Alisher Usmanov, £10.65bn, down £2.65bn
Lakshmi Mittal and family, £10.25bn, up £250m
Len Blavatnik, £10bn, down £1bn
Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli, £9.75bn, up £2.35bn
John Fredriksen and family, £9.25bn, up £450m
David and Simon Reuben, £9bn, up £719m
Kirsten and Jorn Rausing, £8.8bn, up £3.69bn
Roman Abramovich, £8.52bn, down £780m
The Duke of Westminster, £8.5bn, up £700m
Galen, Hilary and George Weston and family, £7.3bn, up £650m
Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho, £6.36bn, down £635m
Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and family, £6.16bn, up £1.65bn
Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family, £6.14bn, new
German Khan, £6.08bn, new
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, £6bn, up £3.65bn
Hans Rausing and family £5.9bn, up £1.18bn
Nicky Oppenheimer and family, £4.57bn, up £785m
Earl Cadogan and family, £4.2bn, up £525m
Joseph Lau and family, £4.03bn, down £570m
Sir Philip and Lady Green £3.88bn, no change
Denis O'Brien, £3.85bn, up £486m
Mike Ashley, £3.75bn, up £1.45bn
Sir Richard Branson and family, £3.6bn, up £86m
Idan Ofer, £3.43bn, new

top 25 richest people in the UK and look who is sitting there at 23...our very own darling mike ashley. Sad thing is our club has the potential to be as rich as so many of these big clubs.

Of course i don't want us to become a man city...but it just shows how little ashley cares and that he only sees us as a business! Wouldn't be too hard for him to spend 20 mil in a window but that is just so out of the question it's sad. If anyone is in any doubt as to why financial stability comes so highly on his list is purely to make him a quick buck not for the good of the club

 

Why Not?

 

That kind of excess isnt healthy for a club and i'm sure one day it's going to come back to trouble them...especially if uefa get their act together, i mean what happenes if the owner leaves or goes bust just look at birmingham

 

To be fair to Man City they're investing for their future.

Their new academy is massive and they are looking to produce their own players so they don't need to buy success.

I wouldn't mind us buying success for a few seasons with a long term aim of developing our own players.

 

Personally, I don't have a problem with what Man City have done, and if you want to sit at the top table in European Football, the only way that can be achieved is by spending money, not £20m here or there but £200+ that Man U will spend this summer to get them back where they were.

By UEFA getting there act together, I assume you mean ensuring that the Rich Cartel of Clubs in the CL remains intact and outsiders will find it difficult to impact on it.

 

Lets face it, if someone came along and gave us as you say, there wouldn't be many crying on about it.

 

We don't need a transfer window to see Ashley's intent. If he was remotely bothered, we'd have already signed off of any number of projects for youth development. Instead it comes from the clubs' coffers, which restricts us to a million here, a few hundred grand there. People may say we got A status approved, but we were 3 years behind even the likes of Boro and Ipswich, not to mention the mackems.

Maybe things will change drastically this Summer, but again I doubt it. No transfer window stops the club replacing Willie Donachie or Joke Innear, yet neither have been. For all the talk, I think it'll be the same threadbare staff with around 2 net new players through the door. But, as I've said, I won't be bothered because I'm on sabbatical if Pardew isn't pushed out.

 

They may as well introduce a new league above the Prem/La Liga/Bundersliga called the Megaship, or whatever. Promotion/relegations of only maybe two per season (like Scotlands stupid model, complete with money-spinning play-offs). That way the uber-riche are massively well protected and the rest of us can once again dream of finishing top of our lowly Premier League.

 

Good Afternoon Roland,

The Euro Super League could already have happened, but UEFA bought the clubs off when they made the changes to the Champions League.
Unless a club, does a complete meltdown like Man U this year, the CL comprises roughly the same clubs year after year, unless a Man City or PSG break into the group by spending.
Then UEFA decide ooh, you cant do that, we like being anti-competitive and don't want you to dream - we like the status quo.

FFP plays directly into the hands of someone like Mike Ashley.
All he has to do each year is produce the clubs accounts, showing that the turnover/income is not being outstripped by the outgoings.
So he is effectively using FFP as an excuse for not spending money.

This year the turnover will increase substantially due to the increase in TV money, so in theory there should be around £50m Net to spend, to comply with FFP.
Any more than that and NUFC wouldn't be FFP compliant.
If anyone supports FFP and fining clubs like Man City, by proxy, people must also support Ashleys' Financial model IMO.

Time for dinner, out for a drink and watch the slaughter....