Happy Face

Even if it wasn't a fresh slate with this manager....it would be with the next one before his contract's up

not sticking my head up my arse at all. And while I don't particularly care for the thought that other fans see us dismissing being 8th in the table, there is a long way to go yet, this season. I just don't think Mike Ashley will ever harbour any serious ambitions at this football club, a few results [defeats or wins] is neither here nor there. On the other hand, I didn't care when other fans supposedly "laughed" at us, so why give a toss if they think we are "arrogant" ? [ presume that is what you are getting at here CG ] I don't think I'm either anyway, I'm just aware we are one of the biggest clubs in the country, and I'll counter that by also admitting that we have never had the success to justify that to other supporters - hence the reason they aren't aware of how big this club should be. Good post. There is a long way to go and it was only a few weeks back i was brimming with optimism just to come crashing back down to earth when we looked shit again. Yes i do think we might look a bit arrogant by saying we are struggling because others wont look at it the way we do. They dont have the gnawing feeling at the pit of their stomach that things will go to fucking shit without warning (that all too recognisable feeling we all felt last monday) and they havent watched us all season and seen that along with the potential to play well, there is also a team of shite just waiting to dribble out the back of 11 pairs of shorts at a moment's notice. They just see the geordies are in 8th, arent they doing well. The proximity in points to 17th place is rarely mentioned. As for the ambition question, the only thing i can say is that with the new financial rules coming in, business margins and large home crowds will give us an edge over oil men and chicken farmers if expenditure is limited by turnover. A decent manager is the crux of the issue though, so who knows what Pardew will bring to that. I'm not going to disagree about large home crowds. They have to be attracted to the club though, it's not automatic, they are there but only if we can get them to come. Promotion's only managed to recover 3000 of the 9000 he lost from the gate with the Keegan debacle and relegation... 07/08 - 52000 08/09 - 49000 09/10 - 43000 10/11 - 46000 I'd imagine the Hughton debacle and the end of Direct Debit tie ins will see the biggest drop off yet next season.

Good to hear, nowt worse than a "yes boss" assistant.

Wages will be about 60%...about what it was the season before Ashley took over.

CT's opinion is we can push for 4th though. There's a fine line to be walked keeping opposing fans from cringing to be sure. Sometimes your anger is so obvious for whats gon before that it spoils your enjoyment of here and now. My point was that had we being slightly more luckier and not lost Ben Arfa or Barton there is a good chance we would have fun a few more games. We are only 9 points off 4th ffs. A majority of this board is so infuritaed with Ashley taht they cant see the wood for the trees. When all were predicting a drop straight into division two we romped the championship. When all were predicting a season of dread in the prem, we are doping quite well and could easily be doing a lot better wit a little luck. Ashley has made some big errors but thank fuck he arrived when he did and Im sure we have more chance of staying up and becoming succesful under him than we do with some short term arab or indian chicken farmer. Anger? In this thread I've said Ashley saved us and seems to have learned from his mistakes. He's clearly made mistakes though, and the plan to break even does suggest I'll be in my 90's before we're in a position to make a push for the Champions league. Oh...and the polls on here said most expected promotion straight back up too.

I like the F365 ones that say Blackpools attendance is 166% of the stadium http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/PR/attend.html Simon Cowell must be a fan.

The only income "rocket" is that the new TV deal will be in place for the accounts that come out after the next set...as the article says our profits in the past were predicated much less on tv money than other clubs, matchday and commercial were huge. These will remain lower than they used to be. Attendances will probably drop further next year now that season ticket holderrs 3 year deals are ending....our shirt sponsorship deal is worth half the previous one and runs for 4 years (it reduces if we're relegated again too). Financially, the figures will get worse before they get better, and Newcastle have estimated a loss of £32.5 million for the Championship season in 2009/10. However, the club is aiming for self-sufficiency now that it is back in the Premier League, and this should be feasible, especially with the new TV deal and the reduction in wages after the clear out of so many high earners after relegation. My own estimate is for a £5 million profit, which assumes £45 million TV revenue, 10% reduction in match day income compared to the last time in Premier League, commercial revenue reduced by £2 million for the lower sponsorship deal, a £50 million wage bill and £15 million profit on player sales (Sebastien Bassong, Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff). £5m profit...assuming £15m profit on player sales.

Given the bar chart what are expecting him to do? I'm expecting him to do nothing, or next to nothing, because it is quite clear he has no serious ambitions for the football club. would be highly ironic if, despite the protestations of those who insist the Halls and Shepherd were taking the club towards administration, that it is Mike Ashley who succeeds in accomplishing it in the end. Which would mean, the Halls and Shepherd having saved the club from administration, rescuing the club from decades of falling revenues and 2nd rate standards, we then see someone else coming in and accomplishing that very thing through reversing everything they put into place which gave us such a massively expanded football club, stadium, and profile in the game. This is the way the club is heading, again, unless he sells out. Charts are by in large for idiots. Smart people look at numbers not pictures. The bar chart shows a massive lump into debt, but anyone looking at the numbers knows the issue encountered was we had a massive wage bill and low income. Now we are back in the premiership and the wage bill is significantly lower, we are actually in a much stronger position. Hopefully Ashley will have learnt from our relegation season and bring in a striker. Charts are for idiots? That's up there with teachers teach you how to be thick. The numbers represented in the chart show we're yet to see any evidence of a wage bill under control.... Wages have not gone down at all, in real terms the amount rose slightly. Turnover has taken a significant dip (and these numbers precede relegation) so the wages to turnover ratio shot up in the last set of results and is likely to increase again, despite the exoudus, because turnover would have been so much lower again in the championship.

Red wall? Scousers bedroom.

CT's opinion is we can push for 4th though. There's a fine line to be walked keeping opposing fans from cringing to be sure.

Hopefully we'll stay up long enough for Ashley to balance the books. Like Leazes is always keen (and right) to say...there won't be a bus parade laid on if he does though. that is true. He won't put the "profits" [meagre as they would be if he manages it in the first place] back into the club. It's a yo-yo up and down existence for us, selling our best players I'm afraid, unless he is bought out soon.... Hope people are happy with watching a struggling football team, balancing the books. this season yes, and thats a relative statement. if we get top 10, i'd be happy but we (as we all know) need to build on it. my problem with ashley is that the experienced and best players won't take to getting the wage structure that is in place. i think Nolan, Barton and smith and Collocini are on silly money. and on medium term contracts. well, yes, you are right. So why debate with optimism ? There is absolutely no point in doing it. The club is fucked, with no real future, because there is no ambition. Not you, as you are highlighting it - but do others understand this ? I'm optimistic for the new year.....you told me to be.

Hopefully we'll stay up long enough for Ashley to balance the books. Like Leazes is always keen (and right) to say...there won't be a bus parade laid on if he does though. When do you see said balancing of books if we stay in the PL? £280m of debt...£5m a season profit.....56 years time

Hopefully we'll stay up long enough for Ashley to balance the books. Like Leazes is always keen (and right) to say...there won't be a bus parade laid on if he does though.

So is your opinion that if he hadnt bought us we would now have gone. I think that's the opinion of everyone on here except Leazes. But, wouldn't that have been so much better in the long run? Shepherd fucks us up, we go into admin....relegated....Leazes proved wrong rather than still supporting the rats that jumped off the sinking ship......debts written off left right and centre....THEN Ashley coould have bought the club, spent a fraction of what he has on it, debt free and owt he puts in goes on players.

What's the difference between "Mike Ashley loan" - down £6m in 2009, and "Total Mike Ashley loan" - up £5m in 2009?

I wouldn't want my comments to be taken as absolving Shepherd of any blame. Though he could throttle back and rely on turnover...he'd not quite managed that frequently enough. But given that someone had to come in and do a rescue job, it needed a scalpel touch, it didn't require much to maintain turnover. Spending as a percentage of turnover could have been reduced effectively in the long term, with a sensible approach to buying/selling/management. He decided to assett strip the fuck out of the place with a sledgehammer, gambling on our survival. It might have worked if not for Kinnear/Shearer the question is if he's learned from that. Seemed to have over the last couple of windows. Didn't go for the quick money, made sure we can compete.

Can you explain what you see there Nicos? 2005 debt = £55m 2006 debt = £70m (+27%) 2007 debt = £77m (+10%) 2008 debt = £245 (+218%) 2009 debt = £282 (+15%) I know the mortgage got added to the debt, but whenever Shepherd stretched one season....he could pull the throttle back the next and the revenue would give him a profit. Ashley's already strangled every penny out of our spending....but he's lost us so much revenue we still run at a loss and drive up the debt. You think he paid the outstanding transfer fees off in one go? Also we've started paying up front for all incoming. They said they couldn't didn't they. Something about having to keep making payments on players that had already moved on.

Can you explain what you see there Nicos? 2005 debt = £55m 2006 debt = £70m (+27%) 2007 debt = £77m (+10%) 2008 debt = £245 (+218%) 2009 debt = £282 (+15%) I know the mortgage got added to the debt, but whenever Shepherd stretched one season....he could pull the throttle back the next and the revenue would give him a profit. Ashley's already strangled every penny out of our spending....but he's lost us so much revenue we still run at a loss and drive up the debt.

For me this picture says it all.... Can't see how anyone can say Ashley has the club looking healthy the way our debt has exploded since his arrival.

There's a Billion pound gram too....

4.5 goals a year.

HB

Nah its a man city supporting lad. The Wednesday fan was giving me jip the other day though, then proceeded to tell me how class they were after beating Bristol Rovers http://www.nufc.com/html/where-.html

And the Billion dollar gram....

What a class show. 7 days left to watch the whole thing... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l Full of superb visualisations like this....