Rayvin

I don't want to wade into the middle of...whatever the above is (especially as I'm new), but I feel the need to share the following: I don't know if anyone has linked to this previously, and I apologise if so, but the guy who writes this blog would seem to be well informed about providing financial appraisals for football clubs. He has done many besides Newcastle so it's not biased in any apparent way - I've seen people link to him previously on this forum although not this one as far as I can tell: http://swissramble.b...thern-town.html I think it makes for interesting reading as it coves many different aspects of the clubs position and success. I think a key point is that Ashley's loan to the club would be repayable with 0.5% interest - this has been made interest free in more recent times. This is actually showing that the club's sustainability matters more to Ashley than the repayments and loan interest he was owed - he could just just gotten that loan through a bank... From what is being put across here, it would seem that the club was very close to ending up in administration under the previous ownership. As much as we would all have loved to continue spending as we did, and buying the players we did, I would not have been thrilled if we'd ended up in administration. Notably, Portsmouth are about to get relegated from the Championship as a result of that. I would also like to point out that this is all worked out based on the company accounts, which are, of course, public. The guy writing this blog is just transforming the numbers into words. If you guys have previously outed this blogger as a nutter, then please just ignore the post. I found this quite heartening though. I also think that this is a key piece of information: The previous ownership had mortgaged Newcastle to the hilt, securing loans on virtually all the club’s assets (training ground) and future income streams (TV, sponsorship), and also left Ashley with deferred transfer payments of £36 million, some of which was owed on players who had left the club. Following the implementation of a new policy whereby transfers fees are paid up front, the club is now owed £5 million.

If Chelsea win the Champions League then 4th place get bumped down to the Europa League. So that could still mess things up; it isn't going to happen though. This has benn confirmed by the all knowing Google =P Even if they did though, they'd probably fall away in the league while trying to sustain it.

As much as I hated rooting for Liverpool against a team I actually quite like, I'm glad that bastards won. Takes the pressure off us now, and we can look forward to Europe next season =)

Stoke shouldn't be too bad, they've got nothing to play for and are pretty crap anyway. Glad it's at home though. I was quite happy with our run in up until yesterday... Man City have something to play for again (unless they lose somewhere in the next few games) so they'll go all out. Liverpool are going to get destroyed by Everton in the FA semi meaning that the 6th place Europa spot will go to them rather than 6th place. Meaning that us and Chelsea have to duke it out for fifth. If Spurs lose again, it might convince me that we can get 4th, but otherwise, I'm not sure I see them slipping. Also a bit worried about playing Wigan now...

This was a classic goal like - great to see Newcastle players scoring goals like this. Feels like it's been a while...

I'd definitely agree about the need to move on from Williamson, as glad as I am that he's been around to cover Taylor this season. Dunno about Simpson, you tend to hear mixed things. He always seems to be on the goal line saving us from conceding certain goals, which I guess is a positive, but you don't tend to hear much else about his game... I don't think too much needs changing otherwise, although we'd need a third prong on the 4-3-3 if Ba goes.