PaddockLad
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Posts posted by PaddockLad
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It was huge where we lived in Scotland (Kelso) when I was a kid....its a tiny place,less than 8000 people but it had 2 lodges....where the old man was born which is a village of less than 500 it was almost fuckin compulsory to join the lodge there. When the old man went back to work there after he had finished his national service he worked for the local bulider, a prominent local mason, and got on famously with the boss's son, until the day the son turned round and said (sounds just like what JawD posted) "have you ever thought about joining the masons?"...think the old man just looked at him before saying "I've just done 2 years in the jungle with the Army...Its put me off joining fuckin anything,ever,again..!" That was the last day the boss's son ever talked to him, or the boss for that matter...petty doesnt really cover the attitude back then, don't know what its like now...
My Grandfather was also a mason, although not really a practising one. Think it all came to an end one day when he'd drunk too much whisky and ended up in the cells for the night for battering some unfortunate individual. At the Sherriff Court the Sherriff addressed him: "You were seen in the town square in Duns the worse for drink causing a nuisance,being violent to others etc etc...what have you got to say for yourself?"...after some consideration Grandad replied " Well I wasnt as pissed as you were at the masons ball last year...." that was it,the gavel slammed the desk, he was taken down and got 30 days for contempt of court
Dont think its as strong round there now, same as anywhere else I reckon, its a died a death a bit in recent years.....Leazes attitude is common by the sounds of it
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Those pointing out Spain are boring have a point.....on the days that Arsenal dont click into gear completley a gooner ST holder of my aquaintance says theyre sterile,dull and passionless....iyam he should know better as hes been going since the late 70s and can remember Arsenal at their long ball worst, there again, his ST is 1200 quid a year, more than twice what mine costs.
Spains dominance of possesion can be a bit dull, but that is essentially how they defend i.e. if the opposisition dont have the ball, they cant score, which is about as easy on the eye as England not bothering with the ball too much v Italy, but makes the chances of actually winning a game a lot greater..Hodgson take note etc.. Spain struggled to break a couple of sides down who had their tactics spot on, especially Portugal and Italy in the first game. Too little emphasis is placed on the sometimes excellent tactics of the opponenets, in the BBC studio especially. Too much glib generalisation from those who should know better makes for an ill informed general public...that'll be you Lawro, and any ex Liverpool centre half of the early 80s who criticises any team for playing dull possesion football really needs to have a fuckin word with themselves. Spain weren't at their brilliant best for a couple of games and their names mud, you shouldnt be able to make shit like that up, but obviously am wrong in that thought.
Spain are like Arsenal, only better, by a long way as well. They actually win things. Not that I'd criticise Wenger for that, with his budget and the new stadium to move to and pay off his record over the last few years is briliant iyam, and you cant come up a team thats been recruited by billioanires and paid accordingly in international football, you've got to deal with the cards you've got. Thats the other thing, this generation of Spanish players is the best any country that I've seen have by light years. But theyre only human and dont do it every time, but thats the only way theyre like any other team.
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Cant compare different era's, its pointless tbh. Youve got to be 50 to remember the Brazilians of 1970 and it has to be pointed out that was the first world cup to be telelvised world wide, and the first major world event of any kind to be broadcast in colour. Some will tell you thats why it sticks in the mind so vividly of those who saw it on the box. Earlier era's had different tactics, poorer fitness levels and medical care, and heavy,cumbersome equipment....the boots and balls pre the 1970s hadnt changed much in a century and apparently it was like kicking a cannonball in pit boots, compared with a balloon and carpet slippers nowadays. The great players of previous era's would no doubt be great players in any era, for me its difficult to say that of some of the fancy dans of today, but thing is we'll never know. Anyone saying Spain are the best ever can't really justify it iyam.
But theres no doubt Spain are among the best sides in history, theyre playing football from a different planet. Christ knows how theyve got such a crop of brilliant players all coming through together. Either by accident or design its pretty much unprecedented the amount of talent they have at their disposal, and all of it seemingly keen on winning trophies, rather than falling into the pitfalls that can distract young players, especially in this country.
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Mrs PL has just said "there's more red ones than blue ones..."
no one was saying they were boring when they were twatting Ireland either.....best team in the competition by country mile, regardless of formation.
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A couple of sources on newsnow say we're in for Junior Hoillet and he's going to sign.....does this lad play on the right or left?...
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This is what the guy who tried to sell it last time for him said about the debt...
“I know him well and I’m representing him now, he has actually cleared up Newcastle’s debt. On the balance sheet it shows they don’t owe money, they owe it to him. That’s not debt, that’s equity, a more efficient way for an owner who owns the whole business.”
I can remember Matt going into detail about why owners do it here...
Equity?.....aye,negative equity sums up Ashley's financial situation at NUFC perfectly. The club isn't worth the value of the loans he has to pay off on it.
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The old man, at the age of 76, has decided that he'd like to become a "silver surfer"
Hes got a lot of stuff to shift on and at the moment various grandchildren are employed in getting his old junk on to ebay. Hes seen that yorkshire broadband ad though and thinks if its that cheap then he might as well get a laptop himself....which is where I appear to come in...when the new season starts am going to start paying for skysports and will probably use the "sky go" feature for watching the football quite a lot...and I want a laptop which is going to make it worthwhile viewing...the old man will inherit my old Dell gizmo so he can sell smoothing planes and bee keeping equipment to his hearts content 
So went to Currys earlier where this caught my eye....
http://www.yorkshirestyle.co.uk/store/sony-vaio-laptops/vpc-ej3t1e-vaio-640gb-hard-drive-sony-vaio
Is that a good price?...same in Currys, who said they were going for a grand at Christmas. Is it good bit of kit?...is there something around the same price thats better?...cheers in advance...
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Idiotheque will be having a bit of this later...enjoy mate
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So its pretty much as I said?....and Derek saying we're "debt free" is, being charitable, a load of fuckin wank?
I understand we're in a better posistion then we were before relegation, and I understand completly the financial model the owner is working to, its pretty much the only game in town available to him and the club, and he's proving to be a canny player, but I just hate being fuckin lied to and this issue for me is a cloud hanging over the whole club that will not go away.
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The fundamental point that the blog/opinion, that you bolded, misses, is that the "debt" is owed to the 100% owner, not to a third party (banks). The only way that debt stays with the club after a sale is if that the purchase was leveraged a'la Man U. For that to happen we'd have to be pretty damn good and generating significant cash because whoever funded the leverage would want to know they'd make their money back.
The "debt" (although it's not a proper debt IMO) amount is greater because we were overburning by about £20Mill a year, that had to be covered somehow, otherwise bad things would happen. That "debt" could go up to £500 Million for all I care because it poses no danger to the club, there's only one person can foreclose on that money, and that's the owner, he'd be foreclosing on himself.
Tom's post above is also spot on.
Off the field the club is absolutely rock solid and in an excellent position, on the field is the variable, but the signs are good.
So Ashley has paid all the debts ran up by the previous regime and there is no trace of them on the latest (or previous) balance sheet/set of accounts, apart from perhaps a copy of the receipts or other proof of payment?.....or does it not work like that? Bottom line is the club isn't worth what he's ploughed into it, and I can't see a successful businessman like him just taking the hit on it. Doesn't make sense to my obviously non financially-savvy mind.
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According to a peculiar logic, much has also been made of what Ashley’s alleged financial “backing” of the club in terms of making a £140 million loan to himself, which is repayable on demand by the club, to save himself from paying high interest rates on his own Newcastle United debts. The term “clearing” the club’s debts has been used so often that many fans are still oblivious to the fact that the club is now actually far more in debt than it was when Ashley assumed control of the club in 2007.
I thought this was the interesting bit..... if this is right, and I've no reason to beleive its anything other than the author's own take/spin on things, should Ashley come to sell the club, is there still likely to be a huge residual debt that the club will be left with?...obviously a lot of that was accrued by the previous regime, but still.....its not exactly being "debt free" is it, as is being bandied about by Derek in particular....revenues and turnover aren't what they were, so what sort of ability will we have to service a possibly huge debt, should Mike not fancy paying for the previous regime's extravagance, as well as some of his own. We may well now, as the business stands, "wipe our own mouth" as Derek is fond of saying, but what is actually lying in wait for us?
I know its very unlikely that hes going to get a decent offer anyway, but I just dont like the feeling thst theyre continuing to bullshit us.... I know Gemmil is fond of saying the SD branding is a sort of "quit pro quo" for Ashley taking the debt on himself to prevent the club from laying out huge fees to banks in interest, but if the debt is still there the club is only gaining anything while he is in charge.
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Beckham jumped through hoops to help get the gig in his old backyard because he knew it would get him attention on the world stage where he likes to be. If he was expecting a place in the squad on the back of it and therefore yet more time in the spotlight then all I can say is life is full of disappointments like this for us mere mortals so he'll just have to get on with it too.
Good footballer a decade ago? He was playing for the third biggest club in the world two years ago imo, and doing well. He's been a figure head for UNICEF for no financial gain, he basically won the Olympics for the country, in my view if he wasn't there Paris would've won it, and internationally he is arguably the most famous living Englishman.
For me was at his peak in 2001/2ish, when England had to beat Greece at OT etc, fair enough Real Madrid but he was well into a decline when he left (for Hollywood,funny that...) UNICEF is a noble gig, and obviously they like a famous face because it gets them (and him funnily enough..) into the papers. Seb Coe's speech was a bit more inspiring than a handshake and a chat with a squeaky voiced metrosexual Essex boy I'd imagine and the Becks factor was lost on those in his own sport when we tried for the WC.
I'm swimming against the tide here, I know that, but sorry like he's a bit of a joke iyam. If you want a sporting icon then Steve Redgrave springs to mind for me, I love football but a lot of footballers leave a lot to be desired and Beckham's one of them.
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He is a national icon, the national icon some would say,
Why though?....honestly, I cant see it. He cant even talk properly. He's attractive to members of the female gender and he was a good footballer a decade ago. He's a national icon in the way a reality tv show star is.
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PL I rate you as one of the knowledgeable posters on here. The above post though is one massive crock of shit.
Very kind of you to say all that...you're a lovely man
...I was just on the gee up, someone on 5live said it earlier Its a massive commercial own goal, but if Pearce has done it for the reasons stated this morning theres no real argument iyam.
I do think Beckham brings out the "in the closet" side of a lot of blokes...nowt wrong with that like but the way he's treated as some sort of national treasure leaves me a bit bemused tbh.
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From nufcblog:
What has Newcastle United ever done for Mike Ashley (and Sports Direct)?
Cheap and nasty.There has been something of a rehabiltation of the reputation of Mike Ashley at Newcastle United recently.
This, of course, has been due largely to the club’s generally upward trajectory in terms of it’s League position in recent seasons under Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew, as well as some successes in the transfer market since Ashley and Llambias cast their their three casino aquaintances adrift and let Chris Hughton bring in a proper chief scout, a move which has been highly beneficial for the club so far.
Less obviously, perhaps, there has also been a relentless PR campaign run through the media on all levels. Like the current coalition government, much has been said to demonise the previous administration, presenting Ashley as some kind of messiah type figure who made tough choices to save the club from certain liquidation as a great benevolent gesture to the people of Tyneside. But, according to the narrative, this has been a thankless task, with Geordie ingrates not showing the suitable appreciation of his selfless largesse. Admittedly, this isn’t the most difficult thing to do when the targets are the likes of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall. According to a peculiar logic, much has also been made of what Ashley’s alleged financial “backing” of the club in terms of making a £140 million loan to himself, which is repayable on demand by the club, to save himself from paying high interest rates on his own Newcastle United debts. The term “clearing” the club’s debts has been used so often that many fans are still oblivious to the fact that the club is now actually far more in debt than it was when Ashley assumed control of the club in 2007.
However, although all who have been to the stadium formerly known as St James’ Park, as well as those who have seen it on television, have noticed the relentless encroachment of Sports Direct on the fabric of the once proud edifice, with no camera angle left uncovered (including the sky); one question which has been asked less often is: What has Newcastle United done for Mike Ashley and his most important business interest, Sports Direct International PLC?
It started with a single sign on the top of the Gallowgate end of the stadium, eventually spreading like a tumour over the roof of the Gallowgate for TV helicopter shots, and eventually all around the stadium, inside, outside, in post match interviews and so on. Then of course, there was the renaming of stadium itself in two stages, the first of which added Sports Direct to the stadium’s original name in November, 2009. Despite a promise to fans from Derek Llambias to always keep the St James’ Park name, Ashley inevitably reneged on this, eventually discarding the original name entirely two years later in November, 2011.
I was originally inspired to write this piece quite some time ago with the news that Ashley will almost certainly be awarded an ever increasing bonus (which currently stands at almost £24 million) by Sports Direct. It is based on the company meeting a series of “EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation), however the large sums involved have also been justified on a platform of providing extensive free publicity for the company through his other business interest, Newcastle United Football Club. I also noticed some time ago that Sports Direct was, and still is undercutting Newcastle United’s own club shop, and other outlets, by almost 20% on replica shirts, a conflict of interest which, along with the extensive free publicity for Sports Direct, is damaging the club’s merchandising revenue.
Whilst the parameters for Ashley’s so called “Super Stretch” bonus scheme have been based on profit targets, Ashley has already benefitted hugely from Sports Direct’s radically improved figures. At the point in time (November 2009) when the first rename of St James’ Park was announced to the consternation of fans, when the Sports Directification of Newcastle United really started in earnest, Sports Direct’s share price was a lowly £1 and flatlining (see illustration). At the time, Newcastle United were in the Championship, and still in the shadows relatively speaking, so the price kept fairly steady for a while. However, as we all know, the club eventually acheived promotion at the first attempt that season under then manager, Chris Hughton. As soon as Newcastle United made their home return against Aston Villa, an incredible 6-0 victory in front of the cameras of ESPN, the share price proceeded to rise markedly, and has hardly stopped since, rising in line with the club’s fortunes. On the close of trading as of Friday, June 22nd, 2012, it was £3.05, over three times as much. This means that in November, 2009, Ashley’s holding in Sports Direct International PLC was worth around £425 million according to the market. At the time, his total net worth was estimated to be as low as a mere £700 million. Ashley’s holding in Sports Direct is now around £1.3 billion, a rise of around £875 million, and his total net worth is now estimated to be worth around £1.7 billion, a rise of as much as £1 billion. Of course, this is many times what the whole of Newcastle United is worth at it’s current valuation, especially so with Ashley’s £140 million debt hanging over it.
Sports Direct’s share price ticker.
However, Mike Ashley has acknowledged none of the considerable benefits the ownership of Newcastle United has brought to him, with his cipher at the club, Derek Llambias, frequently berating fans for not showing due deference and gratitude for his great charitable gesture in buying the club as a promotional vehicle for his sportswear company. With a breathaking effrontery, the club’s Managing Director has made made statements such as:
“This club can’t support itself without the financial backing of Mike Ashley; we still rely heavily on the owner. To date Mike has invested over £280m into the club, including £140m in interest-free loans. For him to continue to support the club, he has to be interested and enthused to do so. He deserves credit for his financial support but a section of supporters don’t make him feel welcome at St James’ Park, or when he attends away games.”
Of course, I am NOT saying that the Sports Direct’s fortunes rising along with those of Newcastle United’s is a bad thing on it’s own, far from it. I am also not silly enough to credit all, or even most of this rise to the extensive publicity Sports Direct have received through Ashley’s Newcastle United vehicle. Other factors such as Sports Direct share bonus incentive scheme for it’s Oberkapos, more highly ranked employees on real employment contracts rather than the hard pressed drones on minimum wage zero hour contracts, have undoubtedly played a major part. However, the huge exposure through the worldwide media of Premiership TV must have helped significantly. After all, if it didn’t, why has Ashley and his cipher at the club, Llambias, been so aggressive in pushing it through against such vociferous opposition? As for the strange idea that this is some kind of “showcase” to attract another sponsor, virtually everyone in the marketing industry, except for the one employed by Ashley, immediately saw through Llambias’ claims that this was a “showcase” for to attract outside sponsorship what it was, a sham:
“Arguably the most bizarre decision made by the club, however, is to brand the stadium as the S_____ D_____ A____ (named after Mike Ashley’s sports goods company) for a year to showcase the opportunity. What it has showcased to date is the sheer naivety of the club’s board. First, naming rights deals work over a long-term. They are not used for short-term tactical marketing or generating brand awareness but for long-term relationships and brand building.
Look at naming rights deals around the globe and it is very rare to find any that run for less than five years and most significant examples run for 10 years at minimum. It’s difficult to see how the Sports Direct Arena name can be activated to create a ‘showcase’. There is little time to do anything significant to bring the new name to life, especially with such universal derision among the football, media and marketing communities.”
IMR sports marketing & sponsorship intelligence.
No, it is a long term relationship with Sports Direct, with no gain whatsover for the club. On the contrary, the complete Sports Directification of the club is almost certainly a massive turn off to potential outside sponsorship, who don’t want to be drowned out by the ridiculously excessive and tacky SD rebranding of the club. Despite the undoubted advances made in factors such as the wages to turnover ratio of the club and so on, much of this has been cancelled out by the clubs very low commercial revenues, which are amongst the lowest in the Premiership, a ridiculous situation for a club the size of Newcastle United when you look at other clubs on a similar level. To put things into some kind of perspective, Liverpool FC receive £45 million per year in shirt sponsorship revenue alone from American shirt company, Under Armour, and Standard Chartered bank. Newcastle United’s loss is Sports Direct’s gain, but this is no loss to Ashley bearing in mind the great advantage it gives to his primary business interest.
Now the club finds itself in European competition, it’s time for some payback from Ashley in terms of reinforcing the squad, and an end to the almost constant chicanery would go amiss either.
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Is picking Beckham for the Olympic football not like picking Frank Bruno for the boxing?
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'true dat'?
You turning scouse on my ass, Robert?
Its a London urban colloquialism meaning "that's correct" used by those of an ethnic background other than Anglo Saxon, blud..brrrrrapppp etc etc
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Thought Fergie might have wanted the gig...cant see many Scottish players appearing in the squad..Barry Bannon anyone
Add Bale and Ramsey to the other two druids and its a good start...Kyle Walker a good shout,that Mchearn? kid from Chelsea....not bad..
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There'll be a few disappointed Japanese tourists in London now, mind.
"true dat" as I beleive the younger people say David :)The pressure that Pearce must've been under to pick him from the BOC doesn't bare thinking about....ticket sales not top of Psycho's agenda plainly....
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Is rigging markets a federal offence in the states?...pity its not against the law here.
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"piss taking attention seeker who puts his own agenda above that of the team or squad"?
That's total bollocks like. He loves seeing his photo about the place, but the bloke is a model pro. He's one of very few in the modern era who seemed genuinely proud to play for his country too.
Its partially bollocks yeah, his attitude was great, but for me it was a means to an end. His life is about self promotion. I think a lot of the hoopla you get with him eg private security,chef etc was indulged by Erikkson and McLaren but Pearce is a different character to them, no bullshit, all in together etc and he just didnt want the bullshit sideshow that Beckham brings.
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Can I say there's a larger that usual amount with strange backward views then? You're right you can't class an entire group of people as ALL being cunts, but there are major differences between people from different areas. I think we have a classic one here, you can't say all mackems are twats, but many would agree there are major differences between us and them.
You can say what you want mate really, but sometimes it goes beyond good crack, and am sure theres huge amounts of sweaties who are the same. Do you not think people who are cunts in general (theres loads of them, I agree) are just that ; cunts? For me theres little to do with where youre from, if you're like that you're like that. Last season some of the mackems that I work with changed their attitude to me completley when the fixture list was announced and we were at their place 2nd game in. Bitter as fuck when we won as wll, some didnt as much as look in my direction for months, some still dont. But most of them took it on the chin and are great lads. Good and bad everywhere.
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Well you miss all of my points by a mile though, seeing as though I've mentioned different attitudes in different parts of Scotland on the whole. The very fact I point this out is the complete opposite of saying "they're all the same"
You cant say "everyone north of Stirling is an outrageously biggoted English hater", that is, whatever you want to say, demonising a whole area of the UK. Theyres some funny fuckers up there, granted. But there are everywhere.
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I don't take offence to the Scots hating the English I just look down my nose at them for doing so, such is the backward nature of who they are. By the way I've been going to Scotland 25 years. Best people in Scotland by a distance are in Glasgow imo. I'm not surprised you were bullied, because of the inherent anti-English sentiment, although north of the Central Belt it beggars belief.
You miss the point by a fuckin mile though.....its Scottish people with your attitude in Scotland who hate the English. And its English people with your attitude in England who hate the Scots. Its a self perpetuating thing, thinking "oh theyre all the same those fuckers" when the inverse is often the case; people are all the same because most people are ordinary and can get along with anyone. You just cant demonise a whole area of the UK, its ludicrous
Generic small time football blather thread
in Newcastle Forum
Posted
J Allen (Swansea), C Bellamy (Liverpool), R Bertrand (Chelsea), J Butland (Birmingham), S Caulker (Tottenham), T Cleverley (Manchester United), J Cork (Southampton), C Dawson (West Brom), R Giggs (Manchester United), A Ramsey (Arsenal), M Richards (Manchester City), D Rose (Tottenham), S Sinclair (Swansea), M Sordell (Bolton), J Steele (Middlesbrough), D Sturridge (Chelsea), N Taylor (Swansea), J Tomkins (West Ham)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18675124