Club statement

[Happy Face 29]

The payments – which rise from £16m a year over two years – will start from next season

 

Does that mean we'll be getting an additional £16m next season from relegation the season before last...or is it only if you stay down?

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Of course he wants to go down that road again.

[The Fish 10969]

It's just complete madness.

 

Completely consonant with his Premiership performance like.

 

I had been talking about decent performances, maybe getting a reasonable position and hopefully blooding a few kids.

 

Now I think we'll lose our big game players; Jose, Jonas, Fab, Saylor to pay for players half their quality. We'll grind out draws at home against the likes of Forest and we obliterated by the bigger clubs home and away. Attendances will be shit, and the few players who have stayed will soon be looking for the exit. Oh and we'll definitely go down.

 

This is probably worse news than getting relegated. At least then we had hopes of rebuilding, hopes of bouncing back. This basically is a signal of intent, they intend to try to survive on a shoestring.

 

We're utterly utterly boned.

[trophyshy 7084]

can't even buy a vowel.

Edited May 10, 2010 by trophyshy

[Monroe Transfer 0]

They go on about a 5 year plan but it's nonsense like this which makes it plainly obvious that Ashley wants to do as little as possible before a buyer comes along.

 

I don't believe that they've shut the door privately to someone coming in and taking it off his hands. A relatively stable Premier League club is a lot easier to sell than a Championship club with an uncertain future.

[Craig 6700]

Shall I start the "Championship season 2011-2012" thread?

FC United of Newcastle 2013/2014 thread being even more forward thinking.

 

How about we re-locate to north of Forest Hall.

 

Fooball United Club of Killingworth

 

??

 

[Park Life 71]

Lighter production in sector 6 broke all records...The saving of fuel oil targets in sector 5 have been accomplished. The choc ration will be doubled. All doubleplusgood.

[Guest Barrack Road]

Shall I start the "Championship season 2011-2012" thread?

FC United of Newcastle 2013/2014 thread being even more forward thinking.

 

How about we re-locate to north of Forest Hall.

 

Fooball United Club of Killingworth

 

??

 

haha

 

I was thinking there if Newcastle was a town rather than a city, and we needed fold we could be known as FC United of Newcastle Town. FCUNT quite apt given our present owner.

[Renton 22002]

So, who's looking forward to the derbies next year?

 

 

 

 

[Sonatine 11545]

George Caulkin

 

In a parallel universe, a parallel Newcastle United released a parallel statement on their parallel official website yesterday evening. This is how it read...

 

Dear Newcastle United supporters,

 

First things first: thank you. Thank you on behalf of everyone connected with the club, from the players, from the managerial staff and from the boardroom, for your continued backing. Thank you for bearing with us over the past few, difficult seasons and thank you for persevering as we attempt to put things right.

 

Thank you for continuing to buy your season tickets, your replica shirts, your pies and programmes and thank you for trooping through the turnstiles to shout yourselves hoarse week upon week. We know that you have a choice, that you didn’t have to do what you did and we appreciate the sacrifices some of you made at a time when the economy is in turmoil and finances are tight. In a very real and meaningful way, we simply couldn’t have done it without you.

 

For a club that haven't won a domestic trophy since 1955 to record an average attendance of 43,387 in the Coca-Cola Championship was stunning and humbling. Once again: thank you.

 

Without wishing to open old sores, we recognise that we’ve made some pretty big mistakes. Hopefully, by acknowledging that and accepting it, the process of healing those wounds can gather pace. What’s been so productive about the campaign just ended is that it felt like we were all in it together; team, coaches, fans. In testing circumstances, the club began to renew itself and long may that continue.

 

In the spirt of that bond, we feel that we have a duty to be open and frank. Just as this is a different Newcastle from the club that were relegated a year ago, it also a very different environment. Money has coalesced at the top of the Barclays Premier League and it is all too easy for clubs to overreach themselves chasing an illusory pot of gold. There were some great times at St James’ Park under Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson and we’d love to repeat them, but we all have to accept that, for the foreseeable future anyway, things have changed.

 

We’re not trying to apportion blame here - and, in any case, we would deserve a slice of it - but, for whatever reason, the club got into a situation where they were paying exorbitant transfer fees, wages and agent fees, often at the expense of team-building. That can’t and won’t happen again. Successful clubs build and grow and we want to protect the team spirit that has been so evident in the Championship. We want to protect the football club as a whole.

 

It is our judgement - and that of Chris Hughton, our manager - that we have the basis of a squad that can compete in the Premier League next season. If you look at clubs like Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and, more recently, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City, you can see that it’s possible to stabilise following promotion and that’s the route that Newcastle are going down. We’ll be relying on loans, free transfers and a bit of imagination. We’re not saying it’ll be easy and we’re taking nothing for granted, least of all you.

 

Put simply, the pot is empty. In our last season in the Premier League, we made a loss of £37.7m and we’re due to record another loss of £32.5m this season. That’s just not sustainable. Our overdraft - all clubs have them - stands at £20m and it’s already been allocated. Yes, our income from television money will shoot back up again, but the owner has already invested around £300m of his own money into Newcastle and, as far as he’s concerned, that’s enough. As our last accounts stated, there is an outstanding loan of £111m from Mike Ashley that is “repayable on demand,” and, ideally, he’d like some of it back.

 

That’s reasonable, isn’t it? He’s kept things ticking over this season and we’ve slashed costs, but it’s a matter of record that Mike has twice attempted to sell the club and he just isn’t willing to leave himself further out of pocket. You may not want to hear that, but we hope you appreciate the honesty. To borrow an old phrase, we are where we are.

 

In the meantime, we want to build a new Newcastle, if you will. We want this to be a Newcastle you can be proud of. A big part of that, as always, will be determined by what happens on the pitch and all players will be reminded of their responsibilities to you, but it also means focusing resources on our Academy structure.

 

For far too long, this region has allowed its better players to leave and we have to put a stop to that drain of talent. We tip our hats to the work done by our neighbours Middlesbrough and Sunderland in this regard and we want to do the same. And we mean it this time. We’re going to let the experts get on with the job of building scouting networks and providing opportunities and, with a bit of luck, in a few years’ time, you’ll be cheering on a team peppered with skilful Geordies. How good would that be?

 

We should also say a few words about the media and our relationship with them. It hasn’t always been easy. We happen to think that this club and their supporters has not always been well served by newspapers, television and radio and that we’re sometimes subjected to crude stereotyping, but we also accept that because of decisions taken by this regime and its predecessors, we’ve made ourselves easy targets. In retrospect, there was probably an opportunity to reshape the debate when Mr Ashley bought the club, but he was never very comfortable about assuming a public role and that moment has sadly dissipated.

 

We have to hold our hands up, too. When we have spoken out, we haven’t consistently managed to get our message across in the way we wanted to, so we’ve taken the decision to let our football and our football people do the talking for us. If you see anything in the papers from now on where Newcastle “sources” or “insiders” are quoted, rest assured that it hasn’t come from us. We don’t want to get in the way of Chris’s work because he’s got a tough enough job without any unnecessary interference from us.

 

Hope this clears things up.

 

Thanks again and Howay the Lads,

 

Newcastle United

 

[DubiousBobcat 0]

It's just complete madness.

 

Completely consonant with his Premiership performance like.

 

I had been talking about decent performances, maybe getting a reasonable position and hopefully blooding a few kids.

 

Now I think we'll lose our big game players; Jose, Jonas, Fab, Saylor to pay for players half their quality. We'll grind out draws at home against the likes of Forest and we obliterated by the bigger clubs home and away. Attendances will be shit, and the few players who have stayed will soon be looking for the exit. Oh and we'll definitely go down.

 

This is probably worse news than getting relegated. At least then we had hopes of rebuilding, hopes of bouncing back. This basically is a signal of intent, they intend to try to survive on a shoestring.

 

We're utterly utterly boned.

 

I honestly don't think we will lose these players (ok, maybe Saylor) but I am betting Jonas, Colo and Enirque will be with us next season.

[Bizza 105]

And it's a Yo-Yo we Go-Go.

[Gejon 2]

You guys need to chill the fuck out ? I think you're looking into this a bit too much.

 

"Those mongs on Toontastic are happy with this, fucking embarrassment to Newcastle fans" etc etc...

[Guest alex]

It's just complete madness.

 

Completely consonant with his Premiership performance like.

 

I had been talking about decent performances, maybe getting a reasonable position and hopefully blooding a few kids.

 

Now I think we'll lose our big game players; Jose, Jonas, Fab, Saylor to pay for players half their quality. We'll grind out draws at home against the likes of Forest and we obliterated by the bigger clubs home and away. Attendances will be shit, and the few players who have stayed will soon be looking for the exit. Oh and we'll definitely go down.

 

This is probably worse news than getting relegated. At least then we had hopes of rebuilding, hopes of bouncing back. This basically is a signal of intent, they intend to try to survive on a shoestring.

 

We're utterly utterly boned.

 

I honestly don't think we will lose these players (ok, maybe Saylor) but I am betting Jonas, Colo and Enirque will be with us next season.

That's a relief.

[Problem Child 0]

Perhaps it’s what wasn’t said that says the most. Over a thousand words about a five year plan and not one sentence about how or if they intended to repay the clubs debts. I don’t think this statement was badly written, more that it was written to provoke a debate about what the fuck no new capital outlay means so more awkward questions get lost in the maelstrom.

 

There’s no fucking way some money won’t be made available to Chris Hughton. It won’t be much but after this statement a £5m transfer budget will be portrayed as another benevolent gesture. He’s playing us for fools. Ashley isn’t stupid, he’s a cold calculating billionaire who likes a gamble and if this statement is a PR gaff it’s a deliberate PR gaff.

[Guest alex]

Perhaps it’s what wasn’t said that says the most. Over a thousand words about a five year plan and not one sentence about how or if they intended to repay the clubs debts. I don’t think this statement was badly written, more that it was written to provoke a debate about what the fuck no new capital outlay means so more awkward questions get lost in the maelstrom.

 

There’s no fucking way some money won’t be made available to Chris Hughton. It won’t be much but after this statement a £5m transfer budget will be portrayed as another benevolent gesture. He’s playing us for fools. Ashley isn’t stupid, he’s a cold calculating billionaire who likes a gamble and if this statement is a PR gaff it’s a deliberate PR gaff.

They've done this sort of thing before, like when they announced the stuff about the stadium renaming in order to deflect attention away from other things (can't even quite remember what it was at the time).

[Problem Child 0]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

[timnufc 0]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

 

What if the majority did stop handing over our money, you mean he would look to sell the club at a lower price? The problem is, who the hell would that buyer be?

[Tooj 17]

Perhaps it’s what wasn’t said that says the most. Over a thousand words about a five year plan and not one sentence about how or if they intended to repay the clubs debts. I don’t think this statement was badly written, more that it was written to provoke a debate about what the fuck no new capital outlay means so more awkward questions get lost in the maelstrom.

 

There’s no fucking way some money won’t be made available to Chris Hughton. It won’t be much but after this statement a £5m transfer budget will be portrayed as another benevolent gesture. He’s playing us for fools. Ashley isn’t stupid, he’s a cold calculating billionaire who likes a gamble and if this statement is a PR gaff it’s a deliberate PR gaff.

They've done this sort of thing before, like when they announced the stuff about the stadium renaming in order to deflect attention away from other things (can't even quite remember what it was at the time).

Hughton getting the job/taking the club off the market iirc.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

The problem is, who the hell would that buyer be?

 

NUST?

 

Or did they implode?

[timnufc 0]

The problem is, who the hell would that buyer be?

 

NUST?

 

Or did they implode?

 

Hopefully, but we havent heard any plans from them in a while.

[LeazesMag 0]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

 

 

it just won't happen, in the short term. It didn't the last time, it took decades for the real apathy to set in. People are now saying EXACTLY the same sort of things they used to say when Westwood etc ran the show.

 

Sad, and I'm trying not to harp on about it, but its true. And very depressing.

[Guest alex]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

 

 

it just won't happen, in the short term. It didn't the last time, it took decades for the real apathy to set in. People are now saying EXACTLY the same sort of things they used to say when Westwood etc ran the show.

 

Sad, and I'm trying not to harp on about it, but its true. And very depressing.

If you look at it dispassionately there is a case for the club (and clubs in general) to be run in a more prudent way in financial terms. If he had anything like a decent idea about how to do that and how to grow the club 'organically' etc. then you could possibly accept his approach in a grudging way. But he's not even doing that. He's just gambling that we'll stay up (although after this season he probably isn't even that arsed about that) by spending fuck all and he probably thinks he'll get his money back in 4-5 years when the world economy has recovered. If someone's daft enough to pay what he's after before then, even better. That's about the extent on his master plan.

[LeazesMag 0]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

 

 

it just won't happen, in the short term. It didn't the last time, it took decades for the real apathy to set in. People are now saying EXACTLY the same sort of things they used to say when Westwood etc ran the show.

 

Sad, and I'm trying not to harp on about it, but its true. And very depressing.

If you look at it dispassionately there is a case for the club (and clubs in general) to be run in a more prudent way in financial terms. If he had anything like a decent idea about how to do that and how to grow the club 'organically' etc. then you could possibly accept his approach in a grudging way. But he's not even doing that. He's just gambling that we'll stay up (although after this season he probably isn't even that arsed about that) by spending fuck all and he probably thinks he'll get his money back in 4-5 years when the world economy has recovered. If someone's daft enough to pay what he's after before then, even better. That's about the extent on his master plan.

 

 

of course. But there is the problem. He [and he isn't the only one] isn't prepared to see football as being different ie the way it is. And its us, supporters of one of the biggest clubs in the country, who are being let down.

 

Makes me laugh, Liverpool and ManU fans whinging on about having shite owners. They don't know they are born.

[Guest alex]

The biggest threat to Ashley’s plans to get his money back is the supporters. If we ever say ‘fuck you’ en masse and stop handing over our money he’s up shit creek. The disinformation creates enough division within the ranks to stop us ever calling his bluff.

 

 

it just won't happen, in the short term. It didn't the last time, it took decades for the real apathy to set in. People are now saying EXACTLY the same sort of things they used to say when Westwood etc ran the show.

 

Sad, and I'm trying not to harp on about it, but its true. And very depressing.

If you look at it dispassionately there is a case for the club (and clubs in general) to be run in a more prudent way in financial terms. If he had anything like a decent idea about how to do that and how to grow the club 'organically' etc. then you could possibly accept his approach in a grudging way. But he's not even doing that. He's just gambling that we'll stay up (although after this season he probably isn't even that arsed about that) by spending fuck all and he probably thinks he'll get his money back in 4-5 years when the world economy has recovered. If someone's daft enough to pay what he's after before then, even better. That's about the extent on his master plan.

 

 

of course. But there is the problem. He [and he isn't the only one] isn't prepared to see football as being different ie the way it is. And its us, supporters of one of the biggest clubs in the country, who are being let down.

 

Makes me laugh, Liverpool and ManU fans whinging on about having shite owners. They don't know they are born.

Aye. Thing is they get more fucking sympathy than us and we're the impatient ones if you listen to most media outlets. Regarding what you say as well, I think Ashley thought this would be a piece of piss. I don't mean he thought he'd buy us and win the CL within 5 years but I bet he thought he could have us ticking over as a mid-table side and turning a profit within a few seasons. Selling a nice amount of merchandise in the meantime. Football isn't really a business in that sense though, which he's learnt to his cost.