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Fat Mike Ashley

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He's been pretty poor if we are being honest. In the 20 years prior to him joining they were in Europe every other year (10 times), 7 top 6 finishes, 2 FA Cup finals, transfer records broken, ambition shown. In the 10 years he's been there they've been in Europe once, 2 relegations, a couple other seasons flirting with relegation, basically going massively backwards, that's not mentioning the Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena stuff. They might be in a better position financially but when finishing 16th or 17th is considered a success it's not exactly exciting for fans. I read in his 10 years there, he has spent a net of £30 million in transfers (circa £3m a season) while the likes of Bournemouth (a team in League 2 10 years ago) are spending two thirds of that net spend on one player.

He's a safe owner, they will be OK financially and new ownership could either way - they could end up with a Venky or they could get someone in who will spend similar amounts to the likes of Hall / Shepherd in comparison to the rest of the league. Will be interesting to see how it goes, and could be a case of 'careful what you wish for' but if I were a mag I'd be willing to risk that.
 
Session said:
He's been pretty poor if we are being honest. In the 20 years prior to him joining they were in Europe every other year (10 times), 7 top 6 finishes, 2 FA Cup finals, transfer records broken, ambition shown. In the 10 years he's been there they've been in Europe once, 2 relegations, a couple other seasons flirting with relegation, basically going massively backwards, that's not mentioning the Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena stuff. They might be in a better position financially but when finishing 16th or 17th is considered a success it's not exactly exciting for fans. I read in his 10 years there, he has spent a net of £30 million in transfers (circa £3m a season) while the likes of Bournemouth (a team in League 2 10 years ago) are spending two thirds of that net spend on one player.

He's a safe owner, they will be OK financially and new ownership could either way - they could end up with a Venky or they could get someone in who will spend similar amounts to the likes of Hall / Shepherd in comparison to the rest of the league. Will be interesting to see how it goes, and could be a case of 'careful what you wish for' but if I were a mag I'd be willing to risk that.
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I'd give anything to be good enough to finish 16th/17th with a financially stable club.

We;ve barely got a club now man.
 
Roker Mackem said:
I'd give anything to be good enough to finish 16th/17th with a financially stable club.

We;ve barely got a club now man.
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True, but a lot of it is relative. When I was a 10/11 year old lad just getting into football, we were losing to the likes of Notts County and Southend at home (I suppose kind of where we are at now) whereas they were beating Man Utd 5-0 and Spurs 7-1 with a exciting attacking team.
 
horselover said:
He'd be a better owner than Short. The mags need to be careful what they wish for. I don't get the hate they have for him tbh
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Exactly this, the previous regime had them in a stupid amount of debt when Ashley came in....He has done what was needed to stabalise them and all they can do is bitch and whine.
 
It's not that far fetched. He clearly hates the supporters for the shit they have given him and he used them as a means to promote his business empire. He could sell them and buy us for a fraction of the price and do similar things. Hopefully poor money in to a successful team to ram it up their arses!! Only dreaming of course but that would be funny and he is clearly a vindictive fucker!!
 
rubberface said:
....you listening to Radio Newcastle tonight by any chance?
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Nope. I'm a long way from Newcastle and wouldnt listen to it if I was closer. Are you telling me someone has had the same nightmare as me? Spooky.
Even more spooky is the number of people on here that call it a good idea.

Bagpuss said:
Exactly this, the previous regime had them in a stupid amount of debt when Ashley came in....He has done what was needed to stabalise them and all they can do is bitch and whine.
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And yet arguably Short has finally woken up to his responsibilities and has hopefully stopped wasting money on endless mangerial payoffs.
 
Session said:
He's been pretty poor if we are being honest. In the 20 years prior to him joining they were in Europe every other year (10 times), 7 top 6 finishes, 2 FA Cup finals, transfer records broken, ambition shown. In the 10 years he's been there they've been in Europe once, 2 relegations, a couple other seasons flirting with relegation, basically going massively backwards, that's not mentioning the Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena stuff. They might be in a better position financially but when finishing 16th or 17th is considered a success it's not exactly exciting for fans. I read in his 10 years there, he has spent a net of £30 million in transfers (circa £3m a season) while the likes of Bournemouth (a team in League 2 10 years ago) are spending two thirds of that net spend on one player.

He's a safe owner, they will be OK financially and new ownership could either way - they could end up with a Venky or they could get someone in who will spend similar amounts to the likes of Hall / Shepherd in comparison to the rest of the league. Will be interesting to see how it goes, and could be a case of 'careful what you wish for' but if I were a mag I'd be willing to risk that.
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Do you realise how much debt they were in when he took over. This is an interesting read from 2009 and shows just how f***ing nuts the Toon Army are.

You must be logged on to see external links


DJM said:
Nope. I'm a long way from Newcastle and wouldnt listen to it if I was closer. Are you telling me someone has had the same nightmare as me? Spooky.
Even more spooky is the number of people on here that call it a good idea.


And yet arguably Short has finally woken up to his responsibilities and has hopefully stopped wasting money on endless mangerial payoffs.
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Sadly he has gone from one extreme to another......There is a middle ground, he foolishly failed to pitch us in that middle ground.
 
johnnyat87 said:
Despite the deluded mags saying otherwise he's actually improved a lot of things and has them in a much better financial situation.
Still don't worry mate, nee chance he's investing in football again after handling that lot.
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I'll ask you to name just 5 things to make it easy
 
Session said:
He's been pretty poor if we are being honest. In the 20 years prior to him joining they were in Europe every other year (10 times), 7 top 6 finishes, 2 FA Cup finals, transfer records broken, ambition shown. In the 10 years he's been there they've been in Europe once, 2 relegations, a couple other seasons flirting with relegation, basically going massively backwards, that's not mentioning the Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena stuff. They might be in a better position financially but when finishing 16th or 17th is considered a success it's not exactly exciting for fans. I read in his 10 years there, he has spent a net of £30 million in transfers (circa £3m a season) while the likes of Bournemouth (a team in League 2 10 years ago) are spending two thirds of that net spend on one player.

He's a safe owner, they will be OK financially and new ownership could either way - they could end up with a Venky or they could get someone in who will spend similar amounts to the likes of Hall / Shepherd in comparison to the rest of the league. Will be interesting to see how it goes, and could be a case of 'careful what you wish for' but if I were a mag I'd be willing to risk that.
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Excellent post. One of the best I have read on here.
 
The Great MES said:
The mags are too thick to recognise all the good work he's done. All they can think about is spend spend spend to reclaim their rightful place back in the Champions League
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This is a little too close to home... this could so easily be said as...

The [mags] Mackems are too thick to recognise all the good work he's done. All they can think about is spend spend spend to reclaim their rightful place back in the [Champions] Premier League

I actually think that some of the sentiments here about there being a good (and unacknowledged) side to Ashley's ownership tenure is true - he did stabilise the financial side of the club. But with a neutering of ambition for higher places in the league table.

I don't see a willingness here to accept the longer term view that a relegation (or two) might be necessary to achieve stability. (And when I said two relegation's, I was referring to NUFC going down twice into the championship, not SAFC going straight to League 1.) I hope that SAFC had contingency planning, this time last year, for the strong possibility of the Championship as there needs to be a 3 year plan (not a 3 month plan).

I'm following Grumpy's expectation that a painful reconciliation of the financial picture is required and that there just isn't the luxury of 3M here or 5M there for players for the foreseeable future. But that when SAFC get through that period, then the future brightens.
 
Session said:
He's been pretty poor if we are being honest. In the 20 years prior to him joining they were in Europe every other year (10 times), 7 top 6 finishes, 2 FA Cup finals, transfer records broken, ambition shown. In the 10 years he's been there they've been in Europe once, 2 relegations, a couple other seasons flirting with relegation, basically going massively backwards, that's not mentioning the Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena stuff. They might be in a better position financially but when finishing 16th or 17th is considered a success it's not exactly exciting for fans. I read in his 10 years there, he has spent a net of £30 million in transfers (circa £3m a season) while the likes of Bournemouth (a team in League 2 10 years ago) are spending two thirds of that net spend on one player.

He's a safe owner, they will be OK financially and new ownership could either way - they could end up with a Venky or they could get someone in who will spend similar amounts to the likes of Hall / Shepherd in comparison to the rest of the league. Will be interesting to see how it goes, and could be a case of 'careful what you wish for' but if I were a mag I'd be willing to risk that.
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You do realise that if it hadn’t been for mortgaging every last thing in the 90s/early 2000s they would have been in no different a situation to us and arguably worse as they were heading for the third tier. Their faymus European nights and title challenges were as unrealistic and unlikely as Man City’s resurgence until the money was being thrown about.
 
What A Waster said:
I can count to 3. Go for that instead.
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Reduced debt
Appointed Rafa
Spent a fortune backing Shteve and then Rafa to get promoted
Currently 9th in Premier League

There's four mate, can't be arsed to think about your lot any more. Fat Mike has made mistakes made along the way but at the moment your general outrage is pretty baffling (apart from deluded entitlement) - it could be worse, you could have Ellis Short, Venky's or many others.
 
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johnnyat87 said:
Reduced debt
Appointed Rafa
Spent a fortune backing Shteve and then Rafa to get promoted
Currently 9th in Premier League

There's four mate, can't be arsed to think about your lot any more. Fat Mike has made mistakes made along the way but at the moment your general outrage is pretty baffling (apart from deluded entitlement) - it could be worse, you could have Ellis Short, Venky's or many others.
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Appointed Benitez. Good thing.


Spent money to get promoted. Cancelled out by even being relegated in the first place by giving the job to an idiot like McClaren, then sticking with him for far too long when it was clear it wasn't working.

The debt is bigger than it was when he took over. Only its owed to him now interest free. In return for such a generous deed and not charging interest he takes all advertising space in st james park for his crap companies. He benefits, nufc lose out on revenue estimated to be worth £8m a year.

Currently 9th in the premier league? Ashley devising tactics and picking the team now is he? Remember the manager wanted more players in, like a striker, keeper, creative midfielder. 9th in the league is nothing to do with Ashley.
 
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