He's the best thing that happened to that club and they just don't realise it. The previous owners borrowing unsustainable amounts of money to bring in the likes of Michael Owen was sending them into the financial abyss.
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Fat Mike Ashley
- Thread starter DJM
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The Fish
Winger
And you haven't even listed the bad things Ashley has done to provide balance for the "good" things @johnnyat87 suggested. Nice.
Aye he's been great hasn't he? Joe Kinnear twice, Dennis Wise, two relegations, constructive dismissal of Keegan, Sacking Hughton,Pardew, McClaren, Wonga, Sports Direct Arena, 1 top half finish in 8 top flight seasons, all revenue streams lower than when he took over other than television money which he has no control over, HMRC. Him and the incompetent people he's appointed are responsible for the mess. The only two good decisions he's made is appointing Hughton and appointing Benitez.
Exactly how fucked were you had he not come in and bought the club and taken on the debt?
The Fish
Winger
Best thing?
The previous owners also bought Shearer, Ginola, Lee, Beardsley, Robert, Speed, etc. They financed our assaults on the Premier League title, financed our adventures in the Champions League, financed our escape from dropping into the third tier and so on...
Best thing ffs
Eh, so you weren't in loads of debt then? It was all their own money?Best thing?
The previous owners also bought Shearer, Ginola, Lee, Beardsley, Robert, Speed, etc. They financed our assaults on the Premier League title, financed our adventures in the Champions League, financed our escape from dropping into the third tier and so on...
Best thing ffs
Well put it this way, he didn't pay the banks off until 2010. 3 years in. The debt was £75m when he took over, its now £130m.
Another good point. Haven't even past the 4th round of the fa cup since 2006
The Fish
Winger
That's some body swerve there lad. Well done.
"He's the best thing that happened to that club and they just don't realise it."
That doesn't explain how sustainable the debt was before he took the club over.
No swerve at all. My point is that you'd more than likely be a lot worse of a position had he not taken the club over.That's some body swerve there lad. Well done.
"He's the best thing that happened to that club and they just don't realise it."
safctommie
Winger
The mags bouncing straight back twice at the first attempt after relegation saved them from serious financial implications.Look at the shit we are going to be in come the end of this season.
What's Man Utd's debt again????
What are their revenues, and why is that relevant? They're the biggest club in the world with a rich history of success. It's barely comparable.
That's some body swerve there lad. Well done.
"He's the best thing that happened to that club and they just don't realise it."
10 years before Ashley had 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th place finishes. Got to Wembley twice, got to two other fa cup semi finals, a uefa semi final, uefa quarter final. Had, i think 7 european campaigns(two in the champions league), and generally tried to do well, and broke our transfer record.
10 years of Ashley: 5th place, no Wembley, no semi finals not even past the 4th round, 2 relegations, 1 european quarter final, 1 european campaign and the transfer record from 12 years ago still stands.
He's our knight in shining armour
It's as if the clubs who beat you in those matches were breaking the magic Newcastle spell of greatness. Your club had a few years in the limelight after some market-beating, unsustainable investment and it's completely gone to your heads.
Plenty of our fans are still the same after two 7th place finishes under Reid.
Hey, I'm under no illusions that the 12 year span from 92 to 04 was a blip in our history. Apart from the Edwardian team of the early 1900s that won 3 league titles and the 1927 league champions, generally in our history we've been a mid table or bottom half team, and also had 40 odd years in the second division.
But to say he's the best thing to ever happen to the club is just wrong. Ashley's reign of terror has been massively misrepresented as being good when it's been dull, depressing and divisive among the support. A real zombie like existence just treading water being used as a player trading post collecting tv cash, balancing the books whilst the club and ground is used as an advertising hoarding for his emporium of shite.
I was exaggerating for a bite. All I ever hear about from Newcastle fans is how shite Ashley is, when in reality he's probably saved the club from financial ruin. Be under no illusions though, most clubs exist as your describe, with the odd good season here and there and maybe a cup run. Newcastle, just like Sunderland, have no divine right to be competing at the highest level without some sort of intervention beyond the norm, whether that's an owner willing to spend his own money to do so, a magic manager, or an influx of cheap talent or from the youth team.
A fine post amongst a lot of dross. He's been awful for NUFC. Taking out his wind-up moves (Kinnear, Wise, Sport Direct Arena) he's spent very little of his personal fortune, reduced commercial income massively due to his Sports Direct branding and is happy with mediocrity. The £3m per year investment on transfers speaks volumes when you consider the amount of Sky money he's raked in. I saw a league table of net spend on players over the last 10 years. Newcastle were bottom.
Well that is possible, but we don't know for sure. I imagine that had Ashley not bought the club we wouldn't have went down in 09, thus avoiding incurring bigger losses and the banks having to take ownership of the ground and training ground therefore doubling the debt. Then eventually the tv deals that have came along would've serviced the debt, whilst other revenue streams for the club would've still existed. All the clubs in the premier league make money now.
Pre Ashley, nufc used to make more money than Spurs.
He's not raking in the Sky money. The money is spent on keeping the club running like players' wages.
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