Yep, Hall bought success but spent big to do it and he bailed ship shortly after the Shearer era had finished. It then looked like the Mags were going to be in the shit by the time Ashley took over (I'm sure this has been posted on here). Yet you see tweets like this who don't see the bigger picture of the potential mess the Mags were in and focus too much on the past (without looking at the spending to get there), yet Ashley steadied the financial boat within a few years.
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I'd rather Ashley had spent big and failed and it fucked the Mags up, just like we and other clubs have done. Even if the arabs come in and they spend big it may not guarantee long term success, possibly only short term. It could well be they spend 100's of millions, though this spending is going to be more restricted than how Man City did it unless they 'cheat' but they run the risk of being caught. The Mags could be all fart but no shite and actually win nowt and therefore don't get the global brand exposure/recognition and don't get the future income off the back of this. The arabs fuck off and leave NUFC in so much shit that nobody will want them.
Football now is a rich boys play thing and to break into the top 6 and stay there will take some doing. Spurs are the 6th big club to get up there but that's probably due to European places. Look at the money Spurs are now generating from the stadium alone. The same for Arsenal and eventually Chelsea when the sort out Stmaford Bridge. Man Utd gate receipts are huge also and Liverpool and Man City won't be too bad.
Those incomes dwarf the Mags matchday income and there's no way the Mags would charge over £1,000 for a season ticket like Spurs. This is 'bonus' money though some of the matchday fans will think it's all about them filling SJP and financially supporting the club at that level. Sadly it's all about the global fans who will watch on TV, buy the merchandise etc which is the main income of the clubs in the 5 European Leagues (Page 9).
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On Page 16 it shows the split for the PL teams.
On Page 23 it gives more of a breakdown and you can see the huge difference in income for the clubs at the top. Even their gate receipts are just over 15% of the overall income. For the rest of the PL, less than 10% of income is matchday and look at the huge gap of just over £250m if a team doesn't get into Europe!
Some may point out Leicester 'breaking' into the big 6 but that's been discussed to death in many ways so I'll ignore explaining old shite. They're doing areet this season but one thing to consider is taking Vardy out of that team. They could well struggle unless they replace him with another pacey 20+ a season scorer. Big clubs have the money to do this as they can spend big on flops but absorb the lossses. The big clubs are a bit hit and miss this season but no doubt they'll be spending big on transfers/wages this next transfer window to try and sort it out. Leicester on the other hand can't do that to replace Vardy when he eventually does run out of steam.
That's why I don't care if the Mags get taken over as I honestly can't see them breaking into the top like they did in the 90's due to the huge money involved. The gap is too big now and to stay there would take a few years of constant success and getting into Europe to guarantee money from outside matchday income.
Given the other big clubs clout to attract and pay top players (bearing in mind there wasn't 6 big teams back in the 90's) then OK, the Mags may well get a season in the spotlight by nicking a few decent players. It won't be permanent and it will probably end up disastrous for them if the don't get into Europe each and every season. The arabs could bail out and move onto another 'investment' and leave the Mags with huge wage bills but not the huge income to go with it due to lack of success and boom, well fucked over and left to rot as who would touch them then?

p.s. A European Super League will happen before the Mags get established anyway