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**Sean of the Shed** · 19-01-2010, 20:29

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

I'm inclined to think that Newcastle's success this season is despite rather than a result of his actions. The only reason Hughton is in charge is because he didn't want to spend more money on employing somebody else.
If he does make anything back on it, and he has a hell of a lot to claw back to match his initial investment, then he can only really be described as a spawny get.

**ursus arctos** · 19-01-2010, 21:05

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

I see a couple of possible reasons for Newcastle's failure to implode:

1) the predictions of their required expenditures for the season were materially incorrect (on the high side);

2) the club was able to renegotiate some of the most burdensome contracts so as to reduce (or at least delay) the amount of such expenditures;

3) the club has been able to generate significantly more revenue in the Championshipthan predicted; and/or

4) Ashley has been covering the losses, having concluded that doing so is the only way he can ever hope to recoup a meaningful portion of his original investment.

My money is on 4) being the most significant factor in this particular case.

**Cavalry Trouser Tips** · 19-01-2010, 23:10

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

I bet this article went down well with someone.

**Outside Agent** · 19-01-2010, 23:35

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Have they eased their wages outlay that much? Big earners like Smith, Butt & Nolan are still there, and the likes of Ryan and Steven Taylor & Harper must be still on standard PL wages. Unless there's somebody I'm forgetting, of those who departed since relegation, only Owen and Duff would have been on serious top-level money. So, I imagine Newcastle's wage bill is still quite high, and probably higher than a substantial number of Premier clubs. If Ryan Taylor and Kevin Nolan returned to Wigan and Bolton respectively, they'd surely be taking a pay decrease. It's probably why, for all the talk of players clamouring to get out of Newcastle, their players seem content in their new environment.

**Sam** · 20-01-2010, 01:43

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Yeah... isn't Jon�s Guti�rrez on something like a seven year contract with above average Premier League wages, and no relegation wage drop built in? I'm sure someone on here (Phoebe perhaps) mentioned this when they first got relegated...

**The Awesome Berbaslug!!!** · 20-01-2010, 03:40

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

I see a couple of possible reasons for Newcastle's failure to implode:

1) the predictions of their required expenditures for the season were materially incorrect (on the high side);

2) the club was able to renegotiate some of the most burdensome contracts so as to reduce (or at least delay) the amount of such expenditures;

3) the club has been able to generate significantly more revenue in the Championshipthan predicted; and/or

4) Ashley has been covering the losses, having concluded that doing so is the only way he can ever hope to recoup a meaningful portion of his original investment.

My money is on 4) being the most significant factor in this particular case.

oh tut tut ursus. I know that living in italy you think that you think you are at the cutting edge of corporate fraud, but since silvio's brave efforts to eliminate crime by making it impossible to be prosecuted for your first 15,000,000 offences, you've fallen behind the cutting edge. People have become lax. and slow, and the explicit removal of the threat of prosecution for theft has allowed the italian political and criminal classes to grow fat and dul, but they are no longer at the cutting edge of financial reality engineering. That belongs to the Irish.

In ireland you have so many zombie companies and builders because no-one wants to be the one that present a �5 bill for coffee, that sends a previously highly rated �5 billion company into a death spiral, so everyone ignores the completely obvious and carries on, in the hope of someday getting some of their money. Even if it is a tiny fraction

**David Agnew** · 20-01-2010, 06:21

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

ursus arctos wrote:

I see a couple of possible reasons for Newcastle's failure to implode:

1) the predictions of their required expenditures for the season were materially incorrect (on the high side);

For what it's worth, I kept my calculations deliberately conservative, by pretending the taxman didn't exist.

2) the club was able to renegotiate some of the most burdensome contracts so as to reduce (or at least delay) the amount of such expenditures;

It could have done, but in every other case where a club has asked players to defer part of their wages, it would have made the news (usually a condition of the PFA allowing the negotiation to happen). Actually re-negotiating lower salaries with players technically isn't allowed, as offering a player a contract that is lower than their existing one automatically guarantees them the right to claim a free transfer with their existing contract paid up.

4) Ashley has been covering the losses, having concluded that doing so is the only way he can ever hope to recoup a meaningful portion of his original investment.

My money is on 4) being the most significant factor in this particular case.

And of course it's 4. According to all reports, the club was halfway into it's �40m overdraft by the beginning of October, and Ashley himself has also made the point that he's had to put �20m a season into the club. That's one of the reasons why the sponsorship of SJP was floated, and then taken up by Ashley's own SportsDirect - it puts more money into the club, only this time it doesn't need to be repaid (totally at odds with the suggestion from the press and seemingly 75% of the fans quoted, who suggested it was just a way of Ashley putting more of Newcastle's money into his own pockets - which I can't even begin to understand how that works out).

The other thing is that the banks are fairly understanding of things like the transfer window. As long as Newcastle started well, their bank would give them to January before reviewing the situation. As Newcastle are six points clear of third, the bank won't be pressuring the club to sell (or sell too much), as the bank will see that the club's revenue is likely to increase by the summer.

If Newcastle subsequently falter, then the banks will get edgy, but as long as the team produces the goods, and Ashley pays the taxman, they should be OK, considering that the taxman, the bank and Ashley are going to be the clubs biggest creditors. And wish Ashley owed �120m, as long as he can bail them out (and media reports of his SportsDirect company being in the shit las summer, appear to have been very premature), he will, because the biggest loser in administration, would be Ashley.

**David Agnew** · 20-01-2010, 06:53

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Roches P.A. wrote:

Have they eased their wages outlay that much? Big earners like Smith, Butt & Nolan are still there, and the likes of Ryan and Steven Taylor & Harper must be still on standard PL wages. Unless there's somebody I'm forgetting, of those who departed since relegation, only Owen and Duff would have been on serious top-level money.

Viduka and Martins were the main two.

So, I imagine Newcastle's wage bill is still quite high, and probably higher than a substantial number of Premier clubs. If Ryan Taylor and Kevin Nolan returned to Wigan and Bolton respectively, they'd surely be taking a pay decrease. It's probably why, for all the talk of players clamouring to get out of Newcastle, their players seem content in their new environment.

Newcastle's current wage bill is in the region of �650k per week. Inlcuing the early season wages that went to Duff and the other players they sold at the end of August, that's three times their TV money (including parachute payments) this season.

SamLKelly wrote:

Yeah... isn't Jon�s Guti�rrez on something like a seven year contract with above average Premier League wages, and no relegation wage drop built in? I'm sure someone on here (Phoebe perhaps) mentioned this when they first got relegated...

Gutierrez is on a five year �50k a week contract. Joey Barton's the biggest earner (65k per week plus 13k image rights), with Alan Smith and Coloccini (60k) just behind. No-one's contracted beyond 2013.

Xisco was the one rumoured to be on a seven year deal, but he's only on a five year contract. But most of that was rumoured because he was shit, and shared the same surname as former "Vice president of Player Recruitment" Tony Jimenez. The suggestion being that they were related, when they're not.

**The Awesome Berbaslug!!!** · 20-01-2010, 10:59

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

hold on, joey barton gets paid for his image rights?

**Cavalry Trouser Tips** · 20-01-2010, 11:00

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Joey Barton has an image rights deal?

Wow.

Edit: yes, it is the most extraordinary thing I've heard too.

**The Awesome Berbaslug!!!** · 20-01-2010, 11:03

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

also why is he being paid 4 million a year? Surely he didn't have a whole heap of options after leaving man city?

**Guest** · 20-01-2010, 12:52

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

I always think the name Mike Ashley sounds like an 80's local radio DJ

**David Agnew** · 20-01-2010, 14:13

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Cavalry Trouser Tips wrote:

Joey Barton has an image rights deal?

Wow.

Edit: yes, it is the most extraordinary thing I've heard too.

�675,000 per year.

"Barton's image rights payments - which work out at roughly �13,000 a week - are believed to be at least �200,000 higher than those of his best paid team-mates. While most high profile players receive just over 10 per cent of their basic salary, Barton, whose contract runs until 2012, is paid just over 20 per cent."

Just to put that figure in perspective, Manchester United bought Peter Schmeichel for �530,000.

**David Agnew** · 20-01-2010, 14:17

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

The Mighty Kubelgog!!! wrote:

also why is he being paid 4 million a year? Surely he didn't have a whole heap of options after leaving man city?

Well, he was still under contract, and Newcastle had competition from West Ham for the right to buy him.

**beak** · 07-06-2016, 11:06

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Listening to Mike Ashley speaking before the Business Committee reveals that he might not be a genius! Indeed, it transpires he may well be thick as fuck!

**ursus arctos** · 07-06-2016, 11:11

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Likely his best defence at this point

**beak** · 07-06-2016, 11:53

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

In the process of being nailed to the wall, he's gone from stupid to belligerently defensive. He looks quite unwell, though that may be wishful thinking on my part.

I'd love to lighten the tone with a few aggressive questions about NUFC.

**Nocturnal Submission** · 27-05-2019, 16:53

Well, his bank account might be about to get a boost:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48420387

**Nesta** · 27-05-2019, 18:11

Questions to which the answer is 'No'.

**Nefertiti2** · 27-05-2019, 18:23

I was going to say that the starter of the thread mistyped "cunt".

**The Awesome Berbaslug!!!** · 27-05-2019, 18:42

I'm very impressed that Abu Dhabi think the way to quieten down all the questions into their activities is to buy another football club and do the same thing there.

**Janik** · 27-05-2019, 19:13

Doubling down is an age-old strategy.

**Satchmo Distel** · 27-05-2019, 19:18

Can cousins buy different clubs in the same competition?

**Nesta** · 28-05-2019, 13:00

So Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed has yet to provide proof of funds. <raises eyebrow to camera>

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Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

Might Mike Ashley, in fact, be a genius?

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