The Plight of Newcastle Utd FC

[Royal Rother]

This is a soap opera that is going to run and run for a few years so must be worth its own thread.

They apparently have 15 players on £50k+ per week, and not a single one has a Relegation clause in their contract. Holy crap!

The parachute payment of £11m is going to be a drop in the ocean.

As it happens Owen's contract ends in the summer but others on stupid wages have 1, 2 and 3 years left on contracts, and, in this economy, after the spineless displays this season, no clubs are going to pay them anything like the wages they are currently on so what the hell do Newcastle do if they refuse to move?

Correct me if I'm wrong but even if the club goes into Administration don't the players contracts still have to be honoured? Isn't that what fcuked Leeds so badly?

How much money does Mike Ashley have left to oxf*rd off into a club where he is now hated and not welcome at games? If he walks away, writing off whatever debt the club owes him knowing he can never recover it, what can the club do? Go into Administration and start the season with -10 points I suppose - but what if no-one comes in to fund the club?

Could it just fold?

[Row Z Royal]

LOLz at clubs who spend beyond their means!


Right, that's that out of the way then!

[RG30]

Viduka out of contract aswell. Releasing him & Owen would save £9million in wages according to 5Live. The whole club is going to need a complete culture-shift and if Shearer's appointed, he'll be the best option to do that. They'll have to offload the likes of Coloccini, Barton, Xisco at huge losses. It will be a summer of uphevial, but they still got Bassong who if they have to sell will command a hefty transfer fee.

As for Ashley, he's taken a massive hit on the credit crunch but I think he'll see the task through and stay out in the background, if he wants to sell in the future then he'll only recoup the money he paid by getting them back in the Premiership.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Don't know if this has already been posted on HNA? but I'll post it here anyway:

They all went down to Anfield
Twas on the 3rd of May
Hoping God would smile on them
Upon the Sabbath day
Proud as punch in stripey shirts
Cream of the Geordie nation
Ganning along to Liverpool
To see the relegation

Oh me lads, you should've seen them crying
Watching the shambles on the pitch
Premier dreams a'dying
All the lads and lasses there All had gloomy faces
Ganning doon to the Championship
With aal of Shearer's aces

Now way back in September
They told a different tale
Keegan's second coming?
How could the buggers fail?
But then along came Dennis Wise
Who dared to travel norf
Kevin didn't like the tw*t
And quickly buggered orf!

Oh me lads! I think they need a genie
Owen unfit, Xisco's sh*t
and what of Collocini?
Given's a great keeper
but he left the sinking ship
And Harper will be canny good
Doon in the Championship

Now after Keegan scarpered
They all cried in their beer
But fear not, up next they got
Good old Joe Kinnear
He f**king came and f**king got
the f**kers to play their best
Then who'd a f**king thought it
f**king cardiac arrest

Oh me lads, the bugger's in the Freeman
Ashley's scared to watch a game
The fans are all a steamin'
And I will not apologise
for nasty tasteless quips
It'll do the buggers good to be
doon in the championship

With poor Joe confined to bed
For his recuperation
They wondered who could be the man
To save the 'Geordie Nation'
Who could turn this team around
Before they turned to violence?
Hughton got the nod and came out
To the sound of silence

Oh me lads! I'm ganna chuck me seat
The mackems beat us at their place
And now we've had to cheat
Then aal the toon went on the hoy
And got themselves all plastered
And raised a glass to Taylor who's
A cheating diving b*stard!

Ashley looked around and saw
the damage that they'd done
He'd lost a couple of hundred mill
For every game they'd won
He sank another pint in one
And had a revelation
Mary Poppins is the one
To save the Geordie Nation

Oh me lads! The Toon are aal but dead
Obafemi's injured
(or at least that's what he said)
Ah can't believe with Alan boss,
We haven't got much higher
Or is he just like Keegan
Just another false messiah

Oh me lads! The Toon are in the clarts
No more trips to Anfield
Now it's off to foreign parts
Tell aal the cheeky mackems
That this story isn't over
Follow the Toon Army AND......
We'll watch Doncaster Rovers!

[Nick Shorey my Lord!]

Heard about this ^ on R5 and have just found it. It's the only way - but Ant or Dec?

[Dirk Gently]

.....
Correct me if I'm wrong but even if the club goes into Administration don't the players contracts still have to be honoured? Isn't that what fcuked Leeds so badly?

Yep - known as the football creditors' rule - all "football debts" must be honoured in full before any money is distributed between non-football creditors. Otherwise the club cannot belong to the league.

This is what HMRC object to so violently and why they won't agree to any administration settlement where they get less than 100% of what owed to them - because they know that football debts will be paid in full but the tax-payer won't.

The worst example was Carbone at Bradford - it was his 4-year contract and his refusal to change it that sent Bradford into administration, but he was still paid in full, whilst the local guy down the road who printed the programmes and the local baker who supplied the pies got about 5p in the pound - plus (irony of irony at Bradford) th local St John's Ambulance lost about £30,000!

But the other side of the coin is that the whole of the football industry depends on credit - without a 100% assurance that all football debts would be paid it'd cease to function - no transfers would take place, no teams would ever play cup ties at smaller teams and so on - so a rule like this needs to exist one way or another!

[soggy biscuit]

Michael Owen - £41M for 30 goals.

[soggy biscuit]

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore has moved quickly to confirm the league status of Newcastle United after the confusion of the weekends results.

The confusion appears to be around the introduction of ‘messiah points’ at the start of the 08/09 season. “while we do acknowledge that Newcastle picked up 2 messiah points this season, under the new ruling they were also hit with a ‘delusions of grandeur’ fine which wipes out the points leaving them back in the relegation zone.”

Unconfirmed reports in the north east suggest Newcastle will appeal under the ‘greatest fans in the world’ clause though the F.A have confirmed that any appeal would not be dealt with until early next season as they are currently handling Brighton & Hove Albion’s request to join the Champions League under the same clause.

[Victor Meldrew]

Everybody seems to be predicting doom and gloom for the Toon (was that almost poetic?).
I am starting to think that they will have the one shot at redemption but if they don't go up next season then I will join those survival doubters.
Knowing how fanatical their support is (these aren't the dark days of the 80s) let's say that they average 40,000 per home game which I feel is quite feasable if they start o.k.especially with the Shearer factor built in.
So excluding any cup games they would then get gate revenue based on £30 per ticket over 23 games of £27 million or more.
Add the parachute payment of £11 million.
Add TV money because they will be shown more than most at say £2 million.
Add shirt sales if the sponsor is changed and that could easily mean sales of 100,000 shirts or more at even a discounted price of £30 provides another £3 million and possibly another £1 million for the away shirt.
Add beer/food/programme sales on matchdays at say £10 per head per game so for league games only add another £9 million.
Add sponsor money for the season at say £2 million.
That covers most of the revenue aspects so we could be looking at income of say £55 million.
So if they are lumbered with say 4 players on £50,000 per week and a manager on the same then major salaries come to £13 million it still leaves £44 million to cover other players' wages,staff wages,running costs and the capital outlay on goods to be sold.
I think they have a chance of making it work and if it were me I would risk the biggest transfer fee of say £4 million and persuade Steve Sidwell's missus that Geordieland is the place to open boutiques or whatever turns her on so that Shearer can build a team around the proven trier.

If it doesn't work in that first year and attendances drop to 25,000 then I agree that they are f****d.

[Royal Rother]

Alternatively....

They currently have 15 players on £50k+ per week.

Some of those will be on more - let's say it averages out at £65k per week, add on National Insurance costs that makes circa £73k per week, x by 15 players x by 52 weeks = £57m.

That's your £55m all used up on 15 players before the less well paid are taken care of and still leaves all the other running costs to be met.

Even if they manage to offload most of the high earners they will get bugger all transfer fees thus creating an even worse Balance Sheet, and / or they will have to buy them out of their contracts which will cost a fair few million as well.

(I know I am stretching a point or 2 here, but then so were you IMO! )

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Not that blame for it lies at his feet or anything, but I gotta confess to taking a perverse delight at seeing that mook Viduka being a part of a relegated squad again, and once more in the shirt one of those, you know, massive proppa clubs with scads of history on their side and all, tee hee

[PlasticRoyale]

Shearer Factor - win one in eight (IIRC) no fanks

[Stretts]

If I can just add to this thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFV-bnqB9HY

[BR2]

Alternatively....

They currently have 15 players on £50k+ per week.

Some of those will be on more - let's say it averages out at £65k per week, add on National Insurance costs that makes circa £73k per week, x by 15 players x by 52 weeks = £57m.

That's your £55m all used up on 15 players before the less well paid are taken care of and still leaves all the other running costs to be met.

Even if they manage to offload most of the high earners they will get bugger all transfer fees thus creating an even worse Balance Sheet, and / or they will have to buy them out of their contracts which will cost a fair few million as well.

(I know I am stretching a point or 2 here, but then so were you IMO! )

Just an accountant's view compared to that of a minor entrepeneur.

[Deathy]

LOLz at clubs who spend beyond their means!


Right, that's that out of the way then!

I don't see how a club of their size, with their crowds, was spending beyond their means at 50k a week on a wage. Granted the odd exception like Owen, but they're hardly a small club with small income. Plus a billionaire owner.

The only thing that club is guilty of is piss poor judgement in appointing bad managers, one after the other, and so much backroom chopping and changing, it's left the club unstable from the top to the bottom.

I quite like Newcastle. I certainly don't have them down in the Leeds bracket for their crazy spending.

[swansea jack]

LOLz at clubs who spend beyond their means!


Right, that's that out of the way then!

I don't see how a club of their size, with their crowds, was spending beyond their means at 50k a week on a wage. Granted the odd exception like Owen, but they're hardly a small club with small income. Plus a billionaire owner.

The only thing that club is guilty of is piss poor judgement in appointing bad managers, one after the other, and so much backroom chopping and changing, it's left the club unstable from the top to the bottom.

I quite like Newcastle. I certainly don't have them down in the Leeds bracket for their crazy spending.

They are in the same bracket Re: lack of relegation clauses in player contracts though...

[Dirk Gently]

LOLz at clubs who spend beyond their means!


Right, that's that out of the way then!

I don't see how a club of their size, with their crowds, was spending beyond their means at 50k a week on a wage. Granted the odd exception like Owen, but they're hardly a small club with small income. Plus a billionaire owner.

The only thing that club is guilty of is piss poor judgement in appointing bad managers, one after the other, and so much backroom chopping and changing, it's left the club unstable from the top to the bottom.

I quite like Newcastle. I certainly don't have them down in the Leeds bracket for their crazy spending.

They are in the same bracket Re: lack of relegation clauses in player contracts though...

And certainly are too in terms of having borrowed on the strength of future season ticket sales...

[Hoop Blah]

I agree with BR on this one.

I think they'll be pretty ok financially. They'll lose some of those 15 players through contracts being up, they'll manage to offload some and even if the buying clubs don't match their wages, Newcastle can still reduce their wage bill significantly by doing a Leeds and paying a proportion of wages for players they ship out.

Their income will hold up reasonably well because they'll still have decent crowds and they must make a killing on all those barcode shirts!

Long term they might struggle a bit, and they need to get their house in order for the future and not repeat the mistakes of the last 5 years, but financially I don't think they'll be in such a bad position as the media are so keen to build up.

[Ian Royal]

I agree with BR on this one.

I think they'll be pretty ok financially. They'll lose some of those 15 players through contracts being up, they'll manage to offload some and even if the buying clubs don't match their wages, Newcastle can still reduce their wage bill significantly by doing a Leeds and paying a proportion of wages for players they ship out.

Their income will hold up reasonably well because they'll still have decent crowds and they must make a killing on all those barcode shirts!

Long term they might struggle a bit, and they need to get their house in order for the future and not repeat the mistakes of the last 5 years, but financially I don't think they'll be in such a bad position as the media are so keen to build up.

The problem they have is gamble on going back up in two years and try and keep / buy in the quality to do it. Almost certainly on over inflated wages. Bare in mind everyone knows they can hold them over a barrell on outgoing transfers and its not like they have huge numbers of players who'll be in demand. This could easily see them go out of business or fall down the leagues.

Or do they play it safe and reduce the wage bill and potential debt as much as possible essentially condemning themselves to several years outside the Prem at best.

No relegation clauses in 15 contracts over £50k/week is utter madness and deserves punishment. Fine Viduka and Owen go, but what about the other 13!?