Jimbo

He's taken his time hasn't he !

Mike Ashley - Official Statement I have enjoyed sport since I was a boy. I love football. I have followed England in every tournament since Mexico '86. I was there to see Maradona and his hand of God. I know what it means to love football and to love a club. I know how important it is to other people because football is so important to me. My life has been tied up with sport. It was the passion that I felt for sport that helped me to be successful with my business. That success allowed me to mix my passion and my business. I bought Newcastle United in May 2007. Newcastle attracted me because everyone in England knows that it has the best fans in football. When the fans are behind the club at St James' Park it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It is magic. Newcastle's best asset has been, is and always will be the fans. But like any business with assets the club has debts. I paid £134 million out of my own pocket for the club. I then poured another £110 million into the club not to pay off the debt but just to reduce it. The club is still in debt. Even worse than that, the club still owes millions of pounds in transfer fees. I shall be paying out many more millions over the coming year to pay for players bought by the club before I arrived. But there was a double whammy. Commercial deals such as sponsorships and advertising had been front loaded. The money had been paid upfront and spent. I was left with a club that owed millions and part of whose future had been mortgaged. Unless I had come into the club then it might not have survived. It could have shared the fate of other clubs who have borrowed too heavily against their future. Before I had spent a penny on wages or buying players Newcastle United had cost me more than a quarter of a billion pounds. Don't get me wrong. I did not buy Newcastle to make money. I bought Newcastle because I love football. Newcastle does not generate the income of a Manchester United or a Real Madrid. I am Mike Ashley, not Mike Ashley a multi-billionaire with unlimited resources. Newcastle United and I can't do what other clubs can. We can't afford it. I knew that the club would cost me money every year after I had bought it. I have backed the club with money. You can see that from the fact that Newcastle has the fifth highest wage bill in the Premier League. I was always prepared to bank roll Newcastle up to the tune of £20 million per year but no more. That was my bargain. I would make the club solvent. I would make it a going concern. I would pour up to £20 million a year into the club and not expect anything back. It has to be realised that if I put £100 million into the club year in year out then it would not be too long before I was cleaned out and a debt ridden Newcastle United would find itself in the position that faced Leeds United. That is the nightmare for every fan. To love a club that overextends itself, that tries to spend what it can't afford. That will never happen to Newcastle when I am in charge. The truth is that Newcastle could not sustain buying the Shevchenkos, Robinhos or the Berbatovs. These are recognised European footballers. They have played in the European leagues and everyone knows about them. They can be brilliant signings. But everybody knows that they are brilliant and so they, and players like them, cost more than £30 million to buy before you even take into account agent commissions and the multi-million pound wage deals. My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. Arsenal is the shining example in England of a sustainable business model. It takes time. It can't be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about. We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don't cost the earth. I am prepared to back large signings for millions of pounds but for a player who is young and has their career in front of them and not for established players at the other end of their careers. There is no other workable way forward for Newcastle. It is in this regard that Dennis and his team have done a first class job in scouting for talent to secure the future of the club. You only need to look at some of our signings to see that it is working, slowly working. Look at Jonas Guttierrez and Fabricio Collocini. These are world class players. The plan is showing dividends with the signing of exceptional young talent such as Sebastein Bassong, Danny Guthrie and Xisco. My investment in the club has extended to time, effort and yet again, money being poured into the Academy. I want Newcastle to be able to create its own legends of the future to rival those of the past. This is a long term plan. A long term plan for the future of the club so that it can flourish. One person alone can't manage a Premiership football club and scout the world looking for world class players and stars of the future. It needs a structure and it needs people who are dedicated to that task. It needs all members of the management team to share that vision for it to work. Also one of the reasons that the club was so in debt when I took over was due to transfer dealings caused by managers moving in and out of the club. Every time there was a change in manager millions would be spent on new players and millions would be lost as players were sold. It can't keep on working like that. It is just madness. I have put Newcastle on a sound financial footing. It is reducing its debt. It is spending within itself. It is recruiting exciting new players and bringing in players for the future. The fans want this process to happen more quickly and they want huge amounts spent in the transfer market so that the club can compete at the top table of European football now. I am not stupid and have listened to the fans. I have really loved taking my kids to the games, being next to them and all the fans. But I am now a dad who can't take his kids to a football game on a Saturday because I am advised that we would be assaulted. Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle United. I am putting the club up for sale. I hope that the fans get what they want and that the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want. This will not be a fire sale. Newcastle is now in a much stronger position than it was in 2007. It is planning for the future and it is sustainable. I am still a fan of Newcastle United. We, my kids and I, have loved standing on the terraces with the fans, we have loved travelling with the away fans and we have met so many fans whose company we have enjoyed. We have absolutely loved it but it is not safe anymore for us as a family. I am very conscious of the responsibility that I bear in owning Newcastle United. Tough decisions have to be made in business and I will not shy away from doing what I consider to be in the best interests of the club. This is not fantasy football. I don't want anyone to read my words and think that any of this is an attack on Kevin Keegan. It is not. Kevin and I always got on. Everyone at the club, and I mean everyone, thinks that he has few equals in getting the best out of the players. He is a legend at the club and rightly so. Clearly there are disagreements between Kevin and the Board and we have both put that in the hands of our lawyers. I hope that all the fans get to read this statement so that they understand what I am about. I would not expect all of the fans to agree with me. But I have set out, clearly, my plan. If I can't sell the club to someone who will give the fans what they want then I shall continue to ensure that Newcastle is run on a business and football model that is sustainable. I care too much about the club merely to abandon it. I have the interests of Newcastle United at heart. I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do but it won't happen overnight and it may not happen at all if a buyer does not come in. You don't need to demonstrate against me again because I have got the message. Any further action will only have an adverse effect on the team. As fans of Newcastle United you need to spend your energy getting behind, not me, but the players who need your support. I am determined that Newcastle United is not only here today, but that it is also there tomorrow for your children who stand beside you at St James' Park. Mike Ashley. Sunday 14th September 2008

His statement basically says, "you've spoken, you don't want me, I'm off"

Dodgy photo on its way !

Correct, which is exactly why I've kept my trap shut on the subject, I've certainly got an idea of what my actions would be if I was a season ticket holder, but I'm not so I'll not point my finger at those that are.

match "highlights" http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1559438/

MIKE ASHLEY is ready to tell Newcastle fans baying for his blood: Give me £1,000 each and you can run the club yourselves. There was a massive fans’ protest against the under-siege millionaire Toon boss during yesterday’s disastrous 2-1 home defeat to Hull. And last night a close friend of Ashley said: “He’s a big boy and won’t go anywhere he’s not wanted. If the fans continue to say ‘stay away’ he could do just that. “They say there are 400,000 Newcastle fans in the area. If they all put in £1,000 they can buy the club and run it themselves. ““They can have a website and vote for the manager. They can pick the team and choose the players they buy and sell. They can do it all.” Only managing director Derek Llambias braved the baying Geordie mob for Newcastle's 2-1 home defeat by Hull on Saturday, sitting alone in the directors’ box as the St James’ Park crowd screamed: “Sack the board.” Ashley, director Dennis Wise and vice-president Tony Jimenez all stayed away on police advice on the day the Toon Army turned on their own. ‘Cockney Mafia Out’ one banner read. It was one of the more savoury ones. The club’s billionaire benefactor was ridiculed as a “fat greedy b******” and “too fat to wear the shirt” by thousands of protesters outside the main Milburn reception as an ugly, angry mood enveloped the stadium. Wise was mocked as ‘rat face’ and ‘a dwarf’. There was even a Wanted poster: Mike ‘Fattyboy’ Ashley and Dennis ‘Ratface’ Wise for crimes against Newcastle United. The defeat to a Hull side which had been thrashed 5-0 at home by Wigan last week added to the bile and bitterness. Marlon King scored twice for the visitors, with Xisco grabbing a late consolation for United on his debut. The “Ashley Out” campaign will have registered with the Sports Direct chief even if he was nowhere near Tyneside. Ashley is a self-made man and proud of it. He has invested £250million into the Toon and has a five-year plan to turn the club from also-rans to challengers for honours. But, after scenes unprecedented even among the Geordie hordes, there was a real doubt a to whether he will have the heart to carry on in the face of such abuse and hostility. An Ashley ally was quick to respond to a dark day on the Tyne. He said: “Mike is determined not to be deflected from his aims for this club. “He didn’t buy the club on a whim and he won’t want to sell up on a whim either. “But he clearly has a big decision to make now. Equally, he will feel very frustrated at the way things have developed. “He truly wants what’s best for Newcastle United and their fans. He has put a proper business plan into place and he believes it is the best way forward for the club. “But it seems the fans would much rather have a Thaksin Shinawatra figure come in and spend £200-300m on players in the hope of buying some instant success rather than a proper, shrewd businessman who can build a new club with a real prospect of sustained success. “That’s the route Leeds United followed and look what’s happened to them. They kept splashing the cash on big name signings on big wages and ended up massively in debt. “Is that really what Newcastle fans want? If they do, why don’t they do something about it? They can pick the team, they can choose the players they buy and sell. “They can have it all and they can do it all. I bet you it doesn’t happen. It’s just so much easier to stand on the sidelines and moan and complain and point the finger. “It was the same a while back at Manchester United when the Glazers took over. The fans were revolting in just the same way. Funny how it’s all gone quiet now United have won the Premier League and Champions League double! That’s how fickle fans are. “It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the club and for Mike Ashley. But everyone is hoping a few wins will help steady the ship and change the mood.” Aggravate The only worry is whether Ashley will have lost faith by then. However, his no-show yesterday was not his idea. He was keen to face up to his detractors in person but was warned against it. Our top Newcastle source added: “Mike and the boys were advised not to go so as not to aggravate what was a highly charged situation. “Police feared if he was there it could incite the protests still further.” So the lone figure of Llambias was left to represent Ashley and the board. And he did so with a smile on his face, with fans sparing him the torrid time they no doubt had reserved for the club’s owner. One wag quipped: “Llambias got an easy ride because no one knows who he is — he is faceless and hopeless. “The club’s a laughing stock, a joke up and down the country. “And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse — we lose at home to Hull and have Danny Guthrie sent off into the bargain. It is dismal.”

Fuming Newcastle United fans in mass protest MIKE ASHLEY has instructed his advisers to get him out of Toon – and fast. Newcastle United’s owner, a hate figure on Tyneside since the departure of manager Kevin Keegan, is looking to unload the club in an autumn sale for £260million. A senior club insider said: "Mike is finished with the club. He has no long- term interest and wants it sold." Ashley and director of football Dennis Wise missed yesterday’s shock 2-1 home defeat against Hull City. And the news that Ashley will sell-out will delight the mutinous Geordie fans. After yesterday’s set-back thousands chanted for Ashley to quit outside St James’ Park. They were dispersed by mounted police an hour after the final whistle. The news that Ashley met Keegan on Friday night in London made some fans believe a peace deal could be struck and that their football Messiah might return. It would have been a major coup for Ashley if Keegan had returned. But the talks broke down as Ashley stood by Wise and his current management structure. The lawyers for the club and Keegan will be left to discuss his demands for compensation. Sources close to Ashley claim there are four parties vying for control.

1 - 2 FT

twat

Peaches - Presidents of the USA

Xisco inferno !!!!!!!!

Shola off for Nacho Gonzales

This is where doing it on the cheap gets us.

0-2

"Cockney Maffia Out" banner in front of the directors box.

pen to Hull

Is the correct answer

TEAMS NUFC: Shay Given, David Edgar, Charles N'Zogbia, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Danny Guthrie, Nicky Butt, Geremi, Shola Ameobi, Michael Owen ©, Xisco Subs: Claudio Cacapa, Steve Harper, Sebastien Bassong, Nacho Gonzalez, Frank Wiafe Danquah, Mark Doninger, Ryan Donaldson HCFC: Boaz Myhill, Andy Dawson, Ian Ashbee ©, Michael Turner, Craig Fagan, Bernard Mendy, Peter Halmosi, Paul McShane, Dean Marney, Marlon King, Anthony Gardner Subs: Dean Windass, Geovanni, Matthew Duke, Bryan Hughes, Sam Ricketts, Caleb Folan, Kamil Zayatte Referee: Andre Marriner

2-1 Babel

I love the demo.

http://www.toontastic.net/board/index.php?showtopic=20973

If, as has been reported this week, Mike Ashley truly has designs on building an empire in Hollywood, his spell at Newcastle United will have served as a decent rehearsal. No plotline would be too implausible, no cast-list too jarring, no finale too dramatic and if the finished product would lack cohesion, somehow — in spite of everything — it would make compulsive viewing. Into the combustible mix of maverick billionaire owner, charismatic manager, a passionate support and decades of yearning, has been thrust what would surely be the mother of all sequels. If, of course, the pitch is right. Kevin Keegan IV: this time it’s personal. While an extraordinary prospect appears less certain this morning, if Keegan were to return to Tyneside after the events of the past fortnight, after the briefings and counter-briefings, the threats to sue, the tears and anger, nothing in the game could be held sacred or secure. But then this is an extraordinary club, populated by unconventional people, located in a febrile city. While last night’s meeting between Ashley and Keegan broke up without a satisfactory conclusion — one senior figure in the club’s hierarchy maintained that the discussion was aimed at settling the dispute over Keegan’s contract, in spite of the curious public forum — Newcastle has again been electrified. With protests planned for today’s home match against Hull City, perhaps Ashley will have succeeded in subtly altering the mood. It was only nine days ago that Keegan said: “It’s my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want.” The inference was obvious: Dennis Wise, the club’s executive director (football), was buying and selling players. On transfer deadline day, Michael Owen and Joey Barton were made available. It was that, coupled with the failure to reinvest on experienced players the £12 million that Newcastle brought in from the sale of James Milner, which pushed Keegan to the precipice. Ashley and Wise were the villains of the episode and fans were propelled towards mutiny, but little at a club famed for its monochrome stripes is black and white. The main protagonists are hardly mundane. For those students of Newcastle history, there are parallels. In March 1992, shortly after his first return to Gallowgate, Keegan walked out, remarking that the “job hadn’t turned out as the brochure had advertised”. At his home in Hampshire, he took a call from Sir John Hall, then Newcastle’s chairman. “There are only two people who can save Newcastle United Football Club,” Hall said. “And we are talking on the telephone.” Did Ashley reach a similar conclusion as he surveyed the wreckage of his tenure at Newcastle? As he confronted the reality of a fan boycott of club merchandise and his Sports Direct outlets? As a man who has regularly worn his replica strip in away ends and stumped up for drinks in quayside nightclubs? As he imagined the sound of heated demonstrations outside the main reception of the ground? One of the more intriguing elements of Newcastle’s latest descent into self-laceration has been how trivial the club’s search for a new manager has appeared. The issues have been Ashley’s ownership and Wise’s influence. A shortlist of candidates that featured Gus Poyet, Paul Ince and Didier Deschamps, all close associates of Wise and therefore tainted, fooled no one. Given that Ashley has consistently denied reports that he would contemplate selling Newcastle — Anil Ambani, the Indian billionaire, called a halt yesterday to his attempts to purchase the club — he has had to confront the absolute necessity and near impossibility of winning back trust. Keegan would not guarantee it, but would serve as a balm to open wounds. That talks took place at all suggests that Ashley, for all the distasteful elements of his regime, from a crass lack of communication, the failings in the transfer market and the disgraceful attempts to rubbish Keegan’s reputation, has stumbled upon recognition. The impasse that resulted confirms that, for all their willingness to contemplate the unthinkable, he and Keegan are stubborn men. Wise and the existence of an acquisition department, headed by a de facto director of football, has always been the cause of most disagreement; it seems unreasonable to suppose that the dispute has moved on. Ashley is wedded to a model that will bring younger, hungrier (and therefore cheaper) players to Newcastle; Keegan does not operate well under restraint. He is a blue-skies manager. Most Geordies will cling to the hope that a deal, however implausible, can be resurrected. Others may stop to wonder what such a volte-face would say about their owner and mean for their club, where Sam Allardyce was permitted to sign a host of staff, who were promptly dismissed, where Keegan was restored and betrayed, where continuity and stability are pipedreams. The scriptwriter needs a break. Best of the web Keegan wants to rename Newcastle — Keegan's Soccer Circus. Posted by England 1957 This looks good on Ashley because he will say he tried everything to get him back, when he made a half-hearted attempt. I hope the protests continue -Andy nufcblog.co.uk It's just a publicity stunt so the fans forgive Mike Ashley before \ tomorrow . . . Bunned bbc.co.uk/dna Trust me Kev, he WON'T respect you in the morning . . . eezy_squeezy bbc.co.uk/dna God, this is unbelievable. Kevin Keegan is the only manager I want to manage us at the moment, but with Ashley and Wise here, I’m not sure I do want him. And if he does come back it will just be a complete joke and an embarrassment in my book.NUFC_cj www.newcastleunited-mad.co.uk It’s like being in a washing machine: spin, spin and more spin Wolfhound nufcblog.co.uk Adopt strong Geordie accent: “Day 52 in the St James’ Park house.” It’s only \ time before the cameras are installed for reality Toon! The Entertainers nufcblog.co.uk It just really confirms that the talks were about rectifying the situation so at least we know it’s getting to Mike Ashley. I take heart from the fact that they both wanted to meet to discuss the matter, it’s obvious KK wants to come back and MA realises we need him. jo1892 newcastleunited-mad.co.uk Ashley wants investors — we know this to be true. \ Ambani will buy 50 per cent of club at £130m, but only if Keegan is reinstated to diminish the “unstable situation at the club” that Ambani and his advisers were talking about. snakehips toontastic.net