BigWalrus

You're comparing your own personal stand point with your own generalisation of a stereotypical Geordie. There are gloating knob-heads on both sides, just as there are people who don't go overboard on both sides. I discussed the derby game with a mackem lad at work like I would any other game. He said he wouldn't dream of rubbing it in as I never went over the top following the 5-1. (He did say he'd reserved the rubbing in for some Durham based armchair NUFC fans who never shut up about Sunderland).

I've heard "sack the board" a few times. Which is always slightly amusing, as the "board" who are subject to the abuse answer only to themselves.

That win against Liverpool last season was probably my favourite game of the season. Carroll getting booked for diving, Carroll getting booed off after being ineffective, Suarez being shite, Enrique going in goal. Couldn't have gone any better.

I'm just happy it's on a Saturday. I hate these bloody Sunday games.

We've created plenty of chances recently, without either of them, as Happy Face's analysis the other day demonstrated.

It's the arse end of the Championship season, against a load of poor sides with little to play for. Ferguson has played his part at Birmingham, but he needs another season on loan to have a chance of developing into a PL regular. I think we can safely say that Pardew won't recall Shane Ferguson in response to Papiss Cisse having a cracked rib.

They believe that the Clairefontaine centre (basically the French FA's main base) is where the best treatment is provided, and prefer to go back there. Personally I think the club should keep their medical treatment inhouse, but it may be that they are perfectly happy with them going to France. I know that Clairefontaine has a pretty good reputation, so it's not as if they're getting some sort of back street doctor working on them.

Shaney, Shaney, give me your answer, do, I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, But you'd look sweet upon the seat Of my love-taxi, Shaney Poo.

Aye, he's got a cracked rib and has been playing through the pain barrier. He's off to France to see a specialist. Gouffran could do the business as a stand alone striker. His movement is good and awareness of team mates is also canny. I'd probably go with Shola and Gouffran up front.

Amen to that.

Is that from Shakespeare?

Companies and investments I mean. He is very active on the stock market and has a lot of his wealth tied up in shares. Investors with as much as him often plough into the markets during the bad times as they can come out of the other side with a lot more. I agree that from my personal perspective, I'd have liked to see a load more come in during the summer. I don't think the failure to bring players in was as a result of having a lack of funds though, more a failure of Llambias and team to close the deals.

Still think, if it needs supporting, he'll whack money back in just as quickly. Ultimately it's one of many companies he has cash in, and he'll move it around to where its needed.

On field attitude hasn't exactly been brilliant to be fair.

There's still no interest on the loan from MA.

He has - Sissoko, Debuchy, Haidara and Mbiwa were all signed after this. We're trying to move away from funding running the club by pumping more money in. If we can fund player purchases from the funds generated by the club, we're doing well.

That is superb

Just whacked that on facebook. I await bites.

Time to backtrack... Ignore the points above about cash use and return on investments as they don't really apply given that I'm looking at the right set of accounts now. Although the conclusion is the same (net debt hasn't materially changed) the way to get there is different. Last year we had a positive £9.5m cash balance. This year we have a £343k overdraft. Over the course of the year, we've used the cash to pay back some of MA's loan. From MA's standpoint, the cash isn't generating any return by sitting in the bank, therefore he's better off using it where he can make more money. He's taking his loan back in chunks. I imagine this will continue for the next few years.

Ha, schoolboy error. I've gone and downloaded the Football Club accounts rather than the consolidated group accounts. That might change my view somewhat!

Both of those, technically, are fine. The first point is that the cash was officially loaned to NUFC, so it's not being taken out of the club, it's just being repaid. If the loan had been with the bank, with set repayments, it wouldn't be seen as the bank taking money out of the club. The point about commercial deals doesn't really have any substance to it. The accounts state that the short term element of the loan is secured against next year's (ie 2012/13) TV revenue. So effectively MA is going to have his loan repaid by the TV money, which is disclosed separately to the commercial income.

Note 14. Bank overdraft in 2012 - £11,685k Bank overdraft in 2011 - £2,070k

Yes, from a high level, NUFC has paid MA £11m and taken out bank borrowing to fund this. It may have been done near to the year end, which would explain why the interest payable balance is low, so we could expect an increase there. It's clear that a football club isn't going to give him the return that he'd get elsewhere (such as by taking over a high street retailer etc). NUFC has some high value assets (eg SJP) which banks will happily secure loans against. Given that the club will always struggle to generate any huge profits, it's sensible to use some bank funding rather than continue to use your own cash. If we ignore the relatively small £2m variance year on year, the debt is roughly the same, but we'll now have an interest charge to pay on the increased overdraft. From MA's point of view, this charge will be smaller than the gains he can make elsewhere by using his cash on more profitable ventures, so he won't have an issue with this.

I wouldn't take any notice of the directors' report by the way - it's littered with errors.

Where are you getting your figures from? Net debt this year: There is no cash on the balance sheet, so we have £11,865k overdraft, £18,000k due in one year to MA, £110,000k due in + 1 year to MA - total of £140,865k Net debt last year: There is no cash on the balance sheet, so we have £2,070k overdraft, £140,000k due in one year to MA - total of £142,070k The cash movements in the year are obviously a bit more involved than just a loan being repaid and an overdraft being taken out, but effectively, it looks like the club has extended its overdraft to repay some of the cash. From MA's personal point of view, he can probably get a much better rate of return on his cash elsewhere. For his £140m invested, he's getting a pitiful 1% return. He could easily beat that with other investments, so it makes sense to extend the borrowing from the bank to fund that. If he needs to stick cash back in to support the club, I have no doubt that he will, even if it's just to protect the value of his investment in NUFC. The money paid to Mike Ashley hasn't reduced NUFC's debts. They have replaced the MA loan with the increased overdraft.