ohhh_yeah 2786 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 What does Lee Charnley's statement really tell United fans, asks Chronicle sports writer Neil Cameron Lee Charnley made at least one excellent point in his opening statement in his new role as Newcastle United managing director. He said the club would not make any “knee-jerk decisions” regarding transfers. Quite right, too. So I decided to wait 24 hours before dissecting his statement. In the cold light of the next day, it was still rather worrying. There won’t be a lot of signings. The manager doesn’t make any signings. Not really. And despite having bucket loads of money, expect more loan deals to come in. Here are the highlights from Mr Charnley. CHARNLEY ON . . . LEAGUE HOPES “Our minimum target for this campaign was a top 10 finish, but I can assure our supporters that everyone at Newcastle United will do their utmost to ensure the Club finishes in the highest league position it can. “At the beginning of the season all our staff and players were incentivised should we finish in 10th position and above, and our commitment to achieving this will continue right up until the final whistle on 11th May. To their credit, the players, led by the captain, agreed to this incentive scheme despite our 16th-place finish last season.” A bonus for finishing above Stoke City. Am I the only one who finds this wrong? Finishing in the top 10 should be a given for a club with so much going for it. Is it really any wonder that once top 10 was all-but secured the team stopped playing? CUP PLANS “Looking ahead to future seasons, our primary focus will remain the Premier League.” So forget about that cup win. That thing every single fan wants. TRANSFER SPENDING “Our preparations for the summer transfer window have already begun of course, and our challenge is to make sure we spend the funds we have available in a careful and considered way in order to ensure that we get the maximum benefit from every pound we invest in the squad. “We will continue to operate in a financially responsible manner and live within our means. This club is financially strong and there is money to spend if the deal is right and we are confident a player can add quality to the squad. “That said, we will not pay over the odds or make knee-jerk decisions. Every player we sign represents a major investment and mistakes are costly which is why we will continue to be prudent in our transfer dealings. This is the reality of a well-run football club like ours.” Where to begin? Within a few words, he boasts about money in the bank and then makes it clear the club begrudge spending anything. Nobody wants Newcastle to pay out silly money on silly players. Just the going rate for established Premier League performers. Pardew was keen on James McCarthy who went from Wigan to Everton for £15m. Way too much for this board. McCarthy ran Arsenal’s midfield ragged on Sunday. He’s not worth £25m. WHO PICKS TRANSFERS “As a board we will continue to make the final decisions on all player transfers. Clearly, however, the manager and his team have a very significant involvement in such decisions and will be instrumental in making recommendations in relation to the squad.” Why stop there? Why not pick the team? For me, this is the most incredible paragraph. Essentially, Pardew has little say in who the club buys. Unless I am reading that wrong. (I’m not). Charnley makes it clear that the manager doesn’t have anywhere near the final say in transfer dealings. TRANSFER POLICY “Our transfer policy and strategy is very clear and will remain unchanged. We will focus on identifying and recruiting young players whose best years are ahead of them, which in nearly all cases means players in their early to mid-20s and not beyond.” The last two bits of business were loans so their best years, while ahead of them, will be at different clubs. And why limit yourself to this. Why not take a punt on a 30-plus player if its not going to cost millions. I am thinking Peter Beardsley second time around. Such bargains do exist. “We don’t look at transfer windows in isolation, but rather as a full trading year, and our intention for the first team is to sign one or two players per year to strengthen the squad.” What? If every single player stays, including Loic Remy, that squads needs four or five additions this summer. But as most fringe players will move on, Remy will go back to QPR, Luuk de Jong doesn’t look good enough, plus you have to think someone else, such as Mathieu Debuchy will leave, you are now talking signing four or five to stand still at best. TALKING TO FANS “We are also committed to our current strategy in relation to communication between the club and its supporters. At the beginning of the season we launched a new Fans Forum, with members representing our diverse fan-base. It has been an open, honest and productive forum and it will continue to be our primary means of direct supporter communication and engagement.” But the Newcastle United Supporters Trust have been banned. After one meeting. That’s not very open, although I am not knocking the Forum per se. COMMERCIAL ISSUES “The commercial side of our business will also be an important priority for us moving forward. While at the moment we can’t compete with the commercial strength of the top six, whose income from sponsorship and advertising deals dwarf other clubs in the Premier League, we will work hard to drive up our commercial income to give ourselves the best possible chance of competing on the field with those wealthier clubs.” Are they even trying to compete? Saturday’s match sponsor was Wonga, the club’s official partners. Could they not get someone else to chip in? I know Manchester United are not what they were, but it’s still one of the top three home fixtures of the entire season. VALUE FOR MONEY “I can assure supporters that the board and everyone associated with the Club aim to make Newcastle United the best it can be, pound for pound.” Pound for pound. Make the club seem like a shop. How depressing. Perhaps Mr Charnley will prove to be a canny operator. I genuinely hope so. But I fear Newcastle fans are in for more of the same. Ambition does not need to lead to bankruptcy. Someone should maybe mention that at the next board meeting.I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhh_yeah 2786 Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 by @BonjourMonAmiNE Newcastle United aren’t rudderless, but they might be better off if they were. See, without a rudder, SS Magpies could accidentally float into a cup final or a European spot. Equally, they could drift into the choppy waters of a relegation place. Basically, something interesting might happen. But United have a very clear direction, if mediocrity can be classed as a direction. Lee Charnley has this week been appointed as the Club’s new Managing Director, and has released a statement outlining his plans for the future. Well, Mike Ashley’s plans. No doubt there were fans who optimistically hoped that Charnley’s appointment would be a signal of impending change. Unfortunately, this was never going to be the case. The statement released on Newcastle’s official website essentially outlined what had been said many times before, in Joe Kinnear’s programme notes, and in fans’ forums. Mike Ashley is more than happy to see his club sit in mid-table, expending no energies on cup competitions or European football. That’s his direction. As the statement puts it, “our primary focus will remain the Premier League”. Surely focusing on the league could see us move up the table with a little investment? Nope, “our intention for the first team is to sign one or two players per year to strengthen the squad”. That line is as loose as the “no capital outlay” comment following promotion in 2010, which then saw United go on to sign James Perch, Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa. Given that there’s been no permanent signings for over a year though, I wouldn’t hold your breath. There is very little positivity to be found in this Charnley announcement, and its timing certainly could have been better. Coming after three consecutive substantial-to-nil defeats, it has found quite a cold audience, particularly with its cheery comment about progressing with Alan Pardew and his backroom staff. The statement ends with a line detailing the intention to make the Club “the best it can be, pound by pound”. When you’re not spending many pounds at all, that means very little. Newcastle United aren’t rudderless, they’re just ruddy useless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewerk 26479 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Honest to God, I'd be amazed if that idiot Ryder even had a GCSE in English. Anyway, it's irrelevant who our MD is. Whoever was going to get the gig was going to have to work within Ashley's strict parameters. What is worrying and not surprising is the possibility that Charnley only got the gig because no one else would touch it with a barge pole. It may be that he's done an amazing job in the interim and Ashley has given him the job on that basis but I very much doubt it. The only thing we have to look forward to under Ashley is the possible excitement of a relegation battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitman 2188 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Charnley will be a cheap yes man. Like our manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 it's truly a mouth watering appointment. I am really, really excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I like the bit where he says that we can'rt compete with the top 6 commercially.... Think he meant the Top 9 given West Ham, Sunderland and Villa beat us on that score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 jfc top post as always Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 4964 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Have we actually identified -why- our commercial takings are falling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26981 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Because we're seen as a shitty little club who're happy to make the numbers up, who're happy to plod on making early, embarrassing cup exits and have controversial sponsors, (paid and unpaid), where outside businesses may not want to associate with. We also probably don't pay enough, (any?), people with any expertise to help us. That's my guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 4964 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Because we're seen as a shitty little club who're happy to make the numbers up, who're happy to plod on making early, embarrassing cup exits and have controversial sponsors, (paid and unpaid), where outside businesses may not want to associate with. We also probably don't pay enough, (any?), people with any expertise to help us. That's my guess. Aren't you a ray of sunshine today... Not that I disagree - but even so, every other club has seem them rise, it can't just be our lack of ambition. I've wondered if all the free stuff we give to SD could represent quite a loss in sponsorship, but again, it's bizarre to see the figures continually fall... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper 940 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 The club made the big announcement that Lee Charnley was appointed to the board & was in fact the new MD. He then issued a lenghty statement setting out future plans for the club of course a lot of us spent time reading the statement as the club knew we would. Then they tried to slip under the radar the fact that actually Mike Ashley had joined the board of directors now I would have thought that would have been bigger news than Charnley. I can't help but think there must be an ulterior motive for not making this a major announcement I don't know what it is but I'm sure it'll become apparent in the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 4964 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 If he's done that, he's seeking to take more direct control. Could just be a non-exec though, just more involved in the day to day running than he would have been up until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper 940 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 If he's done that, he's seeking to take more direct control. Could just be a non-exec though, just more involved in the day to day running than he would have been up until now. Howay man it's Ashley he'll have something up his sleeve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Have we actually identified -why- our commercial takings are falling? They've not recovered since relegation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 4964 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 They've not recovered since relegation. Right but, which areas of income would those be? TV revenue is higher - gate receipts must be about par. What are we not doing so well with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 6434 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Howay man it's Ashley he'll have something up his sleeve. Apart from his emergency pork pies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trophyshy 6434 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Right but, which areas of income would those be? TV revenue is higher - gate receipts must be about par. What are we not doing so well with? Being associated with by reputable companies of all shapes & sizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Right but, which areas of income would those be? TV revenue is higher - gate receipts must be about par. What are we not doing so well with? Gate Receipts are well down. Just because the attendances haven't dropped, doesn't mean they're willing to pay what they were before. Commercial revenue is everything that isn't TV or match day income. Anything sold in the stores, any advertising, sponsorship, stadium tours, hosting events at SJP etc. The biggest loss from those will be people unwilling to buy any merchandise from Ashley, the loss of blue chip advertisers to the barrell scrapers and Ashley not paying for his advertising at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Face 29 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I put some words around the 2 charts above here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howmanheyman 26981 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Good article, HF. Ditto on Michael Martin's 'Zombie' piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper 940 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Cheers mate the words to go with the charts are most appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1117 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Given that the club have now admitted that all the Sports Direct free advertising is in lieu of any interest on the loans that Ashley has made to the club, has anyone calculated the difference in what we are losing and gaining on this? Whilst I'm not saying the overall point about lost commercial income isn't valid, the amount we're saving on interest surely must be considered against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper 940 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 That loan is always going to be the albatross around the clubs neck for any potential buyer it never comes down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Kelly 1117 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 In the respect of a new buyer, I think we'd be better off having a real loan from a bank. That would mean the prospective buyer would only have to pay the value of the club and then keep paying off the loan. As it is, they would (I assume) have to pay off the loan to the fat cunt as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeys Fist 38836 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Aye, and every time he fucks up, between now and that long distant day he fucks off, whatever money kindly Mike has to put in to stave off disaster will be added to it. He has us over the barrel, lubed up and cheeks spread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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