Show Us The Money Mike
We all know Newcastle need to buy players in January if they are going to pull clear of the relegation zone. What we don't know is where the money is going to come from because Mike Ashley appears to be about as likely to spend his own money as I am to book a room this weekend at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
The Taj Mahal could do with some renovations after last week's terrorist attacks and so could Joe Kinnear's first team squad and I don't mean of the 'sell to buy' variety.
Newcastle did not have a big enough squad when the transfer window shut in September and they don't have enough players now. It's as simple as that.
It worries me that Kinnear has already mentioned the prospect of letting three or four players to allow him to sign three or four new players and I hope that, having given him a contract until the end of the season - it makes sense if Ashley can't sell it - Newcastle's manager starts to fight his corner with the board.
Kevin Keegan tried to do just that in terms of transfers and he carried the considerable weight of the fans behind him, but eventually even he threw in the towel, disillusioned and upset by the attitude and behaviour of Ashley's cronies on the board.
Kinnear has built a reputation as a fighter and I hope he isn't just big talk and powder puff punches. He has to stress the need for new players and he cannot take no for an answer. He has done a decent job so far with the mess he inherited, but this will be the acid test for him as a Newcastle manager.
Selling players to fund the purchase of new ones isn't good enough because if United are not going to be dangerously vulnerable to injuries and suspensions they have to have more strength in depth. A left-back, a right-back and a creative midfielder will just about do it for me, but even then they will need plenty of good luck on the injury front.
The big concern for me, however, is that January is never the best time to sign players as rival clubs do not want to weaken their squads midway through the season and that can lead to teams signing a load of over-priced rubbish - erm Celestine Babayaro and Jean-Alain Boumsong anyone!?
Prices tend to be inflated and if Ashley's track record is anything to go by he isn't going to suddenly hand Joe a blank cheque book to lure the required players to Tyneside. As things stand, Ashley hasn't invested any of his own money in the transfer market and has, instead, merely used a limited amount of the club's television income to fund transfer activity.
In the first summer of his dubious tenure, the likes of Kieron Dyer, Scott Parker and Nolberto Solano were sold to raise the money for the signings of Joey Barton, David Rozehnal and Jose Enrique. In the second, James Milner, Abdoulaye Faye and Rozehnal were sold to fund moves for Fabicio Coloccini, Danny Guthrie, Xisco and Jonas Gutierrez.
You have to be pretty smart to become a billionaire and while Ashley has appeared to be out of touch, naive and, at times, plain stupid in his running of Newcastle United he didn't make his money being a clown in the circus.
However, to have a bank balance with plenty of zeros you also have to be pretty tight in my opinion and Ashley has hardly been lavish with his spending since he turned up at St James's Park with his beer belly and replica shirts.
That isn't going to change in January when he is still hoping to sell for a healthy profit after less than two years on Tyneside. The hope Ashley would prove to be some sort of Roman Abramovich type figure vanished a long time ago.
All Kinnear can do is try to persuade the club owner that, in the long term, he is only going to protect his investment by allowing money to be spent on the new players who will give him a better chance of keeping the club out of the Championship.
But even then I'm not confident the right players will be willing to sign for a club which, despite Kinnear's contract until the end of the season, faces so much uncertainty in the future.
As for the likes of Michael Owen and Nicky Butt, they may well announce next month that they have already agreed Bosman-style free transfers and will be packing their bags at the end of the season whether Newcastle stay up or not.
January may seem like an opportunity to put things right at St James's Park, but there is a real danger it could end up just being yet another source of frustration. As if we haven't had enough of that already!
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Good write up Luke, agree with every word. A couple of other comments;
1. If MA thinks he'll ever be welcome back amongst the fans then he's very much mistaken, he's blown it and will never be welcomed back, he'd find out just how much we hate him if he would like to come and sit next to me in the gallowgate .... he wouldn't be sitting very long!
2. There will easily be 10K less going to matches next year. There are a lot of fans who are just itching for the summer to come to let MA know how we feel i.e. not to renew their season tickets. Oh yes the tumble weed will blowing through an empty SJP next season as long as the odious lying one still owns the club!!!!!
I agree with you that Ashley is unlikely to be welcomed back as one of the boys, but would it not be better for some sort of truce to be called if the club is going to be in the best shape possible to avoid relegation this season? Ashley needs to open the purse strings in January and he needs to allow Joe Kinnear to manage the team. If he does that and shows a willingness to take the club forward with a sensible plan of action I wonder if he could at least sit in the director's box again
For me, Luke, I'm perfectly happy for Ashley to work his way back into favour - but he has to show some sort of admission that he was wrong in his handling of the Keegan situation. I said all along that this recruitment team had every chance of working until they took it too far by not telling the manager who he could have/was getting. If we keep signing the likes of Jonas, Coloccini & Bassong every window then who'll be complaining?
As for the squad, while I agree with your point about the numbers needing to grow rather than stay the same with "3 out - 3 in", I'd still like to see some housekeeping - particularly two of our strikers who are earning over £100k per week between them for absolutely nothing. I'd like to see us revisit our interest in Schweinsteiger and if Owen leaves (as I expect him to), I'd look at replacing him with Podolski who is available. For around £10m and still well under 25 years old would be good business. We could maybe negotiate a BOGOF with Bayern, eh?!
The problem is though, as you say, that we're never going to be able to tell what the transfer policy is - I just hope that we have a couple of transfer highs in the new year...then again, I'm ever the optimist when it comes to the transfer windows!
I think MA would find it very difficult to fit back in at st james and it would take a continued effort for him in the next two or three transfer windows to regain any kind of trust from the fans and from some people he would never regain it.
i'm a season ticket holder and i don't agree with the cockney mafia stuff ,for me even if he was from byker i still wouldn't trust him after the way the press were used against keegan, some of the stuff that came out of the club was a disgrace e.g we wanted to sign young kids for the future and keegan wanted to buy becks , lampard , henry ,ronaldino and lambias saying he wanted to punch him the rubbish about being just a coach when they had said in public many times he had the final say as manager to name would name just a few.
he needs to get rid of lambias (who i don't think has spoke in public yet) and wise will never be accepted even if he signed us kaka.
it's over to you mike
but i wont hold my breath)
"but would it not be better for some sort of truce to be called if the club is going to be in the best shape possible to avoid relegation this season?"
No. I refuse to support this hideous regime, not a penney more from me until he's gone. He's a lying manipulative greedy man who treated one of our family (KK) in the most apalling way. Geordies aren't the most wealthy or clever or even refined of peoples but one thing we do have is loyalty and I will never forgive MA for the way KK was treated, it absolutely appaled me. If we don't have honour we have nothing and MA has no honour. I don't expect him to lavish us with 30 million pound signings but I do expect to be told the truth and have honourable people running this club for the right reasons which doesn't include ripping off the supporters. These lot make Mackeage look like a saint!
Luke - ordinarily I have more respect for you than most Journo's, but your story on how the fans are ready to accept Ashley back is utter nonsense.
What surprises me is that in this blog entry you clearly understand the problems that man creates for this club - the constant bare faced lies, the asset stripping of our players and the money not being reinvested, but then you go and hurt your credibility by writing rubbish like that.
Lets be clear on this. Ashley has pulled the wool over our eyes before and while he has clearly been lying low and waiting for the whole Keegan fiasco to blow over, he is in for a very big shock if he thinks he can just show up and sit with the supporters and start getting rounds in down the Big Market again.
We didnt have a large net spend when he first took over - but we assumed it was due to the uncertainty of the takeover.
Then the following January we spent nothing whatsoever - but we assumed that this was because he didnt want to give Allerdyce money to waste.
When he gave Keegan no money and made a net profit in the last transfer window while not adding significantly to a threadbare squad yet again it became obvious what he was up to. People seem to forget that if Keegan had not left, the fans would still have been after his head.
The man has done nothing but feed us spin, lies and false promises since he arrived. We will not forgive and we will not forget. You know this and I am disappointed that you have chosen to write a story stating otherwise when you must know how the entire region feels about Ashley
I think the point of the story in The Journal this morning (TUES) - which was written around an interview with the chairman of the newly-formed Newcastle United Supporters Association - was to point out that some fans recognise the fact some sort of truce is needed to ensure the club does not fall into even more disarray. Of course it would be better for everyone if Ashley sold up, but if he can't find a buyer than we are stuck with him and have to make the best out of the situation until he can sell up. What Malcolm Shiels was saying was Ashley needs to invest in the team in January, he needs to allow Kinnear to choose which players he wants without interference and he needs to start communicating with supporters, wither through the NUSC or the local media then at least he would be given the chance to make up for the monumental mistakes he has made. It was more of a challenge to Ashley to start putting things right than anything else. We shall see where it takes us.
I think this is just about the most ill-judged blog entry you have ever written Luke. From making lighthearted references to the terrorist attacks in India - lazy journalism at best, insensitive and highly offensive at worst - to suggesting that the entire Geordie nation might readily compromise their principles and welcome Ashley back if he can be bothered to show a little bit of interest in us. Pathetic.
Here is one Geordie saying that I would rather we were relegated that be run by the SCUM currently in charge for a minute longer. Like Big Si says, if we don't have honour, we don't have anything.
ASHLEY OUT
Luke,
As usual, I think that your piece is well balanced and well argued. Equally, from the reactions of some fans (above) you can see the difficulties for MA. Right now he can’t sell and can’t stay. Not a good place to be.
Now, if he’s not going to be accepted, then the problem becomes one of how to protect an expensive asset. To do this he must balance his need to avoid throwing good money after bad with the need to maximise the performance of the asset on the pitch – where it matters most.
If he were to be accepted back at SJP, then in my view he may be more inclined to invest next month. I am not discounting the feelings of the loyal, long-suffering fans who have expressed the opposite view. I don’t believe it’s about apologies or statements of right & wrong. I think it is about looking at where we are now, the options going forward, and the risk of relegation if things go badly on the transfers / injuries / form front. Taking all of that together, I for one would like to see MA back in the Director’s Box at SJP as soon as possible.
This is obviously a hot topic and feelings are bound to be raw. As I've always said, Ashley has made massive mistakes, but the single biggest one was backing Llambias and Wise over Keegan and that is why he is in the mess he is in now. I don't think there is a right or a wrong answer as such, but the most important thing is that Newcastle are not relegated. Ashley will go eventually, but in the meantime he has to do his best for the club - that is what NUSC were getting at. As for the India reference, you might be right Mr Restless. I see you are in militant mood as ever!
Judge Ashley and his management structure on their actions, not words. As Luke has pointed out, those actions aren't covering Ashley in any kind of glory.
Understandably Joe Kinnear is saying nice things about Ashley, given this situation has given Joe a once in a lifetime opportunity. With due respect to Joe, he is only here because of the massive botch job that has been done by Ashley and Co.
Ashley can't sell because he is a greedy so and so, pure and simple. The buyers are there, but they aren't mugs either, and they didn't get zero's on the end of their bank balances by being fools.
It is simply an investment for Ashley, nothing more. Something to amuse him. Well, he can be sure we certainly aren't amused. Newcastle is not his plaything.
No, there is no forgiveness, not one damn bit. Go away Ashley, and take you friends with you. Do it as fast as your legs with carry you. You are not welcome.
Militant? Moi?! Seriously, I consider myself to be a fairly pragmatic person. But there comes a time when, if certain lines are crossed, one has to stand up for what is right, whatever the cost of doing that may be. With his systematic lies and deception, and the humiliation he has heaped upon the club and of its sons (KK), Ashley crossed that line. I will never forgive him because he has shown me and the club I love nothing but contempt. KK walked away from the thing he loved most in football, and Shearer has enough sense not to join while Ashley's in charge. What more of a verdict on the man could anyone need? I honestly mean it when I say I would prefer us in the Championship with someone honourable at the helm. The way things are going, it looks like we're actually going to end up with the worst of both worlds. But at least it might bankrupt the fat charlatan in the process.
Restless native summed my feelings up totally Luke, even about the 'lazy journalism, flippant remarks about Mumbai' which I think were just a tad human imperfection on your part, trying to inject a little topical black humour into a seriously hot topic. Even if Ashley sacked the other soul-less vampires on the board and flagellated himself in sackcloth and ashes, he wouldn't get many greetings from any fans other than sycophants if he sat in the directors box. He couldn't sit in the stands again without a crocodile skin suit for the shunning and/or insults he'd get for 90 mins. He's finished here now mate. We loved and respected Keegan to a man, and we all know he had no other choice but to walk, yes on both occasions. Anyone who disagrees are new kids on the block or dumb schmucks who couldn't do the Sun's quicky crossword. There needs to be a renewal of peaceful protest too, against the belly-worshipping hypocrits who are streaming back into Ashley's bars and pieshops in their droves. I mean HOWAY MAN!!! can you not forego 2 or 3 pints for 2hrs. or a greasy 5 quid pie? These are the plonkers who won't be back if relegation were to occur, they'll be drinking and eating pies, and calling their club rubbish....until another promotion party. Then the season ticket lists would be 3yrs. long again. I'm still suspicious about 'who' this 44% of favourable fans are though. Do they go to matches? Are they shoppers on Northumberland street? Are they Ashley's men with 6 laptops each? Are they Mackem and Smoggie agitators? Or just geeks who like writing to any available blog just to see their name?