Ashley to further tighten Toon wallet?
Posted on March 11th, 2010 | 72 Comments |
Now you’ll forgive my scepticism as the Mirror has hardly been the last bastion of truth, but this rumour does seem to fit in with Ashley’s vision of how to run a football club, and we all know he is great at doing that!
If your ‘sarcasm meter’ blew up because of that last sentence then I apologise, but it shoudn’t detract from how potentially damaging this story could be whether it be truth or pure fabrication. Aimed at stars such as Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Jonas Gutierrez and Fabricio Coloccini the deal that is being offered is apparently an extension to their current deal but with no extra cash, so they will still be getting the same money from the contract just over a longer period of time.
It has been said that doing this would allow the club to strengthen in the transfer market whilst Mike Ashley takes back the personal loans of £35 million he has put into the club this season straight out of the TV money, after that then the club will be put up for sale, again.
Now this sounds very, very far fetched in my view. Of course, you can never say never as far as Mike Ashley is concerned as none of us know what his intentions are, but this just seems a little too extreme. If it is true then I don’t expect some of our senior players to stick around, which will make next seasons battle to stay in the Premier League just that bit harder.
You could also look at it from the viewpoint that Ashley signed a lot of these players, and sanctioned the wages in the first place. I think most of us are aware of the financial problems around football and applaud the common sense approach the club seems to be adopting, but to try to force some of our better players out of the club is asking for trouble with the fans who still have raw wounds from the lies and deceipt of the past.
So why now? Why has this come to light only now? Such a statement could have a knock on effect and jeopardize our promotion chances. What happens if the players read the paper and wonder what the point is? Surely Ashley isn’t stupid enough to let something like this out of the bag at such a crucial stage of the season, is he?
I don’t know, but nothing surprises me anymore. A period of relative calm and it’s all getting stirred up again with, what I believe are false, stories put into print to fill column inches. Ashley had really better hope it isn’t true anyway, as all that pent up ill feeling is still there, deep down, and something like this could be the catalyst to set it all off again. Llambias has recently confirmed Ashley’s commitment to Newcastle, but we all know what Llambias says and what happens can be two completely different things.
Who knows what to believe?
It’s clear that the usually hostile southern press is about to embark on a non-substantiated mission to scupper us. Along with the Mirror, the Mail’s at it already and there appears to be no real substance to its views.
Absolutely disgraceful and they know that at most there’ll be a ‘no comment’ from the club and that of course adds fuel to the fire!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1257029/Newcastle-squad-forced-pay-cut-win-promotion-Premier-League.html