With no news forthcoming from St James’ Park, it’s time for a more serious look at the continuing plight of Newcastle United. Today, prospective bidders who have completed due diligence will be given access to the club’s financial information, apparently via a password-protected website. We will then find out if any of them are prepared to proceed with a bid.
Yesterday, Paddy Barclay in The Times wrote a positive piece encouraging a fan takeover of the club. “Newcastle United supporters suffer more than most from the crocodile-tears technique of journalism, which purports to speak for ‘loyal fans’ who ‘deserve better’ than to spend their ‘hard-earned money’ on an underachieving institution,” writes Barclay. He goes on to chastise those lazy journalists who have built up a misleading media image of Newcastle fans as sobbing, messiah-seeking dimwits. “It is all a caricature, of course,” says Barclay. Hopefully his odious colleague Mathew Syed will take note.
Barclay argues that, if Newcastle United’s true value is £75 million, then 200,000 fans chipping in £375 each would cover the cost of buying the club. A nice idea, but a pipe dream of course. But some form of fan involvement is essential. I’ve argued for a long time that Ashley has never really owned “the club” – he owns the stadium, the fixtures and fittings, and the players’ bloated contracts, but the club is the fans, and Ashley certainly doesn’t own them.
When Sir John Hall floated the club in the early 90s, many fans, myself included, bought shares for £500. Mike Ashley’s takeover saw us sell those shares for around £300. Ashley’s stewardship has seen the club’s value fall by around 40 percent from £134 million to around £80 million. Based on those figures, I would be happy to buy back my shares for their adjusted current value of £177.
With pre-season training starting on 1st July (and season ticket renewals due in by the same day) effective action needs to be taken immediately. Here are five steps to secure the future of the football club:
1. Sell, sell, sell! Ashley needs to get out, and get out quick, but with the best will in the world this won’t happen before the end of the close season. Talk of a Singapore-based group, with a plan for a Barca-style fans’ membership scheme, sounds promising but remains unconfirmed, as is alleged interest from a US investor. Talk of a return for Freddy Shepherd is fairly depressing. But there needs at least to be some light at the end of the tunnel, some cause for optimism, in order to…
2. Secure season ticket renewals. The first step the club might want to take is to actually include season ticket renewal forms inside season ticket renewal packs – many packs have been sent out this week with a begging letter from Derek Llambias but without the necessary form to actually renew. The pack, a fairly pathetic document, features no player photos (for obvious reasons), no hint of optimism, and absolutely no incentive to renew, aside from the usual “it’s your duty” school of thought. Are they relying on blind faith or blind stupidity? Fans need an incentive to renew, and there can be no bigger incentive than…
3. Appoint Alan Shearer. Not because he is the best football manager in the world, but because he is the best manager for Newcastle United. He understands the club and can galvanise the city. He can attract players to an otherwise unattractive club. And he can wield a bloody big axe…
4. Shift the dead wood. Since season ended four weeks ago, Newcastle have paid Michael Owen, whose contract expires at the end of June, £460,000. Add fellow contract expirees Mark Viduka and Caludio Capaca and that figure rises to £780,200. Thankfully, their time on the wage bill is coming to an end. But since the season ended the club has paid Fabio Coliccini, Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Alan Smith and Geremi £1,220,000. Almost one and a quarter million pounds on five players who must surely never play for Newcastle United ever again. If these players are still on the books at the start of next season they will have cost over £3 million over the course of the close season. It doesn’t take a financial expert to spot that this needs to be addressed immediately. Of course, it should have been addressed on 25th May, with steps taken to shift these woeful money-drainers out and as far away from Newcastle upon Tyne as quickly as possible. The club desperately needs to stop haemorrhaging money on these overpaid failures, and also needs to fund player acquisitions…
5. Buy well, but buy quickly. Newcastle United are a Championship club, and must abandon all hope of signing big name players. In their last spell in football’s second tier, Newcastle survived and then prospered thanks to the likes of David Kelly, Gavin Peacock and Brian Kilcline – all of whom were jettisoned when the club were promoted to the Premier League. They were the right players for the job, and that’s what Shearer must look for. However, the club must also buy at least one “marquee” player – someone to sell shirts, score goals and get the fans singing his name. In 1993, Kevin Keegan bought Andy Cole to shoot for promotion. In 1982, Arthur Cox bought Keegan to take the club up. Is Jermaine Beckford, transfer-listed at Leeds, that man? Or does Shearer have someone else up his sleeve?
The next few days and weeks will be crucial to the future of Newcastle United Football Club. Further mismanagement at this stage would be disastrous for the team, for the city, and for anyone who holds the club dear.
My book about supporting Newcastle United in happier times is Black & White Army.
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