We put out a story earlier today that we expected Nile Ranger to be moved out on loan next week, when the loan window opens. That seemed fairly obvious.
Nile Ranger – Newcastle will not sanction a loan move
But rather surprising news in the Sunday Sun today that Nile Ranger will not be allowed out on loan, and the club would prefer to sell the 20 year-old, with the transfer price said to be set at £1.5M.
And don’t think this has anything to do with Newcastle failing to bring in another striker on Wednesday – no such logic seems to exist.
That’s because the representatives of Ranger were at the club last Monday, and were told that Newcastle would not sanction a loan move, and of course Nile was almost sold to Birmingham on Wednesday as a makeweight in having defender Liam Ridgewell come the other way.
The leaves Ranger is a precarious position at the club, because it would seem he will be in the wilderness at least until January, with Alan Pardew unlikely to play him in the first team.
Indeed he is not even part of the first team squad at Newcastle and currently trains with the Reserve or Development squad, and Demba Ba, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best and the two Ameobi brothers are ahead of him in the striker pecking order at Newcastle.
Nile’s agent Nick Rubery had this to say about the situation:
“United have made it clear there will be no movement.” “It is frustrating for Nile he will not get that opportunity, but it is not up to him or us.
“He just has to get on with the situation and work hard.”
It’s now up to Nile Ranger to put his head down and work hard and keep himself out of trouble off the pitch.
The lad has the ability, but he will never be successful until he commits himself fully to his football career, and right now could be a very good time to start doing that.
Comments welcome.
228 comments so far
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:28 PM
Comment #81ha ha well said jimiley 😉
CynicalasEva
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:29 PM
Comment #82OK imagine your a business man and you have done an AShley – you make back your ‘loan’ in 5 years ans therefore anything you sell the club for is clear profit ….
Do you 1) seel up and take the profit or
2) Keep making 20M a year, knowing that more profit is still avalible when you sell the club ?
Hew wont move when he is making money – therefore what actions can a fan take ………
ramboreilly
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Comment #83Why does the premier league allow this sort of purchase to happen,man u and liverpool were the same,then you had man citys previous owner,a criminal.These owners are not fit and proper
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:35 PM
Comment #84So, if i understand, 138+77=215, so it mean the club lost an additional 35 millions?
ramboreilly
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Comment #85Plus additional debt,the cost of relegation,even if it was ashleys fault.
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Comment #86yes niafron, approximately. I’d say due to his poor management of the club which ultimately lead to our relegation. Luckily CH saved us from falling even lower imho.
Mike Ashleys Lovechild
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Comment #87if we loan him out , is there any thing to stop us trying to loan a striker in , daniel sturidge ???? or am i clutching at straws ???
Daft_lad
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Comment #88@ ramboreilly
by the sounds of what you’ve said, you clicked on someones link above and taken the first bit of information you’ve seen as gospel…..
Look at and read the actual published accounts; they’re all over the net…..obviously you have to understand how to read them but in summary this is where we are prior to the turn of this year…..
* Shepherd left us with just over £100m worth of debt including balances on player transfers etc which were intilally referred to as the ‘hidden costs’ not picked up during the failed due diligence process
* We have £150m of debt which includes £11m bank borrowings, this is against Freddie’s near £80m bank borrowings which incurred rising interest which near crippled the club
* The balance of debt was an inteterst free loan from MA to the tune of £139.8m of which £28.8m was secured against future broadcasting revenues….he’s already had £12.3m of this out of the club and is due a further £16.5m by the end of next year (probably out of the Carroll money) this will then leave £100m owed to MA and £11m to the bank if this hasn’t by now already been cleared
* Where i assume you get the £240m debt estimate from is the accumulation of the current debt level with the purchase value of the club??? For accounting purposes this can be classified as capital introduced so will appear on accounts and has certain tax implications
* Further to the above debt management controls; after a restructure in the Championship we made a loss of just -£17.1m which is remarkable compared to EPL teams Bolton -£32m or amusingly the mackems at -£27m. Our wage bill represented 90.6% of turnover even after a £23.6m reduction in payroll since the Shepherd era with a turnover of only £53m in the Championship. Looking ahead; we have a massive EPL Sky tv revenue injection of around £50m to account for, a further estimated £2.5m reduction in wages and a £25m transfer surplus to factor in which will give NUFC its first annual profit in years and will further reduce the debt levels outlined above…..
so yes i can say that MA is financially heading us in the right direction….but i still dont like the man!
mattnufc
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:41 PM
Comment #89@79
Ashley’s incompetence got us relegated
CynicalasEva
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:42 PM
Comment #90AShleys preys on the lethargy/apathy of a great number of fans. Many a comment talking about boycotts (of any type) seem to end ….. but it will never happen. Why not – no one forces you to spend at hte DarkStar ?
On week of a V lo crowd would have a very real effect on FatAsh – and his business model – and may well show that the club does belong to the FANS – not the SHEEP
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:48 PM
Comment #91Daft_lad, good summary but it’s what’s been said already 😉
He’s addressed the wages but in too drastic way imo and he obviously didn’t want to pay someone to put a number9 shirt on, what say £3-4 mil a year in wages, we just saved £3 mil by letting Barton go on a free!
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:48 PM
Comment #92Ok…so, according to Daft explaination, Ashley simply buy the debt?
So Shepherd sell the club for £0.00?
Geordindo
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Comment #93breaking news! apparently andy carroll is out of favor with kenny dalglish and is heading to manchester city!
http://www.offthepost.info/blog/2011/08/andy-carroll-arrives-at-manchester-city/
archaeomag
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:52 PM
Comment #94@daft_lad 88
Thanks for the injection of realism – like I say – he likes fine margins; and there is no room for sentiment in business.
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:53 PM
Comment #95Interesting, it seem the argument between the fans is to know if Aslhey is crook or rather an incompetent man!
Ameobi No.9
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:56 PM
Comment #96I think we should all have a giant sleep-over and discuss what we can all do to get the fat man out.
Are you all F**KING bonkers or what? if you dont like the fat man, just comment on here how much you hate him. What is the point in not going to sports direct, protesting outside the club doors and holding banners inside the ground at matches. You guys are the reason people look at Newcastle fans and call us deluded.
If you want to do something constructive, write a letter to Mike Ashley and spray it with Lynx Chocolate so he will at least look at it, anything other than that is going to disrupt other fans and most importantly the players.
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Comment #97niafron, he’s left the squad quite thin in places and afterall all the fans want to see is a competetive team/squad. It’s a gamble at the minute for Ashley, if we get 1 or 2 major injuries in defence especially his gamble will probably lose.
I do not like to see our club gambled with.
Daft_lad
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Comment #98MacToon i know but some people don’t listen mate or don’t understand….I agree he’s cut too deep into the club and far too quickly
Niafron, no it doesnt work like that…accountants manipulate figures on a balance sheet to offset tax liability….businesses have been doing these things for years. We are certainly not in £250m worth of debt….
ramboreilly
Sep 4, 2011 at 4:58 PM
Comment #99I think most of the praise must be directed to sky and the fact we have had an average gate of 40000+ for the last few seasons dispite whats been going on.Were the banks interest rates really crippeling,not if they were fixed and if they wernt they would have come down in the last two years.To what end is ashley reducing the debts,his gain or the clubs.
archaeomag
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:02 PM
Comment #100@niafron
MA was good at what he did, made loads of money; bought a football club, did not check it finances, he ‘bought’ into more dept than he realized. As a businessman he is impulsive and shoots from the hip, bit of a loaner. Bought a football club discovered he did not now how to run it, and it was loosing money. Bit of a nightmare for him. I genuinely think he was trying to do the right thing at first, but it all went wrong on so many levels.
Now it’s just a business asset.
ToonDownSouth
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:03 PM
Comment #101http://www.thefootballramble.com/index.php/blog/entry/a-cause-for-optimism-on-tyneside
Some decent press – for Pardew & the team – from a neutral source.
All too rare these days like.
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:04 PM
Comment #102Lol but on paper we are £250mil in debt 😉
Ok, take off the purchase price leaves the debt figure. Very simplistic I know.
GeordieGerman
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:04 PM
Comment #103jimiley @ 79, Howay man. You’re taking the pee. 15 – 20 years. Oh well, at least my son has something to look forward to.
GoalsBringSmiles
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Comment #104http://uk.fashionmag.com/news-167320-Sportsdirect-com-seeks-growth-in-France
Expanding in France, SJP is quite clearly his marketing tool, transfers quite clearly not coincidental.
#NUFC #boycottsportsdirect
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:06 PM
Comment #105@Daft
Did Ashley paid something to Shepherd or did he simply took the debt for him?
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:08 PM
Comment #106niafron, yes Shepherd got hard cash for his share in NUFC.
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:10 PM
Comment #107How much?
ramboreilly
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Comment #108138 million of the debt is only payable when the club is sold,but if the value of the club goes down,then what happens,we would be stuck with him.
I think we would have been better off without him ,but only if we changed our wage and buying policy,cuts would have had to be made,but not to the extent ashley went to.Relegation cost us more than anything,ashleys fault entirely.
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Comment #109Oh crikey, Sir John hall had the major shareholding I believe and Shepard was 2nd highest shareholder….
Hopefully someone will give us the figures while I go look for them.
Daft_lad
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:16 PM
Comment #110@ romboreilly
Firstly, I’m not lauding Ashley here…I dont like the man. I want an owner who is a football man with ambition and a passion for the club. But he HAS put us on a path to financial stability whether you like it or not…..
Credit to Sky and the fans? You could say that for any club….without sky how many teams would go under?
Interest payments of between £7m-£10m a year is crippling when you have borrowed against future advertising, kit sponsorship and Sky tv revenue and spent it as Shepherd had. We also still owed half of Owen’s transfer fee, a large payment on Woodgate and countless other top ups/bonuses running into millions
To what end is he reducing the debt you ask????
Obviously both! Ashley doesn’t want to lose money or to have to keep pumping cash into the club….I’d even suggest that he isn’t that interested in NUFC now the novelty has worn off and the ‘ney sayers’ have sickened him. He bought the club primarily to market Sports Direct at home and abroad at the end of the day.
The club also gains from the debt reduction, we can be financially viable again competing off a strong platform but within our means…we become attractive to prospective buyers who could take the club off MA’s hands
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:17 PM
Comment #111was it not 70% SJH 30% Shephard? which was roughly the £mil figures too? maybe I’m totally wrong.
GeordieGerman
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:18 PM
Comment #112TDS, this made me laugh. OK smirk.
“but there may be a chance Newcastle actually have some sort of plan, rather than making it up as they go along”.
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:21 PM
Comment #113Hall sold his entire 41.6% shareholding in Newcastle United to sports retail magnate, Mike Ashley, for £55 million in a deal that valued the club at £133.1 million
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:24 PM
Comment #114From what I can find Shepherd had a similar shareholding to SJH, definately under 50%
Daft_lad
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:27 PM
Comment #115@ ramboreilly
MA’s owed £139.8m but £111m is payable upon demand, not when the club is sold mate…..puts us in a difficult position if he ever reaches the end of his tether….bit like Gaydamak at Pompey when the club entered administration.
Personally I think as soon as he ‘fattens’ us up he’ll look to sell….
ramboreilly
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:29 PM
Comment #116Shepheard made many many mistakes,but we had to borrow to redevelop the stadium and build a training ground.The interest rates and the repayments may have been high but we had no choice.Signing owen whether he was a success or not was the biggest mistake shepheard made.
You cant ask fans to buy into his 5 year plan,before ashley our average was 52000 what will it be this season or next.
People should not buy a football club and expect to make money,its a money pit.
ToonDownSouth
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:32 PM
Comment #117GeordieGerman
Indeed haha. Ever listen to The Football Ramble? Brilliant & hilarious football podcast. Their Italian expert was talking about us signing Santon, and one of them said that if we could get Ben Arfa fit we had the making of a really exciting young side. And then another just said “Yeah. But they’ll probably screw it up wont they.”
Sums us all up really aha.
niafron
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:38 PM
Comment #118OK, so, if i got it, Ashley buy the club in order to promote his sport company.
Now, he’s trying, not to make a profit, but simply to get back the money he lost by balancing the debt?
Is that correct?
MacToon
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:45 PM
Comment #119“Now, he’s trying, not to make a profit, but simply to get back the money he lost by balancing the debt”
Well what he is doing, why he’s doing it and what he plans for the future are the real questions niafron. It’s open to interpretation.
magpiebop
Sep 4, 2011 at 5:47 PM
Comment #120Boycott your pint at half time. I like that idea it will make it much easier for me to get served! (;0))