The crowd on Saturday was the usual good one, with 51,749 attending the game so that’s about 705 fans short of a full house at Newcastle ( official capacity 52,354).
We expect to be the case in the coming months as Rafa has asked the fans for the same support of last season.
There seem to be some fans who may be thinking of boycotting the games this season, but that’s not a good idea – but it’s a free country of course and everybody can do what they want.
But if it’s to put pressure on Mike Ashley – it won’t work because he doesn’t care.
It seems that all Ashley wants to do is to sell the club for as much as he can get – which means he will not sell it for a year or two.
Match fees are an increasingly small percentage of what we get from the Premier League – £123M for last season.
Rafa Benitez – wants and needs the full support of the fans
Boycotting games will only hurt Newcastle and Rafa has made it clear he wants complete unity at Newcastle and that means everybody associated with the club pulling in the same direction.
Boycotting in front of Sports Direct last Saturday was not a bad thing and certainly didn’t affect the players and it was good there was that flag of Rafa on display – very impressive.
But let’s not make this season like some of the seasons of old when there were lots of protests and boycotting going on.
The very best chance we have of keeping Rafa Benitez is to do what he wants us to this season – fully support the team.
Forget about Mike Ashley for the time being – flags of support for Rafa and the team will go a long way to keeping Mr. Benitez on Tyneside.
After all – at every chance he gets – he says he would like to stay on Tyneside.
We could surprise ourselves this season – we really hope that happens.
But the mood on Tyneside has to be positive and replicate Rafa’s mood throughout a season.
OK – I have only three more words to say.
Howay The Lads!!
31 comments so far
hibbit
Aug 14, 2018 at 12:54 PM
Comment #1anyone else having problems with the blog today ??????
Jail for Ashley
Aug 14, 2018 at 12:55 PM
Comment #2hibbit,
Apart from Jib just the layout?
Bambams
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:02 PM
Comment #3Right
Head on the block time….
My nephew has just text me this……
Apparently the toon have been bought at 320million and 140million back to Ashley by a Chinese company
I have had a brief look back on the blog but due to layout problems I can’t see if this has been mentioned by anyone.
Just sharing – haven’t been able to speak to him yet so don’t know what the source is. If I hear I will share
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:02 PM
Comment #4Hibbit et al
The stretched layout a couple of threads back was down to me I’m afraid. I posted what was a long url. Apologies to all who were inconvenienced by it and yes, it’s annoying for me too.
Jail for Ashley
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:09 PM
Comment #5Bambams,
What does your nephew do?
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:12 PM
Comment #6Bambams
If your post turns out to be good, brilliant. If not there’s nothing lost.
£140m debate would nicely cover the cost of HoF and leave Ashley enough to pay Bishop who in turn would be able to pay his shillings to his gang of Blog cheerleaders.
Someone posted a bit of hearsay the other day that Ashley’d sold out to some South Korean buyer…… South Korea, China, Oedipus, Schmoedipus as long as Ashley’s out of it, that’s fine
Jib
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:12 PM
Comment #7Jail
He’s a writer for the Beano and Dandy
martoon
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:14 PM
Comment #8Bambams – do you mean £320m + £140m (which seems unlikely) or the £320m includes £140m to Ashley which values the club at £180m?
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:21 PM
Comment #9Get up salmon
For all you say you like Jib because he’s not a clique person?
We’ll, you’ll be pleased to know that by liking him, you’ve made him a clique person. If we exclude Jane, Jeff and doubtless other names he posts under, then you’re in his clique of two.
You could even form a Jib fan club – it’ll not take up much, if any, of your own time. If you need advice, Bullchit Bishop’ll give you some tips.
Jail for Ashley
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:21 PM
Comment #10Jib,
That’s a canny job if you can get it.
Jail for Ashley
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:23 PM
Comment #11lesh,
There was a “new” poster earlier telling Jibbers that he was good value. Mmm, good value, where have we heard that saying before???
RobLeenio
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:24 PM
Comment #12Bambams, that’s interesting. getoutofworclub posted yesterday that the club had been bought by a South Korean. I know they’re entirely different countries, but close enough that Chinese whispers (sorry) could well be at work and it’s the same story.
I’ll have to take it with a pinch of salt and believe it when I see it however – though I do appreciate you sharing. Please continue to do so if you hear any more.
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:26 PM
Comment #13Whoops wrong word…
Bambams
* when I posted, debate should have read rebate …. but in the context it sounds like would dividend have been a better word?
Anyway, it’s academic at this time.
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:30 PM
Comment #14martoon @8
£320m incl his £140m sounds better than my suggestion.
RobLeenio
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:31 PM
Comment #15Lesh, Bambams, could it be that Ashley takes his £140M debt out of the club (TV money, transfer profit etc) and then takes a cash payment of £320M? We’ve been speculating all Summer that he’s been stockpiling cash to do just that.
If it’s true, I hope it involves letting go of all of his commercial entanglements with the club – SD advertising, SD ownership of the club shop, merch rights, catering, deeds of Strawberry Place etc. All that lot (and whatever else there is) would take some serious unraveling.
Jib
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:36 PM
Comment #16I hope the rumours are true
and it’s the people who are
behind the sale
to Ashley of HoF
The Sanpower Group are worth
about £17Billion
https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/SANBAZ:CH-sanpower-group-co-ltd
A really ethical business
They have given out about £1Billion in
charitable handouts in the last decade
c-dog
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:36 PM
Comment #17Any PL clubs owned by Chinese individuals/consortiums in the past? How has this panned out?
Munster Mag
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:37 PM
Comment #18Nephew is bored?
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:39 PM
Comment #19Jail
Yes, I saw ‘good value’ and felt obliged to applaud (@9) Salmon’s judgement.
RobLeenio
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:40 PM
Comment #20Jib, I would say better them than Gospodin Usmanov as mentioned last week.
mactoon
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:44 PM
Comment #21Ed you mention the matchday fees in the article which implies you think the revenue lost by fans not attending the matches is the reason people want the fans to boycott?
Given that the money is taken by direct debit, boycotting won’t make any financial difference as the money is already in the bank. The reason as I see it is to raise awareness by TV cameras showing the empty seats. I do agree that boycotting games will only hurt the team and Rafa.
I’m not sure how much the show of support for Rafa and the team will go towards preventing Rafa leaving, I think that’s a done deal now but showing him support can’t do any harm. Boycotts don’t affect Ashley, he’s an absent owner and won’t even see the empty seats. The only way is to get him out of the club and the only was for that to happen is a buyer to come along.
lesh
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:47 PM
Comment #22RobLeenio @15
That was my first thought and the one that’d be most attractive to Ashley.
As you say, and if this speculation turns out to have some substance, we can but hope that Ashley returns any NUFC assets, trademarks, copyrights, properties and commercial activities he’s stripped out of it.
However, we can believe it when we see a new owner or his reps holding the shirt.
Reilly
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:50 PM
Comment #23haven’t the chinese goverment put a clamp down on big money being spent sports outside the country.Didnt the villa owner have problems getting his money out of china.
ShirebrookToon
Aug 14, 2018 at 1:58 PM
Comment #24Bambams
Cheers for sharing mate. Fingers crossed it happens.
cyprus
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:02 PM
Comment #25Ed
You’re right that it was about 705 people to capacity. It was closer to 605 🙂
Hope the bookies are right about our next game. All of them have us odds on for a win.
http://www.betexplorer.com/soccer/england/premier-league/cardiff-newcastle/GGYxl2Tn/
RobLeenio
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:04 PM
Comment #26Reilly, yep – I was going to make this point. Tony Xia was forced to sell before Villa went under this Summer, having splurged tens of millions over the last two seasons on trying to get them back in the Prem. He apparently couldn’t get any more cash over from China. Wolves and Birmingham are both under Chinese ownership, as are Inter and AC Milan.
I don’t know what the restrictions are, whether buying a club could be seen as an investment but buying a player comes under different rules as it’s not likely to be recouped.
Also, the Chinese political landscape is very corrupt, it may well come down to who you know when it comes to justifying spend abroad. Yafei Yuan, for eg, the Chairman of Sanpower Group, is ex-Government, very well connected and one of the richest Chinese businessmen. He could probably get away with anything he wanted to.
Bambams
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:19 PM
Comment #27Just spoken to my nephew….
This has come from a person who works at the club. My nephew was with him at the match.
It’s £320 million for the club plus £140 million for debt owed to Ashley.
£460 million in total !
He also said it’s a Chinese ‘Company’ when I queried if it was possibly a ‘Consortium ‘
Seemingly the bookies will not take the sources money when trying to put a bet on that the Club will be sold ‘This Month’
The source works for Newcastle United
Look I can genuinely state this is exactly what I was told, I know nothing more….It could be accurate – time will tell. I have been told the name of this person but for obvious reasons I am not naming the person.
NY Mag
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:29 PM
Comment #28Jib (from earlier this morning)
You state that payments to agents could be construed as a very onerous contract – that’s entirely feasible. However, it will never be written down in the accounts under wages & salaries
Also, you state that the accounts have always been filed in June under Ashley
NUFC have never (not once) filed their accounts in June under Ashley (normally it’s March or April, this year they were late and filed in May)
Average_Contents
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:36 PM
Comment #29Dear god Bambams, I hope this is true!
If that is the price then no wonder the fat fcuks struggled to sell us. Doubled up on his original buying price and then an extra £140m for the debt he’s got us into.
Fat cnut out!
Hwtl
Hwtf
Bambams
Aug 14, 2018 at 2:51 PM
Comment #30Average
I thought it was a steep price ! I know loads on here have said it would need to be a huge bid to get him to sell….If this is accurate they have been spot on.
I thought even £400 million was expensive….
Time will tell but hope it’s right
Toon&oot
Aug 15, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Comment #31I would be surprised at 400 million. The fact is due to our strength of squad any potential buyer doing their homework would know that we are more than likely going to be in a relegation battle rather than competing at the top half of the table. No doubt any owner prepared to invest that much would surely put a relegation clause into the condition of sale. If there is real interest I’m surprised any potential buyer did not come along before the end of the transfer window which would have given them time to improve the squad and secure their asset.