Magpies tighten belts

Hughton will have no money to strengthen side

Last updated: 9th May 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Magpies tighten belts

Hughton: No money to strengthen

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Newcastle have confirmed they will not be spending any new money on players in the summer as they seek to stay in the Premier League next season.

Despite promotion being worth as much as £60million to the club, manager Chris Hughton will have to generate his own funds or rely on free transfers and loan deals.

The news comes after the Magpies, whose wage bill in the Championship last term still amounted to in excess of £40million, have suffered big losses recently.

The club recorded an operating loss of £37.7million for the financial year 2008-09 and are estimating a shortfall of £32.5million for 2009-10, while their £20million overdraft is already committed.

To avoid future losses, the board have now drawn up a five-year plan which they believe will enable them to break even by the end of the 2015-16 financial year.

In a lengthy statement, the club also confirmed Hughton will remain as manager amid speculation over his future.

Stabilised

The statement said: "It is clear to the board that no organisation can be successful, until the financial position is stabilised.

"The board have therefore structured a five-year plan in which the ultimate goal will be to ensure that the club is run at a 'break even' manner by the year 2015-2016.

"The first-team squad that won the Championship this year will form the basis of the team for next season in the Premier League.

"There is no plan for new capital outlay on players."

For the longer term, the club hope to utilise the best in local talent rather than rely on big-money signings.

The statement added: "The board and supporters are aware that Newcastle United currently has a footballing Academy brimming with talent, skill and dedication.

Promote

"As part of Newcastle United's quest for a team that truly represents the values of the Geordie nation, the club will look to promote, where it can, from within and for the Academy to become a leading light as one of the best, if not the best, in the UK.

"The days when players such as Alan Shearer, Steve Bruce, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick had to leave Newcastle to begin their illustrious football careers elsewhere are over.

"Newcastle United is more than aware of the great passion for the game of football that exists locally and is intent on ensuring that every great Geordie footballer has the opportunity to play for his home team club."

The board also signalled their intention to maintain a silence over their operations and will leave Hughton and his players to comment on football matters.

The statement concluded: "Newcastle United Football Club is an organisation that holds a special place in the hearts of Geordies worldwide and the board understands that it is they who are the spiritual torch holders of Newcastle United Football Club.

"The board has made this statement so that all those involved with Newcastle United be they supporter, member of the media or an individual with an interest in football, can be aware of what the board will strive to achieve over the next five years."

Comments (103)

Jason Truman (Newcastle United fan) says...

A good friend who works for the club says that Smith is interested in Joining Leeds Utd next season. So thats another player that needs replacing.

Posted 14:49 11th May 2010

Jeff Albertson (Newcastle United fan) says...

I think M Taylor is either a sunderland fan, a member of the press or just an idiot. I dont expect a top 10 finish, and only someone with a very blinkered view and limited understanding of the game would expect Newcastle to do this. I'm sick of the national image of NUFC fans being ones who want 11 geordies on the field, a geordie manager and geordie chairman - its stupid and naive to think thats what we expect in modern football! 'Slow building' is exactly what NUFC need, a properly-run club like Chelsea or Arsenal with the right people and strategies in place. We might not have their kind of cash but we need to get a model in place - and that does mean investing in players.

Posted 14:46 11th May 2010

Robert Cockburn (Newcastle United fan) says...

This is beyond my worst fears! No funds at all!!!??? Newcastle United will NEVER survive without strengthening the squad substantially in every part! Why does Mike Ashley really want for this club?? Newcastle United should be a club challenging for a place in the Champions League or at least the europa league, and we are never gonna be remotely close to challenging the likes of Spurs, Villa and Man City without making money available for strengthening the squad! And if Newcastle go down again, I believe It will be for a long time! Mike Ahsley, please sell the club and go home!

Posted 13:49 11th May 2010

R D (Newcastle United fan) says...

I think a few loan, free transfers and perhaps the odd cheap transfer and we will be fine..possibly even challenging for top half of table. id like to see beckford but i think there will be competition although if its true leeds want ameobi we may be in the driving seat. Id also love to see a new experienced defensive midfielder, i think thats the only position we are a bit short on quality as its not smiths natural position. Id also like to see steven taylor practice at RB and become a utility player like wes brown/jagelka/lescott/cuellar which will increase his sell on price and usefulness to NUFC as williamson is looking just as solid as CB. I think people are been a bit harsh on ashley here, we complain when he isnt straight with us and now some of us are complaining when he is been straight with us. i think he is actually doing the right thing (both with transfer funds and relations with us supporters) and we should give credit where it is due. even sir alex ferguson is saying it is a very inflated market now and if predictions are right its going to deflate a lot in the next few season which would make prudent to wait until then. its a long term plan which makes a refreshing change to the world of football as fans myself included are quite impatient. quite frankly thinking with my head and not my heart he has got it spot on... heres to the long term future of NUFC xx

Posted 13:12 11th May 2010

Fred Poole (Newcastle United fan) says...

Mike Ashley and the board are absolutely right - no more spending on sustaining the club. Just like not having a budget to maintain, clean, and repair your house. I completely agree with the idea of building from within, but you need some key players to help mentor and build that team. Right now we're stars of the Fizzy Pop League - not very creative in midfield and upfront, have a hard time owning posession - next season we might be able to bump West Ham up to 16.

Posted 13:09 11th May 2010

Andrew B (Newcastle United fan) says...

i hav been reading some of the comments and yous r talkin about a safe mid table finsh and maybe pushing for europe what planet r u from ? the current group of players are clearly not gd enough for example best shola simpson we badly need aleast another 4 players slow building over the next couple of years is what we need

Posted 13:06 11th May 2010

Mick Hammond (Newcastle United fan) says...

I agree with Chris Swanston with regards to some of the players feeling the club lack ambition and will want to move on. We won 12 of our away games this season, slightly more than 50% yet none of those were against teams with pure quality attacking options and high quality defenders, we scored 34 league goals away from, 1 less than Chelsea who played less games than us. With the same squad next season we will be very very lucky to pick up 15 points on our travels (7 premiership teams managed less this season), so if we did manage 15 points we would need app 25 points from home games to stop up, we will be unlikely to get max points against Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham & Aston Villa, most will be defeats but a couple of draws which means we need 20 points from 12 games which will be very tough to do considering we only picked up 22 points last time around with a better squad. We failed to score in 12 matches in 2008/2009 with Martins, Owen & Viduka (although a few were missed because of injury), we also only kept 7 clean sheets with Taylor & Colloccini in defence who might well be our main pair next season. We need some new players to bolster the squad, some of those available on a free would rather go to other clubs with ambition and higher wages than come to us, Ashleys 5 year is a waste of time because if we don't spend money then we will get relegated, although it might not be next season but certainly the season after with no money. What has happened to the £16m parachute payment we got, and next season payment and tv revenue?, what about ticket sales? surely all this money isn't needed for debts. Sell up and ship out before you ruin us for ever

Posted 12:45 11th May 2010

Alan Spindloe (Newcastle United fan) says...

oh well this shud be a good season coming up, look forward to winning some games the season after wen we r back in the championship without the likes of colochini and co coz they wont go back down again!!! absolutely no ambition in this football club no more why bother.

Posted 12:39 11th May 2010

Bash Cutler (Newcastle United fan) says...

I think a few loanees is a good idea, however Mike ashley does need to spend some money . . Joe ledley would be an excellent signing and on top of that Charlie austin seems like a good player to bolster the squad and find his feet . . Find the money Mikey !!!

Posted 12:36 11th May 2010

David Carter (Newcastle United fan) says...

what a joke, newcastle need at least 4 good fit players next season if they have anychance, the midfeilders like smith, nolan, butt have not got the legs for the PL. and the forwards will get out classed and out battled with PL defenses, carroll is still up and coming and needs experience to play along side him, the likes of o'hara, bullard, and maybe a cheeky bid for robbie keane would be needed to stay in the PL. faact

Posted 11:47 11th May 2010

Josh W (Middlesbrough fan) says...

Newcastle are dreaming if they think they can stay up without spending any money on new players, nightmare for them.

Posted 11:05 11th May 2010

Andrew Yates says...

all newcastle fans need 2 reailse that we r not a top team in the premiership anymore if we finished 15th next season that would be a great season the current players we have are not gd enough we need to buy aleast another 4 players

Posted 10:46 11th May 2010

Michael Hammond (Sunderland fan) says...

Good luck!!!

Posted 10:14 11th May 2010

Brett Copley (Newcastle United fan) says...

What a joke mike ashley? No money for players? they need to spend to strenghen team if they are wanting to stay in PL, we had a stronger team last time with the likes of Duff, Owen, Martins and ended up getting relegated. Dont think players like carrol will be able to get enough goals to keep us up. should be looking at players like jamie ohara, keiron richardson. joe cole would be good but thats abit of wishfull thinking. changes are needed if were to survive .... Up the Toon!!

Posted 09:59 11th May 2010

Wayne Murray (Newcastle United fan) says...

I fully understand where Ashley is coming from. I travel to Newcastle from where i live up in Aberdeen and have to admit our team is strong enough to stay up. I'm not saying we'll push for europe or anything but survival has to be the goal. If we play the same formation as Chelsea then look at our starting eleven. GK-Harper, RB-Simpson, LB-Enrique, CB-Coloccini, CB-Williamson or Taylor, CM-Nolan, CM-Barton, CM-Smith, RW-Routledge, LW-Gutierrez, ST-Carroll. Who has a better team than that in the bottom 10 this season? Nobody! Add a few free transfers and a few loan players then we will have the depth to stay up. Chelsea play with 1 up front so why shouldn't we. Carroll can hold his own as the lone striker. Joe Ledley is out of contract at Cardiff and Jermaine Beckford out of contract at Leeds to name a few so lets not get carried away.

Posted 09:22 11th May 2010

Kevin Thompson (Newcastle United fan) says...

I am willing to give Mike and his team a chance but as a season ticket holder of several years now I am getting increasing cheesed off with these statements! You can push the true fans so far before we stop turning up, I think you need to treat us with more respect as we're not a bunch of mugs! Your 5 year plan will give us a good foundation and I totally agree with this but I assume your basing this plan on fans actually buying season tickets and merchandise?? Turnstile numbers will reduce if we become a WBA yoyo team and no half decent youth player would want to play for us in . Also, good call on releasing this statement AFTER the season ticket renewel deadline, cheers for that!

Posted 09:17 11th May 2010

Lee Freeman (Sunderland fan) says...

Compare the owners we have to yours really tells the story NUFC do not have the spending power like the mags did a few years ago is a fact of life.Ashley is the biggest joker of a owner does it yet again this what life is without have million arie giving pots of money.press the reality button as well you Notingham Forest fans your not better off well as our rivals.you say NUFC are better than teams in the bottom half of the preimership not a chance they are,some are living in dreamland

Posted 03:26 11th May 2010

Peter Zachi (Newcastle United fan) says...

everyone deserve a chance to prove what its worth so Chris Hughton and the players who won the promotion. I still think we can do top 12 at PL with players we have got, and I think manager will bring some players, it can be free agent or loan spell. Its better that way , when u look at Owen how much we paid for him, how much we paid to him and we got relegated with him and then he left for free!!! Where Pancrate didnt work out for us and now he can go,didnt cost much, but Lovenkrands is brighter side of it!! And there is plenty of players out there like Lovenkrands! Big names didnt work out for us for past years, even u could say Collocini was a flop but he stayed and improve and wants to prove he can do better than 2008-09!

Posted 21:04 10th May 2010

Paul Odonnell (Newcastle United fan) says...

ashley dont mistreet ower club no more make up for ur mistakes give us the money for 2 or 3 players we dont just want to finish bottom 4 10 th place would be nice

Posted 20:56 10th May 2010

Phil Sale (Newcastle United fan) says...

Part of me likes this statement and part of me doesnt. I think it would be extremely fool-hardy for Ashley to throw money at trying to survive in the premier league. We have all seen with Man City this season that money does not guarentee any level of success! But, we will need a small investment to tick over the current players we have and create competition. That said, there will be some good young players available in the summer for next to nothing. Ryan Bertrand, Craig Cathcart and Tom Cleverley to name just a couple. They are up and coming players who would provide good competition for our first teamers. Also, i would love to see the likes of Jack Whilshere, Jack Hobbs etc come to the club on loan. Arsenal have already stated that they will let Whilshere out on loan again next season. He would be fantastic for us. The one area i feel we will need to spend a bit of money on is a good forward. We only need the one. Somebody with a bit of pace and knows where the goal is! We do have some very bright prospects coming through the academy but i think that next year might be a bit early for them. Consolidate by all means Ashley, but make sure you route around as there will be bargains to be had in the summer!

Posted 20:49 10th May 2010

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