Rondon

[Albionic68]

You are becoming a whingy, sarcastic, moody old bugger Danny.
Good isn't it?

That's quite the compliment coming from you Chris, thank you .

[Yarmbaggie]

I suspect as much as anything Gayle will have to take a cut in wages to come to us, on loan or permanently.

Personally I don’t think we are that desperate for the move to go ahead to make Gayle a special case. Don’t know the salary implications but for me he is not worth busting our present wage structure for.

[WBA53]

Gayle will come if the toon pay up his contract as its more money,if he's a money mercenary f uck him anyway

[Whicka_Mon]

Let's start a funding page to cover the difference in wages. Just to get rid of that useless lump Rondon.

[kettering_baggie]

I’d much rather keep Rondon than take on another billy big boots with a chip on his shoulder (Gayle).

[ghostrider]

With the right owners Newcastle should be a top 6 club. When the likes of Bournemouth can outspend them ,something ain't right.

How long can Bournemouth outspend us for?
Football has gone totally mad but in the last few seasons its went off the wall crazy, where mediocre players are being sold for top player type money and top players are now in the late double figures to three figure brackets.

TV money is catering for the whim of clubs like Bournemouth but you have to remember that the bigger the transfer fee, the bigger the wage and generally the longer the contract which can easily put many clubs on the edge.

Look at West Ham and what they've spent over a few seasons.
What return have they got compared to Newcastle?

What wage bill do they have right now?
They have to offload players who are being paid enormous wages and those players require big clubs to not only buy them but to agree to that wage or the players will see out their contracts and go for nothing.


The game is a mess for most clubs.
They simply cannot compete against the elites and are basically competing against each other as also-ran type teams/clubs.

We are a big club and years ago it counted for something.
It counts for little now, because we are like the rest. We are kept at arms length and fed scraps by the elites and those whose job it is to keep those elites where they are.

In a way you lot are lucky. You get the chance to get excited and go for the title with an actual reality of chasing it among many other clubs in the championship who will also have that belief.

It makes for a massively exciting season in the championship and a potential feel good factor throughout your club and city.
The end goal is the exciting killer if you reach it.
If you gain promotion you become an also-ran team again.
Your mindset goes from exciting to worry and hope you beat the drop whilst you look up at the top and see the very same teams duking it out for the major so called spoils that they've spend 150 million chasing...yet playing a game of pass the parcel in terms of a merry-go-round of players going to each other for massive amounts.

Basically the big clubs are merely messing with digits and ending up spending little to nothing whilst the rest outside of the elites go hell for leather in a battle for who spends more to be seen to be the most ambitious.

For what?
To hold onto the coat-tails of the elites like Burnley did.

And maybe...just maybe one club gets the chance to play in a final or even win one, every half a dozen to a decade of years.

As for Ashley.
He's definitely a Mr shrewd and a miser amid being a bit generous at times...when it's a safer bet to do so with a contingency plan for failure.

But we finished 10th with what he bought and with a manager he paid handsomely to oversee it.
This season we get rid of big wage earners and gain big money for a player most believed was second rate and yet we've added players to strengthen because those players are wanted. The others were not and rarely played.

And now we are due to go again.
But what are we going for?
What are West ham going for?
Burnley?
Brighton?
Bournemouth?
Fulham?
Etc etc etc.
The answer is, safety and a big spend for some to try and hang onto the back end of the money no object (it appears) clubs and the usual top 6 set up.

I think a massive Ashley spend would most likely do more damage to this club than playing it safe, regardless of whether people think he's pocketing whatever.
Big money equals big mercenaries and generally... as silly as it appears...and as much as we all look at our clubs and say we'd all play for nothing.....in the world of the pampered footballer, the issue is on want and greed due to agents, that leave most clubs struggling in short order.

I loved it when we were in the championship. No bickering...no Ashley hatred.... and a feeling of excitement and down to Earth football with a real sense of purpose...and goals.

Enjoy your challenge as I know you will and I'm sure you all know the score because we've been there before with our clubs.

And to think we all strive to get back to struggle in the higher league because it somehow gives us all a sense of having some kind of high status, proven by the party atmosphere as if we've won the champions league if our clubs avoid relegation, especially if it's a last day of the season job.

The football fans that we are.
Easily pleased yet easily frenzied...and very easily scorned.

[holmleighchris]

Many on here have said much the same about Albion Ghostrider, and football in general.
Whilst TV carries on pumping obscene money into the game there is next to no hope for any of us outside the top 6 doing anything other than surviving.
Manchester City & Chelsea used to be "proper clubs" like us and yourselves. I pay neither little heed now, glad when they lose but not interested in them at all.

[WBA1955]

On talksport today they were saying that only the top 6 have a chance of winning trophies, and clubs from 7th downwards just try and survive for another season.

[Albionmad]

How long can Bournemouth outspend us for?
Football has gone totally mad but in the last few seasons its went off the wall crazy, where mediocre players are being sold for top player type money and top players are now in the late double figures to three figure brackets.

TV money is catering for the whim of clubs like Bournemouth but you have to remember that the bigger the transfer fee, the bigger the wage and generally the longer the contract which can easily put many clubs on the edge.

Look at West Ham and what they've spent over a few seasons.
What return have they got compared to Newcastle?

What wage bill do they have right now?
They have to offload players who are being paid enormous wages and those players require big clubs to not only buy them but to agree to that wage or the players will see out their contracts and go for nothing.


The game is a mess for most clubs.
They simply cannot compete against the elites and are basically competing against each other as also-ran type teams/clubs.

We are a big club and years ago it counted for something.
It counts for little now, because we are like the rest. We are kept at arms length and fed scraps by the elites and those whose job it is to keep those elites where they are.

In a way you lot are lucky. You get the chance to get excited and go for the title with an actual reality of chasing it among many other clubs in the championship who will also have that belief.

It makes for a massively exciting season in the championship and a potential feel good factor throughout your club and city.
The end goal is the exciting killer if you reach it.
If you gain promotion you become an also-ran team again.
Your mindset goes from exciting to worry and hope you beat the drop whilst you look up at the top and see the very same teams duking it out for the major so called spoils that they've spend 150 million chasing...yet playing a game of pass the parcel in terms of a merry-go-round of players going to each other for massive amounts.

Basically the big clubs are merely messing with digits and ending up spending little to nothing whilst the rest outside of the elites go hell for leather in a battle for who spends more to be seen to be the most ambitious.

For what?
To hold onto the coat-tails of the elites like Burnley did.

And maybe...just maybe one club gets the chance to play in a final or even win one, every half a dozen to a decade of years.

As for Ashley.
He's definitely a Mr shrewd and a miser amid being a bit generous at times...when it's a safer bet to do so with a contingency plan for failure.

But we finished 10th with what he bought and with a manager he paid handsomely to oversee it.
This season we get rid of big wage earners and gain big money for a player most believed was second rate and yet we've added players to strengthen because those players are wanted. The others were not and rarely played.

And now we are due to go again.
But what are we going for?
What are West ham going for?
Burnley?
Brighton?
Bournemouth?
Fulham?
Etc etc etc.
The answer is, safety and a big spend for some to try and hang onto the back end of the money no object (it appears) clubs and the usual top 6 set up.

I think a massive Ashley spend would most likely do more damage to this club than playing it safe, regardless of whether people think he's pocketing whatever.
Big money equals big mercenaries and generally... as silly as it appears...and as much as we all look at our clubs and say we'd all play for nothing.....in the world of the pampered footballer, the issue is on want and greed due to agents, that leave most clubs struggling in short order.

I loved it when we were in the championship. No bickering...no Ashley hatred.... and a feeling of excitement and down to Earth football with a real sense of purpose...and goals.

Enjoy your challenge as I know you will and I'm sure you all know the score because we've been there before with our clubs.

And to think we all strive to get back to struggle in the higher league because it somehow gives us all a sense of having some kind of high status, proven by the party atmosphere as if we've won the champions league if our clubs avoid relegation, especially if it's a last day of the season job.

The football fans that we are.
Easily pleased yet easily frenzied...and very easily scorned.

What a great post.

I've wondered for a while what the consequences would be if a team that gained promotion turned it down.

I know that sounds crazy but the figure quoted for gaining promotion (150 million last time) is misleading. All it means is that you have to spend money on transfer fees, agents, player salaries etc which is soon gobbled up.

Turning promotion down would mean being in a league where any one of 10 or so clubs could win it.

I know it sounds like the Emperors new clothes scenario, but really, do what can most of the Premiership clubs look forward to?

[Roymit]

A really good post ghost rider and sums up pretty succinctly what most of us know. But then Leicester pop up and do the miracle and for some stupid reason we all think it might just happen to one of us some time. Well not really but there's no doubt football is essentially run for the benefit of TV, 6 clubs and their millionaire owners.