Strikes me that we're at cross purposes here

Your definition of "being in a state off the field" equals administration, or a panic sale of players, eg. us with Newsome and Ward eleven years ago. Mine doesn't: in my opinion, a club which makes a £2.6m profit on transfers, is only paying an average wage bill for this division, yet still issues stark warnings of a "very challenging future" plainly IS in a mess: mainly because we've no choice but to put huge amounts of money towards paying off interest and debts rather than the team.

Glenn Roeder, of course, only became Newcastle boss because the club couldn't afford anyone better qualified: sound familiar? And their new Chairman is on record as saying they were in such a frightening state that had Shepherd not sold, they'd have gone bankrupt in the summer - do you honestly think it's possible for a team to succeed amid that kind of backdrop?

Incidentally, if you want to see how growing financial difficulties and the possibility of a takeover affects a team on the park, I'd hugely recommend Frank Clark's autobiography. It's one of the best footballing bios I've ever read - precisely because it's so sober, detailed and analytical, and completely shuns all the usual cliche-ridden dross. Clark was held accountable for Forest's slump in fortunes in 96/7, and Man City's appalling state a year or so later - yet on both occasions, a great big mess in the boardroom (which was totally out of his hands) played a VERY big part in what happened.

Posted By: thebigfeller on October 6th 2007 at 12:35:54

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