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Opinion

Comparing and contrasting Newcastle United and Spurs – Before and after Mike Ashley arrived

5 years ago
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Remember when you were at school and you got an exam question that started off: ‘Compare and contrast…’

I used to think that contrast was something to do with the colour of the telly and compare was somebody like Bruce Forsyth.

Anyway, I digress. It’s the end of the season and I just wanted to celebrate the success of the last twelve years under the ownership of Mr Greedy.

I thought I’d do this by doing a little ‘compare and contrast’ with the fortunes of a club who are just about to contest the Champions League final against media darlings, and Tom Daley wannabes, Liverpool. So here goes.

In the period 95/96 until 2006/7 Newcastle finished above Spurs on seven occasions, with Spurs having the upper hand on the other five.

Our best placed finish was 2nd while theirs was 5th. Without going into too much detail, we had a slight advantage. Then Ashley arrived.

In Ashley’s twelve years, including the season just ended, Spurs have finished above us in every one of the twelve seasons. They are now the team contesting Champions League football while we try and avoid the Championship (again).

While Ashley is busy breaking our transfer records for player sales, Spurs are reinvesting the £86m they received for Bale to form a team capable of challenging at the top. They have broken their transfer record numerous times – it’s now £42m. They even paid us 30m for Sissoko.

It’s taken Ashley twelve years to break our record as he begrudgingly paid out the £20m for Almiron.

In between those years, Spurs paid the going rate for Modric so that he didn’t join us and they watched while Ashley argued about a few quid extra for Dele Alli, before signing him. Wonder how much he’s worth now!

And then there’s the stadium. Spurs have got big plans, a big stadium, a partnership with the NFL and are going places. They even made their capacity a couple of thousand more than Arsenal’s!

Meanwhile, Ashley is selling off land to make sure we can’t increase our capacity and if Rafa wants that academy improving, the paintbrushes and paint are in the cupboard! Spurs have an excellent academy by the way.

So there you have it. Two similar teams with two very different owners.

Spurs are about to play the biggest game in their modern history and Newcastle are trying to convince a World class manager to stay and create next season’s silk purse.

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