Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Opinion

What could Rafa Benitez have done with the cash as shown he generated £86m PL profits for Mike Ashley

4 years ago
Share

Mike Ashley could have backed Rafa Benitez with another £86.3m after promotion to the Premier League.

New figures confirm that this money could / should have been available to the former Newcastle United manager.

In 2017, Mike Ashley stated that Rafa Benitez would have ‘every penny’ to spend that the club generated after promotion.

The NUFC owner then on 13 May 2018 repeated this only minutes after Newcastle had beaten Chelsea 3-0 and finished tenth, the club releasing a statement including Mike Ashley quotes:

“Rafa, as always, has my full support, and contrary to some media reports that portray me as a pantomime villain, I will continue to ensure that every penny generated by the club is available to him.”

Below we have the Newcastle United season by season profits (or losses) after tax, in each season under Mike Ashley.

As you can see, in 2017/18 there were £18.6m worth of profits, cash that could / should have gone  to Rafa Benitez to progress the club after promotion.

Then, after the 2018/19 accounts were at last released on Friday, you can see that there were £34.7m worth of profits that could / should have gone to the then NUFC manager.

That totals £53.3m worth of profits that Rafa Benitez generated after promotion and at same time somehow guided a promoted team to 10th and 13th.

However, the actual total is £86.3m of profits that Rafa generated in those two seasons.

Remember, Mike Ashley promised Rafa Benitez; ‘I will continue to ensure that every penny generated by the club is available to him.’

If you look at the other table below, it shows the amount of ‘debt’ owed to Mike Ashley by the club (remember, the £111m that is still ‘owed’ was in reality part of the price of buying the club, just Ashley chose to have it as debt against the club for his own benefit, don’t fall for the ridiculous lies about Ashley not knowing that a mortgage of £50m was still owed for SJP redevelopment, or what was still owed for players etc. You don’t need to do ‘due diligence to know these things, they were public knowledge and everybody knew about them, as they were made clear in each season’s accounts, just as they are now in the accounts with Mike Ashley as owner).

Anyway, Mike Ashley chose to take out £33m from the cash flow last season (2018/19) and starve Rafa Benitez of transfer funds. This £33m was money Ashley did put in after he orchestrated the last relegation in 2015/16.

If you are naive you might think, well it is Ashley’s money so why shouldn’t he take it back out?

Well, any sensible and / or ambitious Premier League club owner wouldn’t have done it.

Most would just off the debt or turn it into shares, he owns the whole club anyway so Mike Ashley would always be the one to benefit eventually anyway, such as if / were the club was sold.

Rafa Benitez put a plan to Mike Ashley of how to progress the club season after season and of course as part of that, it is obvious that you need to make as much money as possible available to the manager in the seasons immediately after promotion.

Clearly, after seeing Rafa Benitez manage tenth with minimal financial support in the first season up, Mike Ashley thought he could really have it all ways. No net transfer spend whatsoever for 2018/19 and indeed a profit on players in and out, plus a massive £67.7m in profits, £33m of which he took out for himself.

Incredibly, Rafa still guided Newcastle to a final placing 11 points above relegation in 2018/19, with the eight best form in the Premier League over the final 28 games of the season and fifth best in the final 16 PL matches.

Season by season Newcastle United profits (and losses) after tax – with thanks to Chris Holt for the tables (You can keep in touch with all of Chris Holt’s blogs via NUFC Miscommunication, NUFC-Ashlies Blogspot)

Also from Chris Holt, this table shows the ‘debt’ owed by NUFC to Mike Ashley on a season to season basis:

As you can see, this reduced by £33m in the latest 2018/19 accounts as Mike Ashley took the cash out of the club.

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks