[Albion] Dan Ashworth joins Newcastle

[Lower West Stander]

Harsh but I also think fair. All these people saying “yes, but if you could double your money…” I think reflects badly on their own integrity. I choose not to work for certain businesses and have done so throughout my career. I also choose not to invest or have shares in certain businesses. Life isn’t all about money you know!

Me too.

There have been times in my career when I've been approached to leave my job for a fair bit more money but job satisfaction and potential risks to my new employment have made me say no.

I remember a number of my colleagues jumping ship for Icelandic banks just before the GFC and that ended well.....

 

[B-right-on]

If that happened the Potter fan boys would need two weeks of mourning.

And the Potter haters will be out in force. Even if Hyypia came back.

 

[Mancgull]

They'll start cherry picking our players this summer I am afraid to say.

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Maybe put in a bid for Bissouma and frankly that wouldn’t be a bad thing as it will add to the value we get for him.
Lamptey?, it would have to be a huge bid. Anyone else, I doubt it. Ashworth’s value to Newcastle will be creating infrastructure. Any Technical director can buy good players for loads of money if you have the cash. What value is he adding to his role if he only does that?

With his England connections, we’ve probably already had the main benefit of that in Welbeck, Lallana, Lamptey. (U18s) He left that job c 3/4 years ago now I think and so his connections will have ebbed a bit.

Of course his departure is a loss but I think Newcastle’s recruitment will go a bit further afield than Brighton, albeit I can see them targeting Yves.

 

[el punal]

I’ll give Dan Ashworth the benefit of the doubt that maybe he thought that he could offer no more to the Albion. Having said that I also think that anyone that joins Newcastle now, be it a player or in another capacity, is doing so for purely financial reasons (i.e. greed). Why would anyone worth their salt would want to join a club that is in the bottom three, with a real chance of being relegated, for purely football reasons?

 

[South west gull]

Maybe put in a bid for Bissouma and frankly that wouldn’t be a bad thing as it will add to the value we get for him.
Lamptey?, it would have to be a huge bid. Anyone else, I doubt it. Ashworth’s value to Newcastle will be creating infrastructure. Any Technical director can buy good players for loads of money if you have the cash. What value is he adding to his role if he only does that?

With his England connections, we’ve probably already had the main benefit of that in Welbeck, Lallana, Lamptey. (U18s) He left that job c 3/4 years ago now I think and so his connections will have ebbed a bit.

Of course his departure is a loss but I think Newcastle’s recruitment will go a bit further afield than Brighton, albeit I can see them targeting Yves.

No one of note will go to Newcastle in the championship

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[Springal]

I’ll give Dan Ashworth the benefit of the doubt that maybe he thought that he could offer no more to the Albion. Having said that I also think that anyone that joins Newcastle now, be it a player or in another capacity, is doing so for purely financial reasons (i.e. greed). Why would anyone worth their salt would want to join a club that is in the bottom three, with a real chance of being relegated, for purely football reasons?

Why did Tariq Lamptey join a club that has only ever finished between 15th & 17th in the PL? Yes - regular football was #1, but the jump down from Chelsea to bottom end of the table was pretty big

 

[el punal]

Why did Tariq Lamptey join a club that has only ever finished between 15th & 17th in the PL?

Because we weren’t in the bottom three at the beginning of February?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Sorry but this is nonsense.

Firstly, we've repeatedly been told by memos and speeches from PB and posts on here when it's not going so well that it's a long term plan. Well, it seems that GP, Paul Barber and Tony still believe in it but Ashworth was just using it as the next step on the career ladder. I imagine that TB places a lot on loyalty and will be put out by this, The club statement, as pointed out to me by another regular on here, was a little terse to say the least.

Secondly it is up to the Premier League to get their house in order. They have a fit and proper persons test. A nation state (especially one that treats women as second class, chops hands off and breeds terrorists) should not meet that definition.

Thirdly fans will still protest if something directly affects them, whether that's poor ownership (ironically Ashley finally being driven out of Newcastle) or the speed with which the ESL was crushed under fan revolt. But to protest one ownership would have quite a few Premier League clubs' fans indulging in mass hypocrisy because, largely, of my point two.

We are one of the only ones with decent, local, fan led leadership and it seems Ashworth prefers big money and keeping Kieran Trippier in sports cars to that.

Good riddance.

Nonsense, you say?

If you imagine that all of our players and our manager would turn down any and every offer to join a bigger club (and yes, for more money) you are naive. And if they left, you would call them disloyal and say 'good riddance'? Really?

As for the fit and proper person test, yes indeed I don't see how the Saudi state would meet the rules. However the ownership has presented itself as separate from the saudi state and, ridiculous as this is, the EPL have accepted it. So the fit an proper person test is not fit for purpose. I think we can agree about that.

But the nationwide clamour for this to change? Where is it? Am I talking nonsese again? Did I miss the thousands camped outside St James' in a perpetual vigil, like the women at Greenham Common back in the 80s? I shall google it later....

As for long term plans, it's great to have one, but we all know about the best laid plans of mice......

I am certain we agree that the ownership of Newcastle is all wrong, and it should never have been allowed. So....how do you see a resolution? I see it has a far more intractable problem than, for example, the continued premiership of Johnson.

Edit: and meanwhile I can't get exercised about Burn and now Ashworth moving up there, other than the standard level of annoyance they have gone

 

[Springal]

Because we weren’t in the bottom three at the beginning of February?

Indeed - but we were 17th in the table, with 0 wins at home that season so far.

Also worth noting - Newcastle have finished above Brighton every season so far.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Agreed.....Tony has reluctantly lost a key member of his senior team and he's understandably pissed off, and holding him to his notice period is clear evidence of that, otherwise he'd simply let him go now and save several months salary.

We know Tony is very big on loyalty - see the Brentford chairman, see Poyet.

 

[Icy Gull]

If that happened the Potter fan boys would need two weeks of mourning.

Two weeks? You know nothing John Snow

 

[middletoenail]

Bit of faux outrage from the usual suspects. He has no allegiance to Albion, we did something similar to Newcastle when we got him to sign from the FA. He gets to work on an interesting project and line his families pockets, what's the problem?

 

[Stato]

I wouldn't be suprised if this is a lawyer; having sometimes multiple owners of a player puts many from Europe off due to contractual complexity.

I'm sure that you are right that there are good lawyers involved, but someone has put the effort in to develop good contacts on the continent. Thinking about it, if Billy Arce does nothing else, he gives me comfort that this was not Ashworth. His signing was done the year before Dan Ashworth joined. Of course, this wouldn't stop Ashworth from offering a job with Newcastle to whoever it is.

 

[Creaky]

I’ll give Dan Ashworth the benefit of the doubt that maybe he thought that he could offer no more to the Albion. Having said that I also think that anyone that joins Newcastle now, be it a player or in another capacity, is doing so for purely financial reasons (i.e. greed). Why would anyone worth their salt would want to join a club that is in the bottom three, with a real chance of being relegated, for purely football reasons?

I can think of a number of reasons - it is far more rewarding to work for a company that is struggling, (together with the attendant risks), but has real prospects of improvement than to remain with one where your job is safe.

We have no idea how much freedom DA had in his job with the club nor what he has been promised at Newcastle. Obviously there were constraints in terms of the club’s policies and methods - were these dictated by TB or is input from senior executives sufficient to change policy? Will this be different at Newcastle?

Changes I made during my working life were never dictated by money alone, there are lots of other things that can influence choices.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Nonsense, you say?

If you imagine that all of our players and our manager would turn down any and every offer to join a bigger club (and yes, for more money) you are naive. And if they left, you would call them disloyal and say 'good riddance'? Really?

Players always move on. They are very different animals to senior management engaged to deliver a long term, sustainable business plan. This one arrived with weasel words about Hughton and left for the petro-dollar. I repeat, good riddance.

As for the fit and proper person test, yes indeed I don't see how the Saudi state would meet the rules. However the ownership has presented itself as separate from the saudi state and, ridiculous as this is, the EPL have accepted it. So the fit an proper person test is not fit for purpose. I think we can agree about that.

We can.

But the nationwide clamour for this to change? Where is it? Am I talking nonsese again? Did I miss the thousands camped outside St James' in a perpetual vigil, like the women at Greenham Common back in the 80s? I shall google it later....

You've either misunderstood my point or repeated yours, so I shall repeat mine.

Football fans are very good protestors when it comes to their own club. Us with Archer, Prescott et al. The Euro Super League. Bad ownership at Blackpool or Charlton. They are less good at organising to protest a single issue at another club, especially when they may be in hock to another Middle Eastern state, a Russian Oligarch, a foreign gangster. I'm sure you see how that might work. So, I say don't take to the street specifically about Newcastle, but rather ramp up pressure on the PL to make the ownership test worth the paper it's written on. That needs co-ordination. I wonder if anyone on this board knows anyone at, say, the FSF?

 

[Beanstalk]

I’ll give Dan Ashworth the benefit of the doubt that maybe he thought that he could offer no more to the Albion. Having said that I also think that anyone that joins Newcastle now, be it a player or in another capacity, is doing so for purely financial reasons (i.e. greed). Why would anyone worth their salt would want to join a club that is in the bottom three, with a real chance of being relegated, for purely football reasons?

I think that finances are obviously a swaying factor. It was well reported that the offer meant a doubling of his salary before bonuses. Hard to say that any of us would turn down that (especially with the financial protections afforded to footballing professionals if they get sacked).

Minus the ethical elephant in the room, I do also think it is about as good a clean slate as you'll find in football. Newcastle have an underperforming academy, an utterly terrible structure around Women's football, and a first team that needs transforming, desperately. There is also a blank cheque (aside from transfers relating to FFP) to make those changes. Regardless of their final position this year, the job of transforming the club from top to bottom will be an exciting opportunity that doesn't really ever come up in modern football. I don't begrudge Ashworth that.

What I do have a problem with is that I think this is a sign of things to come, Newcastle's new owners aren't here to make friends. They've shown this January that they plan on using their money to force the hand of their rivals as quickly as possible, taking the best of the rest to not only save themselves but disadvantage those around them. I'm fearful that this is only the start of the raid on us.

 

[B-right-on]

Doubt it's extended - they're simply forcing him to 'work' out his notice period - at his level of seniority quite likely to be at least 3 if not 6 months. Essentially Tony would rather pay him to sit at home for that period rather than save the few months salary and let him properly start on his new job.

Per the Clubs statement:

In line with his contractual terms, Ashworth will now begin an extended period of gardening leave, after which he will be able to take up a new position elsewhere.

I'm sure Tony, as has been pointed out, values loyalty and integrity so will max the 'extended' to the max. Plus had all his laptops, securty passes and BHA neckties taken off of him. A bit closing the door after the horse and all that, but at least he won't be up to date on the latest club targets.

Just wondering how long that 'extended' is, 3 months? 6 months? Hope it is 6 months and time to get a few of the targets nailed down, especially the Enciso lad.

Tricky running a business in such a field thats awash with money where your best talented workers can be poached for megabucks.

 

[B-right-on]

What I do have a problem with is that I think this is a sign of things to come, Newcastle's new owners aren't here to make friends. They've shown this January that they plan on using their money to force the hand of their rivals as quickly as possible, taking the best of the rest to not only save themselves but disadvantage those around them. I'm fearful that this is only the start of the raid on us.

Bit like thier regime then. Not known for their integrity, human rights or thoughts of what others think of them.

 

[GT49er]

I’ll give Dan Ashworth the benefit of the doubt that maybe he thought that he could offer no more to the Albion. Having said that I also think that anyone that joins Newcastle now, be it a player or in another capacity, is doing so for purely financial reasons (i.e. greed). Why would anyone worth their salt would want to join a club that is in the bottom three, with a real chance of being relegated, for purely football reasons?

But that isn't going to be the case, is it. It was the case in January, and they targetted their recruitment very cleverly. Two good new FBs, a good CB, plus a midfielder and a target man - whatever the situation will be in the summer, Newcastle won't be in the bottom 3, facing a relegation fight. They will either be in the Championship - in which case their existing recruits and more of the same will serve them well, or (more likely) they will still be a PL team, one with a lot of cash to splash, and the prospect of a much better PL campaign.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Not that fussed about the effect Ashworth leaving will have on the club.

Tony protects the club interests pretty well.

Ashworth has done the initial work of setting systems up, we might need different skills moving forward.

My only concern - not megabucks offers for Trossard or Bissouma etc. ( as Tony will get eye-watering prices beyond their worth ) - is Ashworth poaching Potter. That would be a disaster - but I think and hope Potter has more moral fibre than his ex-boss.