Taking Back The Toon - A Chairman Story

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Bullardinho

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Prelude

I am looking to do my own 'Chairman Story' where by I will be writing up the story of myself as the new Owner/Chairman of Newcastle United. I have loved the club since I can remember and whilst I have many fond memories, as of yet I don't really have much to be proud of as a supporter.

As is common knowledge for any football fan, Mike Ashley, the owner of Sports Direct, has been the main stake holder in the club since 2007 and has since acquired full ownership. During this time he has made many decisions which have been very unpopular with the Toon Army and has caused many of the contingency to cry for him to sell up and f**k off. His desire to make Newcastle United a profitable business, whilst a sensible choice, has meant he has lost touch with what it means to be a football club and not just a business. The transfer policy has seen them become a 'Selling Club' and this has seen them suffer as a result with relegation in the 2008-2009 season, the first time they had dropped out of the topflight since 1989.

As a very young and even more successful businessman, I have invested in the club and purchased Mike Ashley's full stake and will take over ownership of the club. Despite my endless pit of money, I will not be pumping it all into the club at once, I do have rules I have set myself and I do have principles I would like to stick to as the proud Chairman Newcastle United..


Rules

Maximum cash injection of £15m Per season
Quarterly Accounts Review - Must remain profitable
I am allowed to influence transfers with the following stipulations:
* Not allowed to exceed the transfer budget
* Player must be interested in move/Must be realistic
* Transfer value must be met unless transfer listed
* If player is not listed, and additional 10-50% must be paid on top of valuation depending on form, reputation etc
Wages must be 15% current wage.
I can sack/employ the club staff as I see fit with the following stipulations:
* Must be realistic
* When sacking staff member, remainder of contract must be deducted from balance.
* When signing staff member, compensation must be paid.
Facilities may be upgraded at a cost (realistic cost to be decided as and when needed)
New contracts with current squad members may be negotiated with the following stipulations:
* Wages must be met plus 15% increase unless over the age of 32.
A realistic signing fee must be deducted from club bank balance
Chairman may increase/decrease transfer/wage budget as seen fit.

(All of the above will be done via the Editor and In-Game Editor. If you have any suggested rules to make it more interesting, please let me know)


I also will have a few personal traits I would like to adhere to as a Chairman:

English players will be my preference
* Foreign players will be signed only when deemed necessary
I will have a keen interest in youth development
Your facilities will be upgraded over a realistic time period
I will only sack a manager when I feel absolutely necessary.
* If relegated I will only sack manager If I feel they are responsible
I would like to attain European football within 3 years
I would like to become a regular 'Top 4' within 10 years.

Well that is pretty much all for my intro and I will begin with my first updates shortly, I hope you all enjoy. For anyone wondering my 'Collecting Trophies For Fun' story will be continuing, I just wanted something to break up the story so I do not get bored of winning all the time :)

All feedback/advice is welcome.


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looking forward to this, what are your short term ideas with your current playing squad and staff
 
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Newcastle United Take Over Completed

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Toon fans celebrate a owner Mike Ashley sells club to local businessman.

It has been announced today that local businessman and fan Matt Bullard has completed the purchase of the North-East club for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the region of £157 million from Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley.

Mike Ashely sees his time as owner at St James’ come to an end after a turbulent period which saw many fans revolt and demand the billionaire sell up for the good of the club.

New Chairman Matt Bullard has been a life-long fan of the club and has stated that unlike the previous regime, every decision will be made in the best interest of the club and its fans.

Bullard’s first job is to appoint a new manager as it is believed John Carver has been relieved of his duties as care-taker manager with immediate effect.


 
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McClaren Announced As New Toon Boss

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New Chairman and Owner Matt Bullard announces the decision to hire Steve McClaren as the new manager of Newcastle United.

McClaren boasts a career including manager roles at Nottingham Forest, Wolfsburg, FC Twente, Middlesbrough and most recently Derby County, as well as a stint as the England national team manager.

Bullard is said to be delighted with his new appointment and he firmly believes that he has found the right man to take the club forward in its new era, ‘These are exciting times at St James’, Steve is an experienced manager and an all-round nice guy and I can tell this is the beginning of something special for the club’

New owner Bullard also joked that the appointment would be good for the Dutch contingency at the club, ‘As we all know Steve spent some time in Holland and we have a few Dutch players in the first team, so naturally it helps that Steve is fluent in the language’

Announcements are due to be made shortly regarding the clubs new assistant manager, it is believed the current front runners for the role are Toon favourite Temuri Ketsbaia or McClaren’s preferred choice Steve Round.

 

Meeting Notes
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Attendees
SM – Steve McClaren – Club Manager
MB – Matthew Bullard – Owner


MB - Good morning Steve, how are you settling in?

SM – Great thanks Matt, the people have been welcoming and I have met with the squad, we have a decent bunch of lads here.

MB – That’s good to hear. Ok first thing I wanted to discuss was the candidates for your Assistant, personally I would like to bring in someone experienced, not just in the dug-out but has knowledge of the club. I have been in contact with Temuri Ketsbaia, he is extremely interested in the role, but of course ultimately I want you to decide?

SM – I here what you are saying but personally I feel I would be best off with someone I know well and who’s opinion I could trust. Whilst Temuri would be a good choice for nostalgia, he hasn’t been at the club for a long time and things have changed a lot here.

MB – That is quite understandable, but I do want this resolved ASAP, do you have a candidate in mind?

SM – Steve Round, I have worked personally with him and he is a good friend of mine, his knowledge of the game is outstanding and he knows the Premier League inside and out, plus I know he is really keen to get back into the game.

MB – Ok, well you get in touch with Steve and let him know we would like to get him in for the position. I of course will want to chat with him but I want our relationship to be one built on trust, if you say he is the right man for the job then that’s good enough for me.

 
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Newcastle Hire Round

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After my discussion with SM we called Steve Round in for an informal interview, we had talked at lengths about my vision for the club, what SM would require and what SR believed he could bring to St James'. It wasn't a difficult decision and shortly after the decision was announced.
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Love the idea of this mate! I really like chairman stories, looking forward to the season!
 

Club Overview

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The club is on solid financial ground at the moment and one look at the books told me we certainly have the foundations in place to grow. I have no issue with the stadium or facilities at this time although I will be looking into clubs youth development and facilities at the end of the season, depending on results. One change I will be making is to up the ticket prices, whilst I feel the Season ticket prices are very reasonable, I think for a club this size £25 is very cheap, a small increase to £27 will be implemented with immediate effect, increasing our average turn over for ticket sales per home match by approx. £30,000.


Financial Overview​


The bank balance is very healthy at this point, recent sales of players shortly before my arrival meant that the club has money to invest back into new talent. I will not be investing money at this time although I will be increasing the Transfer budget slightly to accommodate the much needed recruitment of players.

 
BennettS said:
Love the idea of this mate! I really like chairman stories, looking forward to the season!
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Cheers buddy! I am really looking forward to this, I don't get as much time to play the game as I used to but I like writing up stories and I plain to go into quiet a lot of detail for this one!
 

Transfers Out

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Whilst I am always happy for SM to sell players as he sees appropriate, I was a little disheartened to see the value of these sales in particular. A after a quick phone call to discuss Steve won me round, both players are way below the standard he wants in the squad and at current market value it was agreed that neither players stocks were high enough to warrant a high fee. I agreed to allow 100% of both the value of the sale and wages to be included within his allotted budgets.


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Love a good chairman story especially NUFC! Nice to see you have kept it realistic to with the Dutchman Shteve! You letting Mr McLaren have full rain on transfers or will you be looking to sign, Mitrovic, Mbemba and Wijnaldum who we have just signed?
 
JamesScott2908 said:
Love a good chairman story especially NUFC! Nice to see you have kept it realistic to with the Dutchman Shteve! You letting Mr McLaren have full rain on transfers or will you be looking to sign, Mitrovic, Mbemba and Wijnaldum who we have just signed?
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Cheers mate! As a Newcastle fan I am keen to see how he can do so he was always going to be my choice of manager.

We won't be signing them players purely because our budget in game wouldn't allow it without a cash injection from myself. I am giving him full reign for transfers all though I will be discussing a player I want to sign very shortly, hopefully Gold Member himself will be in full agreement.
 
Phone Call to SM


MB – Steve, how’s it going?

SM – Good thanks, Matt. The squad seem to be doing really well in training, I get the feeling they are really excited about the new season.

MB – That’s great. Listen Steve, its only at the preliminary stages but I wanted to fill you in on a player I really would like to see at the club. It’s Steven Caulker at QPR, I have had a quick chat with Tony Fernandes, his valued at around £8 million but with Steven being one of their key guys he is happy with a deal at £10 million, what are your thoughts.

SM – To be honest with you Matt I am looking at strengthening the defence, other than Colo I think we are weak in that area, he would be a fine addition if we can pull that off.

MB – That’s great Steve, I am glad you are on board with me on this one, I will set up a meeting between us all, I want to get Steven in and wrap this one up quickly if we can, I know that Southampton and Arsenal are interested.

SM – I am free tomorrow, lets get the ball rolling.
 
Bullardinho said:
Cheers mate! As a Newcastle fan I am keen to see how he can do so he was always going to be my choice of manager.

We won't be signing them players purely because our budget in game wouldn't allow it without a cash injection from myself. I am giving him full reign for transfers all though I will be discussing a player I want to sign very shortly, hopefully Gold Member himself will be in full agreement.
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Fair point, be interesting to see what he does! Look forward to it!
 
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Caulker Signs For Newcastle

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Newcastle United have today completed a deal worth £10 Million to bring defender to St James’.

Former Cardiff and Tottenham central defender Steven Caulker has passed a medical and has been unveiled as the clubs first signing since the new owner took over.

Seemingly the player, manager and club chairman all appear to be delighted with this deal along with the fans, who have already sung the new hierarchies praises for what they believe is a great piece of early business for the club.

Caulker is said to be excited about the chance to be a part of the new beginning at St James’ and cannot wait to start training with his new team mates.


 

I have just come back from a week vacation at the beautiful Palawan Island in the Phillipines. Whilst I was away I gave SM full reigns of the clubs transfer dealings, allowing him to sign the players he saw fit, although I was sure to tell him that I was putting my faith in him and I did not want to find he had wasted the clubs money on over paid Pre-Madonna’s.​


Newcastle Signings

Leonel Vangioni - £2.2 Million

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James Chester - £6.25 Million

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Carlos Zambrano - £1.7 Million

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Clearly Steve wasn’t kidding when he said he felt the defence needed improving. Despite my knowledge on Vangioni and Zambrano being very limited, I completely back his decision on these signings as I know that he consulted club scout Peter Beardsley on each player and both of them felt these guys would improve our options.

Also upon my arrival I was informed that Rolando Aarons had been allowed out on loan for the season, another decision I 100% support. I have spoken with Rolando on a few occasions already and I have high hopes for him, I agree that a loan move would probably be good for him to gain that first team experience.

All in all I am very happy with our dealings so far, I would just now like to get through to the end of the window without being forced to accept an offer I can’t refuse for one of our key players. We currently have some huge European clubs like Wolfsburg, Atletico and Monaco are currently vocalising their interest in Tiote, Sissoko and Ayoze. I am keen to ensure these rumours do not affect the harmony I am trying to create at this club.


Transfer Overview

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We are now coming to the end of the pre-season and the squad seems in good shape, some very poor friendly results were balanced out by some even better results. Steve seems to be doing well so far and the players seems to be reacting well to his style of play. I sat down with him and discussed at length his aspirations for the season, I then told him what I expected from him and together we agreed on our team objections for the campaign:

League – 8th
Capital One Cup – Quarter Final
FA Cup – Quarter Final
(Minimum Expectations)​


It may seem like I am setting the bar high for the cup competitions but in truth I would like to win a trophy sooner rather than later and that can only be done if you aim high, give the manager and players something to aim for and they will push harder for it. If we finish 8th or above in the league this season I will be more than happy, that’s not to say that I would not expect more from the team next season.

Saturday 16th August (Season Opening Day)​

MB - Good morning Steve, thanks for popping in, I know you have a big day ahead so I won’t keep you long.

SM - Morning Matt. It’s not a problem at all.

MB - So how are you feeling about today? I know Leicester are a newly promoted side and I would have to say I think they have
invested well but I think we can get the win at home today.

SM - Definitely Matt, the lads are raring to go, it’s a shame that Tim (Krul) is unavailable but even still I would not accept anything less than a win today.

MB - That’s good to hear, well let’s just make sure we get off to a good start, no matter what the result I really want to see a good performance from the lads today. I am going to be in the stands so I expect to be impressed.

SM - Understood, would you like to see a copy of the team sheet and formation for today’s game?

MB - Sure, why not? Thanks.



I had to say I was very impressed with the strength of the team, it wouldn’t quite be the team I would have selected myself, but then again that is why I am not the club manager, I trust Steve and I am sure that if everyone performs to the best of their ability, we will get off to a winning start later on this afternoon against Leicester.


 
Newcastle Vs Leicester - Opening Game


I made my way down from my office to my private box shortly before the game kicked off, the atmosphere was incredible as it always is at St James’. There was clearly a new sense of optimism around the stadium, there was banners all around the ground in support of myself as the new owner and Steve as the new first team manager. As always there was still the huge expectations from the Geordies as well, as a fan myself I would be the first to admit that we have always expected a little too much of the team, we have always set our expectations a little too high, leaving us disappointed when we don’t challenge the ‘top 4’. I hope that I can change that, I hope that I can help this club to make big strides in terms of results and possibly trophies. Anyway, its time to find out how we got on..


We may not have got off to the best start but we thought back well and on the balance of things thoroughly deserved the win today. The match itself was pretty even, a lot of end to end stuff and a lot of lost possession in the middle of the park, certainly something I think SM should work on. My personal recommendation Caulker played a very solid game and clearly showed the fans his quality, for that I am very pleased. All in all I am a very happy man, I am of the firm belief that it is vitally important to get off to a good start and I am very happy with what I believe was a warranted result, I am absolutely delighted for the players, the manager and most importantly the fans, as they can go home today happy that their club sealed their first three points of the new season.

 
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