Newcastle's FFP issues exposed as Man Utd agree mega deal - This is what we're up against...
Since our new owners came in, we've often been told that FFP issues have limited our ability to spend mega-money in the transfer market.
Unfortunately, Mike Ashley completely neglected commercial revenues during his time on Tyneside and we're still suffering over 18 months later as a result.
One of his final deals was with Castore, the sports brand that pay us £5m-per-season as our kit manufacturer. It may sound like decent money, but it's completely dwarfed by the deal 'big six' rivals Man Utd have just secured with Adidas, showing what we're up against.
As revealed by Sky Sports News on Monday evening, the Red Devils have agree a record-breaking 10-year extension with Adidas that will earn them a "minimum" of £90m per-season. That's 18 times what we receive from Castore and it's reported that they'll receive an additional £15m per-season each time they quality for the Champions League.
The Sela deal (£25m) is a significant improvement on our previous sponsorship deal with FUN88, the Amazon documentary is expected to earn us around £10m and we have Noon as our sleeve sponsor, but it shows what we're up against and where we must improve when our current kit manufacturer takes in just £5m per-season, compared to the £90m+ Man Utd will receive each year.
We are gradually increasing commercial revenues thanks to the great work we've seen from Amanda Staveley, Darren Eales and Peter Silverstone, also appointing Simon Capper as our new chief financial officer. However, our commercial growth will take time and remains a key obstacle to help us compete with our big six rivals and overcome these constant FFP limitations.
Speaking about the deals (or lack of them) left over by Mike Ashley earlier this year, Staveley said: "We inherited very difficult contracts, FUN88, or contracts that were six or seven years in length, which were very much one way. So we were limited by the way in which we could drive our commercial revenues.
