Anyone who says we are state owned is either stupid or not a blue
Newcastle fan here.
I understand that your ownership structure is such that you are not directly owned by the state. The question I ask though is, what the fuck would it matter if you were?
State ownership is not forbidden by any relevant football authorities, and if they tried to do it, it would likely fall foul of the UK’s competition rules.
It seems the only people who have a problem with state ownership is those who feel like they would never be able to compete, I.E. the cabal. The thing is though, clubs being owned by state ownership is no more or less of a barrier from competing when they had the richest owners.
In reality there always has been, and always will be an unbalance of those who have money, and those who do not. It’s been that way since PNE started paying players, and the leagues ultimately became professional.
In a modern sense, take Tottenham Hotspur’s for example. Historically they are not really that much bigger than us (Newcastle). In the Premier League era, they have outdone us by winning 2 League Cups, credit to them, but not really something to say they are significantly bigger than us, if so then the argument that Leicester are bigger than them would be a fairly easy point to make in response. Anyway London prices has meant that they have been able to command higher ticket prices than any club in the North East region would ever be able to charge. Would they also be able build such a stadium if they were based up here, and also to host the events such as the NFL etc which all brings in them higher revenue?
I guess we’ll find out soon enough when our owners do what they will in regard to our new stadium.
Let’s flip things on its head. Would a Spurs based where they are in London have been able to build the stadium they had, been able to get merchandise sales etc through at the levels they do, or sell tickets at London prices if Mike Ashley had bought and gimped them for 14 years instead of settling to do it to us?
I’m going to hazard a guess and say not.
You see, the dynamics of having money, and not having money is never going to be simple, and it’s never going to be wholly level. Somewhere along the lines there is going to be circumstances that means one club can gain more money than the other. For every poor person in Liverpool who can’t afford a match ticket, you have someone from Dublin taking his place. Newcastle isn’t exactly an hours ferry ride from Norway to be able to do the same.
I guess my point is that the lines about where money can be earned, spent, and who can have it have never been defined, but always assumed. Much like those bankers who went complaining when the nerds fucked them over with GameStop shares due to not doing what is assumed, tough fucking luck, you can whinge all you want, but what is good enough for the Goose, is going to be good enough for the Gander.
I know I’ve went off on a tangent here, I know I’m largely preaching to the congregation, but I think my point is valid.
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