Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias has revealed the depth of the financial black hole into which the club was plunged by relegation.
The Magpies' revenue was halved from £100million to around £50million - the annual wage bill alone at the time amounted to in excess of £70million - as a result of the drop from the Barclays Premier League, forcing owner Mike Ashley to make swingeing and painful cuts.
Llambias told BBC Radio Newcastle: "Basically, from £100million revenue, we have dropped to £50million. A good chunk of that is TV money from the Premier League, so from the Premier League, it's £40million. We get a parachute payment of £12.5million and then in the Championship itself, you get £2.4million of income."
He added: "There's a massive void there that needs to be covered. You get a drop in your season tickets, you get a drop in your attendance, retail, it all drops.
"That shortfall needs to be made up. Mike is picking the shortfall up now and it's very, very difficult. But we are getting through it."
James Milner, Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia were already long gone before relegation, and they were followed out of the door by the likes of Obafemi Martins, Sebastien Bassong, Damien Duff and Habib Beye, as well as the out-of-contract Michael Owen and Mark Viduka.
However, Llambias has insisted the club was determined to retain the nucleus of a side which could win promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship at the first attempt.
He said: "We didn't fire-sell. At the time the press were basically saying we would need to fire-sell: we didn't.
"We purposely kept a nucleus of the team that we felt could take us up, and it's working - and we will add to that.
"[Manager] Chris [Hughton] is adding to it and will continue adding to the squad."
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the guys surposed t be a multimillionaire sort it out man and season tickets shouldnt have dropped that much considering the scam for 2 years season tickets last year ...stick ur hands in ur pockets they gotta still be canny big considering the size of ur pants
was'nt their business plan for this season based on gates of 20-25k??? that is why they said they needed to get rid of he high erners/under achievers (so what happened to geremi & barton)??? - plus all of the extra games that have been televised...
so if you do the math - then really after gates of 40k plus & probably more sales of the toongerine kit, (heaven knows why),? than they expected - then there really should be no shortfall - in fact as john states we should be cash positive!!!
I love how Llambias is trying to take the credit for how well the club are doing at the min, "We purposely kept a nucleus of the team that we felt could take us up, and it's working". Load of rubbish.
He should of said something more like "we sold all the best players we could to try make more money for ourselves and as luck would have it the team we were left with are actually quite good. Result. So now due to the unexpected success we will stay till were back in the prem and then @#$% you off".
Derek Llambias is revealing his and Ashley's plight though isn't he. It was after all their actions and decisions that caused this c rap in the first place isn't it?
None of those figures make any sense. For example what happened to the 30 million (100 million - 70 million) each season prior to relegation? He says drop in season ticket sales, drop in attendance, drop in retail. Really? By how much? Minor I would guess. Wage bill has been massively reduced. Cash has come in from the sales of players. There have been no purchases. If NUFC is not cash positive I will eat my own head.
doesn't anyone pick up on the fact that by boycotting them that your just putting further financial strain on the club!! he's sank loads of his personal wealth into the club and obviously realised that he's screwed you big time so tried to sell the club but when will you realise that no-body wants anything to do with the toon cause its like a poison chalice, you should rename the stadium jerusalem cause everytime a messiah turns up he gets crucified
Is that not part of the reason we got relegated because they sold Given,Millner, And Owen and Viduka were past there best
This lot who run our club havn;t got a clue
The only way we will get a good club is if the money stops going in at the gates ,and Ashley sells it
YOU CAN RELEGATE US, YOU CAN SELL ALL THE PLAYERS, YOU CAN CHANGE THE NAME OF THE STADIUM, YOU CAN RAISE TICKET PRICES, WE WILL STILL TURN UP BUT WE'LL NEVER, EVER BUY YOUR PIES AND CRISPS AGAIN!!!
That'll teach them shaun!
More lies from the most discredited Chairman (and i use that term incredibly loosely) in football!
An absolute sheister.
A THUMBS DOWN. NO WONDER THE LIKES OF ASHLEY AND SHEPHERD GET AWAY WITH IT YEAR AFTER YEAR.
I'LL BUY MY SEASON TICKET, BUT I'LL NEVER SPEND ANOTHER PENNY IN THE GROUND UNTIL I'M HAPPY WITH THE TEAM IN FRONT OF ME ON THE PARK
I wonder how many thousands of toon fans will show their support for the Ashley regime, by buying beer, pop, pies and burgers etc for themselves and their kids at this weekends game. PLEASE. BOYCOTT EVERY REVENUE STREAM AVAILABLE TO ASHLEY. STAY AWAY FROM THE GROUNDS CATERING OUTLETS AND BARS. BOYCOTT THE CLUB SHOP. AND YOU PEOPLE THAT BUY YOUR GEAR FROM SPORTS DIRECT SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES.
STAY AT YOUR SEATS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME AND AT HALF TIME, AT EVERY HOME GAME, UNTIL HE EITHER STARTS TO SHOW US SOME RESPECT ( NEVER ), OR UNTIL HE LEAVES.
COME ON. SHOW SOME CLASS. BOYCOTT THE LOT. SHOW SOME SOLIDARITY AND STAY AT YOUR SEATS. WE'LL GET EVERYBODY ON OUR SIDE IF WE SHOW SOME CLASS AND STICK TOGETHER. VIVA LA TOON
Anyone that believes a word that bloke says is stupider than he is.
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