No recruitment or investment: Mike Ashley’s most successful Newcastle United transfer window

As the transfer window slammed shut at 11pm tonight (Monday 2 February) fans of Newcastle United, the 19th richest club in the world, were once again left underwhelmed, disillusioned and mystified at the transfer business conducted by the club. For Mike Ashley, on the other hand, the window’s dealings must be described as a textbook success.

Profiteering

Since the beginning of the month Ashley has cashed in on Alan Pardew leaving the club to takeover at Crystal Palace, with compensation believed to be in the lofty region of £3.5 million.

Moreover, high wage earners Hatem Ben Arfa and Mapou Yanga Mbiwa left the club on a permanent basis, with Davide Santon today departing on a loan deal with option to buy. Mbiwa’s transfer brought a significant £5.5 million into club coffers alone.

With the club only partaking in outgoings and failing to invest in any recruitment, Ashley has once again left a transfer window generating a profit. Statistically speaking, Newcastle has turned more profits on their net spend than any other Premier League club in history since 2002/03, when the winter transfer window was introduced.

Indeed, January is a notoriously difficult time for clubs to trade effectively. Inflation is ripe, the market is volatile and value for money is rarely, truly, represented. Nevertheless, over £130 million was spent during the month long window; Newcastle United, however, did not spend a penny.

Of course, it has been well documented that Mike Ashley runs Newcastle as a business, rather than a football club. Yet this window, even for Ashley’s standards and reputation as an owner reluctant to invest, has shown the Sports Direct supremo to surpass even his own miserly standards.

Conversely, Newcastle did in fact retain their prized commodities with Moussa Sissoko and Ayoze Perez remaining on Tyneside, despite repeated rumours of potential sales. Yet this will provide little assurance to supporters who are all too familiar with seeing such assets sold in the summer’s main transfer window regardless.

The Rangers Conundrum

Perhaps the strangest transaction the footballing community witnessed on deadline day was Newcastle’s decision to loan five (yes, five!) players to Rangers. Whilst Ashley has an 8.9% stake in the Scottish club, no financial or mutual agreements have been disclosed between the two teams. Of course its common in football for clubs to make favourable loans to their feeder clubs, yet no official arrangement between Newcastle and Rangers exists. The relationship is solely Ashley’s shared investments.

Outrageously it seems that only Ashley’s supposed secondary interest, Rangers, are the benefactors of the deal. We have to scrutinise whether the loanees will be playing at a development enhancing level, with Rangers playing their football in Scotland’s second tier! Rangers loaning five players, presumably for little to no capital output, is simply unheard of. Such a deal would never have happened without Ashley’s influence in both sides.

Many predict that Ashley will eventually assume further control of Rangers as the club have the potential to display the Sports Direct brand to a global audience should the club qualify for the Champions League. Certainly such a favourable loan deal will only assist Rangers’ plight to return to the top tier and further realise aspirations. Ashley has done Rangers a favour, yet no such favours have been granted to Newcastle, the club he has 100% ownership of.

The lack of significant recruitment and investment into Newcastle United is nothing new. However, Ashley’s increased cost cutting in the window coupled with the bizarre deal to loan five players out to Rangers will only raise more questions about the billionaire’s forthcoming intentions. Meanwhile Newcastle remain in limbo.

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