Newcastle cut costs
20 June 2008 | Steve Bagshaw
This story on the Telegraph website, reveals how Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is getting tough on the football club’s players in a bid to cut costs.
Ashley plans to make them buy their own club suits, which are believed to cost £20,000 a season. He will also assess the players motoring expenses and mobile phone charges. A source told the paper: “He's trying to cut costs and is looking at every department, but he also wants to take some players down a peg or two. He has a real bee in his bonnet about this.”
Could you apply these kinds of cuts within your own organisation?
Can you think of any other easy savings that could be made at a Premier League football club?
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This is a general point, not a specific commodity area to target. If memory serves and things have not changed in the last few months, there are almost no national purchasing strategies involving goods used by clubs. I think the FA created a few guidance areas on offer – goal requirements, etc – but that is it. National procurement of goods and services used by clubs would be a big help, particularly for those clubs in the lower leagues (why focus on just the Premier League, where the money available to clubs is so much greater anyway?).
I suspect, based on the way clubs refer to each other and how the FA handles disputes, this has not happened already as those involved use the old excuse that it wouldn’t work in their market and that requirements are too difficult to identify or create standards for. When University consortia have been around for so many years (and work, despite the members otherwise competing with each other as businesses) and areas such as insurance can be covered under consortia frameworks, there really isn’t any excuse to at least offer the service in trial areas and see how things develop.
I’m just imagining going out to tender for a new striker. I’m sure you could find someone a lot cheaper than we paid Michael Owen.
You could save more money by negotiating an hourly rate, and just paying them for the hour and a half they actually work each week.
They get expenses? With what they are being paid each week, why are they getting money for motoring and phone calls? I hope they have to pay their own legal fees at least.
Do you think this has all come about because of Joey Barton then Liam?
He could do with being linked to something favourable…