Mike proves money walks

[Jimbo 175]

FOR a hard-nosed business man, Mike Ashley is going without much of a fight.

As soon as the Toon Army flexes its muscles, he’s out the door.

 

He will, of course, attempt to make as much of a profit as he can on his £220million investment — which was probably his aim all along.

 

What is certain is the club will remain in a shambolic state of limbo for some time.

 

Ashley talks about how he bought a club owing millions.

 

But surely he knew that when he came in or did he really not do due diligence?

 

Prospective buyers will realise that, to get fans back onside, the Cockney mafia will have to go.

 

That means the end of the road for Dennis Wise, Tony Jiminez, Derek Llambias and the rest of the gofers brought in at St James’ Park. And who will fund their pay-offs?

 

If Ashley has the best interests of the club at heart, the money has to come out of his own pocket — not just added to the purchase price.

 

And what happens about a new manager? How can any candidate put his name forward when he knows new owners will bring in their own man?

 

How can Ashley, who axed Sam Allardyce because the former Bolton boss was not his choice, make any appointment himself?

 

The reinstatement of Kevin Keegan will be seen by many Newcastle supporters as the way round the problem. It was certainly the conclusion Ashley himself came to last Friday night. Recognising the folly that induced Keegan’s resignation, he called the former manager in for talks.

 

The tactic was obvious: raise the possibility of Keegan returning and the dogs might be called off.

 

Newcastle fans, though, made it clear they were not going to be suckered in again.

 

Here was another blatant attempt by Ashley to use people for his own benefit — not the club’s.

 

Newcastle faithful saw it as the deliberate ploy it was: Get the hero back in as a stabilising force then sell the club.

 

Just as he thought things couldn’t get any worse, Newcastle then lost 2-1 at home to Hull. A defeat accompanied by such obvious discontent the owner was forced to admit: I get the message.

 

Yet even yesterday morning one of his highly-paid acolytes was still claiming he wouldn’t be deflected from his aims at the club.

 

Which came as a surprise to the rest of us, who believed he had already achieved them.

 

To make Newcastle an even greater LAUGHING STOCK.

 

Never had a manager been treated with such contempt. Nor a set of supporters.

 

Ashley’s failure to get the point led him to believe Keegan, the Toon Army and the rest of us were as stupid as one another.

 

When the wheels first started coming off, the club issued a statement that read: “Kevin Keegan was allowed to manage his duties without any interference.”

 

When this was laughed out of court, they started leaking misinformation that Keegan wanted to sign Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard.

 

The innuendo was clear: Keegan was so out of touch the only players he knew were the obvious big-hitters.

 

This cheap shot was followed by an even bigger insult yesterday when one of those famous “club sources” turned on a set of fans most people thought had been denigrated enough.

 

Ashley’s “ally”, using the example of Leeds ending up in the old Third Division through financial mismanagement, gloated: “Is that what Newcastle fans want? They say there’s up to 400,000 of them in the area.

 

“If they all put in £1,000 they can buy the club and run it themselves. They can vote for the manager and buy and sell players.”

 

This flippancy, though, couldn’t disguise one home truth: Newcastle fans WOULD make a far better job of it than the clowns in charge.

 

Ashley’s mate concluded: “I bet you it doesn’t happen.

 

“It’s just so much easier to stand on the sidelines, moaning and complaining and pointing the finger.”

 

That cheap comment was a fatal, puerile error.

 

The last thing you do is turn on your own fans. Ashley made his fortune by flogging sports gear to a faceless public.

 

As such, so long as his football shirts weren’t full of holes, he could treat them with as much contempt as he wanted. But you can’t do that to the identifiable public you get at a football club.

 

Especially in a one-club city like Newcastle.

 

The Cockney Mafia had probably never even heard of Milburn.

 

They maybe even thought Macdonald was something that came with a banana milkshake and large fries.

 

They and Ashley know better this morning.

[peasepud 59]

Fuck me looks like the press have turned on poor Mikey

[Fop 1]

Fuck me looks like the press have turned on poor Mikey

 

I'm amazed,a generally positive article about Keegan and Newcastle fan.

Although I suspect it's more the enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing.

[JawD 99]

Frigging hell, is that the press actually seeing the fans point of view and God forbid not just throwing the usual party comments out?

[Tom 14021]

This is possibly up there with one of the worst articles I have EVER read.

 

A source close to Tom said ''He didn't really think the article was up to much, He thought that the basic techniques and journalistic cliché's were unnecessary when talking about a club so eventful''.

[TheMoog 0]

This is possibly up there with one of the worst articles I have EVER read.

 

A source close to Tom said ''He didn't really think the article was up to much, He thought that the basic techniques and journalistic cliché's were unnecessary when talking about a club so eventful''.

 

Not being funny Tom but you seem very set on supporting Ashley in all this, I thought you were against him or did I get the wrong end of the stick? Don't get me wrong, the articles spilling out of the press aren't that much better written than anything else they've produced recently but personally I'd rather have them coming out in support of the fans than making it all about the fans wanting too much again.

 

Fair enough we don't know what this could bring about but I'm willing to lean towards the positives due to how shit things have gone through the current owner's bungling of late.

[Tom 14021]

This is possibly up there with one of the worst articles I have EVER read.

 

A source close to Tom said ''He didn't really think the article was up to much, He thought that the basic techniques and journalistic cliché's were unnecessary when talking about a club so eventful''.

 

Not being funny Tom but you seem very set on supporting Ashley in all this, I thought you were against him or did I get the wrong end of the stick? Don't get me wrong, the articles spilling out of the press aren't that much better written than anything else they've produced recently but personally I'd rather have them coming out in support of the fans than making it all about the fans wanting too much again.

 

Fair enough we don't know what this could bring about but I'm willing to lean towards the positives due to how shit things have gone through the current owner's bungling of late.

 

I'm trying to take a fair view of the situation that's all.

 

The fans expectations were realistic however Ashley is not the devil incarnate.

[TheMoog 0]

This is possibly up there with one of the worst articles I have EVER read.

 

A source close to Tom said ''He didn't really think the article was up to much, He thought that the basic techniques and journalistic cliché's were unnecessary when talking about a club so eventful''.

 

Not being funny Tom but you seem very set on supporting Ashley in all this, I thought you were against him or did I get the wrong end of the stick? Don't get me wrong, the articles spilling out of the press aren't that much better written than anything else they've produced recently but personally I'd rather have them coming out in support of the fans than making it all about the fans wanting too much again.

 

Fair enough we don't know what this could bring about but I'm willing to lean towards the positives due to how shit things have gone through the current owner's bungling of late.

 

I'm trying to take a fair view of the situation that's all.

 

The fans expectations were realistic however Ashley is not the devil incarnate.

 

That's fair enough mate, nothing wrong with trying for the neutral stance - in my eyes I think Ashley brought all the problems about himself. Yes he did a cracking job of sorting the finances out and I'd thank him for that but the structure in place was never going to work with the people he employed and that was down to him.

[JonGoodwyn 1]

Show just how bad it is when the press are forced to take our side

[Park Life 71]

Show just how bad it is when the press are forced to take our side

 

There is a myth of sorts on various Newcastle boards regarding the press. They just write 'stories', it just happens we provide a lot of them.

[Guest alex]

Show just how bad it is when the press are forced to take our side

 

There is a myth of sorts on various Newcastle boards regarding the press. They just write 'stories', it just happens we provide a lot of them.

Very true.

[Barney 0]

“If they all put in £1,000 they can buy the club and run it themselves. They can vote for the manager and buy and sell players.”

 

This fucking infuriates me. The whole point in the fans discontent is the manager wasn't allowed to manage.

 

SSN seems to have taken the view that the fans were protesting due to Ashley not spending. I wish they'd stop interviewing mogs(as an aside a local policeman told a mate of mine that the last week interviewed a lad outside the ground who's a homeless/drunk).