Articles 
As theatres around the country prepare for pantomime season, the never ending pantomime at St James Park looks like it will be continuing its extended run with no sign of the curtain coming down in the foreseeable future. As pantomimes go it has more villains than Widow Twanky has bloomers.... yet the main protagonist seems intent on dragging this farcical situation through even more embarrassment without any regard for the damage that he placing upon the City, the supporters, the team and the long established good name of Newcastle United in world football.
Mike Ashley announced tonight (Tues 27th Oct) that the club is once again not for sale; it’s off the market once more and Chris Hughton has been installed as Team Manager with an 18 month contract. In confirming the news, Mike Ashley stated that he is “totally committed to the future success of Newcastle United and will be focusing on gaining promotion back to the Premier League”. The statement has been followed by utterances that “The Club aims to maximise its commercial revenues; this includes renegotiating its Club sponsor and kit deal, which expire at the end of this season, as well as welcoming offers for the stadium naming rights for next season.''
Well there we have it; 14 months of inactivity and then all they can come up with is the taking down of the for sale sign (again), the maximising of commercial revenues and naming rights of the ground.
As supporters, we didn’t ask Mike Ashley to buy the club; he forced himself upon us by waving wads of cash at Sir John Hall; creating a situation that meant Freddie Shepherd also succumbed to the rustle of crisp notes that followed. The latter has gone on record as saying he did not want to sell and that he was hijacked by Ashley while seriously ill in hospital and knowing nothing of Sir John Hall’s plan to sell out. Whatever the fact, what cannot be argued is the plainly obvious; they sold out to a man totally unsuitable and incapable of running a football club; they sold an institution; a piece of the North East precious to so many; something loved honoured and revered; something often referred to as the heart of the region. We ask; what due diligence did Sir John Hall do on Mike Ashley when he first approached him; what yardstick did he measure his football credentials by; what did Sir John see in him that made him think that selling up was for the greater good of the football club. Or did he merely look at the colour of his money.
Time and again the supporters have asked Mike Ashley to explain himself; to enter into constructive dialogue with the supporters and time after time those requests have gone unanswered. He has knee jerked from one crazy and ill thought out decision to the next; the cause and effect of which reverberates for weeks and sometimes months as we suffer the consequence of, by own admission, his “lack of expertise in football clubs”. In Interview with The Times, he also admits to having “tried my best, But I accept my best was woefully short.” Yet he plans to stay on as owner and dictator; having the final say, no doubt on all matters football related both off and on the field. Why?
In his statement to The Times, how correct he was. He has come up short on everything from conducting due diligence on the initial purchase to making the decisions that will help rebuild this great club we all love in the shortest possible time; short on his playing and administrative managerial appointments and his buying and selling transfer policy; on his decision to flip the “club for sale” sign more times than an MP flips his second home. If that’s his best, we would hate to see his worst; or is that still to come!
He now appears to believe that a relatively steady start to the season followed by a stall which could easily turn into serious mechanical failure if not addressed soon, is cause for optimism; the sort of optimism that no doubt sets the pound signs spinning in his head and causes cold sweats to break out among supporters. Perhaps, as we are led to believe by the words reported earlier this month from this “recluse” he really is annoyed by the posturing of potential buyers who continued to receive as many (column) inches as Jordan. But why, even if genuinely frustrated by their inaction to close the deal would he want to continue to be involved in an industry that he has come up woefully short in, is in his own a word costing him £20m per year to remain part of, if not that is, for financial gain further down the line.
What’s in it for him; what reward is there at the end of the rainbow that he sees’ as the 2009 /2010 championship season. Because quite honestly, and as any football fan would tell him, the reward he is hoping for is slight (and lessens by the day) when the investment in such a lightweight playing squad is not forthcoming; when planning seems to be conducted on the hoof and without any real conviction; When supporters see transfer dealings over his tenure leave him in credit to the tune of over £25m; when the savings alone on the salaries of those players released on free transfers shave a further £20m+ off the wage bill this season; when the salaries of 150 plus members of staff are no longer paid out; when the majority out of four incoming playing staff are here on short term loans which end in January 2010. And now, to add insult upon insult he is planning to wipe the name St James’ Park from club history for the sake of a few million quid. What next; the removal of black and white stripes as club colours; a relocation of the club to Hertfordshire; renaming the club Sports Direct FC. Consensus would suggest that this man seems hell bent on destroying our club.
In any other football world and at any other club the supporters would have long deserted their seats, disposed of the shirts and turned their back on the club. It is to the credit of Newcastle fans that the club is still regularly hitting the heady attendances of 40,000 plus. The only positive in what has been 14 long months of self inflicted nonsense from Mike Ashley. It is also fact borne out in the latest company accounts that through match day income, supporters put £32m into the club and that a further £27m was recorded in those 2008 accounts under the heading of Commercial Income. That’s £59m into the club directly from the pockets of supporters. Compare that to the £20m Ashley bleated on about in his statement concerning how much more than the fans he puts into the club. Such sound bites from Ashley just don’t stack up; they show him up for what he is; a businessman bitter at the sting of criticism and unable to quantify his actions in any coherent, constructive or professional manner; a man who has a “do as I say” approach to management and an “am I bovvered” approach to the supporters of Newcastle United.
Well, Mr Ashley, as supporters of Newcastle United, we are “bovvered”. We are “bovvered” by your whole approach towards our football club; your refusal to invest in the team, your refusal to explain in words of more than one sound bite what your plans are for the club; what the true financial position of the club is; what happened to the three £100m+ offers that were on the table. We are “bovvered” by why you didn’t appoint the man whom your Chairman Derek Llambias stated you were 110% behind; we question what the outcome to the £1m payment to a South American agent will bring to the club in the longer term; we ask, what has happened to the £25m “profit” that you have made in transfer deals over the last 24 months and we question what the real motives are behind your every move with regard to this most wonderful of football institutions. We question why you tried to destroy the reputation of a club hero in Kevin Keegan and we are thankful that your sorrowful words and actions and those of your acoloytes were seen by the court for what they were; lies; damned lies.
We challenge you Mr Ashley to explain what the last 14 months has been all about, We could go on, but the fact is that you probably won’t reply because you are not interested in Newcastle United, its heritage, its position within the region, its supporters, or its standing in world football; the pride that wearing the black and white shirt brings to so so many and the hurt that you are inflicting on the most loyal supporters in world football. You are systematically destroying this football club from the inside yet this blinkered, idiotic approach just doesn’t seem to get through to you.
If you are “bovvered” Mr Ashley, then come to the table and talk; explain your actions; set out your plans face to face with the people who matter; the supporters of this football club. In most normal circumstances we would say, you know it makes sense; in your case, you probably don’t.
