It Will Take More Than Words Mike
It was not a shock to hear Mike Ashley no longer wants to sell up at Newcastle United. No, a shock is finding out Father Christmas appears to be stashing your Christmas presents at the bottom of mum's wardrobe and that he looks a little like your dad when he sneaks into your room in the middle of the night.
To be honest, I've suspected something like this was going to happen for several weeks, if not months. The economy is in disarray and it always appeared a little ambitious to expect anyone to splash out the best part of £300m when we are teetering on the brink of the worst recession/depression since the 1930s.
Ashley's announcement will not have gone down well with many of you I'm sure, but if he can't sell he has to stay, it's as simple as that.
He owns the club, it's his name above the door, as it were, and he can't simply give it away for free. Well, actually he could, but he'd be pretty stupid to do that and self-made billionaires are generally pretty savvy when it comes to making cash.
I wonder whether he ever seriously intended to leave. It's far from far-fetched to suggest he put the club on the market because he wanted to ride out the storm after the Kevin Keegan debacle. If someone offered him the money, then great, if they didn't, he'd come back eventually when feelings were, shall we say, a little less raw.
It is far from ideal, but little ever is at Newcastle United and as I've always said, at times like this you have to make the best of things because Ashley, in the short term, isn't going anywhere, whether he feels comfortable enough to start attending games or not. There isn't a buyer out there and until there is he will be in charge.
As I argued in The Journal on Monday morning, it's better to have an unpopular owner who wants to make up for past mistakes than an unpopular owner who doesn't care - particularly with the transfer window about to open.
It irritated me that Ashley failed to concede that he and his board have made mistakes and it annoyed me there was no trace of an apology from him for what he has put the club through these last few months, but one step at a time I suppose. Apparently communication is going to improve and there is a chance former chairman Chris Mort will be returning in some capacity to help repair some of the damage done.
But the only way Ashley is going to earn any sort of forgiveness on Tyneside is by what he does next. He wants to move the agenda forward so move it forward, stop people looking back by giving them a reason to believe better things are going to happen in the future.
Give us something to get excited about, give us some reason to believe you want to succeed and aren't just here to make money and massage your ego.
Newcastle were humiliated by Liverpool at the weekend and have lost their last two games. The squad isn't big enough, or good enough, because the management structure Ashley put in place didn't do their jobs properly over the summer.
One of those, Tony Jimenez, has since quit, but Derek Llambias and Dennis Wise remain and people will want to know what they are up to and whether they are capable of doing it properly. They want the manager, not invisible and apparently unaccountable board members to sign the players.
That was why Keegan quit and it is why Mike has been castigated. He has to start putting that right in January. It will still only be a step in the right direction, but it is the only option he has got.
The club's net spending on new players since Ashley took control is a little over £12m, a paltry sum when compared to the money spent by say, Sunderland, for example.
I don't expect him to suddenly start writing personal cheques for £10m players, but he has to release the funds Joe Kinnear needs to ensure this side don't slip back into the bottom three.
Then we can start talking about long term planning, youth development and the return of Newcastle United to the top six. Mike asked in his New Year address what price a top six finish this season. Given the last two results, such a statement - although made before Boxing Day - made him look like an idiot.
This present squad is more likely to finish in the bottom six than the top. It's time to remedy that, otherwise Ashley will continue to be about as popular as a fart in a crowded lift.
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Won't get fooled again.
Ashley is scum. He has systematically misled the fans from the start. He is not fit to own Blyth Spartans, let alone our great club. Well, I won't forgive him for lying to me, I won't forgive him for the way he treated KK, and I won't forgive him for making my club even more of a shambles than it's been for virtually all of my life. Ashley won't get another penny from me, not one. The plain truth is, Ashley won't deliver the players that could, maybe, allow fans to start looking forward again. Remember the reason KK left last transfer deadline day? Well January won't be any different.
Organisations reflect the personality of their owners. Ashley runs bargain basement shops selling cheap crap to the masses. He doesn't know any other way of operating. Is it any surprise we ended up with JFK as manager and Xisco as our 'wow signing'?
On the subject of JFK, am I the only one getting sick of his far too frequent, often sycophantic (towards Ashley) and increasingly contradictory witterings? Shut up and get on with the bloody job will you?! If JFK put half as much effort into getting his team tactics right (first half -v- Liverpool ... why didn't we go to 4-5-1 when we were being murdered in midfield from the 3rd minute?) as he does mouthing off, the claim he's even better than Capello might be marginally less ridiculous. Like I said, reality is we have an owner with no class, and a bargain basement manager who fits perfectly with the owner's vision for our once great club.
Ashley is scum. He has systematically misled the fans from the start. He is not fit to own Blyth Spartans, let alone our great club. Well, I won't forgive him for lying to me, I won't forgive him for the way he treated KK, and I won't forgive him for making my club even more of a shambles than it's been for virtually all of my life. Ashley won't get another penny from me, not one. The plain truth is, Ashley won't deliver the players that could, maybe, allow fans to start looking forward again. Remember the reason KK left last transfer deadline day? Well January won't be any different.
Organisations reflect the personality of their owners. Ashley runs bargain basement shops selling cheap crap to the masses. He doesn't know any other way of operating. Is it any surprise we ended up with JFK as manager and Xisco as our 'wow signing'?
On the subject of JFK, am I the only one getting sick of his far too frequent, often sycophantic (towards Ashley) and increasingly contradictory witterings? Shut up and get on with the bloody job will you?! If JFK put half as much effort into getting his team tactics right (first half -v- Liverpool ... why didn't we go to 4-5-1 when we were being murdered in midfield from the 3rd minute?) as he does mouthing off, the claim he's even better than Capello might be marginally less ridiculous. Like I said, reality is we have an owner with no class, and a bargain basement manager who fits perfectly with the owner's vision for our once great club.
Sorry- I do not beleive you Mr. Ashley.We Newcastle fans have heard it all before ie -taking the club forward -when we all know its gone backwards -mainly through his incompetence- allowing KK to be ridiculed and overuled by Wise .Ashley has no idea even now the damage he has inflicted on our beloved club -we are one great laughing stock -and the thrashing we got from Liverpool yesterday just shows how far backwards his stewardship has taken us.Much as I think Joe has done his best -nothing would make me feel any better towards Ashley unless he accepts his mistakes -gets rid of Wise and Llambias and brings back King Kevin with Chris Mort as chairman-I might forgive him if that happens -but I guess his stubborn ego will never allow that to happen -so as far as I am concerned Ashley -no deal.
MA's credibility = 0.
I read in this morning's journal that we are after young kids from the championship, it beggars belief. Bringing young kids into a struggling side to play in the prem, we will go down. WE NEED 3 PREM CLASS PLAYERS ASHLEY YOU IDIOT !!!!! You stand to loose 100 million if we go down ..... BUFFOON.
Ashley, you are scum. Your anouncement was timed to coincide with SIR Bobby Robson's day. You are not fooling anyone your a liar and a scumbag.
Well another couple of bad results and its doom and gloom again. Given on the way out?. Kinnear looking to sign championship players?. It smacks of slowlybut surely disamntling this clubs premier league status. We were the WORST performing team in the PL for 2008 ( 39 pts) which is relegation form, so its not just the managers fault,but the whole management structure, whish is Ashleys responsibility. Clearly the guy never had a clue how to operate a top football club, and now it looks like we will lurch to another disaster with relegation. I dont blame stars like Given wanting to look elsewhere, but Ashley will have an even bigger task to ever win over the fans if we cannot keep our good players. Yes Im afraid the championship beckons, regardless of who we will sign in the Jan window, its too little too late...over to you Mr Ashley, hope you enjoyed your "fun" for this season.....
KK, Michael Owen and now Shay Given have all passed judgement - in the most transaprent and effective way open to them - on the total shambles that is Mike Ashley's Newcastle United, by voting with their feet or signalling their intention to do so at the earliest opportunity.
Meanwhile, the idiot monkey that is JFK keeps fiddling the same old ridiculous tune ... 'confident Michel will stay' ... 'Shay loves it here, he's comfortable at Newcastle'.
Seriously, IS THERE ANYONE EVEN HALF COMPETENT IN A SENIOR MANAGEMENT POSITION AT OUR TOTAL JOKE OF A FOOTBALL CLUB?
I wrote a month ago that we'd be more surprised by who left in January than who arrived. Seemed obvious to me that cheap Mike, the man with no class, would put one of his BIG SALE NOW ON signs up. A leapard can't change it's spots. Neither can a dodgy purveyor of cheap crap. Sad fact is, one month later, and nothing would be a surprise now.
Any decent footballer should get out of Newcastle now. We don't deserve decent players at our club any more. Any regime that manages to p*** off someone as loyal to our cause as Shay Given will never attract, acquire or retain talent.
A first team of Chapionship cast offs - at best - beckons. Well, I'm voting with my feet too, just like KK, MO and SG.
Ashley, you are scum. And JFK, you're a JoKe.