Mike Ashley's decision is bad news for Newcastle
It is bad news, upsetting and depressing, but it is not unexpected. If Mike Ashley is staying at Newcastle United then he is staying and there is precious little we can do about it other than hope the club gets promoted in May and a football mad billionaire with money to burn fancies buying the club in the summer.
Actually, we've already had a football mad billionaire haven't we, only he doesn't have money to burn and has presided over more than two years of blunders and short sighted decisions which have led United into the Championship.
Ashley may be a little on the tubby side, he may be from down south (I dispute he's a Cockney given he isn't actually from London) but he isn't getting out of the club.
There will be a feeling of impotence, which will spark renewed talk of boycotts and direct action, all of which are potentially going to have a negative effect on the team's results on the pitch.
This is far from ideal. In fact, to coin an American phrase from my youth, it sucks, but I can only repeat, the most important thing, both for the short term and long term vitality of Newcastle United, is promotion.
If Newcastle are promoted they can be revived, whether by Ashley or some other oaf with more money than sense.
If they stay in the Championship, they could go into terminal decline. I just hope Ashley has fully grasped that fundamental truth and strengthens the squad in defence and attack in January.
If we are honest, we have expected this decision for weeks, if not months. I've been saying since the start of the season that if a takeover was going to happen it would have happened a long time ago.
It just makes it even more frustrating that we have been misled for so long, not just by Ashley and Barry Moat, but by the other mysterious consortiums who have supposedly shown an interest since May. What a waste of all our time.
None of this means we have to like Ashley, far from it in fact. He will never win any popularity contests. It's whether the anger towards him becomes all consuming or whether the club and the team remain deserving of the same level of passionate support they have always received.
Newcastle is a football club. It is about more than Mike Ashley or Derek Llambias, Chris Hughton or any players. But it still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth when supporting your football team means giving tacit acceptance to a regime which has been guilty of so many wrongs. Then again, Freddie Shepherd and Douglas Hall have already benefited from that.
More than 40,000 people have remained loyal this season. It is a remarkable figure in the circumstances and has shut plenty of people up around the country who questioned whether Newcastle's support really was as special as has been claimed. But will that number hold now that Ashley is definitely staying put?
The announcement the club are looking for commercial sponsors for St James's Park is just a further erosion of the club's traditions by a regime which still fails to grasp the mood and emotions of its fan base, sorry customers.
Its timing is ridiculous, although I suppose there is a view it's better to get all the bad news out in one, big blow. My money is on it being the Sports Direct Stadium by the end of the season! No, surely not.
How about the Emirates? British Telecom? Northern Rock?! And I wonder whether St James's will figure in any of the re-branding? More cause for exasperation, but this is the way of the world, just look at your prime time television shows, they're all sponsored.
For me, it is better to channel anger towards a positive. It is better to chant anti-Ashley songs at games than it is to merely stay away in a vague hope of hitting him in the pocket to try to to get him to sell.
The club is off the market, he isn't going to sell until the end of the season at the earliest and lower crowds mean less income and raise the prospect of players been sold. It hurts doesn't it?
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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.
It isn't great news but at least it is news!
Not sure what the 20 million involves, I hope it is for players???
Cheers
Mike
Im not against the renaming/rebranding of the stadium. It will still be St, James park to me. What i do dispute is the fact that the Dirty Derek remains after lying blatantly to us fans since he started opening his mouth, being told that there is 20 million being invested as we have been ever since he took over and have yet to see, dare i say a certain bob murray used to say this to the boys down the road when they were a yo yo team. being a yo yo team is not stability!!!
Surely Ashley has been ill advised yet again, that on the day he officially announces that the club is no longer up for sale, he say he wants to rename the stadium?? It looks like another two fingers up to us long sufferers, no matter how spangly you try to dress it up. The man is yet again showing his true colours.....expect no signings without exits in January...with the likes of Taylor, Nolan, Guthrie and Krul leaving, maybe even ranger...and a few average championship players arriving....this is the form of the last 2.5 years or so.....youll see!!
I see this as no progress whatsoever - quite the contrary in a way because Ashley has again managed to annoy the supporters with his "plans". The now regular cycle will continue twice a year (January & Summer) until Ashley moves on.
If we do win promotion under Ashley this season, the squad won't be suitably invested in once again, leaving it threadbare - probably again under the guise of "the club's for sale".
Ashley will then ask for too much money for his "Premier League Football Club" to again try and claw back the losses caused by his naivity of ignoring due diligence in the first place. Or of course, he'll just conduct the sale in the same haphazard manner he's conducted the last couple of attempts to sell.
The threadbare squad will then be torn apart by 90% of the Premier League and we'll come straight back down, almost certainly for more than one season because we won't have the stubborn loyalty of some of the top-flight players who've stayed this time to put right the shame of our relegation - e.g. Nolan, Smith, Jonas, Guthrie, Taylor, Harper, Carroll. Let's face it, it's these players who have proven the difference in this league - if they'd all left, we simply wouldn't be top of the league.
Sorry to pessimistic, but regardless of how well Hughton and the players do on the pitch, while Ashley et al are still around, the club will remain in limbo.
(And don't get me started on the stadium naming rights.)
40,000 aren't 'loyal'.
40,000 are misguided, myopic retards.
40,000 are to blame for Ashley staying.
40,000 are killing the club and the City.
And Thomson House fiddles while we burn.
Restless Native you numbscull, you cannot be a true supporter (obviously not a season ticket holder)You are obviously advocating fans to boycott games in protest of Fatash.That would kill the club nobhead.
Since Ashley doesn't actually own the ground (it's leased from the city council I believe) does he have the right to rename it?
Luke, I can't agree with your final comment about it being better to turn up, pay money into Ashley's pocket and then slag him off, rather than stay away.
As you know, I followed the team for 26 years from my early childhood. I could see only one way of showing my disdain for a man who has made several massive errors whilst running this club/business and that is why I stopped going to games.
If people want to turn up every week, line his pockets and call him names, that's up to them, but it's going to make no difference. I can't bring myself to go to any more games because I won't support that regime.
If you don't like the BNP you wouldn't subscribe to their party just to turn up at their annual conference so you can call Nick Griffin a fascist ar5ehole, so why do it at SJP?
Your article is spot on. At least frustrations are being expressed in public. Having followed Utd for 65 years I have had plenty of similar experiences, McKeag/Seymour, Hall(Doug), Shepherd,Wise!! Believe me, Plymouth, second division, on a cold winter's wednesday night, is worse. Can't do much from France except implore supporters not to hurt the team, it won't help to stay away.
Austin. Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result.
I was a season ticket holder for over 10 years. I won't set foot inside my club again while Ashley's there.
The longer you idiots choose to keep supporting this regime, the longer Ashley will stick around and the more likely he will destroy us completely.
You are thick as PS if you can't see that. And you will have the club you deserve.
Abuse me all you like
Racism begins with our families, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, people we admire, respect and love.
However, as we grow and mature we come to the realization that what we were told by our family when we were children were slanted lies base on their prejudices. We realize that most people are like ourselves and not so different and want the same things, like a home, steady work, a Medicare plan and schools for our children (if you travel you will see this). We realize that most people are of good hearts and goodwill.
This reminds me of a parable from the good book where a Levite and Priest come upon a man who fell among thieves and they both individually passed by and didn’t stop to help him.
Finally a man of another race came by, he got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy and got down with the injured man, administered first aid, and helped the man in need.
Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his fellow man.
You see, the Levite and the Priest were afraid, they asked themselves, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”
But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
That’s the question before us. The question is not, “If I stop to help our fellow man (immigrant) in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help our fellow man, what will happen to him or her?” That’s the question.
This current climate of blaming others for our woes is not new. We have had this before and we have conquered it.
Remember “Evil flourishes when good men (and women) do nothing”. Raise your voices with those of us who believe we are equal and we can win this battle again.
I can't see how turning up/ buying tickets is making MA rich. its paying the bills and the money he has got from player sales has done more to line his pockets. the 20m hes putting in is what he agreed with his accountants and bank, its the min. hes not had to flog his helicopter or boat, house etc. hes not had to flog his sporst direct shares, this man is self sufficient without NUFC.
he will run us into the ground now, he has seriously embarressed himself but won't admit it and hurting the fans is his way of making himself feels better. I believe its actually up to the fans, maybe through the Jurno, EC or NUST or other fans voice to make peace with MA and start again. at the moment all this abuse and hate we're showing towards him is like throwing a tennis ball at a castle wall and hoping it will eventually give. I feel the same as every other geordie (-sick!) but there is no other way forward, swallow our pride and cut our losses. at the moment its like a seperation from the wife, only shes locked you out and you're sleeping on your mother sofa while she still has the house you've paid for... if not lets support the NUFT and give them some of our money, at least the money = to a pie and pint or a cheap pair of trainers or even the money you might of spent on a NUFC strip...
please ashley do not change the name St.james' park this originates from the old medieval church ground on which NUFC was built, but you would n't know that would you or care? It would be an insult to the fans and to this city.