Because, lets face it, nobody really cares about another English major tournament campaign that is destined to end in defeat on penalties to Germany, Portugal, France, Italy etc. etc. Do they? Well some might but I certainly don't. Therefore, with that in mind, lets have a debate about Newcastle, everything has gone so well on the pitch that there isn't really much to discuss there, however, its never a bad time to have a chat about our owner, our sturdy, cold-hearted rock Mr. Mike Ashley.
Judging from the countless number of arguments I've read, listened or been a part of, I've come to the conclusion that there are two ways in which Mike Ashley is viewed among Newcastle fans and among neutrals. The points and reasoning behind both are laid out below.
Mike Ashley: Saviour of Newcastle United and more recently, football genius.
A few months ago, uttering that sentence may have seen me committed to an asylum of some description, but now the notion that Mike Ashley's is in fact to Newcastle United's benefit doesn't seem so crazy anymore.
Lets begin with perhaps the most boring aspect of football, finances. Ashley purchased Newcastle United via his company St James Holdings for approximately £134 million. Following this Ashley then had to invest £100 million into the club just to ensure its financial security, according to a 2010 BBC documentary. Further reports have suggested that Ashley has ploughed over £200 million into the club since his tenure at the top began. Former Chairman Chris Mort alluded to the perilous state of Newcastle's accounts back in 2007, stating that the club was on the brink of collapse before Ashley stepped in.
This is hardly surprising, you only need to look at the ridiculous transfer fees and wages paid out by Freddy Shepherd during his time as principal owner of the club - as he attempted to buy Newcastle's way back to the top by signing the likes of Kluivert, Owen, Emre, Martins, Butt, Duff etc, following the equally ridiculous decision to sack Sir Bobby Robson - to understand that Newcastle's finances were akin to those of a University student after freshers week.
1-0 to Ashley then? Well if the Buckinghamshire businessman had taken the opportunity to examine the club's books before purchasing the club and undertake due diligence he may have saved himself £200m. Still the point remains that without Ashley's intervention, the club could well have been on its way to becoming Leeds United mkII.
A well earned point to Ashley in that case, he of course will lose many through because of relegation, and the Keegan and Kinnear sagas, but lets not trouble ourselves with such horrible business just yet, let us focus on the good stuff.
Finances? Check. Now on to playing staff and Ashley certainly gets some credit here, right? Gone is the deadwood, Owen, Viduka, Martins and the rest all said their goodbyes following relegation while the likes of Nolan, Carroll and Enrique helped steer Newcastle back to the summit of English football in one season. The same squad was able to help the club avoid relegation comfortably, while the signings of Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa for under £10 million added much needed depth and quality.
All this achieved despite a mid-season managerial change, Alan Pardew replacing Chris Hughton as I'm sure you all know. Ashley was even able to make those beloved balance sheets look even prettier by turning a £35m profit on Andy Carroll thanks to Liverpool's seemingly madcap new owners.
While many people buy into to this opinion of Michael James Wallace Ashley, a large percentage of Newcastle fans see him in an entirely different light. Ladies and gentleman let me introduce you to ....
Evil Mike Ashley: Dictator, Grinch and general nasty man
My futile attempts at humour aside, it can be said without any shred of doubt that there are many members of the Toon Army that wholeheartedly despise Mike Ashley for what has occurred at Newcastle United under his stewardship.
They have fair reason to of course, as if the ignominy of relegation in 2009 wasn't enough, Ashley has also continually to manage to alienate fans and club legends alike. The hiring of Kevin Keegan was in hindsight a mistake, and from a purely business perspective you have to sack someone who refuses to toe the party line. However, Ashley and his advisors much surely have known that Keegan is and has never been that kind of individual. When hiring someone of Kevin Keegan's ilk, you are employing someone who is passionate about the game of football and - as everyone who has seen that infamous interview will know - someone who is not afraid to speak their mind. The mistake was not specifically employing Keegan, the mistake was that Ashley and his staff catastrophically mishandled one of the biggest personalities in English football.
Sacking KeeganKinnear, a dash of Chris Hughton and of course another club legend, Alan Shearer. Shearer's appointment had Newcastle riding on the crest of a wave for a brief period but it wasn't enough. Despite relegation from the Premier League Shearer showed the desire to stay for the fight and re-build the side. Ashley failed to agree a deal to keep Shearer at the club, thus alienating a Newcastle United great, again.
While Chris Hughton became the unlikely hero as he guided Newcastle back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, many of those vehemently against Ashley and his regime would argue that the Newcastle owner deserves little to no credit for Hughton's quiet revolution which was the result of Hughton and the players clubbing together in an admirable show of team spirit. Indeed, the Newcastle hierarchy showed little determination in planning for life in the Championship, to the contrary, Ashley appeared pre-occupied with his fruitless search to find a buyer for the club.
Ashley shelved his plans to sell the club following Newcastle's return to the Premier League, and quickly found the time to mistreat another of football's good guys by sacking Chris Hughton.
The decision to replace Hughton with Alan Pardew is quickly beginning to look one of Ashley's shrewder moves. Still, while Newcastle have made a successful start to the season on a shoestring budget, the overriding opinion of many observers is that the sale of key players such as Jose Enrique and Andy Carroll highlights a distinct lack of ambition and desire to move the club forward. The sale of the likes of Enrique and Carroll has fueled skepticism among numbers of fans that any player who quickly becomes a success at the club will be sold on at the nearest juncture.
On the whole, the predominant view among Mike Ashley detractors is that the ambition, heart and soul has been sucked from the club in a cold hearted and ruthless manner. It is a viewpoint that is furthered by Ashley's desire to advertise his sportswear company, Sports Direct, all over St James Park. Advertising your business is all well and good, but not when it extends to renaming the stadium sportsdirect.com@St James Park, revamping the club sign on the East Stand with fresh new Sports Direct and Puma logos adjacent to it and painting Sports Direct in gargantuan lettering on the roof of the Gallowgate End.
The defacement of Newcastle's footballing cathedral is a slap in the face to pretty much every single Newcastle United fan, and for many Newcastle fans, advertising a business that is supposed to be an entirely separate entity represents everything that is wrong with the Ashley regime. It is regime that knows everything about how to run a business, but it is also one that knows little about how to run a football club and shows little sensitivity to the feelings of football fans. Perhaps Mike Ashley is lucky that football has essentially become a business, but it doesn't change the fact that hoards of Newcastle fans would like to see him leave the North East as soon as possible.
My own personal view
It is my opinion that Newcastle fans will eventually get their wish. Newcastle United is nothing but a business to Mike Ashley and I fully believe he intends to balance the club's books before attempting to sell the club and turn a profit on his investment. In the mean time the Newcastle faithful will have to do what they have done so well over the years and stick it out for the long haul. This is a task that should be much easier given the way that Alan Pardew's side are currently performing, indeed the Toon Army should be thankful that one of Ashley's decisions appears to have been for the better of the club. In Pardew they have a manager who has the ability to get the best out of his players and has guided the club to its best start in 17 years, the longer Newcastle's form continues, the more the fans will be able to forget about Ashley's ever controversial presence at the club.
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