What do Newcastle United supporters really think of their divisive owner? Let’s look at the evidence and you tell us where you stand…
There are two sides to every story, so let’s hear it out for both sides…
Saint:
The Newcastle supremo has seen his reputation restored a little through the team’s on the pitch performances. The club looks in with a good shout of a Europa League spot, or even better; a notion which would have been dismissed as a wild fantasy at the beginning of the season.
The knives were being sharpened over the summer, with pundits even tipping the club for relegation.
He proved himself to be a master-negotiator in managing to persuade Liverpool to pay £35 million for Andy Carroll, and replaced him with free signing Demba Ba who has scored 16 goals already this season, and recently signing Papiss Cisse.
Ashley has also installed a scouting network which has come up trumps, paying bargain prices for Cheik Tiote and Yohann Cabaye, while successfully forcing disruptive influence Joey Barton out of the club.
His manager of choice Alan Pardew has proved him right, leading the club to sixth in the table, one point off a Champions League spot.
Ashley has certainly played a part in Newcastle’s success.
Sinner:
Whenever Newcastle are doing something right, Ashley does his best to spread seeds of discontent among the support.
The latest being the decision to rename ‘St James Park’ as the ‘Sports Direct Arena’. This has resulted in protests and graffiti being daubed on the stadium by fans who face the possibility of arrest.
But Ashley’s list of misdemeanours extend far beyond this. He brought back the ‘Messiah’ Kevin Keegan, and sought to undermine him by appointing Dennis Wise, of all people, as director of football. This proved a complete disaster and both ended up quitting the club month’s later.
It should not either be forgotten that all of this led to Newcastle’s relegation into the Championship, after the bizarre appointment of Joe Kinnear, and eight game stint of Alan Shearer.
When the loyal Chris Hughton got the club promoted straight away, Ashley sacked him months later despite the club being in the top half of the table, to appoint his casino buddy Alan Pardew.
Fans do not believe Ashley is in it for the football, just to make money, and if the club are offered big money for stars like Krul or Tiote in the summer, he will have no hesitation taking the cash and directing the manager to buy a cheap replacement. And then there is the ridiculous buy-out clause in Demba Ba’s contract which he agreed to.
With Ashley you get the feeling the next disaster is just around the corner.
Newcastle United fans you tell us, is Mike Ashley a saint or a sinner?
image: © strange lands travel blog
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