The ups and downs of having your very own billionaire!
By Barry J. Hindmarch
The first I heard of the
arrival of Mike Ashley was
when my friend Smog
Monster texted me to say,
“You have been taken over
by a billionaire.” That was
all. At first I thought it was
a joke of some sort,
especially as it came from a
Middlesbrough fan, but a
quick check soon showed it
to be true.
It seemed that the long
suffering Newcastle fans
finally had their wish – the
evil empire of the Shepherds
was over, and the knight in
shining armour Sir Ashley of
Mike had arrived to set us
back on the path
started by Sir John
Hall in the early
90’s. Sure, nobody
knew anything about
him – the media called him
“reclusive”, but we did know
he was from darn sarf,
possibly a Spurs supporter,
and more importantly he was
a self-made billionaire who
owned Sports Direct. The
Entertainers Mark 2 was
coming!
Ashley further
endeared himself to the
Geordie public with his
much-publicised beer
drinking with the fans in the
Bigg Market, sharing the
banter and buying a few
rounds. His reputation as
‘one of the lads’ was further
enhanced as he donned a
black and white replica shirt
28
(probably from Sports Direct)
and joined the fans in the
stands rather than take his
place in the Directors Box or
an executive box.
the
“This iswhere
point
public opinion
really swung
against Ashley
”
In hindsight, the way
it was obvious that Ashley
wanted rid of Sam Allardyce
should have been a warning
to us. Unfortunately, he then
pulled off a PR coup as he
brought it Kevin Keegan as
manager, but had also
replaced Chris Mort with
Derek Llambias and brought
in Dennis Wise as some sort
of Director of Football/Chief
Scout. Players came in such
as Nacho Gonzalez and Xisco
who KK didn’t want or rate,
and in September 2008 after
only nine months back in
charge, Keegan quit.
This is the point
where public opinion really
swung against Ashley. The
appointment of missing presumed –dead Joe Kinnear
did not really help things,
though when Joe had to leave
the club (temporarily, sadly)
Ashley again produced an ace
and appointed another
Geordie hero in Alan Shearer.
While another PR
masterstroke, similar to the
Keegan appointment,
unfortunately it couldn’t stop
us getting relegated, and
according to rumour, Shearer
never heard from the club
again.
This is the kind of
thing that shows Ashley’s
failure to grasp the mentality
of the Newcastle fans, and the
hero-worship they can and do
bestow upon anyone who
serves the club with
distinction. Keegan and
Shearer were iconic figures at
SJP, and yet were treat
shabbily, to say the least.
Anyone with an ounce of
knowledge about the club
would understand that certain
people are so highly respected
by the fans, that they should be
shown the respect they deserve
(or at least look as if they are)
because in the eyes of the
Geordie faithful, certain
people will always stand head
and shoulders above others.
The return to the
Premier League at the first
attempt, under the dignified
guidance of Chris Hughton
went some way to restoring
the pride that had been lost
with relegation, and our
steady, and at times
spectacular (Villa, Sunderland,
West Ham, Arsenal) progress
in the division seemed to
deflect criticism away from
Ashley, but then once again he
seemed to shoot himself in the
foot, sacking Hughton and
appointing another so-called
Cockney Mafia foot soldier,
Alan Pardew. Now, to be fair
to Pardew, he cannot be
blamed for taking the job –
any manager with ambition
would be stupid not to – and
he cannot be blamed for
being awarded a long term
deal after taking the club back
into Europe. Also, while he
has actually started to blend a
decent side together, despite
the financial constraints he is
under, it once again shows
Ashley’s lack of
understanding of the Geordie
psyche. Hughton had won
the hearts of the black and
whites, doing a good job in
tough circumstances, and
then had the rug pulled
unceremoniously from under
his feet. Pardew earned his
stripes with the fans, though
last season’s poor showing
has not helped him built on
our top five finish the
previous season.
Ashley may be an
astute business man, but
running a football club and
running a sports shop is not
the same thing. True, the
club was buckling under an
unfeasible wage bill that
could not be sustained much
longer, and the owner has
done a great job in getting
Newcastle United back on a
firm financial footing. His
lack of investment, however,
makes fans wonder how
much he wants to do well and
how much he is simply trying
to regain the millions he lost
by not completing due
diligence when he bought the
club.
The changing of the
stadium name though, was the
final straw for many fans, as
over one hundred years of
history were trampled on to
make SJP basically a large
advertising board. Most
people knew it was a
temporary measure, and would
change back under new
sponsorship, but that didn’t
take away the sense of utter
betrayal and complete lack of
empathy from the owner.
Unfortunately, that is what can
happen when one person owns
the club lock, stock and barrel.
Ashley can do anything he
wants – he can change the
name, the strip colours, sell the
place, or simply will it out of
existence. The club is his toy,
and as such he is omnipotent.
His major failing
though, is his lack of
communication with the fans.
Many Geordies live and breath
the club, and soak up
information and news like they
do Brown Ale, but that is not
Ashley’s way. He keeps
himself to himself generally,
with only the occasional press
release through one of his
minions to let the fans know
what he is doing.
If he would let us
know his plans for the club,
maybe we could understand,
even if we could not support,
exactly what he is doing.
If the long term plan is
simply survival in the Premier
League, and maybe a lucky cup
run, then at least let
the fans know and they can
prepare themselves, and lower
expectations. If he is simply
planning to get back his money
and then sell the club for a
profit, again, let the people
know and then they can
comprehend why things are
being done a certain way, and
then simply be patient until a
new owner can be found.
Ashley will probably
never r