Making Sense of the Madness?
Posted on June 11th, 2009 | 41 Comments |
As all of you know, I had taken a pro-club view all year, defending Ashley in trying to re-build and restructure the club from the hideous mess left by FFS (spit).
Some would argue he has made terrible mistakes – Ashley himself agrees – however we don’t know to which he refers, so I have spent the last few days pondering, thinking is there a reason why we are in this apparent disarray, is it because we the fans have not been informed AGAIN as to the reason why things are happening, or is it because Ashley is making a monumental mistake.As always I ask myself before forming a judgement, what would I have done if a certain set of circumstances prevailed to see if there was another way to provide the same result. I always try to base my thoughts on the important and knowable.
We know for certain that Ashley decided to sell the club after our relegation, we can deduct there were two principal reasons – he chose either not to finance any more expenditure or he could not afford it, his decision being influenced by the terrible time he has had and the general bad feeling towards him.
IF he could not afford to restructure the club any more I believe that listing the club for sale was his only option however it is the timing of the listing that must be called into question, then I ask myself is there ever a good time at Newcastle and it was listed immediately on the season closing. As we are aware he is renegotiating a new overdraft with Barclays which will provide the club with the working capital it needs for the seasons ahead, we also know he met with Alan Shearer to see how he felt the club shall move forward.
We do know that as a result of those conversations that Shearer, that Shearer has not yet been appointed as manager but is in the long term plans “of the club and some of the potential buyers” – he remains on stand by whilst the club is sold, and we do know that all players have been listed for sale – however it seems some are more for sale than others.
We also know that during these negotiations with Shearer – Keith Harris was in Newcastle, we do not know if he was approaching Ashley with offers or if it was at Ashleys request to sell.
It seemed to me that the perfect solution was to list the club for sale – discretely and privately – that Shearer could have overseen the rebuilding process (on a short term contract), spoke to new targets and got the club in shape and moving forward. That would be in Ashleys and NUFCs interests BUT it wouldn’t necessarily be in Alan Shearers interests as any new buyer would not be obliged to work with him as no fixed contract would be in place, as of course they would want to appoint their own man.
So the point of concern for us all is not that the club was for sale but why was it handled that way – publicly, Shearer not appointed and all players have now been listed for sale. The only deduction I can draw is Shearer WOULD NOT AGREE to be a temporary stand in until the sale, I state this as if Shearer was not appointed as permanent manager (as the club couldn’t sign him as the new buyers want the right to appoint their own) the fans would have went mad – KK all over again – the only way to diffuse the situation was to publicly state Shearer is in the long term plan and list the club for sale.
Because of all of the above I expect a sale short term, and the interest is very very real.
What I can say beyond doubt, is that I have gave great thought to this, and having been in situations where similar factors are weighed up I have the experience to look behind the mask of the apparent disarray. But the average fan hasn’t that experience – it doesn’t make me highbrow, it just means this is the area where I am experienced. So from the above I think, if I am correct that the Geordie faithful would understand if given the explanation – as it is reasonable on all sides (though personally I think Shearer should still step in on a temp basis – they are his reasons and I respect them if my deduction is correct).
It is damning however is that Ashley still hasn’t grasped the one basic thing that you need to keep this club, sound, happy and moving forward, he hasn’t learned to keep us informed. His communication and that of DL is terrible and it is the disgrace of his running the club, its that uncertainty that keeps us all uncomfortable every day, as we care about our club, it invades our every hour, it allows small rumours to snowball into a maelstrom of negativity.
Short statements cost nothing Mike, but they might have saved you a few hundred million if you had learned to give them out freely – and if you haven’t learned that in your terrible time here – you don’t have the ability to learn from experience – and even I will be sadly happier when you go – you missed a great opportunity.
NUFCBlog Author: Stardust
Stardust has written 15 articles on this blog.
Another interesting side note is the subject of just who is Keegan looking for payment from? Has he taken action against Ashley, Ashley’s company St James Holdings or whatever it’s called or NUFC? If it’s NUFC then he will have little chance of see any payment as it will be a new owner in charge, unless there is a legal document in place that stipulates that NUFC will pay Keegan. That’s if he’s won like.