Ashley’s paper statement is in tatters.
Posted on June 4th, 2010 | 73 Comments |
This is of course the release of the statement a week or so ago in which Newcastle United stuck up for something that was in the national interest, by banning The Daily Mail and Mail On Sunday from St James’ Park, from press conferences, and from the training ground.
It was a move that was formed from the fallout of the Lord Triesman affair, and the impact that the whole debacle may now have on the chances of England hosting the World Cup in 2018. Mike Ashley cited this as a reason as to why such drastic acton had been taken, and urged the chairmen at other Premier League clubs to join in the boycott of the newspaper. They didn’t, and now it looks like it could be another blunder in the making for Newcastle United.
Perhaps the reason why chairmen at other clubs in the Premier League chose to ignore the plea from Ashley is because they know how to use the press. We all know that the press spout a load of rubbish most of the time and that most of what is printed should be ignored, like you would ignore that weird demented shouty woman in the street. That doesn’t negate the fact that, if used correctly, the press can actually be of great assitance, especially to someone like Ashley who appears to have no idea of how to communicate with fans, or how public relations works. If you keep them on your side, then thay can actually work for you.
A letter was supposedly circulated to all 20 Premier League clubs, only one has replied, which makes this manoeuvre a failure. What we have now is a well intentioned stance, that recieved the backing of the majority of fans for a change, that has fallen flat on it’s face whilst managing to antagonise the media at the same time. Not good.
The press already have a free reign to write what they want about us after the release of the original statement, which said that the club will not be confirming or denying anything unless it is official. That was fine, but now Ashley has managed to poke them with a stick, it has given the media a motive to use that free reign.
This is not the first run in Ashley has had with the press, and it probably wont be the last. Various news outlets have been banned from Newcastle before, but it hasn’t stopped the stories. As fans we understand that the newspapers print rubbish a lot of the time, so why doesn’t Ashley? Why doesn’t he just learn to ignore all the speculation and rumours, like we have learned to?
The principled stance against the papers is a noble thought. Unfortunately though, it has fallen on deaf ears.
ashley put out that statment coz it could cost his shite clothing company millions,nothing more he was thinking of sports direct not newcastle united