Making the best of it?Trick or treat? Which one does Mike Ashley have in store for Newcastle United over the next season and a half?
Undoubtedly there are many fans who would like to celebrate Halloween by tying Mike Ashley to a stake and setting fire to him, not least because of his crackers plan to sell the naming rights to St James’ Park.
It’s the sort of plan that will probably have people thinking about demonstrations of one kind or another, often involving bedsheets and references to the “Cockney Mafia” and strange words like ‘boycoutt’. Others suggest that the best way to get the message through to Ashley is to ‘hit him in the pocket’, as demonstrated by this letter to the Chronicle:
ASHLEY must go now. Yes, I know he has the money, he cannot be that daft, you say – let’s face it, he got lucky on the stock market and has dragged us down to gutter level and this is the final insult.
Q. How do you get him out?
A. Get the Geordies to stop going to the ground, all 40,000 of them – no income equals no soul, equals the landlord throws in his hand; 40,000 supporters to see Doncaster Rovers – it beggars belief – that is more than Chelsea get most home games!
There is however a problem with that plan. It’s fair enough asking Ashley to ‘get out of this town’ but where is he going to go? He has just tried to sell the club and failed, so his options are limited. He’s not going to give the club away and, whatever his sins, no reasonable person would expect him to do so. (more…)
The right Magpies this time?Sol Campbell fancies a move to Newcastle United but may be too costly for Hughton. However Matthew Kilgallon looks like a more affordable target.
Campbell is currently trying to sort out the ramifications of getting out of his ill-fated contract at Notts County, but he found time recently to go public about his interest in joining Newcastle United. Campbell said:
“I have been approached by several clubs and, yes, it is correct to say that Newcastle United are one of them.
“People might be surprised to hear me say that I would be very interested in a move there, but I have my reasons.
“Newcastle are a big club and could be heading back to the Premier League. It appeals. If we can sort it all out at the tribunal I would hope to be playing within weeks from now.
“I’m training every day with Arsenal, feel fit, as fit as ever, and now I really need some matches. But to sort out the mess at Notts County, a Football League tribunal seems to be the only way out.” (more…)
I wouldn't do itFormer Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd has blasted Ashley over his plans to sell the stadium naming rights.
Freddy said:
“I suppose nothing surprises me about the current regime, so news they are ready to sell the naming rights isn’t exactly a shock.
“I appreciate we are living in a commercial world, but there are some things money can’t buy.
“St James’ Park is one of the most famous stadia, not just in Europe but in the world. You can go anywhere and everyone knows St James’ Park is the home of Newcastle United. The two are synonymous.
“I just can’t imagine St James’ Park being called anything else. Whatever next? Why don’t they just go the whole hog and change the name of the club itself?
“Fans will be horrified, angry and upset about this. They’ve had to put up with a lot in recent months, but this is just another blow.”
Well, quite, but let’s not forget that Freddie Shepherd described Ashley as “an excellent custodian of Newcastle United’s heritage” when he sold his shares to him a few years ago. Not his best call eh? (more…)
Big tests aheadNew Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton hopes to get at least some of Mike Ashley’s £20m cash injection to spend on players.
Amidst Mike Ashley’s popular announcement that he would be inflicting himself upon Toon fans for another season and a half, there was also the news that he’s putting another £20m of his own money into the club. Ashley didn’t actually say where the £20m would be spent but it is speculated that the money would go towards new players and improving the scouting network.
Apparently Hughton – after talks with Ashley and Llambias – is already drawing up a list of targets for the January transfer window, although he was keen to just concentrate on our upcoming games for the moment. Hughton said:
“The most important thing first and foremost is that we have to work with what we have.
“We can’t bring in anybody until January other than loans.
“I’ll identify what I think we need when that time comes, but the most important thing is getting the results in the games before then.
“There are two remits really – the here and now, and then what happens when the window opens when we’ll sit down and look at it then.” (more…)
Here we go againMike Ashley has taken Newcastle United off the market after 5 months and appointed Chris Hughton as permanent manager until the end of the 2010/2011 season.
Emotions were running high when this was announced last night but I wanted to try and analyse the situation a little more objectively in the cold light of day.
It looked like Barry Moat might actually have been in with a chance at one point. According to the press, he’d had a £40m up-front plus £40m at the end of the season deal rejected and had come back to Ashley with a £60m-£20m upgrade to that, having been led to believe by Ashley that it would be accepted. Ashley however did not accept it and decided to take the club off the market amongst a lot of familiar-sounding rhetoric.
The rhetoric sounds familiar because it’s pretty much what he said the last time he took the club off the market. He stressed his commitment to the future of Newcastle United then too and he put some money into the club, but then we were relegated and the club was up for sale once again. So I have no reason to believe that Ashley’s aim is to do anything but maximise the club’s appeal so that he can put it up for sale yet again. (more…)
