Mike Ashley will be starting to realize the anger that’s directed towards him from the Newcastle faithful, after last week’s histrionics at the club.
Mike Ashley – understanding depth of feeling against him at Newcastle
If Mike is going to stay in control of the club then we will need a new manager, and we will need a world class new manager, if he is indeed to replace Kevin Keegan.
Most fans would like him not to do this, and just sell up and ship out, so that this particular nightmare at the club will be over. In our vote on what Mike should do now, 81% want him to sell the club and that’s with close to 800 votes in, so if you haven’t yet voted yet, now is your chance in our Poll Corner.
But we shouldn’t just rush into appointing some manager who is available – we should go for the very best available.
With France beating Serbia 2-1 last night in Paris, it would appear that Raymond Domenech is probably safe as France manager for the foreseeable future. That means that Didier Deschamps is still available, and we know he’s interested in the job, and has a good CV, having previously managed Juventus and Monaco.
The news this morning is that Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink have joined Gus Poyet and Paul Ince on Mike Ashley’s wish-list, but we’re not sure there is any truth in these reports.
We would love to see Guus Hiddink at Newcastle, but think it would difficult to entice him to come to Tyneside, but you never know.
As far as what Mike Ashley is thinking right now, the proverbial Newcastle insider has told The Sun today:
“Mike is desperate to get the fans back onside and thinks getting someone in by the end of the week will ease tensions a bit.”
“He was planning to stay away on Saturday but is starting to believe it would look better if he fronted up the situation and didn’t run scared.”
There are a number of things Mike can do to get the fans back on his side:
- Reappoint Kevin and give him control of all transfers, and have a love-in following the appointment – that would work.
- Sell the club to Indian Billionaire Anil Ambani
- Appoint Guus Hiddinck as the new manager
It’s your choice Mike.
Comments welcome.
544 comments so far
ToonEskimo
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #1Option 3 is the most likely scenario but still have a better chance of me scoring the winner against Hull on Saturday.
jay b
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #2i jus want saturday to come, watch us demolish Hull and have a few beers
Toon Chicken
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Comment #3Keegan aint coming back. He walked rememeber – he wasn’t sacked. He was offered the chance to work things out but he chose to stay away and only respond to the board and the fans through the LMA. As soon as everyone accepts that the better.
We need to draw a line under this and move on.
Even if the Indian buys the club I seriously doubt he would want someone so temperamental Kevin running the show.
Ian
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Comment #4I really do not think he cares in the least.
Look at the ‘city’ and their view of him at Sports Direct, they are reporting he has taken almost a billion pounds off them then is buying his company back at a third/quarter of the price, there are shareholder action groups against him and his chairman also walked out of that company and he didnt care, he can make the company private again any time he wants!! I just hope he has abided by all of the plc rules if not he could be looking at a stretch.
If he is losing a million or two revenue from each game, has devalued the club so that he cant get what he paid for it then he may start to think about some sensible action, by then it will probably be to late.
If he brought back Keegan with a better contract then he may save his investment, otherwise he will have to sell.
The longer he has the club without Keegan the less the club will be worth.
But I dont think he has the intelligence to budge, it has worked being awkward everywhere else up till now so why change? That will be his thinking, can you imagine a sponsor offering him a good deal? Or season ticket holders lining up to buy their next tickets?? Not likely, his income will drop slowly all the time he has the club, it is just the time it takes for it to get through his thick skull that will hold up any action.
Toon Chicken
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:24 AM
Comment #5*as temperamental as Kevin
ToonEskimo
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Comment #6Why not give Wise a chance to manage, he seems to do everything else….would he have the bottle to sit in the dugout?
Davies
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Comment #7Ed Speed should be our new manager.
He’s whip the boys into shape and show Mike Ashley who’s boss.
‘mon Ed Speed
P.S. Can you buy Mike Ashley masks anywhere. I have a great idea for a pantomime.
dick
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Comment #8What top manager will come to a club where he does not have a say in what players get signed, not a hope in hell. Will have to be happy with a yes man i’m affraid
maggpie
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Comment #9This was in the Telegraph in August 2007. Spot on crystal ball gazing by the writer, and ominously tells us much about the man:
Ashley will need his balls of steel when Magpies kick off
Get out of this one, Toon and City critics tell Ashley
Mike Ashley, the cheeky chavvie who owns 57pc of Sports Direct, reckons the City is full of “cry babies”. He’s right, but it’s actually the sound of investors weeping over his company’s dismal share price performance, which has halved since the end of February. He also boasts that he has “balls of steel” when it comes to dealing with adversity, of which he’s witnessing a great deal at the moment.
Forget the share price at his retail empire collapsing around his ears, or the profit warning emanating from his stores last week and just focus on the row likely to engulf him at Newcastle United, which he recently bought for £133m. Senior figures at the club, including Sam Allardyce, the new manager, have already started getting their excuses in early, blaming a lack of resources for what Allardyce expects will be a tough season ahead. Allardyce is a seasoned campaigner and is obviously softening up the Toon army for the team’s usual underperformance and is quite ready to push Ashley, as the new owner, into the firing line.
If Ashley thinks the City’s reaction to his company’s woeful stock market debut has been a shock, he ain’t seen nothing yet. The Geordie Nation will expect him to have their football club at the top of his agenda, not some chain of sports shops. That’s an obvious conflict with his role as deputy executive chairman of Sports Direct where shareholders expect their interests to be at the top of his agenda.
That’s some dilemma. It’s enough to make a grown man cry.
Macas
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Comment #10Toon Chicken – I believe you have the wrong slant on events – it was Keegan gave the board the chance to work things out, and it was they who refused to change their attitudes, instead issuing blatant lies regarding who has the final say on transfer dealings. This is no way to run a club. A lot of the pro-Ashley brigade seem to wish to paint Keegan as temperamental and always looking to walk out, but look what just happened to Curbishley, a man who was at Charlton for many many years. He chose the same option as Keegan.
Angryman the Angry Fan
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Comment #11ED
Do not tell me you have been taken in by the old CASHLEY sales pitch again!!
I mean Gus Hiddink, he is more his own Man than KK was!!
Can you Imagine Hiddink working for Dennis Wise??? More to the point can you imagine anyone working for Wise other than one of his mates??
You see, the Tabloids (Hockle spit) are a disgrace, but one thing they do know and are 100% right about, is that no one likes Dennis Wise but his mates, and the only way he will get a Manager to work for him is if he is a mate!!
Gus Hiddink, My big hairy butt!!!
I can imagine it now:
FB (mike Ashley by the way): Den, who can we say we are trying to get as Manager that will keep the awful awful Norverners off my back?
DW (Dwarfy Wise): Gas Iddink boss, the fick Norverners will luv ya for pretending to get im!!
Then wen yav convinced tha thickos, we will get our mate gas poyet, and release sam statemnt sayin, oops papers got wrong gas, not our fault!
Graham
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Comment #12He could bring in Alex Ferguson in as manager and I’d still want the bloke out.
He has done so much damage to Newcastle over the past month. It matters not whether Keegan was manager. It could have been anyone with an ounce of pride & backbone & the damage would still have been done.
The club is his, yes. But as far as i’m concerned, he’s not welcome and I honestly don’t think he realises how much anger will come his way if he does turn up on Saturday. Billionaires live in a protective bubble where everyone of his staff will do whatever he wants of them.
Unfortunately, the fans are your customers Mr Ashley and we have a problem with your product…..
Graham
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Comment #13Ed, stick this on your website instaed of pics of Ashley!
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/263/sacktheboard1zg3.jpg
Norman Mathie
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Comment #14I quite liked Ashley up to the deadline day shenanigans although I have been suspicious about his “intentions” for NUFC during the last few months.
His constant lack of communications with us fans though has really damaged his credibility now. Is there any way back for MA???
For Ashley to repair the club for me would take Keegan being re-instated in some capacity. If not manager, maybe an ambassadorial role for him or how about KK replacing the faceless waste of space Llambias as Chairman. (who I suspect is the real culprit in this fiasco!)
He couldn’t possibly do a worse job could he.
Mike Ashley MUST start talking to the fans and stop this dreadful lack of communication.
He needs to clearly come out and STATE HIS INTENTIONS and ambitions for the club . If he cant or wont do this , he will have no choice but to sell up and get out of Toon for good.
Its a shame if this eventually happens because this could all have been so much different but if it comes to this MA will have no one to blame but himself.
wsq
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #15the only outcome that would work in the future is for the director of football to appoint his manager i.e. dennis wise’s choice so that they can work with him. So in the future if our club doesn’t do well the director of football will get the boot.
in other words keegan should have been the director of football and then appointed someone else as manager.
unless the manager appointed the director of football. it’s a funny situation.
Taiwantoon
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #16*as money grabing as Cashley.
It’s over for him. I personally don’t care who he appoints as it’s clear that the new COACH will have very little influence on the team, and I hate the idea that the club is managed remotely from London. Come on, this is not a new system, England has done it all since the 17th century.
Born Again Geordie
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Comment #17@ Graham – lol class that ! 😀
BenjiToon
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Comment #18Two things:
1. the reports on Sports Direct’s AGM make interesting reading – they show Ashley to be ruthless, more than a bit cunning and stubborn…sound like someone who listens to majority opinion? Don’t think so.
2. all the managers you’ve mentioned Ed like to buy their own players – Hiddink, Advocaat and Ince definitely do. Deschamps might be more open to someone else doing it for him, but that wasn’t how he was successful at Monaco.
So, the “news” we’ve been hearing this week doesn’t actually move us any further forward. We appoint a new manager and, unless they are a close friend of Wise (Poyet for e.g – please no!) then they will have many of the same frustrations as KK. And Ashley is the kind of man who digs in despite presure.
This tells us that the mess at the club will not be sorted by patching things up internally or making nice polite appeals from the fans. Ashley will only listen to a groundswell of opinion realised in united action. (I don’t mean violence or idiotic behaviour BTW.) Now more than ever the fans need to make their voices heard.
…BUT at the same time we need to support the players and the team on the pitch. Protest, of course, but get three points too. A losing team is hardly attractive to a new manager or new investor.
Whumpie
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Comment #19Toon Chicken and others – here’e a thought: draw all the lines you like, things could just continue to get worse. Mass transfer requests, big financial trouble… Leeds Utd, anyone?
Regarding managers: we won’t get Advocaat or anyone like that. Why would they? The club’s a mess and people are lining up to distance themselves from it.
The goings-on with Ashley’s other club are interesting. Not the bit a about ‘conning’ the city – he played fair and square and the city poofs just don’t like losing – but the questions over transparency and hints of dodgy dealings do back up some of our worst fears.
My gut feel is that our best bet is to really hit Ashley hard, and not in the cashflow (i.e. boycotting beer and shirts, which is chickenfeed and will peter out) but in his net worth – which means boycotting just Saturday’s match. That sends the signal that it’s us who control the club’s worth – and we’re prepared to force him to sell up.
Otherwise, I think we can look forward to a year or so of continued decline as they try to run a club from 300 miles away using people who haven’t a clue about football, let alone NUFC. Eventually he’ll sell – at a big loss – and we’ll be back where we were before KK arrived the first time.
People who read this blog will know I’m no scare-monger, but that’s really how I see it this time. Worst I’ve ever known it.
For chrissakes, let’s make a statement – don’t bottle it. Ignore The Mag and True Faith and dont’ think for a moment that what they’re suggesting will have any impact. The players will support a boycott – they’re hit worse than any of us by the current decline. Let’s make the only statement that will register: empty SJP seats on national telly. ONE MATCH will do it.
Ian
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #20I think we are stuck with Ashley for a good while, he likes the trouble, he is billionaire bully boy who thinks he is tough, he will choke the club slowly.
I agree chuck Wise on as manager, who cares?
Macas
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Comment #21Well said Whunpie, I just wish the majority of fans would realise that they are supporting the team more if they stay away, even if it doesn’t seem like it in the short run.
Ian
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Comment #22agree whumpie an empty stadium on the telly will be very dramatic, Newcastle matches always have drawn big crowds.
DBAB Rool
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Comment #23Maybe appointing Wise as manager might be great move considering every manager at Newcastle under Ashley doesn’t last 9 months.
Gerrim in to gerrim oot!
Whumpie
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Comment #24BenjiToon – just saw your post. Sorry, have to strongly disagree with that last bit. Turning up “to support the players and the team” is exactly the cop-out Ashley is banking (literally) on.
THREE POINTS??? Is that all the club’s stability and future means to people??
1. The players will want us to boycott. Ashley won’t.
2. A boycott will hit home, because it hits the value of the company. Not buying beer and shirts won’t, because it’s chickenfeed money, and will last less than a month.
3. Not buying beer does not show up on TV pictures and will not make the news. Empty seats will be on the front pages as well as the back. It is the ONLY NEWSWORTHY ACTION in a war WHICH WILL COME DOWN TO VISIBILITY.
We all want to watch the matches, and love to hide behind the “support the team” cop-out. But we’ll be helping Ashley and the decline of our club if we turn up. Time to grow some stones.
clinta
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Comment #25Sorry, but appointing Guss Hiddink is the only realistic option there,
would love to see this guy on tyneside, but as i said on a previous post he’s been offered jobs at big clubs before and turned them down, he seems to relish the challenge of bringing out the best in small national sides.
but, if he wants the biggest challenge of his life, we’d be it that’s for sure.
funny though ed, how your so anti MA, and the whole board and want him out, but… if he brings in Hiddink well.. no worries then.
KK who? lol.
Toon_Ksk
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Comment #26Why would Hiddink join us? Can’t see that happening. World Cup semi-finalist with S.Korea and Euro Cup semi-finalist with Russia. He is too good for us and too expensive. Mike Ashley does not have the money to sign him.
KK won’t rejoin us. If the Indian Billionaire doesn’t want to buy us, it is pointless even if MA wants to sell.
Hadrian
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Comment #27if mike hadnt put his mates before the club we wouldnt be in this mess , feel abit sorry for him , but then again he’s only got himself to blame .
llambias has had a large hand in this aswell the smug git .
really need to know what exactly happened that day .
did he leave everything with llambias to sort out ?
did llambias get abit to big for his boots ?
from what we hear there was a blazing row between llambias and keegan , had mort been in charge still i dont think it would have ever came to this . well mayeb , but nowhere near as bad .
mike could have avoided this by sacking his mates and retaining his manager , maybe he thought the situation didnt need anyone to go , but you certainly shouldnt leave it upto an ex casino manager to call keegans bluff .
geordiejayne
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Comment #28Whumpie I agree with your post mate, it hurts to think that the only way we can hurt Ashley is to hurt the One thing we ALL love.
But the only thing he is interested in, IS MONEY
ASHLEY OUT
geordiejayne
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Comment #29Mort was a gentleman and a Top Bloke, I can’t see this would have happened under him. Now he is a Business Man with a BRAIN
DBAB Rool
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Comment #30No manager with any credibility would join Newcastle United at the present moment of time. this is just something else that MA doesn’t get!
Toon Chicken
Sep 11, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Comment #31Macas – do you know something that the rest of us don’t?
Keegan was offered the chance to stay and work through things – instead he fled to Manchester and the open arms of Richard Bevan.
“Today the Club made it clear to Kevin that if he had any outstanding concerns on its proposals, he should raise them with the Club.
The Club regrets that Kevin has, instead of taking up that offer, chosen to resign.”
Keegan had made his mind up to quit on the Tuesday in a fit of rage and there was never any going back. He is too stubborn for his own good a lot of the time.
Simple
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #32I think Christopher Walken would be a good choice. He’d terrify you into playing well, and if you failed, cut your baubles off !
geordiejayne
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Comment #33ToonChicken – Do you know something that we don’t.
They actually said they sent a letter to Keggan lamo a Letter.
You don’t know anything more than the rest of us, just rumour, and what they want us to believe.
Look at how their statement has been proved to show them lieing by the Toon Fans.
Toon Chicken
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Comment #34Whumpie – how do you know the players will want a boycott. I bet they couldn’t give a flying fcuk about Keegan. He walked out on them remember? I bet the likes of Jonas, Guthrie and Collo are raging with him. Still, they are professional footballers doing a job. They will play and go out to win whoever is in charge.
Toon4Life
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Comment #35I wonder if MA was the Thug/Bully at school or the Victim?
vic
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Comment #36I do not think that any respectful Manager (NOT COACH) would come to work with this Board of liars, who go against the Newcastle Players, fans & Public.
I do not believe that any BIG Name who actualy THE MANAGER would agree to be a COACH under Denise Wise guidance.
It is nonsence…
ASHLY OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
DH7 Mags
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Comment #37ASHLEY OUT. do not trust this owner no longer. time to sell up and get out of our toon. the man is not wanted and he can take all of his puppets with him.
Ed we need a poll for how many fans are going to boycott, how many are going to attend. i want to go and support my team, but on the other hand, i want ashley to be hurt and ran out of town. hit him in the pocket is my first option, and also thinking about it, if no one does turn up, he will realise he has lost the support of the newcastle fans.. thats more important. so lets keep all campaigns going.
Toon Chicken
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:05 AM
Comment #38geordiejayne – they would have had to send a letter because the stubborn little git didn’t hang a round to talk face to face like a man. He threw in the towel and cried off to Manchester. He probably switched his phone off cos every journo in the country was after an ‘exclusive’.
I know it must be difficult for you right now but at least try and think about things rationally for a minute will ya.
lee
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #39dont think hidink will report to the rat though
geordiejayne
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Comment #40Toon Chicken to tell others to think about it rationally, you however refuse to do so and think what you say is right end of.
I say neither you are I know. But I was loyal to Keegan and still am no matter what you try and make me think.
They are liars and proved to be with no doubt at all.
You have your opinion I have mine.
ASHLEY OUT