There’s no doubt at all that Newcastle have made massive strides forward since the club was relegated from the Premier League for the first time ever in May of 2009.
Mike Ashley – not on the same wavelength as Newcastle fans
And for most of the time Mike Ashley has made the right decisions since that terrible low point for the club, starting with loaning the club over £30M during the promotion season, so that Newcastle could keep high wage earners like Coloccini, Barton, Gutierrez, Nolan and others with the club, and have a big edge over the other Championship sides.
That seemed to work like a charm, as Chris Hughton did a wonderful job in having the side amass 102 points with 30 wins and only four defeats, and winning automatic promotion by 23 points from 3rd placed Nottingham Forest, who were on 79 points.
And Newcastle made a very decent start back in the Premier League last year, although the firing of Chris Hughton and the selling of Andy Carroll were hardly well received by Newcastle fans.
But in retrospect they have not had the negative effect some of us through they would have.
And this season, things are like a dream, with Newcastle 3rd top of the Premier League, and not only has the side amassed 25 points from 11 games, but they are playing well too, and the summer transfer business now seems to have been very good indeed.
The strategy that Mike put in place, bringing in top youngsters, and looking for bargain buys in the transfer market, seems to be working very well, and certainly Chief Scout Graham Carr has done a great job in scouting top talent for Newcastle over the last 18 months or so.
So everything was going well when the International break came along, but Mike Ashley has always shocked Newcastle fans, and he did it again during by announcing that he was changing the St. James’ Park name to Sports Direct Arena.
And that was supposed to be an interim deal until a new sponsor could be secured to pay for the naming rights of the Stadium – said to be worth up to £10M a year.
And since Northern Rock are pulling out of their shirt sponsor deal early, there is a chance that a single company, maybe some brand like Nike, could be the sponsor of both the shirts and training gear, and the stadium.
But Newcastle and St. James’ Park have been indelibly linked for over 120 years, so it’s hardly a surprise that Newcastle fans were upset by the move.
And since top clubs like Manchester United, and Liverpool have not had to resort to th renaming of their famous stadiums, and since they seem to be doing just fine in terms of generating revenue, surely there are other revenue streams that could have been explored.
Getting back into European competition is a big one of course.
A source said to be close to Ashley – probably Derek LLambias if we were to hazard a guess – told the People on Sunday:
“Mike understands the massive backlash he has had from the Newcastle supporters. And to tell the truth he is irritated by it all.”
“He cannot understand why some supporters are saying he is trying to destroy the club after all he has done in the past couple of years.”
“He does not mind if those supporters still refer to the stadium as St James’ Park. He would not expect anything else. This is purely a commercial decision – a decision he feels had to be made.”
“Roman Abramovich is a heck of a lot richer than he is yet he is not receiving anywhere near as much flak as Mike in his bid to sell the naming rights at Chelsea.”
“Mike would like the supporters to look at where Newcastle United are compared with a couple of years ago when we were in the Championship with massive debts and too many average players earning massive salaries.”
The fact that Mike Ashley doesn’t understand is hardly surprising, because in truth he has never been on the same wavelength as Newcastle fans, and the fact he never speaks to them is Mike’s single biggest blunder since he bought the club in the summer of 2007.
If Mike wants to get a better rapport going with the Newcastle fans, he should hire a PR company and take their advice, and also stop his top executive at Newcastle, Derek LLambias, from slagging Newcastle heroes like Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan, which Derek did last week in a foul mouthed tirade.
That was just a daft thing to do, and Derek was asking for trouble.
Some of the mistakes Mike has made are of his own making, and the first step to getting on better terms with Newcastle fans, if that’s what he wants to do, would be to start talking to them.
And try to better explain what he wants to do with the famous Newcastle United club – that cannot be too hard – surely.
Comments welcome.
88 comments so far
wynsleap
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Comment #41Krido5
The only mistakes he made…..?
How about not doing due diligence when going through our books then making everyone suffer for it afterwards?
How about lying to Keegan and being found to be, and pronounced, as liars at the Tribunal?
How about treating club legends with disrespect?
How about installing a foul mouthed, di*****d Casino owner as MD?
How about changing the name of our beloved football stadium?
How about plastering his tacky, stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap sponsorship tat all over our immaculate ground?
How about treating the fans with total contempt?
How about having no regard for the heritage of this fabulous club?
How about not spending one penny in transfers over his period of tenure?
How about….. how far do you want to go on?
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Comment #42krido5@36 i could agree with you if it was the minority of fans you are talking about sadly it isnt Something is not quite right when our own city council have to step in and stop this tyrant from going absolutly mad. dictators think they are invincible, but like the rest of them ” what goes around, comes around.
theleckworthbird
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:23 PM
Comment #43All these pros and cons re Ash and Lam.
Doesn’t anyone remember Mr Frederick Shepard?
Here is a man who virtually drove the club into debt, bought incredibly duff players over managers’ heads,. sacked Sir Bobby, one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever had… and appointed Graeme Souness (probably one of the worst). Yet was he ever slagged off as tortuously as the incumbents?
I’m not saying they are perfect – far from it – but who would want to return to the scrapyard days.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:26 PM
Comment #44wynsleap and thats only the start. what on gods earth does that man have todo BEFORE some people realise what a 22 carot w…ker he is
wynsleap
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:45 PM
Comment #45theleckworthbird@ 4 ……. yes but who never took us down into the division below.
And please get your facts straight – Freddie was in offshore oil not a scrapyard. That was a different guy altogether.
stuartno.9 @43 – yes, could have carried on with a lot more but it seems to make no difference to some on here.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 3:58 PM
Comment #46wyn the leap,@ 44 ,you are getting your numbers mixed up again mate haha, our owner must be getting under your skin mate lol .
JerseyMag
Nov 16, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Comment #47Freddie Shepherd moved from scrap metal into making parts for oil rigs – same guy I think
JerseyMag
Nov 16, 2011 at 4:04 PM
Comment #48Krido – I’m with you on this one
Toon Tang
Nov 16, 2011 at 4:06 PM
Comment #49ashley your a fat pie face jelly roll southern fairy shandy drinking ‘sell your own gran for a pound’ irritating little dangleberry that is hanging on to my anal beard and believe me i am trying to wash you off
were irritating him are we. thats like pulis complaining about the time it takes other teams to take throwins
EmeraldCityMagpie
Nov 16, 2011 at 4:39 PM
Comment #50Hate to say it, but MA is “taking the bullet” from the fans for the benefit of our next sponsors- he’s already completely alienated fans from him, so the next sponsor won’t have to face this backlash and thus bigger, richer companies are now more likely to buy the kit/stadium sponsorship.
To be fair, while most of MA’s past decisions have pissed us off, pretty much all have actually turned out for the best (can’t argue with 3rd in the table- and I’d say we’d all take Cabaye over Nolan, dressing room is maybe a bit “healthier” without JB, we’ve found a solid replacement for Enrique with Raylor and Santon, Carroll is hardly missed with his struggles at Anfield and the fantastic form of Ba and Best, and Pardew has been a revelation)… not saying that I trust MA, nor did I want to see SJP renamed, but to a buyer, it’s much more attractive if this “controversy” has already taken place.
cupiddstunt
Nov 16, 2011 at 5:43 PM
Comment #51Wynsleap @ # 40
Getting old now and the memory is not what it used to be but I do seem to remember him financing a good few players in the beginning without selling off others to finance the buys in fact I think he spent in excess of 25 million on players without selling to finance it, backing his managers.
I take it you conveniently forgot that when saying he has spent not one penny during his tenure.
Most of your “how about’s” are either early ownership mistakes or conjecture so I will add some conjecture of my own, after realising and analysing some of the errors he made in his early tenure he appears to have made some adjustments and now appears to be doing right by the club he owns.
Now for some facts to answer your conjecture
At the time of typing.
NUFC have strong development in their academy who are currently undefeated and sit top of their league. Fact.
They also appear to have strong development in the reserves who also sit undefeated at the top of their league. Fact.
The first team and coaching staff look to have great team spirit and togetherness and are also undefeated and sit third in their league, Fact.
These are all the indications of a very well run club from top to bottom. Fact.
One of the legends you talk about is himself accused of being very arrogant by lots of different people that meet him which in reality is just a manifestation of that persons lack of respect for those around him.
There are lots and lots of people that cannot afford expensive items especially sports equipment and attire so your remark about “tacky, stack ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap sponsorship tat” shows a total lack of respect for those apparently less well off than you, and you have the gall to complain about someone elses apparent lack of respect.
Stop being so childish and grow up, you do not know what is going on in his mind so you are not in any way in a position to say what he has contempt or no regard for.
Arfurglassful
Nov 16, 2011 at 6:32 PM
Comment #52“Stop being so childish and grow up”
Somewhat ironic comment coming from someone who’s childish enough to use a fairly immature yet toilet humoured user name !
I suggest you stop living in glass houses Stupid 🙁
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:16 PM
Comment #53Krido5 @ 35 = thats two Wallsend lads on here talk sense, me n you.
The 100% Ashley critics are like little bairns – not man enough, not big enough balls, to admit that Ashley knows far more about running NUFC than them. That he has been proven right and them wrong.
And Stuart09 – ya wrong, 80% of fans dont hate Ashley. Even on this anti-Ashley blog 35% didnt disapprove on the SJP naming rights.
ASTORIA
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:35 PM
Comment #54What a f***ing shame…he doesn’t know how f***ing horrible we can be!!!
Jinky Jim
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:42 PM
Comment #55Aussietoon fan
I thought Balmain boys didn’t cry! lol
Try being a sharkie fan, now that’ll bring tears to your eyes.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:43 PM
Comment #56cupidstunt@51 boys top,, reserves top 1st team 3rd, and yes thats great no probs with that, enjoy it while it lasts. .,on the point of sports direct being a tack spotrs shop!!! it is ! few can hardly argue with that, regardless of who goes shopping there. you dont have to tell me about hard times, and if i have to go to a certain shop to save a few bob ..i will….it dosent mean that shop is not tacky and if i needed to buy some sports clothes , i would try to find that extra few quid and buy quality. talking of ashey and quality, ( which dosent sound right) can you imagine if he tried to do the same things to barcalona (if he owned them) overnight he just decides to change the name of the nou camp to the sports direct arena. yeah i can see that going down a bomb with the 100,000 members they have. his fat belly wouldnt be seen for tapas, he would be on the next plane back to blighty , with the promise that if he ever returned theyd feed him to the bulls. And that is how it should be. why is sjp any different ? its not
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:45 PM
Comment #57ASTORIA // Nov 16, 2011 at 7:35 PM
What a f***ing shame…he doesn’t know how f***ing horrible we can be!!!
Wrong! He knows that full well but, unlike many fans on here, Ashley has balls. He ignores the idiot comments and does what he belives is right. And he has been right 99% of the time over the past 3 years.
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:48 PM
Comment #58Stuartno9 – Barcelona have more income than any other club in the world. Think b4 you speak man.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:05 PM
Comment #59billson does it make a difference 80% 60% 90% the fact is the majority of his customers hate him true or not billson?
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Comment #60stuart09 – do you mean the 52,000 customers who were at the Everton game? 400 short of a capacity crowd?
If your Ashley haters were reducing the crowd into the 30 thousands – which didn’t even happen in the Fizzy – the % of haters would be relevant. But it isn’t with crowds in the high 40’s and near capacity.
Ultimately, fans vote with their feet and their money. Ashley knows that. You apparently don’t. Go play with your %’s, its crowds that really count pal.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Comment #61billson he is a billionaire think before you speak bonnylad
mikeashleyisamackem
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:27 PM
Comment #62what i want to know is why only a couple a months ago they where spotted taking the st james sign down and the club apparently released a statement of some kind saying they where improving it ,surely if ya sole intention is to change the name why make improvements to the signt his is because we are 3rd in the league all of a sudden ashleys like right sell sell sell sell money money money ,a totally rash decision that i believe is probs a good one but its unfortunate that we have to lose our idendity in the process it is of my opinion that the clube has lasted for over 100 years ,long before ashley and long after i dont bye into this whole ashleys saved us thing if it wasnt him it would a been someone else ,50 000 seats every week pays the bills and all the pies etc its not our fault you bought the club in debt ,freddie shepard was all secured loans manu pay back money owed its called a football club thats what ya buy good or bad i dont know why he doesnt just wipe it clean apparently he s a billionaire we didnt owe that much 200 million but that included the fact he got a football club the best one in the world i might ad ya dont see the man city owners penny pinching albeit theyve got more cash but thats irrelevent because there both rich enough to do it thats why they bought us in the first place if i won the euro millions and it ran over to 300 million id buy the toon outright 200 million they could have 50 million on players and i would keep 50 million for me and the club would have to save for future players but thats after id won the league 10 seasons in a row ha ha am that good at manager games lol
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:29 PM
Comment #63stuart no9 // Nov 16, 2011 at 8:21 PM
billson he is a billionaire think before you speak bonnylad
And you mean what exactly ???
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:36 PM
Comment #64Just to get it straight on this billionaire thing – Ashley’s 1 billion is probably 80% in share value of his company, £200M if he’s ‘lucky’ in unencumbered cash.
Abramovich’s 6 billion probably has £2/3 billion in cash and as for the Maktoums at City even Abramovich;s cash is spare change.
Ashley is a pauper by comparison.
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Comment #65billson answer my question @ 59 a simple yes or no will do
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:50 PM
Comment #66stuart no9 // Nov 16, 2011 at 8:05 PM
billson does it make a difference 80% 60% 90% the fact is the majority of his customers hate him true or not billson?
Yes.
And all it proves is that 80% 60% 90% of fans are full of blind hatred, bigotry, stupidity or all three.
Which bracket do you come in?
mikeashleyisamackem
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:52 PM
Comment #67ya dam right he s a pauper when he bought us he was worth 3 billion and he got 35 million from a certain andy shit the grass isnt greener carroll plus money of endless other players that we ve never seen the colour o the james milner money etc etc .he has lost more in 1 day on the stock markets than hes spent on us he spentt some stupid amount of money on his staff as a bonus that was more than any 1 player he has signed for us
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:53 PM
Comment #68stuart09, if the Toon finish in the top 6, get into Europe and win the FA Cup this season – what % if fans will give Ashley no credit and still hate him?
Straight answer please.
PS. Assumne the above happens, no arsy answers that we’ve got no chance etc., etc.
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:56 PM
Comment #69mikeashleyisamackem – remind me where we are in the Prem and when we were last beaten??
From the sound of your post I must be dreaming that we are unbeaten in 14 and 3rd.
We are obviously bottom and have not won for 14. If thats not true – what is your fkn point?
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:13 PM
Comment #70billson which bracket am i in ? not the ashlicking one haha
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Comment #71SO BILLSON ADMITS THAT THE MAJORITY OF OUR FANS ARE EITHER BLIND, BIGOTED ,OR STUPID , JUST AS I EXPECTED A TROLL IN THE CAMP . WHY DONT YOU F..K OFF NOW
custurd
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:23 PM
Comment #72Apparently Man Utd have just slashed their debt by £83 million — In less than a year and without selling their stadium naming rights or any of their star players.
Maybe Mike Ashley and his half-arsed side-kick aren’t as busines savvy as 35% of people think?
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:36 PM
Comment #73billson ash has been in charge nearlly 5YEARS now what have we won ? and was he in charge when we got relagated ? again 1 word answers, then think to yourself why am i licking this guys arse, get a grip man
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:55 PM
Comment #74stuartno9 – Sir John and Fat Freddy won nothing in 20 years, are you blind or lacking in NUFC history that you dont know we’ve won fk all domestically since 1955 and fk all at all since 1969? Is that Ashley’s fault as well?
Troll, me? Ha, ha, haaaaaaaaaaaaa. No fkn chance.
Toon Tang
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:56 PM
Comment #75Ive been reading over all this thread and it sounds like bills son and a couple others are either employed by ashley somewhere along the line or just a snake in the grass stirring the shite.
bills-son you are arguing your point for ashley so heavily that you sound like you could very well be him.
It really wouldn’t surprise me if ashley did have a few people employed solely to sit around on the toon forums arguing his case.
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 9:56 PM
Comment #7610pm stuartno9, time for your bed.
bills-son
Nov 16, 2011 at 10:00 PM
Comment #77Toon Tang – uve been reading too many fairy stories.
Bet you still believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus eh?
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 10:03 PM
Comment #78billson yeah your right we won nothing in 20 years also nothing under fat freddie, i didnt like him either , so whats your point ? if you have one
stuart no9
Nov 16, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Comment #79billson goodnight!
Toon Tang
Nov 16, 2011 at 10:08 PM
Comment #80Are they not real. Anyway bill, you need to relax a bit coz your sounding like either an ashley brown ring inspector or a boro fan that wishes he was a mackem.
im off to dream about what santas bringing anyway.