Howaythelads

I think it's obvious what he said and it's obvious what Bob has said. It's also obvious that Bob is right and that some people are either stupid or acting like kids. He said that supporters put more money into the club than Ashley and that is entirely correct. Furthermore, Ashley isn't even putting in an amount of money equal to the amount he caused the club to lose by being relegated, which makes it even worse that he keeps bleating on about it and that some with their heed up their arse think he's sooopa for doing it. For gods sake man, talk about stupidly falling for a wind up I didn't fall for anything, sunshine. As I said and you seem to have missed, nobody could have been so stupid. It was obviously a wind-up but a very stupid one.

Yes, I agree. It is unbelievable how far down Ashley has managed to take the club in such a relatively short space of time, undoing all of the excellent work done by those he bought the club from. the undoing of the excellent work started arond 2004. So you keep saying, mate and I read it the first time months ago. It's mildly interesting that according to others the decline started in 2003, when despite heavily investing in the playing squad for the previous 'x' years and bringing in 3 players during 2003, this wasn't ambitious enough. It does seem somewhat stupid to be blaming the situation in 2010 on what happened half a decade ago but then you do have a big determination to not give any credit where it's due. They made mistakes, nobody has ever denied that, but the ambition they showed for the football club transcends anything we've seen so far from Ashley and his crowd of football morons. Ashley took over a PL club and knacked it through a series of poor decisions, it's a fairly straightforward situation to understand.

Yes, I agree. It is unbelievable how far down Ashley has managed to take the club in such a relatively short space of time, undoing all of the excellent work done by those he bought the club from. The club has a history of mismanagement. One chairman's fuck-ups in no way gets another chairman off the hook for his. If Hicks sold Liverpool to someone who paid probably double what the club was worth and the new owner brought in a novice chief executive, they didn't get in the champions league, then sold all their players, went through four managers in a season to manage on a shoestring, concentrating on covering the debt and got them relegated within 2 seasons it would hardly be viewed as success for the new regime would it? Raise your expectations. :laugh:

Yes, I agree. It is unbelievable how far down Ashley has managed to take the club in such a relatively short space of time, undoing all of the excellent work done by those he bought the club from.

Well that's how it appeared to me and I daresay most other people who read it. By the way, I agree Ashley is trying to get the cost structure back into line with revenue. It needs to be said again that the revenue dropped massively due to his long list of mistakes. Mind boggling that some still defend this fool. TBH not quite sure what the argument is here.....any business should run with revenues covering all costs so I would expect that revenue from fans purchases should be the largest source of revenue. Hobby businesses run on the owner putting in the majority of the finances, with revenue covering only a small amount of costs. And NUFC is clearly not a hobby business. I thought this thread was about the future direction, not the past mistakes (that are many and obvious). I don't see why people are arguing in defence of Ashley either, tbh. A couple of members were just acting like spotty kids earlier on, for whatever reason. Let's face it, nobody could be so dumb as to fail to understand the original post they were bickering over.

I know what you mean......but it's said all wrong. They purchase products from the club - they purchase their view of the match, or a shirt or a program. And when they receive the item that they have purchased (watched the match, or got the shirt) their transaction is over. I don't invest in Heinz when I buy a tin of beans....I pay for the beans and receive the product which concludes my transaction. It's a purchase not an investment. Football fans are no different in that they purchase football products, receive them by attending the game or getting merchandise, and their purchases are immediately completed. Investing means - putting money in without receiving anything back immediately, and then hoping to receive a larger payout at some point in the future. So honestly, Ashley is the only one who is "investing" in the club. Football clubs are business selling match day experience and other merchandising. We may be fans of the club but we are really customers of the business, but investing in the club we are not. Completely correct, and hopefully the end of a completely dumb argument. Typical of you to entirely miss the point yet again.

Well that's how it appeared to me and I daresay most other people who read it. By the way, I agree Ashley is trying to get the cost structure back into line with revenue. It needs to be said again that the revenue dropped massively due to his long list of mistakes. Mind boggling that some still defend this fool.

I think it's obvious what he said and it's obvious what Bob has said. It's also obvious that Bob is right and that some people are either stupid or acting like kids. He said that supporters put more money into the club than Ashley and that is entirely correct. Furthermore, Ashley isn't even putting in an amount of money equal to the amount he caused the club to lose by being relegated, which makes it even worse that he keeps bleating on about it and that some with their heed up their arse think he's sooopa for doing it.

They go to ground from time to time, the hand tends to be better for hitting the ground than the face. He has two you know. Faces? Nah, that's Shearergol.

They go to ground from time to time, the hand tends to be better for hitting the ground than the face.

No, it isn't. It's about Ashley and whether or not he's now taking the club forward having already taken it backward. Obviously.

Said this a few pages back but then context is usually a casualty in these type of debates. The horrendous decision making of Ashley since buying the club has absolutely nothing at all to do with the previous Board, to suggest otherwise is a nonsense imo. There has been a litany of errors committed by Ashley that have nothing to do with the previous Board: For 2 seasons causing stagnation and uncertainty within the club. Demotivating the players by putting them all up for sale. Appointing Keegan, a manager unsuited to his plan. When attempting to implement his plan, making a poor appointment in Wise. Bringing in Kinnear on a temporary basis, resulting in yet more stagnation and uncertainty. Replacing Kinnear with a coach. Replacing that coach with Shearer, a temporary manager of a sort. Replacing Shearer with a coach, Hughton. No significant improvement in playing staff in preparation for the current season. A lack of direction from the top undermining preparation. Failing to really appoint a proven manager at all since the departure of Keegan. Complaining about the wage bill yet being responsible for much of it by calling the shots when the club signed the likes of : Viduka, Barton, Rozenhal, Geremi, Smith, Cacapa, Beye, Coloccini, Enrique, Xisco, Gutierrez, Gonzalez. Undermining himself by sitting with fans in the stands and by going around with "Smith" on the back of a Newcastle top. Creating the environment in which the likes of apparently previously settled players such as Milner, N'Zogbia, Given, Martins and Bassong all wanted to leave. Some of those were probably not on a massive take home, comparatively speaking and would have probably been of some assistance in the quest to retain PL status, lost by 1 point. Willingness to blame the supporters for everything. Appointing first Mort and then Llambias to an important role. There will be other blunders to add to this list but I've got something to do right now and this is all pretty much off the top of my head. Sorry if some of these are incorrect, I'm sure someone will point it out as a part of any debate. From the day Ashley took over the club until ~2 months ago he's been taking the club backwards and that is of concern regardless of whether he has recently decided to attempt to reverse that trend. Since the turn of 2010 Ashley appears to be steering the club in the right direction by allowing the manager to boost the numbers in the squad. Big Deal! and most of that had also been seen in the last years of the previous board. replacing robson with souness at a ridiculous time then replacing him with roeder running up the wage bill to well over 60%, not strebgthening when doing well and in a position to do so (bowyer). i'll ask you what i asked someone else on here a while a go, where was the money going to come from given that we were running at a considerable loss, and had little left to borrow against ? yes the club had gone backwards in ashleys 2 years but it had been going backwards since 2004 and you'll find a few people voicing the opinion that had fred and allardyce stayed we'd have went down that season. What on earth are you on about now? I've listed Ashley's mistakes because you and some others appear to think the sun shines out of his arse. I don't believe anything in that list of cock-ups can be disputed. I see you're trying to change the subject now so I'll only reply to your points in this single post, I've no intention of going over old ground with you that has already passed you by. I've commented on the timing of Robson's departure many times before and I will say the same again in reply to what is really a very poor criticism. Robson himself took up the manager's job at a similar stage of the season to when he finally departed. The timing wasn't a problem on that occasion. Why was that? Also, the previous Board had a record of buying players from a position of strength and they did so whenever possible, so we will simply have to disagree on your criticism in that area. so are you disputing those cock ups of the previous board. as for the sun shining out of his arse....take a look and you'll find most think he's kept the club going the way it had been since 2004. the difference with the timing of robsons arrival was that we were very lucky to have someone like him around and available. where was the money going to come from htl as you seem to have missed my question, give we were running at a considerable loss and had little left to borrow against ? One by one.. The previous Board made cock-ups, who says they haven't? Their underlying approach was to try to bring success on the field of play because everything else will come from that. As for Ashley keeping the club going the way it has been since 2004, well the relegation of last season and subsequent huge loss of revenue seems to have passed you by for some inexplicable reason. Glad you're now admitting the timing of the departure of Robson was irrelevant. Obviously you won't keep dragging that one up anymore. I didn't miss your question about money, I ignored it because it's irrelevant to the discussion, which is about Ashley and whether he's taking the club forward or not. Why do you keep asking me about where money was going to come from? What would this money be for in relation to my listing the poor decisions of Ashley and the fact he's taken the club backwards? It really does look like you're trying to change the subject for some reason or other. i keep asking that question because the position the club was in when he took over has to have relevence on where it is now and you and others can't see the shit hole we were in due to thinking the sun shines out of fred's arse (to steal a phrase) re robson, of course it's relevant. we were fortunate in that he was available and i'll drag it up everytime someone tries make out that fred and co weren't taking the club backwards from that time.

Said this a few pages back but then context is usually a casualty in these type of debates. The horrendous decision making of Ashley since buying the club has absolutely nothing at all to do with the previous Board, to suggest otherwise is a nonsense imo. There has been a litany of errors committed by Ashley that have nothing to do with the previous Board: For 2 seasons causing stagnation and uncertainty within the club. Demotivating the players by putting them all up for sale. Appointing Keegan, a manager unsuited to his plan.When attempting to implement his plan, making a poor appointment in Wise. Bringing in Kinnear on a temporary basis, resulting in yet more stagnation and uncertainty. Replacing Kinnear with a coach. Replacing that coach with Shearer, a temporary manager of a sort. Replacing Shearer with a coach, Hughton. No significant improvement in playing staff in preparation for the current season. A lack of direction from the top undermining preparation. Failing to really appoint a proven manager at all since the departure of Keegan. Complaining about the wage bill yet being responsible for much of it by calling the shots when the club signed the likes of : Viduka, Barton, Rozenhal, Geremi, Smith, Cacapa, Beye, Coloccini, Enrique, Xisco, Gutierrez, Gonzalez. Undermining himself by sitting with fans in the stands and by going around with "Smith" on the back of a Newcastle top. Creating the environment in which the likes of apparently previously settled players such as Milner, N'Zogbia, Given, Martins and Bassong all wanted to leave. Some of those were probably not on a massive take home, comparatively speaking and would have probably been of some assistance in the quest to retain PL status, lost by 1 point. Willingness to blame the supporters for everything. Appointing first Mort and then Llambias to an important role. There will be other blunders to add to this list but I've got something to do right now and this is all pretty much off the top of my head. Sorry if some of these are incorrect, I'm sure someone will point it out as a part of any debate. From the day Ashley took over the club until ~2 months ago he's been taking the club backwards and that is of concern regardless of whether he has recently decided to attempt to reverse that trend. Since the turn of 2010 Ashley appears to be steering the club in the right direction by allowing the manager to boost the numbers in the squad. Big Deal! All blunders pale into insignificance beside that one. So many of the other decisions stemmed from it. Aye, Ashley needed a "yes" man for his plan rather than a decent manager like Keegan, who wants to do things himself in a similar way to other managers in the English league all manage to do.

Said this a few pages back but then context is usually a casualty in these type of debates. The horrendous decision making of Ashley since buying the club has absolutely nothing at all to do with the previous Board, to suggest otherwise is a nonsense imo. There has been a litany of errors committed by Ashley that have nothing to do with the previous Board: For 2 seasons causing stagnation and uncertainty within the club. Demotivating the players by putting them all up for sale. Appointing Keegan, a manager unsuited to his plan. When attempting to implement his plan, making a poor appointment in Wise. Bringing in Kinnear on a temporary basis, resulting in yet more stagnation and uncertainty. Replacing Kinnear with a coach. Replacing that coach with Shearer, a temporary manager of a sort. Replacing Shearer with a coach, Hughton. No significant improvement in playing staff in preparation for the current season. A lack of direction from the top undermining preparation. Failing to really appoint a proven manager at all since the departure of Keegan. Complaining about the wage bill yet being responsible for much of it by calling the shots when the club signed the likes of : Viduka, Barton, Rozenhal, Geremi, Smith, Cacapa, Beye, Coloccini, Enrique, Xisco, Gutierrez, Gonzalez. Undermining himself by sitting with fans in the stands and by going around with "Smith" on the back of a Newcastle top. Creating the environment in which the likes of apparently previously settled players such as Milner, N'Zogbia, Given, Martins and Bassong all wanted to leave. Some of those were probably not on a massive take home, comparatively speaking and would have probably been of some assistance in the quest to retain PL status, lost by 1 point. Willingness to blame the supporters for everything. Appointing first Mort and then Llambias to an important role. There will be other blunders to add to this list but I've got something to do right now and this is all pretty much off the top of my head. Sorry if some of these are incorrect, I'm sure someone will point it out as a part of any debate. From the day Ashley took over the club until ~2 months ago he's been taking the club backwards and that is of concern regardless of whether he has recently decided to attempt to reverse that trend. Since the turn of 2010 Ashley appears to be steering the club in the right direction by allowing the manager to boost the numbers in the squad. Big Deal! and most of that had also been seen in the last years of the previous board. replacing robson with souness at a ridiculous time then replacing him with roeder running up the wage bill to well over 60%, not strebgthening when doing well and in a position to do so (bowyer). i'll ask you what i asked someone else on here a while a go, where was the money going to come from given that we were running at a considerable loss, and had little left to borrow against ? yes the club had gone backwards in ashleys 2 years but it had been going backwards since 2004 and you'll find a few people voicing the opinion that had fred and allardyce stayed we'd have went down that season. What on earth are you on about now? I've listed Ashley's mistakes because you and some others appear to think the sun shines out of his arse. I don't believe anything in that list of cock-ups can be disputed. I see you're trying to change the subject now so I'll only reply to your points in this single post, I've no intention of going over old ground with you that has already passed you by. I've commented on the timing of Robson's departure many times before and I will say the same again in reply to what is really a very poor criticism. Robson himself took up the manager's job at a similar stage of the season to when he finally departed. The timing wasn't a problem on that occasion. Why was that? Also, the previous Board had a record of buying players from a position of strength and they did so whenever possible, so we will simply have to disagree on your criticism in that area. so are you disputing those cock ups of the previous board. as for the sun shining out of his arse....take a look and you'll find most think he's kept the club going the way it had been since 2004. the difference with the timing of robsons arrival was that we were very lucky to have someone like him around and available. where was the money going to come from htl as you seem to have missed my question, give we were running at a considerable loss and had little left to borrow against ? One by one.. The previous Board made cock-ups, who says they haven't? Their underlying approach was to try to bring success on the field of play because everything else will come from that. As for Ashley keeping the club going the way it has been since 2004, well the relegation of last season and subsequent huge loss of revenue seems to have passed you by for some inexplicable reason. Glad you're now admitting the timing of the departure of Robson was irrelevant. Obviously you won't keep dragging that one up anymore. I didn't miss your question about money, I ignored it because it's irrelevant to the discussion, which is about Ashley and whether he's taking the club forward or not. Why do you keep asking me about where money was going to come from? What would this money be for in relation to my listing the poor decisions of Ashley and the fact he's taken the club backwards? It really does look like you're trying to change the subject for some reason or other.

Said this a few pages back but then context is usually a casualty in these type of debates. The horrendous decision making of Ashley since buying the club has absolutely nothing at all to do with the previous Board, to suggest otherwise is a nonsense imo. There has been a litany of errors committed by Ashley that have nothing to do with the previous Board: For 2 seasons causing stagnation and uncertainty within the club. Demotivating the players by putting them all up for sale. Appointing Keegan, a manager unsuited to his plan. When attempting to implement his plan, making a poor appointment in Wise. Bringing in Kinnear on a temporary basis, resulting in yet more stagnation and uncertainty. Replacing Kinnear with a coach. Replacing that coach with Shearer, a temporary manager of a sort. Replacing Shearer with a coach, Hughton. No significant improvement in playing staff in preparation for the current season. A lack of direction from the top undermining preparation. Failing to really appoint a proven manager at all since the departure of Keegan. Complaining about the wage bill yet being responsible for much of it by calling the shots when the club signed the likes of : Viduka, Barton, Rozenhal, Geremi, Smith, Cacapa, Beye, Coloccini, Enrique, Xisco, Gutierrez, Gonzalez. Undermining himself by sitting with fans in the stands and by going around with "Smith" on the back of a Newcastle top. Creating the environment in which the likes of apparently previously settled players such as Milner, N'Zogbia, Given, Martins and Bassong all wanted to leave. Some of those were probably not on a massive take home, comparatively speaking and would have probably been of some assistance in the quest to retain PL status, lost by 1 point. Willingness to blame the supporters for everything. Appointing first Mort and then Llambias to an important role. There will be other blunders to add to this list but I've got something to do right now and this is all pretty much off the top of my head. Sorry if some of these are incorrect, I'm sure someone will point it out as a part of any debate. From the day Ashley took over the club until ~2 months ago he's been taking the club backwards and that is of concern regardless of whether he has recently decided to attempt to reverse that trend. Since the turn of 2010 Ashley appears to be steering the club in the right direction by allowing the manager to boost the numbers in the squad. Big Deal! and most of that had also been seen in the last years of the previous board. replacing robson with souness at a ridiculous time then replacing him with roeder running up the wage bill to well over 60%, not strebgthening when doing well and in a position to do so (bowyer). i'll ask you what i asked someone else on here a while a go, where was the money going to come from given that we were running at a considerable loss, and had little left to borrow against ? yes the club had gone backwards in ashleys 2 years but it had been going backwards since 2004 and you'll find a few people voicing the opinion that had fred and allardyce stayed we'd have went down that season. What on earth are you on about now? I've listed Ashley's mistakes because you and some others appear to think the sun shines out of his arse. I don't believe anything in that list of cock-ups can be disputed. I see you're trying to change the subject now so I'll only reply to your points in this single post, I've no intention of going over old ground with you that has already passed you by. I've commented on the timing of Robson's departure many times before and I will say the same again in reply to what is really a very poor criticism. Robson himself took up the manager's job at a similar stage of the season to when he finally departed. The timing wasn't a problem on that occasion. Why was that? Also, the previous Board had a record of buying players from a position of strength and they did so whenever possible, so we will simply have to disagree on your criticism in that area.

Said this a few pages back but then context is usually a casualty in these type of debates. The horrendous decision making of Ashley since buying the club has absolutely nothing at all to do with the previous Board, to suggest otherwise is a nonsense imo. There has been a litany of errors committed by Ashley that have nothing to do with the previous Board: For 2 seasons causing stagnation and uncertainty within the club. Demotivating the players by putting them all up for sale. Appointing Keegan, a manager unsuited to his plan. When attempting to implement his plan, making a poor appointment in Wise. Bringing in Kinnear on a temporary basis, resulting in yet more stagnation and uncertainty. Replacing Kinnear with a coach. Replacing that coach with Shearer, a temporary manager of a sort. Replacing Shearer with a coach, Hughton. No significant improvement in playing staff in preparation for the current season. A lack of direction from the top undermining preparation. Failing to really appoint a proven manager at all since the departure of Keegan. Complaining about the wage bill yet being responsible for much of it by calling the shots when the club signed the likes of : Viduka, Barton, Rozenhal, Geremi, Smith, Cacapa, Beye, Coloccini, Enrique, Xisco, Gutierrez, Gonzalez. Undermining himself by sitting with fans in the stands and by going around with "Smith" on the back of a Newcastle top. Creating the environment in which the likes of apparently previously settled players such as Milner, N'Zogbia, Given, Martins and Bassong all wanted to leave. Some of those were probably not on a massive take home, comparatively speaking and would have probably been of some assistance in the quest to retain PL status, lost by 1 point. Willingness to blame the supporters for everything. Appointing first Mort and then Llambias to an important role. There will be other blunders to add to this list but I've got something to do right now and this is all pretty much off the top of my head. Sorry if some of these are incorrect, I'm sure someone will point it out as a part of any debate. From the day Ashley took over the club until ~2 months ago he's been taking the club backwards and that is of concern regardless of whether he has recently decided to attempt to reverse that trend. Since the turn of 2010 Ashley appears to be steering the club in the right direction by allowing the manager to boost the numbers in the squad. Big Deal!

Come on I know you've followed the club long enough and know enough about the history of Newcastle to know that's not totally true. Well he's the worst in my lifetime, which goes back half a century. Give over, what was going on in the 80s with the boardroom we had then including Gordon McKeag was alot worse than we've had under Ashley. In your opinion.

That might be worse but it's hardly original, Sir John was trying to do that 20 years ago. Are you talking about the efforts of SJH to help secure the clubs future by building a new stadium rather than spending money on developing SJP? That's very different so your rebuttal is rather weak, tbh. I hadn't realised the mackems dump had been around for 20 years...

Come on I know you've followed the club long enough and know enough about the history of Newcastle to know that's not totally true. Well he's the worst in my lifetime, which goes back half a century.

Ashley is probably the worst in the history of the football club, so it'll be going some to end up with worse than him. Possible, but unlikely. I'm suspicious he will attempt to sell the club again, simply in order to make it appear a bad time to bring in new players should the club be promoted. I'm also fairly certain that if he does try to sell that he'll price it out of the market. I wonder what Llambias does on a daily basis other than call meetings? First thing I'd do is is ensure all meetings are "standing up" only affairs.

The wage bill was of his own making. Correct me if I've missed someone, but I think there was only 1 high earning player who would have still been under contract this season (Duff) who was not signed or given a new contract under Ashley. We sold 2, maybe 3 high earners in the Summer (Duff, Martins & maybe Beye although I doubt he was on that much). Are you saying that out of Duff, Martins, Beye, Coloccini, Gutierrez, Smith, Nolan, Barton, Geremi & Butt we would not have been able to sell 3 of them while in the Premiership, but thanks to getting relegated (and losing £40m+ revenue) we were luckily able to get 3 of the best of them off the books (saving £7-8m at most if you ignore the cost of paying their replacements). Great bit of business that was. If hanging on to the rest of the high earners was due to the desire to have a very competitive team in the Championship rather than the fact no one was willing to pay their wages or give us a decent fee can you explain why for example we held on to the high earning, older, under performing Coloccini (who we had loads of offers for apparently ) yet sold the low wage, younger and better performing Bassong? I'm also interested in who exactly you think was making these footballing decisions? Unless he's the best liar I've seen, it certainly wasn't Hughton who repeatedly said he didn't have a clue what was going on in the Summer. Until January, nothing that has happened this season has been by the good judgement of Ashley, it has just worked out like that fortunately for both us and him. Will the new "plan" (whatever that may be) be better than the plan when he bought the club, or the revised plan when he brought in Keegan and a DoF, or the make it up as you go along plan trying to sell the club with Kinnear, or the "back on track" plan of a year ago when the club was off the market and he was definitely not selling, or the pre relegation get in a hero and sack the DoF plan, or the post relegation sell a club in limbo plan of the Summer? As we don't know what it really is who could possibly say, but do you really have any confidence he'd stick to it even if it was? Excellent post. The replies may be interesting.

Could be worse. If the club owned the ground he'd have tried to sell it for development and had us playing at either Gateshead or sharing the stadium of shite with the dirty, stinking, filthy mackems.

So it's his fault when it goes wrong and someone else is responsible when it goes right? It was nowt to do with the previous Board when the team was doing well in the PL but it was their fault when things took a turn for the worse, or even when things didn't get better than 3rd. Surely you remember that? Why should it be any different for Ashley? In any case, the facts show quite clearly he's taken the club backwards since he took over and that's his fault no matter how you want to ignore it. The strong position we find ourselves in currently is nothing to do with Ashley, it is in spite of Ashley. All Ashley sanctioned in the summer was the sale or release of a number of players, the only players who came in were either loan signings or free signings. I'm talking here about Danny Simpson (loan), Peter Lovenkrands (Free), Zurab Khizanishvili (Loan) and Marlon Harewood (Loan). He also failed to bring in an established manager. Basically, Ashley didn't do anything permanent to improve the position of the team/club until January came around. He made the decision to do something in January only because : 1. The manager and the playing/coaching staff had performed very well despite being handicapped by Ashley and his undermining of the football club. This saw the club top of the Championship, so a return to the higher revenue of the PL suddenly looked to be possible. 2. Ashley had once again failed to offload the club so he was left with either speculating in an attempt to recover PL money, or flounder due to a thin squad. The small squad was thanks to Ashley and he didn't give a damn about that until he failed to sell the club, he'd have handed that crap situation over to someone else. The man's a plank. Simple as that. It's about time people stopped trying to defend the indefensible because it's laughable. Ok, I guess part of this is applicable to my question so I'll take this. A couple of points I'd add to this is that the he he also allowed the manager to keep players rather than peddling them like he could could of done, also the release of some players is a very good thing, its eased the pressure off the clubs wage bill alot, something which was imperative to our progess. I persoannly would say that Ashley allowing Hughton to keep a strong nucleus of squad who could easily of been peddeled have directly lead us to be in the strong position we find ourselves in, we also find ourselves in a decent position financially which is also to Ashleys credit. Having said I do agree about the manager situation and also his inactivity during time of sale. Overall, Id say he is leading us in the right direction, whther he meant it or not. Having to peddle players to get them off the wage bill was a situation of his own making. That doesn't mean I'm not glad to see the back of some of these wasters, just that this isn't an argument in favour of Ashley given the situation was caused by him in the first place. The same comment applies to the idea of the club being in a good position financially. Ashley should have taken the correct decision(s) that would have seen the club retain PL status and then got rid of those under-performers and sick-notes (most of us know who) from a position of still being in the PL. That would have qualified as "decent work" though still a long way to go. The position we are in now really is in spite of him, he doesn't know what he's doing, which I think you possibly acknowledge from your ending comment above.

So it's his fault when it goes wrong and someone else is responsible when it goes right? It was nowt to do with the previous Board when the team was doing well in the PL but it was their fault when things took a turn for the worse, or even when things didn't get better than 3rd. Surely you remember that? Why should it be any different for Ashley? In any case, the facts show quite clearly he's taken the club backwards since he took over and that's his fault no matter how you want to ignore it. The strong position in the Championship we find ourselves in currently is nothing to do with Ashley, it is in spite of Ashley. In January 2009 and summer 2009 Ashley sanctioned the sale or release of a number of players, the only players who came in during the summer were either sub-standard loan signings or free signings. I'm talking here about Danny Simpson (loan), Peter Lovenkrands (Free), Zurab Khizanishvili (Loan) and Marlon Harewood (Loan). He also failed to bring in an established manager, in fact, he didn't seem at all bothered whether the club had a manager or not, such was his undermining of the football club. Basically, Ashley didn't do anything permanent to improve the position of the team/club until January came around. It's open to debate whether bringing in a few Championship quality players is the best way forward given the club is in a good position for a return to the PL, however, it's obvious the squad did need more numbers due to earlier decisions by Ashley that reduced the size of the squad to an alarming level. He made the decision to do something in January only because : 1. The manager and the playing/coaching staff had performed very well despite being handicapped by Ashley and his undermining of the football club. This saw the club top of the Championship, so a return to the higher revenue of the PL suddenly looked to be possible. 2. Ashley had once again failed to offload the club so he was left with either speculating in an attempt to recover PL money, or flounder due to a thin squad. The small squad was thanks to Ashley and he didn't give a damn about that until he failed to sell the club, he'd have handed that crap situation over to someone else. The man's a plank. Simple as that. It's about time people stopped trying to defend the indefensible because it's laughable. Or, looked at without the shit-coloured glasses on... He gave the wage bill an obviously necessary trim by allowing various highly-paid underperformers to leave but kept a decent squad for the campaign by not selling off various other players. Had faith in Hughton instead of bringing in yet another in a long line of highly-paid underperforming managers that stretches well back into the previous regime -- a faith that has proved to be a resoundingly good call. He made the decision to do something in January because: 1. There having proved to be no one else willing to put money into the club, he was prepared to resume doing so himself. 2. There were certain obvious problems with the squad that needed addressing, and this was duly done. He handled last season very badly, but he's done well this season. It's about time people stopped whining and acknowledged that reality. Stopped reading at the bit in bold. If you get rid of it and post properly without the added-on rubbish I'll read the rest of the post.

It's because he doesn't really know what the hell he's doing, man. What on earth was the point in appointing Shearer, ffs? Is he really that deluded? It was a good decision when he didn't offer him the job permanently but I'd have been happier again had he gone out and appointed an experienced manager. Nowt against Hughton, who is doing a decent job under difficult circumstances. It does look like Ashley is getting better, but that's not saying much on previous performance. He needs someone like me to help him out. Here's something.... Mike, I already have a career job that I'll have to give up, but I love the club so I'll do it. I'll sign a 9 year employment contract with Newcastle United for £60k pa to help you out with your PR. Annual increases in line with inflation and a car will do it. You'll easily get that back from the increased attendance revenue just by me preventing Derek putting his foot in it every time he opens his mouth. hang on htl, wasn't the appointment very reminiscent of appointing another of our ex faves into the managers seat without any experience when fighting a relegation battle. Speak for yourself. I don't have any favourites, I grew out of that by about age 12, the club is all that is important. If the club is all that is important to you then I'm not sure how you can come to the conclusion that immediate success on the field is anyway near as important as survival off it?! You think I'm after IMMEDIATE success when I've been supporting this club since 1968? Mate, if you're going to reply at least think past the knee-jerk dig before you do it. I haven't demanded immediate success, or even just success, that's the game of those who wanted rid of the previous Board. You know, the people who weren't happy with 3 x top 5 finishes and with signing 3 players in 2003. They are the one's who were demanding success. I'm critical of Ashley and co because their decisions led directly to the club being relegated, therefore placing into jeopardy the very existence of the football club. Not being relegated from the PL last season is very much tied to the survival of the club but it happened, in reality there is a direct relationship between what happens on the field of play and what happens off it. However, my position on Ashley is obviously nothing to do with calls for immediate success. I guess you must mistakenly believe my annoyance that Ashley brought about relegation is somehow a call from me for immediate success. After saying that, I believe immediate promotion is definitely tied to the future of the club. You may disagree if you like. So going back to the title of the thread, why exactly do you think we are going in the wrong direction? I mean in your eyes the club is getting progessively worse and worse and has a very bleak future. Right? Here's some advice. Stick to what I did actually say. I know what you said, I'm just trying to draw out your views on the club's by asking a very relevant question, care to oblige? Genuinely interested to know if you have anything positive to say about the club in its current state. I addressed this earlier when I said the playing and coaching staff have been doing a great job this season despite Ashley. It's somewhere in the thread. That's not what the thread is about. Try again. If you don't like my answer, don't ask stupid questions. Try again.