Couldn't agree more. I do agree that Ashley held us back from going places after finishing 5th, but that's only because he refused to sack Pardew ironically. There was the making of a really good team with a few quality additions including a new manager.
We should have built on from 5th by sacking Pardew, installing a real good name manager, and shored up the defense. Colo needed a bruiser partner with pace, and we needed to sign Debuchy sooner. Assuming those January signings all could have come in far sooner and integrated into the team as well. Madness.
Criticizing Ashley is always pretty much right - and he's ALWAYS going to praise Pardew, remember he's a short sighted footballer who will only look at surface level things simply - his best football was at Newcastle. His best football, sadly, was under Pardew, and he's only putting those 2 together. His final is that Pardew let him run the place (which could have been right?) but also never criticized him or challenged him. The refusing to play thing was uncalled for and he still got off free and then basically played out Of his skin.
My anger is that he was exactly what we needed to sign to play deep for us. And we had more than enough money to buy him in addition to the rest we brought in.