Why does Ashley need to compromise? He has told everyone in the fans forums that his ambition for the club is to stay in the league only!!! He doesn't want cup success or any type of a push for Europe, Newcastle United exists to stay in the league with the TV money as cheaply as possible with the added bonus of selling a purple a year to fund 4 or 5 more young signings.
Ashley has never hid this fact but we still turn up in the hope that things might change the fucker even wants us removed from the skyline
If he wants the cheaper route to survival (a world-class manager, rather than giving McClaren £60m), he'd compromise. Without Rafa we're going down.