Stuy_O

Aye i've been saying this for years. He blatantly cried himself to sleep a few times when the "fat cockney b******" chants started. He's been on a mission to bleed the club dry and p*ss the fans off ever since. Fair play to him, he's doing a good job. He's actually gone one further and hypnotised a decent portion of the fanbase into believing him and accepting his way of doing things. He is actively making us a small club and a lot of our fans are either oblivious to it, or are ok with it. If we are 1st or 17th, he is not bothered, as long as we're in the Premier League. The most popular league in the world, the perfect place to advertise his company, and he will do it with as little expenditure as he can. The only time any significant cash see's the light of day is when the threat of the Championship looms, with the money McClaren got a necessity due to season after season of under investment. I'm sure we once went 18th months without signing anyone permanent. He knows he's unpopular and he knows he gets called names. This is his payback. Making us a thoroughly mediocre club that is fast losing its identity. Rafa is a world class manager, but even he will struggle to turn us around when this bloke is running Newcastle.

Juve Roma Zenit Marseille .... as solid as a career gets.

Ashley has a vendetta against the fans. He's been taking the piss since Keegan left.

Theyve spent the January money in this window aren't they aren't giving him any additional, when it looks like they told him differently.

Just because we're newly promoted doesn't mean we can't go for someone like Carvalho. Of course its my point. We have the size, stature, history and the money to attract players of that ilk but one mans quest to turn us into a small club is preventing it.

Point is, if Newcastle put the money on the table and showed some ambition a player like Carvalho is well within their grasp.

We are getting 100 million guaranteed this season and aren't Brighton or Huddersfield.

Charnley answers to Ashley and always has. Every decision that costs money Ashley has the final say on.

He'll never change and the only way we will ever become or try to become a force in football again will be when he leaves.

Agreed... if you like radge characters its miles better than any league in Europe. Derbies like Genoa v Sampdoria are just fantastic.

That's how I read it too...almost as if he's making everyone aware that the problem doesn't lie with Ashley and doesn't lie with Rafa, but that somewhere in between there is an issue. Rafa called Ashley out ... pretty clear where the issue is. Charnley hasn't struggle to do deals in the past when the shackles are loosened a tad.

Its moving slow because Ashley will be telling Charnley to haggle as much as humanly possible.

I'm not buying the 'we're skint' thing either. Probably totally wrong/cynical mind but I think there's money available. Would Rafa have stayed if his budget was reliant on shifting a load of deadwood, which obviously isn't easy to do?

Rafa won't be around if this continues though. The season would be a bust from the start.

Becoming a complete piss take. Even worse when a sizeable % of the fan base seem oblivious to it.

Honestly just sign him ffs. Feels pivotal tbh.

I got blocked a while ago and they haven't unblocked me. Can't even recall what prompted it, a few nasty words aimed at them in one of our many terrible seasons.

I think Carragher underestimated the lunacy of Mike Ashley when he wrote that article. He would take 17th every year if he could, his ambitions compared to Rafa's are universes apart, and he has zero connection to the supporters. It's all on him, people can blame Charnley but its all on Ashley.

Gotta be said as well how completely clueless the local press have been. They were full of 'bring on the rafalution' after the season ended and yet as soon as the stories of Rafa's discontent come out the have been totally silent, re-hashing any old story and latching on to any transfer rumour. They are shitting themselves. Don't care if the market is difficult, its been an embarrassing transfer window thus far and we are assuring ourselves of another relegation battle.

If Ashley was serious about having a good season he would be pressing Charnley to get deals done. The deals aren't getting done. This shit has been going on from the day he forced Keegan out.

If Charnley is moving the goalpost it's because Ashley is telling him to...imo

He was positive right up until the last hours of the transfer window in January.

They plummeted new depths when their main transfer scoop for one day was when some fan saw Rafa getting his groceries.

This has been a pathetic transfer window.

Meaning we would have about 5 million left