Does anyone out there have any kind of confidence in Ashley at all?

[GM]

Head is in a spin at the moment. Heart is still pining for Keegan to return. Any confidence I may have had in Ashley is rapidly waning, particularly in light of the way things have developed this evening. 

[Syrette]

No money, doesnt plan to spend any

 

Pissed off the fans, 'not bothered'

 

Given Dennis Wise more power than any future manager

 

 

I'm far from his biggest fan right now but it must be said that you're still making stuff up.

[colinmk]

None, don't care who they get it's the way they have gone about everything that disgusts me.

[Robster]

I definitely think Bobby's comment about staff living close to the city so that they can be around each other on a regular basis is very valid.

If Ashley is to show me he is learning, he needs to address this.

[midds]

My only sensible thought at the minute is the fact Ashley has no incentive to run the club into the ground. I think he's a ruthless bastard and he'll want to recoup as much of his initial outlay as he can. He's obviously a canny businessman because he's made himself a billionaire so he knows how to run successful operations - I sincerely hope he uses these skills to maximise the price when he sells it on.

 

In this respect I've got a small amount of confidence in him to see this through. But his motives are purely selfish. He won't be doing it or the good of the club, he'll do it to protect his interests.

 

[Guest gggg]

No money, doesnt plan to spend any

 

Pissed off the fans, 'not bothered'

 

Given Dennis Wise more power than any future manager

 

 

I'm far from his biggest fan right now but it must be said that you're still making stuff up.

 

If he was that bothered he would of said something, he's got enough time to go out partying all night.

 

The second one is blatantly true in terms of players going in and out.

[Robster]

My only sensible thought at the minute is the fact Ashley has no incentive to run the club into the ground. I think he's a ruthless bastard and he'll want to recoup as much of his initial outlay as he can. He's obviously a canny businessman because he's made himself a billionaire so he knows how to run successful operations - I sincerely hope he uses these skills to maximise the price when he sells it on.

 

In this respect I've got a small amount of confidence in him to see this through. But his motives are purely selfish. He won't be doing it or the good of the club, he'll do it to protect his interests.

 

 

I think what he hasnt grasped is that football is like no other business on earth

Staff for Sports shops can be replaced. New customers can be found by offering deals, discounts etc.

With football, you have a fairly fixed customer base. Piss them off and you have nothing to fall back on.

[Dave]

My only sensible thought at the minute is the fact Ashley has no incentive to run the club into the ground. I think he's a ruthless bastard and he'll want to recoup as much of his initial outlay as he can. He's obviously a canny businessman because he's made himself a billionaire so he knows how to run successful operations - I sincerely hope he uses these skills to maximise the price when he sells it on.

 

In this respect I've got a small amount of confidence in him to see this through. But his motives are purely selfish. He won't be doing it or the good of the club, he'll do it to protect his interests.

 

 

I think what he hasnt grasped is that football is like no other business on earth

Staff for Sports shops can be replaced. New customers can be found by offering deals, discounts etc.

With football, you have a fairly fixed customer base. Piss them off and you have nothing to fall back on.

 

Thing is he's got £15m up front already (if the 12,000 taking up the 3yr thing is accurate), so he doesn't even have to care about pissing us off.

[Guest optimistic nit]

Wait and see who they come up with as a replacement.

 

And if that replacement is a knacker?

 

Then I'll lose faith in them, I'll judge the next manager on what he does on the pitch rather than how big a name he is.

 

The club, directors and the fans all need to move on for all of our benefit, this situation has only blown up so much because it's KK in charge, which is something Ashley will have to deal with as he was happy to take the credit for bringing him back.

 

 

I can just see HTT if he appoints Hitzfeld.

 

"I love Keegan, Hitzfeld for the Toon, umm, f*ck Mike Ashley, but he brought in Hitzfeld, I love sharks, f*ck Dennis Wise, sharks for the Toon, f*ck Keegan, I love Ashley, Wise, scouts, sharks, golf courses, brain...does...not...compute....*BANG*"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i'm not sure, the more petty they get in this (the statement yesterday) the less confident i will get.

[garth]

I basically have faith in Ashley, but it all depends who he appoints as the next Manager, as to whether or not he's learnt from his mistakes.

[Guest optimistic nit]

if they just admitted they'd made a few mistakes i'd have a lot more faith in them, but the more stubborn they get the more i'll want them out.

[thorin]

This is funny, just wait and see... wait and see for what?

 

We tried to get Redknapp...!!!

[Decky]

It's quickly disappearing.

[macca888]

He is now caught between a rock and a hard place. What do I do to appease the fans? Appoint a top rank Manager (Hiddink, Rijkard etc), spend money in the January window or does he now realise the extent of confidence damage amongst the fans that may be irrepairable so a quick sale with a small profit may be in the offing. He has a number of other issues to think about:

 

1.......Does the club have the support of the players?

2........Do Ihe come out and state, with evidence, the facts concerning the brwakdown of commnication and that Keegan was to blame and not the board.

3.........Do he take the Keegan resignation and alleged contract clause to court and risk further critiscism all round?

4........If he does item 3, does he take the risk of writting off this season altogether with the lowering further of moral and which could ultimately threaten the club with relegation.

5........Does he discipline Wise, LLambiass, Jimenez for not dealing with this matter professionally?

 

I wouldnt like to be in his shoes at present but one thing is for sure, he needs to get the club back on track as quickly as possible because if his God is money, as it would seem to be, his asset (the club) will be severely deflated if this club ended up being relegated this season. No bugger would take it off his hands then.

 

My view is this:

 

Get his arse back to Tyneside as quickly as possible

On return, organise a televised press conference and provide evidence that Keegan was to report to a DOF who has authority over transfers.

The fans to accept Keegan's departure was for the benefit for the club due to his unrealistic demands, if this was the case.

Appoint a top quality continental manager who can fit into the system established.

Provide reasonable funds to the said manager in January to boost the squad

Advise the players on what has actually happened and provide their spokesmen with documented evidence

Get M.Owen to sign a new contract because we cannot afford to lose him at this stage.

 

If he is unable to achieve any of these points, he will need to sell up virtually immediately. Of course, he will not get what he wants, as the vultures circle.

[dilligaf]

why on earth would Owen sign a new contract after the deadline day fiasco, when in 3 months he can have his pick of who he wants to go to on a free with a big signing on fee

[Guest clarkyshan]

Long term 100%

Short Term 0%

theres more chance of his short term damage being irepairable before the long term plans can get into motion!

[BottledDog]

Still have a good deal of faith in him and still don't think there were many prospective owners out there that could have could have done better in putting the things in place for the club to move forward in the long term.

 

It has been a horrible week, but I don't see the need for such ferocious attacks based ultimately on very little knowledge as to what has actually happened. I was pleasantly surprised at the type of players brought in, and, considering Keegans ridiculous 50 million spend at Man City and his supposed summer list, was not massively upset by the system in place. It seemed pretty reasonable to have the intention to build success slowly within our means and hopefully secure the clubs future.

 

Just wish they hadn't pushed it. After niggling away wanting shot of Barton, Smith, Shola and Owen against his wishes, they then appear to have ballsed up royally by bringing in a player he didn't want. Beyond stupid considering how spirited Keegan is (something I love him for), and he had every right to resign.

 

Personally, I think Ashley will be bloody hurting that something he took on has turned to shit because he fucked up on basically one thing; allowing his staff to push Keegan too far, which led to the inevitable walk out.

[mrmojorisin75]

confidence in ashley to do what, exactly?

 

carry on as he has since taking the club over, i.e. do what he considers the right thing?  then i have a lot of confidence in him to do that yeah

 

to do what we want as fans?  not a lot

 

time will tell who is right - remember this is the person who brought KK back from out of nowhere in the first place, why do people now think he couldn't make an equally good appointment again?

[Guest thommo78]

apart from paying off the debt...he has done everything wrong thus far.......turning into jobs for the boys...

 

[garth]

apart from paying off the debt...he has done everything wrong thus far.......turning into jobs for the boys...

 

 

Maybe! aren't you happy with whom they have brought in so far?

[bovineblue]

apart from paying off the debt...he has done everything wrong thus far.......turning into jobs for the boys...

 

 

It had looked like there was some good work being done with the youth setup.

[wor jackie]

It must be said he's done tremendously well to help Keegan get the left-back he was after for four months!

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

He has appointed badly which has reflected badly on him.

 

He needs to get rid of one of the directors to win back any faith, and no prizes for which one i would go for.

 

If the structure suggests we need a DOF appoint someone good at the job in the first place!

[Guest helios_centric]

A threadbare squad and the budget is £12 million? Absolute joke - especially if he wasn't happy when Keegan said 4th was out of reach (which with that budget it clearly is). And this bloke has a great brain for business? A stingy billionaire - great.

 

Redknapp? And did they really expect Schweinsteiger to sign? Smoke and mirrors and dodgy propaganda - don't believe the hype.

 

Absolutely no confidence in Ashley and let's face it he has no future here - if you can't see that you aren't looking. Just sell up and fuck off you total bastard.

[Spider Jerusalem]

None whatsoever.

 

This squad has been thin since he came through the door and when investmentment has been required we've got excuses rather than players.  Aug '07 we've just taken over the club, Jan '08' the massive debt has been paid off, Jul 08 the wage bill is too high and the latest being that there was debt owed on players brought in previously even though the massive debt had already been paid off.

 

Last season the transfer budget was in the black, this year we've spent either around 5.75 million or so assuming Jonas cost the rumoured 5m or .75 million if he came on a free.

 

We have no recognised fit left back, even though this position has been singled out by Keegan since January, but the personnel team were unable to provide.

 

Good enough reasons to question how this club is being ran I'd say.