After the Ashley statement how do you feel?

[Guest toonlass]

I feel sad to be fair. The bloke obviously had a plan for the club. Shame he wasn't open about it when he bought the club. I hate the thought that he won't take his kids to the game in case he gets attacked. I know what that is like. My 9 year old wouldn't go to the match yesterday in case there was trouble. The bloke has worked to stabalise what was a sinking ship. We will just have to see what happens next. While I am not happy at the way things are going I would hate to think that some idiot would attack the bloke and his kids if they saw them at the game. Sad.

[Menace]

Can't really say nowt tbh, haven't heard Keegan's side to it, and no doubt Ashley wanted our sympathy.

[Guest washeymag]

No The manager if its King Kev or somebody else he has to have the powers to buy and sell the players as his job is to manage the football team not just coach the players on the training pitch.

[Guest Geordie Boyo]

He still never let the manager do his job with the kind of structure he had in place. that's the bottom line. everything else, i'm very greatful as a supporter, but it always falls down to giving the manager of this club the responsibility to manage this club to the limit with nothing but support & backing by his chairman, director, & even ratboy.....

[TRon]

Shame he can't watch the matches with his kids any more on a personal note. Other than that I am concerned how the club will be run until we get another buyer.

 

Are the cockney mafia still going to be putting 100% into unearthing new talent when they know they are despised and  living on borrowed time?

[SUPERTOON]

Shame he can't watch the matches with his kids any more on a personal note. Other than that I am concerned how the club will be run until we get another buyer.

 

Are the cockney mafia still going to be putting 100% into unearthing new talent when they know they are despised and  living on borrowed time?

 

No, nor will Hughton so a good job

[Guest marky555]

The way he wanted to run it is fine, and the global scouting network is fine, and I was all for it, but it should be Wise etc. saying "Kevin, we've found XXXXX, what do you think?"

Not - "We're selling Milner and getting XXXXXX"

[Guest TheKingOfNewcastle]

Why didn't he outline his plans earlier? Why did he not make people aware of the debts earlier? He could have bought himself a little time by being honest and upfront.

 

The sad fact of all of this is that there's been no communication with the fans at all. Even this statement is faceless.

[Guest aoliversaknob]

Another multi millionaire who loses all his business sense when buying / running a footbal club. He talks about  how much money he has put in in order to stabilse the finances, well that smacks of the lack of due dilligance from the outset.  This coupled with the banning of the shepherds and all that from SJP say to me he has been right royaly f*cked over in the first place and the monies set aside for his (fun) were dirverted away from transfer funds.

 

I think, nah hope, he had the right intentions at the outset but has ended up folking out loads for freddy shepards poor dealings and dodgy transfers.  

 

Lets face it the man is a rack em high sell em cheap asset stripper and will always be in it for the profit! when the profit aint there, or when the realisation the invetsment would be huge hes lbeen ooking to cut and run asap. The Keagan thing came at a great time for him, and could have been nipped in the bud from the onset.

 

F*cking Denis Wise as DOF sums it up really!!!

 

Lets just hope the next one who buys it learns from his mistakes.  

 

 

[Wullie]

You're spot on there, TKON. It was definitely said last summer that "Newcastle United doesn't owe a penny to anyone", which is another lie.

 

He's hardly spoken to the supporters and when he has, he's been incredibly dishonest.

 

Looks like he's tried to keep people happy but the current situation is what happens when your lies catch up with you. I'd rather just know we're in the shit than have my hopes built up like he has over the past 12 months before pulling the rug from under my feet.

[Guest Chubby Jason]

http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/vomit-6.jpeg

[thewellander]

I've always supported him. He's done more for this club than anyone since Sir Bobby. In a lot of ways, he's probably saved our club and he doesn't deserve all the grief that he's gotten from the masses.

[Guest LondonMag]

We should get this fat dude:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/14/gambling

[davy_fulla]

I've voted for a new super-rich owner.  It's a sad fact fact of modern football that realistically this would be the only way we could compete and not get left behind completely- if it's not already too late.

 

Football is well and truly fucked!

[Guest Howaythetoon]

How do I feel?

 

I feel like I can't believe a single thing that comes out of the club due to all the lies, miss-information, rumours, let downs and games being played, politically or otherwise, that have all served to rip this club apart from the seams, fans, players and our former manager alike and of course, Mike Ashley himself.

 

Outside of this total lack of confidence and belief I also feel fans have been treated very badly in terms of communication and respect by the people who own and run our club, with contempt even.

 

Where the club itself is concerned I just feel sad and empty and the only thing I have faith in at the moment is the fans who turned up at the weekend, said what they had to say peacefully, tried their best to get behind their team and who are and always will be the one constant and positive force behind this club of ours, people whose interests are transparent and sincere even if misguided at times.

 

That's how I feel.

 

Regarding the actual statement I have several issues with it and don't quite buy into Ashley's ideas for the club nor his "I love the club" patter.

 

I think he's trying to save some face and is going for the sob story using his kids' safety as an excuse and looking to play some kind of hero regarding the club's finances. Not once does he hold his own hand up.

 

In summing up Ashley once again I genuinely believe he bought the club with the best intentions which was to have some fun for him and his family, to be part of something special and of course, to also make money which I accept and wouldn't begrudge him. Along the way however a string of poor mistakes, bad advice, even worse judgment, lack of experience and true understanding of fans and pig pigheadedness has unraveled his master plan for the club and with it any confidence and support of the people that matter most in those plans (the fans and manager) and he only has himself to blame and sadly enough could have actually prevented it, certainly the potests.

 

As the old BT ad used to say "its good to talk"

 

To do so now is too little too late.

 

Although all isn't lost in my eyes anyway, I will never trust him or have any degree of confidence in him as an individual nor any of his 'team' but were he to hire a decent manager, back that manager fully and to get the club to communicate with fans better he can stay in the background for all I care. Contrary to your belief Mike, I personally don't want a mega rich owner splashing hundreds of millions on players to buy success, I just want my club to be well run on and off the pitch and to have a team and manager I can have some faith and belief in, something to shout about. You've guaranteed the latter, but its you we're shouting about, not our beloved club on the pitch and that's where you have fucked up.

 

Oh well

[Robster]

Makes me feel suspiscous.

Why the statement now and nothing before. Sounds too calculated to me.

I would love know how long this statement has been planned for. Just not possible that it was done because of a "Cockney Mafia Out" banner

[toon25]

Ashley has almost certainly improved the financial position of the club and for that I am grateful. His vision, on paper at least, appears decent and workable. In practice, however, I don't think that Ashley has any idea as to how to run a football club - the appointment of Dennis Wise and to a certain extent Keegan is a testament to this.

Personality aside, Wise has neither the credentials nor the experience to have been placed in a position of such authority and sway at the club.

 

Ashley is a visionary. He is a successful businessman who believed that NUFC was a club that could be moulded to fit his idealistic model. Ashley's problem is that he has grossly underestimated the difficulties arising from managing a club with a fanbase as large and as impatient as ours. Many fans will not tolerate the way they feel that they have been fucked around over the past few weeks. Nor will they tolerate the lack of communication from the board regarding our recent turmoil.

I thoroughly believe that if Ashley's plan had come to fruition, we would be in a far sounder position than we are at the moment. That said, this may have taken many years - years which many fans will not have waited, especially when we are consistently seen as the farce of the football league.

 

In all, Ashley is probably right to put the club up for sale. Too much water has passed under the bridge and wounds have been inflicted that are too deep to heal. A fresh start and a clean slate is needed. Let's just hope that whoever the new manager and new owner(s) may be, we will give them time.

[Guest Gemmill]

 

- Angry, violent fans who will stop at nothing to get what they want

 

 

Violent?  Stop at nothing?  What the fuck

[Guest Micktoon]

At this moment I really haven't got a clue what I think is for the best.

[wyn davies]

so would this of come out if the fans hadn't remonstrated somehow I think not, an option would of been to give the manager of the club to yes have a look at those offered and then make a sound choice but not to force onto a manager those he doesn't want.

 

How many managers at your work get provided with employees and he/she really doesn't want them because they are sh*te and they know it, quite a few no difference with football.

 

[Thomson Mouse]

Why didn't he outline his plans earlier? Why did he not make people aware of the debts earlier? He could have bought himself a little time by being honest and upfront.

 

The sad fact of all of this is that there's been no communication with the fans at all. Even this statement is faceless.

 

 

This.

 

It was his downfall. Funny how he can put out such a statement when it suits him, instead of the silence and utter garbage we've had over the last two weeks.

Personally, I didn't want superstar signings and I liked the sound of his business plan, but £20 million a season is just not enough.

[Newcastle Fan]

Actually we all knew that Ashley wanted to run the club this way, but the  mistake he made was appointing Keegan, if he wanted to run the club at the way he said he wanted to run it in his statment  then he shouldn't have hired Keegan in the first place, to be honest i'm a big gutted that he's going to leave espically after this statment but he brought this on himself, he had to options, to either stay and fix it, that of course means facing the extremely frustrated toon army, or sell the club and leave, he choose the later and i can only wish him the best in the future..

[greydos]

Ashely needed the balls to back his system to work properly. If he wanted a DOF to scout young players with potential, then that's fine. Give KK the final say on ALL transfers. If the DOF finds young players with GENUINE potential, then obviously KK, or any manager, would say yes to them.

 

However there's a huge difference between that and, letting the DOF pick the players for the manager.

 

(Ashley hints that this was his intention in the statement by talking about the huge loss of money when new managers come in and so players chop and change. The constancy of a DOF means the players don't chop and change if the DOF's brought the players in.) This is wrong. Get the right manager, back him on players. Even if they can only be youngsters. Spend on a new young LB.

[JH]

 

- Angry, violent fans who will stop at nothing to get what they want

 

 

Violent?  Stop at nothing?  What the f***

 

If Ashley had stepped foot in Newcastle yesterday, he would have been ripped to shreds. No question about it

[Guest johnson293]

Why didn't he outline his plans earlier? Why did he not make people aware of the debts earlier? He could have bought himself a little time by being honest and upfront.

 

The sad fact of all of this is that there's been no communication with the fans at all. Even this statement is faceless.

 

^ I also agree with this

 

It was the first thing I thought when I read the full statement - why hasn't he been so open before now?? Would have stopped a lot of the questions from fans, and given a bit more understanding of where the club was heading.

 

However, the statement thanks Wise, etc for a 'first class job' in their recruitment, but doen't mention anything about taking trabnsfer responsibility away from the manager - but I suppose this is part of what the 'lawyers' will be discussing.

 

I have nothing against the vision he had for the longterm plan, and certainly didn't expect us to be paying £30m fees every transfer window, as he seems to think the fans expected - but the flaw for me was taking transfer responsibility away from the manager - any manager, not just Keven Keegan.