Mike Ashley: "I've loved owning Newcastle"

[johnnypd]

if you actually look at the quotes and filter out the media fluff, there's very little of note in there, other than 'weve all made mistakes'. surface over substance. typical ashley really.

[Rich]

The bids for Modric, Woodgate, Schweinsteiger, Aimar (?) as well... all of which were for substantial sums.

 

I think if anyone cocked up massively in the transfer window it was Keegan, Wise and Jimenez (and potentially Llambias) for the way that communication seemed to break down/lies were told/things didn't go to plan. I'm very hesitant to blame KK though as I know he would want the best for NUFC.

 

Of course you can go back to another Ashley "mistake" if you believe Wise/Jimenez should never have been brought in anyway, and you can blame him for it due to that too.

 

The whole thing has been a catastrophe, but none of us know exactly where to apportion the blame or what exactly happened - it's infuriating.

[Mick]

He's still not the big, bad villain that people are painting him out to be. I was as angry with him as anyone for the way the Keegan thing unfolded, but after taking a few steps back from the situation it has been hard to completely change my opinion of him after one single event like a lot seem to have done.

 

Aye he's made a huge mistake that has been massively detrimental since it happened to the football club and to the lives of all the fans that follow it with a passion, but I hardly think he's sitting around somewhere smiling about how things have gone wrong - and not just because he could potentially lose money because of it.

 

I suppose we'll see if he stays in how he does things or we'll see with the price he sells the club at, but even before this interview I've been hesitant to paint him 100% as the villain. I don't think there's any excuse for the silence before now though, but I am glad he's finally spoken in public about the current situation (even if it's just a little bit.)

 

More can be read outside of the quotes, to be honest, and this Dunn bloke has obviously had a face-to-face chat with him so it can't all be idle speculation.

 

Where do you think he's made mistakes?

[GM]

What a sorry state of affairs. We've got a slum landlord, saying he was going to repair the roof, rewire all the electrics and he really was going to repair the broken windows, but one of his staff threw a wobbly because he treated him like shit, and it all went haywire. Unsurprisingly the tenants were up in arms, complaining because they could see what the landlord was playing at. And now, he can't sell up, because the house is in complete disrepair, falling apart at the seems, and he's too scared for his own safety to leave his Barbados pool-side lounger and fix the house...so he'll make some tokenistic noises about how he's clearly not going to find a buyer now...but will try and patch up that nasty roof leak soon - here...have a bucket.

[Rich]

He's still not the big, bad villain that people are painting him out to be. I was as angry with him as anyone for the way the Keegan thing unfolded, but after taking a few steps back from the situation it has been hard to completely change my opinion of him after one single event like a lot seem to have done.

 

Aye he's made a huge mistake that has been massively detrimental since it happened to the football club and to the lives of all the fans that follow it with a passion, but I hardly think he's sitting around somewhere smiling about how things have gone wrong - and not just because he could potentially lose money because of it.

 

I suppose we'll see if he stays in how he does things or we'll see with the price he sells the club at, but even before this interview I've been hesitant to paint him 100% as the villain. I don't think there's any excuse for the silence before now though, but I am glad he's finally spoken in public about the current situation (even if it's just a little bit.)

 

More can be read outside of the quotes, to be honest, and this Dunn bloke has obviously had a face-to-face chat with him so it can't all be idle speculation.

 

Where do you think he's made mistakes?

 

I can't be arsed to get into that at 12.40am, to be honest, as it's a massive subject. We'll have to talk about it next time I see you out and about for a pint!

 

See my post above that for a bit of clarity on my feelings: i.e. this "mistake" may not have been entirely his at all, but he certainly could have taken steps to prevent the situation from happening as it did if he'd been more hands-on/less naive about things.

[johnnypd]

The bids for Modric, Woodgate, Schweinsteiger, Aimar (?) as well... all of which were for substantial sums.

 

I think if anyone cocked up massively in the transfer window it was Keegan, Wise and Jimenez (and potentially Llambias) for the way that communication seemed to break down/lies were told/things didn't go to plan. I'm very hesitant to blame KK though as I know he would want the best for NUFC.

 

Of course you can go back to another Ashley "mistake" if you believe Wise/Jimenez should never have been brought in anyway, and you can blame him for it due to that too.

 

The whole thing has been a catastrophe, but none of us know exactly where to apportion the blame or what exactly happened - it's infuriating.

 

but woodgate wouldve been INSTEAD of colo, it wouldve been modric OR scweinsteiger OR aimar (or nothing, as iti turned out in acuality) rather than all of them. and you never know how the rest of the budget and spending wouldve been restructured as a result. all we have to go on is what happened and what was spent, the rest of speculative and some of it nonsense. in reality he;s spent virtually nothing at a time when the rest of the league has been spending loads.

[Guest The Libertine]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem. 

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

and clearly it was as plenty was spent. (before the milner deal too, which was a fairly last minute deal so its not like he was looking to make it all back in the way it worked out)

 

 

one of the highest spending teams in the world, weren't we?

 

yes.

[Dave]

What a sorry state of affairs. We've got a slum landlord, saying he was going to repair the roof, rewire all the electrics and he really was going to repair the broken windows, but one of his staff threw a wobbly because he treated him like shit, and it all went haywire. Unsurprisingly the tenants were up in arms, complaining because they could see what the landlord was playing at. And now, he can't sell up, because the house is in complete disrepair, falling apart at the seems, and he's too scared for his own safety to leave his Barbados pool-side lounger and fix the house...so he'll make some tokenistic noises about how he's clearly not going to find a buyer now...but will try and patch up that nasty roof leak soon - here...have a bucket.

 

 

Very good.

[Syrette]

Where is that article from btw? For some reason there's no linked source.

[Mick]

The bids for Modric, Woodgate, Schweinsteiger, Aimar (?) as well... all of which were for substantial sums.

 

I think if anyone cocked up massively in the transfer window it was Keegan, Wise and Jimenez (and potentially Llambias) for the way that communication seemed to break down/lies were told/things didn't go to plan. I'm very hesitant to blame KK though as I know he would want the best for NUFC.

 

Of course you can go back to another Ashley "mistake" if you believe Wise/Jimenez should never have been brought in anyway, and you can blame him for it due to that too.

 

The whole thing has been a catastrophe, but none of us know exactly where to apportion the blame or what exactly happened - it's infuriating.

 

You've answered before I asked the question.  

[Tooj]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem. 

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

and clearly it was as plenty was spent. (before the milner deal too, which was a fairly last minute deal so its not like he was looking to make it all back in the way it worked out)

 

 

one of the highest spending teams in the world, weren't we?

 

yes.

 

It all makes sense now, you're a Mackem.

[fredbob]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem.   

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

Ah right. I thought that he meant that big money wansnt going to be spent on big names "trophy players" like we've witnessed in the past.

[Rich]

Where is that article from btw? For some reason there's no linked source.

 

Eh? I've attached a URL to the title, hence the reason why it's in a blue linky colour...

[Tooj]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem. 

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

Ah right. I thought that he meant that big money wansnt going to be spent on big names "trophy players" like we've witnessed in the past.

 

That whole trophy players thing is a myth btw.

[Tooj]

Where is that article from btw? For some reason there's no linked source.

 

Eh? I've attached a URL to the title, hence the reason why it's in a blue linky colour...

 

[Syrette]

Where is that article from btw? For some reason there's no linked source.

 

Eh? I've attached a URL to the title, hence the reason why it's in a blue linky colour...

 

It's not really noticeable at all on my browser. Doesn't help that I'm a little colourblind either.

 

In fact I'm pretty sure it wasn't there at all when I posted that.

[Guest The Libertine]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem. 

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

and clearly it was as plenty was spent. (before the milner deal too, which was a fairly last minute deal so its not like he was looking to make it all back in the way it worked out)

 

 

one of the highest spending teams in the world, weren't we?

 

yes.

 

It all makes sense now, you're a Mackem.

 

haha good one  :lol:

 

....

[Rich]

Where is that article from btw? For some reason there's no linked source.

 

Eh? I've attached a URL to the title, hence the reason why it's in a blue linky colour...

 

It's not really noticeable at all on my browser. Doesn't help that I'm a little colourblind either.

 

I'm not having that as an excuse

 

I'm the most colour-defficient person I know (not just red/green, basically, I struggle with everything!)

 

I've banged a link in below, the problem was that the URL was gigantic, I usually would just copy it in below/above the quoted story but it was longer than the width of a page!

[Mick]

 

It all makes sense now, you're a Mackem.

 

Cutting. 

[Rich]

The bids for Modric, Woodgate, Schweinsteiger, Aimar (?) as well... all of which were for substantial sums.

 

I think if anyone cocked up massively in the transfer window it was Keegan, Wise and Jimenez (and potentially Llambias) for the way that communication seemed to break down/lies were told/things didn't go to plan. I'm very hesitant to blame KK though as I know he would want the best for NUFC.

 

Of course you can go back to another Ashley "mistake" if you believe Wise/Jimenez should never have been brought in anyway, and you can blame him for it due to that too.

 

The whole thing has been a catastrophe, but none of us know exactly where to apportion the blame or what exactly happened - it's infuriating.

 

but woodgate wouldve been INSTEAD of colo, it wouldve been modric OR scweinsteiger OR aimar (or nothing, as iti turned out in acuality) rather than all of them. and you never know how the rest of the budget and spending wouldve been restructured as a result. all we have to go on is what happened and what was spent, the rest of speculative and some of it nonsense. in reality he;s spent virtually nothing at a time when the rest of the league has been spending loads.

 

I never said we'd be signing all of them! For fuck's sake, this place drives me crackers at times.

 

Your post is as much speculation as mine was, though.

 

I still cannot understand why a bloke would spend hundreds of millions to buy a football club in order to become a "fan". Travel up and down the country to watch them and WANT the team to be shite by not spending any money on it. This is where the logic fails, for me. I do understand the reality, but as I said I can't help but wonder if it came about because of monumental failings in the system RATHER than a lack of money. I cannot make this any clearer this time, surely?

 

He made a transfer-record fee bid for Modric, he broke the transfer record for a defender with Coloccini, Schweinsteiger was apparently another very big deal... he said himself he was willing to finance us to the tune of £20m per season (provided he was being honest) out of his own money on top of what the club was making. There was definitely money there to be spent and Keegan kept telling us so and Ashley himself told us now. Kinnear is now telling us so.

 

None of us have seen the books, none of us know what state the finances were/are in and as a result are speculating and biting each other's heads off all over the shop because of it. People are ASSUMING he's been pocketing money (season tickets, TV money) but who's to say it hasn't been used up by the club already, if the books are really as bad as they might have been? People are ASSUMING he wants £450m for the club, at times, which seems insane to me. Obviously I'm assuming the other way, so nobody really can be "right" - that's why debates of this nature are so futile, ESPECIALLY when people are so fucking dogmatic and unwilling to take on another point of view.

 

It's a huge topic of discussion, but I get royally fucked off by those who just see it as black or white and blame one or the other. It's not going to be that fucking simple is it? People need to Wise up.

[Yorkie]

Think it was Mick that asked what mistakes Ashley's made. Well, every big decision that Ashley's made has had some sort of mistake involved, with varying degrees of repercussions.

 

Big Decisions

 

Sacking Allardyce: Right idea, we were going nowhere with him. Mistake in that he sacked him at the wrong time, leaving very little opportunity to get anyone in January. Result: Fortunately we got away with it in the end.

 

Appointing Wise: Right idea, we've been begging for a scouting network for yonks. Mistake in that he brought in the wrong person. I can remember seeing somewhere that there were like three candidates for the job. Bringing in someone we've never heard of would never, ever have commanded the media speculation that it did do. And i mean, the media hogwash certainly enhanced events leading up to Keegan's sacking. Also, Wise is just a slimy cunt. Never going to work with Keegan, was he? Result: Catastrophic.

 

Appointing Keegan: Right idea, fans are downtrodden - Keegan is both a quality manager and someone who would invigorate the fans. Mistake in that he simply shouldn't have bothered really. It was the right sort of thing to do but Keegan was never, ever going to work with his blueprints of conoslidating funds, having a a DoF. He's too proud a man. Result: Catastrophic.

 

Appointing Llambias: Right idea, he needed someone to replace Mort. Mistake in that Llambias is an idiot who had no idea how to speak to the fans. Result: More turmoil within the fans, contributed quite heavily to the catastrophe.

 

Consolidating Funds: Right idea, we'd just come out of a leadership that had seen £50m given to someone like Graeme Souness; we needed to start treading carefully. Mistake in that this was never going to appease the supporters, the manager and several squad members by doing it this way. They were generally too careful with the funding and too confusing. Result: Contributed to the catastrophe.

 

(Lack of) Communication: The only time he's had the totally wrong idea imo. Can't fathom why he's kept such a low profile and there's been no explanation for anything, ever. Questionable sincerity whenever he's spoken, n'all. Result: contributed to the catastrophe.

 

That's just about everything, off the top of my head. As i've said before, his original blueprints were spot on in my opinion. He just got everything badly fucking wrong.

[fredbob]

Ashley contradicting himself again it would seem.

 

How so?

 

He said in that wonderful interview with the official magazine that the money was there for Keegan to spend if he wanted it.

 

Ah right. I thought that he meant that big money wansnt going to be spent on big names "trophy players" like we've witnessed in the past.

 

That whole trophy players thing is a myth btw.

 

To an extent you're right, Keegan, Dlaglish and SBR were allowed to build good squads and dot them with the occasional star players, but post SBR i noticed a marked change in our transfer policy where the overall good of the squad was compriomised at times with signings that werent necessry or excessive, Duff, Martins, Owen. those 3 account for £31m, that could of gone along way towards the squad if it were spent properly on the squad.

 

EDIT: Maybe martins was vital, but when it came to January and our transfer dealing, maybe in hindsight that £15m could of been spent a little better considering how much we needed and some of the predicaments we got ourselves into. (Man U , Home)

[Dave]

Think it was Mick that asked what mistakes Ashley's made. Well, every big decision that Ashley's made has had some sort of mistake involved, with varying degrees of repercussions.

 

Big Decisions

 

Sacking Allardyce: Right idea, we were going nowhere with him. Mistake in that he sacked him at the wrong time, leaving very little opportunity to get anyone in January. Result: Fortunately we got away with it in the end.

 

Appointing Wise: Right idea, we've been begging for a scouting network for yonks. Mistake in that he brought in the wrong person. I can remember seeing somewhere that there were like three candidates for the job. Bringing in someone we've never heard of would never, ever have commanded the media speculation that it did do. And i mean, the media hogwash certainly enhanced events leading up to Keegan's sacking. Also, Wise is just a slimy cunt. Never going to work with Keegan, was he? Result: Catastrophic.

 

Appointing Keegan: Right idea, fans are downtrodden - Keegan is both a quality manager and someone who would invigorate the fans. Mistake in that he simply shouldn't have bothered really. It was the right sort of thing to do but Keegan was never, ever going to work with his blueprints of conoslidating funds, having a a DoF. He's too proud a man. Result: Catastrophic.

 

Appointing Llambias: Right idea, he needed someone to replace Mort. Mistake in that Llambias is an idiot who had no idea how to speak to the fans. Result: More turmoil within the fans, contributed quite heavily to the catastrophe.

 

Consolidating Funds: Right idea, we'd just come out of a leadership that had seen £50m given to someone like Graeme Souness; we needed to start treading carefully. Mistake in that this was never going to appease the supporters, the manager and several squad members by doing it this way. They were generally too careful with the funding and too confusing. Result: Contributed to the catastrophe.

 

(Lack of) Communication: The only time he's had the totally wrong idea imo. Can't fathom why he's kept such a low profile and there's been no explanation for anything, ever. Questionable sincerity whenever he's spoken, n'all. Result: contributed to the catastrophe.

 

That's just about everything, off the top of my head. As i've said before, his original blueprints were spot on in my opinion. He just got everything badly fucking wrong.

 

Sums up my thoughts on things pretty well.

[TRon]

if you actually look at the quotes and filter out the media fluff, there's very little of note in there, other than 'weve all made mistakes'. surface over substance. typical ashley really.

 

If you actually filter out the fluff it's clear that no one is prepared to buy the club so we are left with Ashley who was. Where is the fans buy out? Where are the local consortiums headed by Greggs and Freddie Fantastic?

 

 

[fredbob]

The bids for Modric, Woodgate, Schweinsteiger, Aimar (?) as well... all of which were for substantial sums.

 

I think if anyone cocked up massively in the transfer window it was Keegan, Wise and Jimenez (and potentially Llambias) for the way that communication seemed to break down/lies were told/things didn't go to plan. I'm very hesitant to blame KK though as I know he would want the best for NUFC.

 

Of course you can go back to another Ashley "mistake" if you believe Wise/Jimenez should never have been brought in anyway, and you can blame him for it due to that too.

 

The whole thing has been a catastrophe, but none of us know exactly where to apportion the blame or what exactly happened - it's infuriating.

 

but woodgate wouldve been INSTEAD of colo, it wouldve been modric OR scweinsteiger OR aimar (or nothing, as iti turned out in acuality) rather than all of them. and you never know how the rest of the budget and spending wouldve been restructured as a result. all we have to go on is what happened and what was spent, the rest of speculative and some of it nonsense. in reality he;s spent virtually nothing at a time when the rest of the league has been spending loads.

 

I never said we'd be signing all of them! For fuck's sake, this place drives me crackers at times.

 

Your post is as much speculation as mine was, though.

 

I still cannot understand why a bloke would spend hundreds of millions to buy a football club in order to become a "fan". Travel up and down the country to watch them and WANT the team to be shite by not spending any money on it. This is where the logic fails, for me. I do understand the reality, but as I said I can't help but wonder if it came about because of monumental failings in the system RATHER than a lack of money. I cannot make this any clearer this time, surely?

 

He made a transfer-record fee bid for Modric, he broke the transfer record for a defender with Coloccini, Schweinsteiger was apparently another very big deal... he said himself he was willing to finance us to the tune of £20m per season (provided he was being honest) out of his own money on top of what the club was making. There was definitely money there to be spent and Keegan kept telling us so and Ashley himself told us now. Kinnear is now telling us so.

 

None of us have seen the books, none of us know what state the finances were/are in and as a result are speculating and biting each other's heads off all over the shop because of it. People are ASSUMING he's been pocketing money (season tickets, TV money) but who's to say it hasn't been used up by the club already, if the books are really as bad as they might have been? People are ASSUMING he wants £450m for the club, at times, which seems insane to me. Obviously I'm assuming the other way, so nobody really can be "right" - that's why debates of this nature are so futile, ESPECIALLY when people are so fucking dogmatic and unwilling to take on another point of view.

 

It's a huge topic of discussion, but I get royally fucked off by those who just see it as black or white and blame one or the other. It's not going to be that fucking simple is it? People need to Wise up.

 

Good post. This whole thing needs a hell of a lot more perspective than is being afforded by many posters. Me included.