Any Ashley apologists on here?

[Guest elbee909]

Remember, there was a point when we were definitely faced with relegation under FS...

 

I seem to remember more than just ONE point when we were faced with relegation under FS...during the tenures of Dalglish, Gullitt, Souness...but we didn't actually get relegated then. This time it may be rather different.

 

"We had to get rid of him, he would have got us relegated, there's nothing more certain, we were going down."

 

I was referring to that, in particular.

[Bad Mongo]

1) Blaming the board "in equal measure" when Ashley appointed all of them.

 

From what I gather Ashley wasn't sat with Llambias on his knee with his hand up his arse. Ashley delegated the running of the club to him. He turned out to be shit. Yes, that's partly Ashley's responsibility but it's also Llambias' responsibility.

 

I've never said Ashley is blameless. Just pointing out that others are equally to blame.

 

Ashley appointed others to sign players. Those they did sign were hit and miss. Colo was a monumental waste whereas Bassong was a bargain. The biggest issue with transfers was not who we signed, but who we failed to sign.

 

Yes, Ashley appointed Wise to handle that task... he failed... Ashley has got rid of him. He put his faith in the wrong place and has now rectified the situation. What more would you like him to do?

 

Once more, I'm not saying Ashley is blameless... but there needs to be some personal responsibility from those who were left to do their jobs.

 

Ashley was out losing money on the stock market/roulette table/expensive bars when most of this was going on.

 

He's not running the place, he owns it.

 

Yes, sure. But blaming Llambias for being a shit chairman of a football club is like blaming Ali Dia for not being a Premiership football player. It's correct, but when it's at that level, you have to question those who hire them.

 

As to what more I would like him to do: I'd like him to fuck off. Sell the club, preferably at a price that reflects its loss in value since he took over.

 

Also, there's no sign that Ashley has rectified anything.

[Guest]

1) Blaming the board "in equal measure" when Ashley appointed all of them.

 

From what I gather Ashley wasn't sat with Llambias on his knee with his hand up his arse. Ashley delegated the running of the club to him. He turned out to be s***. Yes, that's partly Ashley's responsibility but it's also Llambias' responsibility.

 

I've never said Ashley is blameless. Just pointing out that others are equally to blame.

 

Ashley appointed others to sign players. Those they did sign were hit and miss. Colo was a monumental waste whereas Bassong was a bargain. The biggest issue with transfers was not who we signed, but who we failed to sign.

 

Yes, Ashley appointed Wise to handle that task... he failed... Ashley has got rid of him. He put his faith in the wrong place and has now rectified the situation. What more would you like him to do?

 

Once more, I'm not saying Ashley is blameless... but there needs to be some personal responsibility from those who were left to do their jobs.

 

Ashley was out losing money on the stock market/roulette table/expensive bars when most of this was going on.

 

He's not running the place, he owns it.

 

Yes, sure. But blaming Llambias for being a s*** chairman of a football club is like blaming Ali Dia for not being a Premiership football player. It's correct, but when it's at that level, you have to question those who hire them.

 

As to what more I would like him to do: I'd like him to f*** off. Sell the club, preferably at a price that reflects its loss in value since he took over.

 

Also, there's no sign that Ashley has rectified anything.

 

Like you have to question a man who appoints people like Souness & Roeder perhaps?

[David Icke - Son of God]

Ashley has made his mistakes, as have many.

 

It's one thing to say "he's the owner so he's ultimately responsible." Which is fair enough really. At the same time, he came into this knowing nowt about football. His forte (and the bit he's got spot on) are the finances.

 

In order to aid him in getting the finances in order he decided it made good financial and footballing sense to buy young talent and develop them - a philosophy that most on here would agree with.

 

To get the most out of our squad of has-beens and cast-offs (that we couldn't afford to replace) he hired a motivator as manager - the exact same thing I (and many others) would have done.

 

On paper he got a lot of it right. The approach is exactly what we needed. The problem came with the execution.

 

His first big mistake.

Given his lack of football knowledge he really should have appointed boards members who knew what the fuck they were doing. When there were rumours of us bringing in David Dein we REALLY should have been bending over backwards to bring him (or someone like him) into the club in order to put Mike's game plan into action.

 

Instead our chairmen have been a lawyer and a smug cunt both with no knowledge or experience of the game. To remedy that Ashley appointed Dennis the Menace as a football executive... a role in which he had no experience and has never shown any qualities that might suggest he'd be any good at it. A year and a bit on and Wise, surprise surprise, is no longer with us.

 

If we had hired someone like David Dein instead of the three stooges you'd imagine that some situations would never have arisen eg. Milner being allowed to leave before a replacement was signed and sealed - that was a schoolboy error of epic proportions. (Same goes for allowing other players to leave)

 

His second big mistake.

Hiring Kevin Keegan was both a master stroke and a disaster. There's no doubt that we needed a motivator to get the most out of our players and someone likeable to take the heat off us in the media. Keegan ticked both boxes. There's also no doubt that Kevin saved us in his first season.

 

That said, from the second Keegan was appointed the speculation was that he wouldn't see out the rest of his contract. Whether you would describe him as 'flaky' or 'principled' is all down to your own personal opinion of the man but he was always going to leave. The amount of times he's talked about the pressure of the game it was obvious - and they don't come with much more pressure than being a tyneside hero and the fans expecting you to work miracles.

 

Given that he was always going to be a short-term measure there were only two ways Ashley could play it: 1) Bend over backwards to keep him as happy as possible for as long as possible. 2) Have a replacement lined up for when the shit hits.

 

As it happened he did neither. Again this is a problem which could have been avoided had he hired a director who had a fucking clue.

 

His third big mistake.

There was always going to be trouble when Keegan left. We still don't know the true story behind Keegan leaving and we probably never will but there was only ever going to be one man winning the PR battle that followed and it wasn't Ashley. From then on it should have been a damage limitation exercise for Ashley. He should have kept coming to the matches. He should have been sympathetic and tried to work towards a strong replacement. But again, he did none of those things and bowed to the initial fan kneejerk responses and he put the club up for sale.

 

This has two negative impacts: 1) The fans felt empowered meaning the protests went on far longer than they should have, which in turn disrupted the harmony at the club. 2) Nobody wanted to come and manage a team that was up for sale, on a temporary contract, with the transfer window closed.

 

Yes, appointing Kinnear was a farce but by that time Ashley had backed himself into a corner. Nobody else of any stature wanted the job and once again, he had nobody around him with any footballing knowledge who might have spotted Kinnear's bullshit from a mile off.

 

His fourth big mistake.

This sort of stems from the other mistakes and that is to do with the time it has taken to replace both Keegan and Kinnear. It's simply ridiculous that even after the disaster earlier in the season when Hughton took over as manager he still took several weeks to find a replacement for Kinnear leaving Hughton in charge a second time. Again this is down to lack of interest in the job and the board's football naivety.

 

The positives

Amongst the catastrophe people have ignored the positives. It's easy to see why. It is hard to see Ashley as anything other than a 2d cartoon villain at times... but you have to give him this; he appears to be learning from his mistakes. Once again he has appointed a media-friendly and fan-friendly motivator in Alan Shearer. Only this time he is bending over backwards to keep him. He's given Wise and medical staff the boot and allowed Shearer to hire what you can only assume is a fairly expensive assistant in Iain Dowie. If we continue down this path we should see a long-term improvement at the club.

 

While we have been selling-off some of our players (rightly or wrongly) we have been getting fantastic money for them. This has no doubt increased our stability and based on Ashley's projections in terms of spending we should now be able to go out and spend some money this summer for the much needed rebuilding of the squad. This will be the key as to whether or not he has my support. He has seen enough of the first time now to know that we're struggling. Even as a novice he will be able to see it plain as day. He's done well backing Shearer so far but he needs to follow that through with financial backing in the summer.

 

I have given Ashley the benefit of the doubt so far with regards to spending. He has said he was only willing to put x amount into the club every year and according to what our smug cunt chairman said recently that means that this year we should see the majority of it going on transfers (as debt has now decreased and top earners will be leaving).

 

Hopefully Ashley has learned the error of his ways and will no longer neglect the first team. In the summer we need to buy and we need to buy quality. I don't care if they're 18 or 28, we need to bring in the right kind of players.

 

If he keeps his word and backs Shearer (or whoever is in charge) then he will have my support. If he has played us all for fools yet again then I'm done with him. That doesn't mean you'll see me walking around with anti-Ashley messages written on bed sheets but I certainly won't be shedding any tears if/when he decides to sell up.

 

The words 'absolute fucking cretin' spring to mind.

[Guest LucaAltieri]

Ashley has made his mistakes, as have many.

 

It's one thing to say "he's the owner so he's ultimately responsible." Which is fair enough really. At the same time, he came into this knowing nowt about football. His forte (and the bit he's got spot on) are the finances.

 

In order to aid him in getting the finances in order he decided it made good financial and footballing sense to buy young talent and develop them - a philosophy that most on here would agree with.

 

To get the most out of our squad of has-beens and cast-offs (that we couldn't afford to replace) he hired a motivator as manager - the exact same thing I (and many others) would have done.

 

On paper he got a lot of it right. The approach is exactly what we needed. The problem came with the execution.

 

His first big mistake.

Given his lack of football knowledge he really should have appointed boards members who knew what the fuck they were doing. When there were rumours of us bringing in David Dein we REALLY should have been bending over backwards to bring him (or someone like him) into the club in order to put Mike's game plan into action.

 

Instead our chairmen have been a lawyer and a smug cunt both with no knowledge or experience of the game. To remedy that Ashley appointed Dennis the Menace as a football executive... a role in which he had no experience and has never shown any qualities that might suggest he'd be any good at it. A year and a bit on and Wise, surprise surprise, is no longer with us.

 

If we had hired someone like David Dein instead of the three stooges you'd imagine that some situations would never have arisen eg. Milner being allowed to leave before a replacement was signed and sealed - that was a schoolboy error of epic proportions. (Same goes for allowing other players to leave)

 

His second big mistake.

Hiring Kevin Keegan was both a master stroke and a disaster. There's no doubt that we needed a motivator to get the most out of our players and someone likeable to take the heat off us in the media. Keegan ticked both boxes. There's also no doubt that Kevin saved us in his first season.

 

That said, from the second Keegan was appointed the speculation was that he wouldn't see out the rest of his contract. Whether you would describe him as 'flaky' or 'principled' is all down to your own personal opinion of the man but he was always going to leave. The amount of times he's talked about the pressure of the game it was obvious - and they don't come with much more pressure than being a tyneside hero and the fans expecting you to work miracles.

 

Given that he was always going to be a short-term measure there were only two ways Ashley could play it: 1) Bend over backwards to keep him as happy as possible for as long as possible. 2) Have a replacement lined up for when the shit hits.

 

As it happened he did neither. Again this is a problem which could have been avoided had he hired a director who had a fucking clue.

 

His third big mistake.

There was always going to be trouble when Keegan left. We still don't know the true story behind Keegan leaving and we probably never will but there was only ever going to be one man winning the PR battle that followed and it wasn't Ashley. From then on it should have been a damage limitation exercise for Ashley. He should have kept coming to the matches. He should have been sympathetic and tried to work towards a strong replacement. But again, he did none of those things and bowed to the initial fan kneejerk responses and he put the club up for sale.

 

This has two negative impacts: 1) The fans felt empowered meaning the protests went on far longer than they should have, which in turn disrupted the harmony at the club. 2) Nobody wanted to come and manage a team that was up for sale, on a temporary contract, with the transfer window closed.

 

Yes, appointing Kinnear was a farce but by that time Ashley had backed himself into a corner. Nobody else of any stature wanted the job and once again, he had nobody around him with any footballing knowledge who might have spotted Kinnear's bullshit from a mile off.

 

His fourth big mistake.

This sort of stems from the other mistakes and that is to do with the time it has taken to replace both Keegan and Kinnear. It's simply ridiculous that even after the disaster earlier in the season when Hughton took over as manager he still took several weeks to find a replacement for Kinnear leaving Hughton in charge a second time. Again this is down to lack of interest in the job and the board's football naivety.

 

The positives

Amongst the catastrophe people have ignored the positives. It's easy to see why. It is hard to see Ashley as anything other than a 2d cartoon villain at times... but you have to give him this; he appears to be learning from his mistakes. Once again he has appointed a media-friendly and fan-friendly motivator in Alan Shearer. Only this time he is bending over backwards to keep him. He's given Wise and medical staff the boot and allowed Shearer to hire what you can only assume is a fairly expensive assistant in Iain Dowie. If we continue down this path we should see a long-term improvement at the club.

 

While we have been selling-off some of our players (rightly or wrongly) we have been getting fantastic money for them. This has no doubt increased our stability and based on Ashley's projections in terms of spending we should now be able to go out and spend some money this summer for the much needed rebuilding of the squad. This will be the key as to whether or not he has my support. He has seen enough of the first time now to know that we're struggling. Even as a novice he will be able to see it plain as day. He's done well backing Shearer so far but he needs to follow that through with financial backing in the summer.

 

I have given Ashley the benefit of the doubt so far with regards to spending. He has said he was only willing to put x amount into the club every year and according to what our smug cunt chairman said recently that means that this year we should see the majority of it going on transfers (as debt has now decreased and top earners will be leaving).

 

Hopefully Ashley has learned the error of his ways and will no longer neglect the first team. In the summer we need to buy and we need to buy quality. I don't care if they're 18 or 28, we need to bring in the right kind of players.

 

If he keeps his word and backs Shearer (or whoever is in charge) then he will have my support. If he has played us all for fools yet again then I'm done with him. That doesn't mean you'll see me walking around with anti-Ashley messages written on bed sheets but I certainly won't be shedding any tears if/when he decides to sell up.

 

The words 'absolute fucking cretin' spring to mind.

 

Very good. Keep them to yourself.

[David Icke - Son of God]

Ashley has made his mistakes, as have many.

 

It's one thing to say "he's the owner so he's ultimately responsible." Which is fair enough really. At the same time, he came into this knowing nowt about football. His forte (and the bit he's got spot on) are the finances.

 

In order to aid him in getting the finances in order he decided it made good financial and footballing sense to buy young talent and develop them - a philosophy that most on here would agree with.

 

To get the most out of our squad of has-beens and cast-offs (that we couldn't afford to replace) he hired a motivator as manager - the exact same thing I (and many others) would have done.

 

On paper he got a lot of it right. The approach is exactly what we needed. The problem came with the execution.

 

His first big mistake.

Given his lack of football knowledge he really should have appointed boards members who knew what the fuck they were doing. When there were rumours of us bringing in David Dein we REALLY should have been bending over backwards to bring him (or someone like him) into the club in order to put Mike's game plan into action.

 

Instead our chairmen have been a lawyer and a smug cunt both with no knowledge or experience of the game. To remedy that Ashley appointed Dennis the Menace as a football executive... a role in which he had no experience and has never shown any qualities that might suggest he'd be any good at it. A year and a bit on and Wise, surprise surprise, is no longer with us.

 

If we had hired someone like David Dein instead of the three stooges you'd imagine that some situations would never have arisen eg. Milner being allowed to leave before a replacement was signed and sealed - that was a schoolboy error of epic proportions. (Same goes for allowing other players to leave)

 

His second big mistake.

Hiring Kevin Keegan was both a master stroke and a disaster. There's no doubt that we needed a motivator to get the most out of our players and someone likeable to take the heat off us in the media. Keegan ticked both boxes. There's also no doubt that Kevin saved us in his first season.

 

That said, from the second Keegan was appointed the speculation was that he wouldn't see out the rest of his contract. Whether you would describe him as 'flaky' or 'principled' is all down to your own personal opinion of the man but he was always going to leave. The amount of times he's talked about the pressure of the game it was obvious - and they don't come with much more pressure than being a tyneside hero and the fans expecting you to work miracles.

 

Given that he was always going to be a short-term measure there were only two ways Ashley could play it: 1) Bend over backwards to keep him as happy as possible for as long as possible. 2) Have a replacement lined up for when the shit hits.

 

As it happened he did neither. Again this is a problem which could have been avoided had he hired a director who had a fucking clue.

 

His third big mistake.

There was always going to be trouble when Keegan left. We still don't know the true story behind Keegan leaving and we probably never will but there was only ever going to be one man winning the PR battle that followed and it wasn't Ashley. From then on it should have been a damage limitation exercise for Ashley. He should have kept coming to the matches. He should have been sympathetic and tried to work towards a strong replacement. But again, he did none of those things and bowed to the initial fan kneejerk responses and he put the club up for sale.

 

This has two negative impacts: 1) The fans felt empowered meaning the protests went on far longer than they should have, which in turn disrupted the harmony at the club. 2) Nobody wanted to come and manage a team that was up for sale, on a temporary contract, with the transfer window closed.

 

Yes, appointing Kinnear was a farce but by that time Ashley had backed himself into a corner. Nobody else of any stature wanted the job and once again, he had nobody around him with any footballing knowledge who might have spotted Kinnear's bullshit from a mile off.

 

His fourth big mistake.

This sort of stems from the other mistakes and that is to do with the time it has taken to replace both Keegan and Kinnear. It's simply ridiculous that even after the disaster earlier in the season when Hughton took over as manager he still took several weeks to find a replacement for Kinnear leaving Hughton in charge a second time. Again this is down to lack of interest in the job and the board's football naivety.

 

The positives

Amongst the catastrophe people have ignored the positives. It's easy to see why. It is hard to see Ashley as anything other than a 2d cartoon villain at times... but you have to give him this; he appears to be learning from his mistakes. Once again he has appointed a media-friendly and fan-friendly motivator in Alan Shearer. Only this time he is bending over backwards to keep him. He's given Wise and medical staff the boot and allowed Shearer to hire what you can only assume is a fairly expensive assistant in Iain Dowie. If we continue down this path we should see a long-term improvement at the club.

 

While we have been selling-off some of our players (rightly or wrongly) we have been getting fantastic money for them. This has no doubt increased our stability and based on Ashley's projections in terms of spending we should now be able to go out and spend some money this summer for the much needed rebuilding of the squad. This will be the key as to whether or not he has my support. He has seen enough of the first time now to know that we're struggling. Even as a novice he will be able to see it plain as day. He's done well backing Shearer so far but he needs to follow that through with financial backing in the summer.

 

I have given Ashley the benefit of the doubt so far with regards to spending. He has said he was only willing to put x amount into the club every year and according to what our smug cunt chairman said recently that means that this year we should see the majority of it going on transfers (as debt has now decreased and top earners will be leaving).

 

Hopefully Ashley has learned the error of his ways and will no longer neglect the first team. In the summer we need to buy and we need to buy quality. I don't care if they're 18 or 28, we need to bring in the right kind of players.

 

If he keeps his word and backs Shearer (or whoever is in charge) then he will have my support. If he has played us all for fools yet again then I'm done with him. That doesn't mean you'll see me walking around with anti-Ashley messages written on bed sheets but I certainly won't be shedding any tears if/when he decides to sell up.

 

The words 'absolute fucking cretin' spring to mind.

 

Very good. Keep them to yourself.

 

You're like a battered housewife. No matter how many times that cunt Ashley slaps you across the chops and calls you a nasty name you think he's going to change.

 

He's fucked this club up through his complete lack of common sense. If you think he's suddenly going to grow a brain and start calling everything right spot on then you're very, very wrong.

[Guest LucaAltieri]

Ashley has made his mistakes, as have many.

 

It's one thing to say "he's the owner so he's ultimately responsible." Which is fair enough really. At the same time, he came into this knowing nowt about football. His forte (and the bit he's got spot on) are the finances.

 

In order to aid him in getting the finances in order he decided it made good financial and footballing sense to buy young talent and develop them - a philosophy that most on here would agree with.

 

To get the most out of our squad of has-beens and cast-offs (that we couldn't afford to replace) he hired a motivator as manager - the exact same thing I (and many others) would have done.

 

On paper he got a lot of it right. The approach is exactly what we needed. The problem came with the execution.

 

His first big mistake.

Given his lack of football knowledge he really should have appointed boards members who knew what the fuck they were doing. When there were rumours of us bringing in David Dein we REALLY should have been bending over backwards to bring him (or someone like him) into the club in order to put Mike's game plan into action.

 

Instead our chairmen have been a lawyer and a smug cunt both with no knowledge or experience of the game. To remedy that Ashley appointed Dennis the Menace as a football executive... a role in which he had no experience and has never shown any qualities that might suggest he'd be any good at it. A year and a bit on and Wise, surprise surprise, is no longer with us.

 

If we had hired someone like David Dein instead of the three stooges you'd imagine that some situations would never have arisen eg. Milner being allowed to leave before a replacement was signed and sealed - that was a schoolboy error of epic proportions. (Same goes for allowing other players to leave)

 

His second big mistake.

Hiring Kevin Keegan was both a master stroke and a disaster. There's no doubt that we needed a motivator to get the most out of our players and someone likeable to take the heat off us in the media. Keegan ticked both boxes. There's also no doubt that Kevin saved us in his first season.

 

That said, from the second Keegan was appointed the speculation was that he wouldn't see out the rest of his contract. Whether you would describe him as 'flaky' or 'principled' is all down to your own personal opinion of the man but he was always going to leave. The amount of times he's talked about the pressure of the game it was obvious - and they don't come with much more pressure than being a tyneside hero and the fans expecting you to work miracles.

 

Given that he was always going to be a short-term measure there were only two ways Ashley could play it: 1) Bend over backwards to keep him as happy as possible for as long as possible. 2) Have a replacement lined up for when the shit hits.

 

As it happened he did neither. Again this is a problem which could have been avoided had he hired a director who had a fucking clue.

 

His third big mistake.

There was always going to be trouble when Keegan left. We still don't know the true story behind Keegan leaving and we probably never will but there was only ever going to be one man winning the PR battle that followed and it wasn't Ashley. From then on it should have been a damage limitation exercise for Ashley. He should have kept coming to the matches. He should have been sympathetic and tried to work towards a strong replacement. But again, he did none of those things and bowed to the initial fan kneejerk responses and he put the club up for sale.

 

This has two negative impacts: 1) The fans felt empowered meaning the protests went on far longer than they should have, which in turn disrupted the harmony at the club. 2) Nobody wanted to come and manage a team that was up for sale, on a temporary contract, with the transfer window closed.

 

Yes, appointing Kinnear was a farce but by that time Ashley had backed himself into a corner. Nobody else of any stature wanted the job and once again, he had nobody around him with any footballing knowledge who might have spotted Kinnear's bullshit from a mile off.

 

His fourth big mistake.

This sort of stems from the other mistakes and that is to do with the time it has taken to replace both Keegan and Kinnear. It's simply ridiculous that even after the disaster earlier in the season when Hughton took over as manager he still took several weeks to find a replacement for Kinnear leaving Hughton in charge a second time. Again this is down to lack of interest in the job and the board's football naivety.

 

The positives

Amongst the catastrophe people have ignored the positives. It's easy to see why. It is hard to see Ashley as anything other than a 2d cartoon villain at times... but you have to give him this; he appears to be learning from his mistakes. Once again he has appointed a media-friendly and fan-friendly motivator in Alan Shearer. Only this time he is bending over backwards to keep him. He's given Wise and medical staff the boot and allowed Shearer to hire what you can only assume is a fairly expensive assistant in Iain Dowie. If we continue down this path we should see a long-term improvement at the club.

 

While we have been selling-off some of our players (rightly or wrongly) we have been getting fantastic money for them. This has no doubt increased our stability and based on Ashley's projections in terms of spending we should now be able to go out and spend some money this summer for the much needed rebuilding of the squad. This will be the key as to whether or not he has my support. He has seen enough of the first time now to know that we're struggling. Even as a novice he will be able to see it plain as day. He's done well backing Shearer so far but he needs to follow that through with financial backing in the summer.

 

I have given Ashley the benefit of the doubt so far with regards to spending. He has said he was only willing to put x amount into the club every year and according to what our smug cunt chairman said recently that means that this year we should see the majority of it going on transfers (as debt has now decreased and top earners will be leaving).

 

Hopefully Ashley has learned the error of his ways and will no longer neglect the first team. In the summer we need to buy and we need to buy quality. I don't care if they're 18 or 28, we need to bring in the right kind of players.

 

If he keeps his word and backs Shearer (or whoever is in charge) then he will have my support. If he has played us all for fools yet again then I'm done with him. That doesn't mean you'll see me walking around with anti-Ashley messages written on bed sheets but I certainly won't be shedding any tears if/when he decides to sell up.

 

The words 'absolute fucking cretin' spring to mind.

 

Very good. Keep them to yourself.

 

You're like a battered housewife. No matter how many times that cunt Ashley slaps you across the chops and calls you a nasty name you think he's going to change.

 

He's fucked this club up through his complete lack of common sense. If you think he's suddenly going to grow a brain and start calling everything right spot on then you're very, very wrong.

 

He doesn't have to so long as he appoints people who do more often than not. Shearer would be a good start.... or would you not see that as progress?

 

Now, if all you've got is name calling can I suggest you toodle off to one of the following:

 

http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-13483.html

http://www.readytogo.net/

[Robster]

Heard a good comparison recently that said when Abramovich went to Chelsea and wanted to make them the best, he went and poached the Chief Exec of the world biggest football club in Peter Kenyon.

 

Ashley came in and took a guy who had managed a casino.

 

The gulf between the 2 choices of men are quite unbelievable and go to show how poor Ashleys decisions have been.

[mrmojorisin75]

this again huh?

[DJ_NUFC]

Heard a good comparison recently that said when Abramovich went to Chelsea and wanted to make them the best, he went and poached the Chief Exec of the world biggest football club in Peter Kenyon.

 

Ashley came in and took a guy who had managed a casino.

 

The gulf between the 2 choices of men are quite unbelievable and go to show how poor Ashleys decisions have been.

 

That says everything you need to know about the fat one's tenure here.

 

It just shows that it really is just black and white.

[NG32]

this again huh?

 

It makes you wet and you know it.

[mrmojorisin75]

this again huh?

 

It makes you wet and you know it.

 

busted

[midds]

Not the time or place for I-told-you-so's to be honest.

 

 

100% this. 

[Guest sittingontheball]

FS was a bad chairman so people understandably wanted him out. His replacement has proved worse, but that does not make FS any better. During Ashley's time, it has also emerged that the club was in serious financial difficulties under FS.

 

My suspicion is that Ashley has been badly advised by his mate at the Spuds who must have big-upped their DoF setup. Spuds did manage fifth consecutively twice, so perhaps that is why he was taken in. Ashley has made very big mistakes and relegation is a very big consequence. The one that riles me personally is that another team with a bankrupt sponsor and loads of name players on ridiculous contracts had their manager walk out on them a matter of hours after the transfer window closed last summer citing a lack of control over transfers. That team is of course West Ham. Instead of dicking about and infighting, West Ham worked immediately to get a replacement, kept the fans informed and on the teams' side, and soon got a decent replacement in. Everything settled down and they've had a quite good season.  All we've done is incompetently stumble from one cock up to the next. It looks like we'll have to pay the ultimate price for them.

[Yorkie]

Whoever plucked the idea of a Keegan/Wise 'partnership' is the number one fella for why we're in this mess.

 

Lots of shite has gone on, and tbh every single major decision Ashley's had to make - he's pretty much got wrong - but if we were to pinpoint one major thing for why we're going to be in the Championship in 2010 - it's that. Chucking those two into the melting pot together is the reason why the stew's been poured down the sink.

 

There's no doubt in my mind that Ashley's the kingpin in our demise, he's the one who has (and hasn't, in many cases) made the decisions. Keegan/Wise, and it's subsequential fall-out, is the one event that ripped the club to bits. But there was no reason why it couldn't have been pieced together again - it simply hasn't happened. Ashley was the one holding the purse strings and the one who had the ultimate power to actually pull it back together, but he didn't - through sheer lack of not having a clue about football (aswell as not having the motivation to care about the club, given the events of Hull (H), and other such episodes of supporter ill-feeling - Llambias' personal pisstake this weekend is clear evidence of that).

 

I was pro a lot of Ashley's policies, as they became increasingly clear throughout 2008 - i don't think many could be argued with the theories. The execution though? Oh my...

[WhatTheFunk]

I do not attribute sole blame to Ashley.

 

Ashley, Mort, Llambias, Keegan & the players share the blame.  What proportion they share, we'll probably never know.

 

Thank you sir. The ONLY post worth reading in this thread.

[Parky]

I do not attribute sole blame to Ashley.

 

Ashley, Mort, Llambias, Keegan & the players share the blame.  What proportion they share, we'll probably never know.

 

Thank you sir. The ONLY post worth reading in this thread.

 

....and the most mundane.

[Guest elbee909]

I do not attribute sole blame to Ashley.

 

Ashley, Mort, Llambias, Keegan & the players share the blame.  What proportion they share, we'll probably never know.

 

Thank you sir. The ONLY post worth reading in this thread.

 

That includes yours

[Parky]

Ashley's antics in selling Faye, Given, Milner and N'Zogbia are what have taken us down (if we do drop). Even with the managerial messes we've had, those players would have been enough - his eyes lit up upon seeing the cheques.

 

I wouldn't brake if I saw the cunt crossing the road.

[Parky]

But what's done is done... let's see what he can do from here on.

 

Jesus, we're going down.  Never mind, what's done is done.  There there Mike, you've made a couple of booboos, but no point crying over spilt milk.  Undoubtedly the players take some of the blame for this - they've been a fucking disgrace for the most part, but Mike Ashley has got every big decision since he came to this club wrong, and we will be playing in the Championship next year as a direct result of his mistakes.  You'll have to forgive me and others if we're not quite as prepared as you are to just shrug them off.

 

As I've said, he's made mistakes but they're at the very top level. He's also got a lot of things right with his overall approach. If he keeps the same approach but implements it better we will see significant long-term improvement.

 

What happens on the pitch is not solely down to Ashley. Our current plight is down to several factors:

 

1) Ashley

2) The board

3) Kevin Keegan

4) Joe Kinnear

5) The players

6) The fans (specifically the protesters)

 

All have played their parts in equal measure.

 

There's no telling what would happen if Ashley was to sell up. In my opinion it's better the devil you know... particularly if he is showing signs of improving.

 

In equal measure??!!!!!!!!!! Rubbish.

[Yorkie]

I disagree with Wullie tbh... for one thing - N'Zogbia had been pretty poor given that he blatantly didn't want to be here. Aye, you can't blame him (or any of them) for not wanting to be at this club, but with N'Zogbia - that had been the case for years.

 

Faye, meh. He was good but always injured and again, didn't want to be here. Allardyce fanboy at the end of the day. Milner was a bit meh, at £12m that was hardly a mistake. Not bringing anyone else in was a mistake like, but that's another matter. Given i will give you, but again, he didn't want to be here... although as we're led to believe, Ashley was the reason for that anyway.

 

Tbh, i think Kinnear could have had Kaka, Ronaldinho and Eto'o to pick from - we'd still be lingering around the relegation spots.

[Parky]

Yep, there were loads that wanted the club to be relegated.

 

WUM.

 

Let's rephrase it shall I...some are getting what they *deserve*

 

That better for you?

 

Nope. All the fans are getting what the mob created when they turned on Ashley.

 

By agreeing with Ashley's buy young and cheap policy I don't automatically deserve to see my club relegated.

 

Those that made the club an undesirable place to be for players, potential players and managers are the ones who have what they deserve. They are 50% of the reason the best we could come up with was Joe fucking Kinnear.

 

Ashley single handed made it an undesirbale place. Soley buying young/cheap/knackers/ doesn't keep you in the PL.

[WhatTheFunk]

I do not attribute sole blame to Ashley.

 

Ashley, Mort, Llambias, Keegan & the players share the blame.  What proportion they share, we'll probably never know.

 

Thank you sir. The ONLY post worth reading in this thread.

 

That includes yours

 

quite correct. im just pointing people towards the light here

 

LLLO's post is gospel

[Cronky]

Heard a good comparison recently that said when Abramovich went to Chelsea and wanted to make them the best, he went and poached the Chief Exec of the world biggest football club in Peter Kenyon.

 

Ashley came in and took a guy who had managed a casino.

 

The gulf between the 2 choices of men are quite unbelievable and go to show how poor Ashleys decisions have been.

 

Abramovich also spent over £200 million on new players, for a team that had finished 4th the previous season. That's a far better explanation of Chelsea's success than appointing Peter Kenyon.

 

 

The one that riles me personally is that another team with a bankrupt sponsor and loads of name players on ridiculous contracts had their manager walk out on them a matter of hours after the transfer window closed last summer citing a lack of control over transfers. That team is of course West Ham. Instead of dicking about and infighting, West Ham worked immediately to get a replacement, kept the fans informed and on the teams' side, and soon got a decent replacement in. Everything settled down and they've had a quite good season.  All we've done is incompetently stumble from one cock up to the next. It looks like we'll have to pay the ultimate price for them.

 

Curbishley's status at West Ham was not the same as Keegan's at Newcastle, and his resignation did not provoke a campaign to oust the board.

 

Arguing by analogy is a dangerous exercise.

[Yorkie]

Heard a good comparison recently that said when Abramovich went to Chelsea and wanted to make them the best, he went and poached the Chief Exec of the world biggest football club in Peter Kenyon.

 

Ashley came in and took a guy who had managed a casino.

 

The gulf between the 2 choices of men are quite unbelievable and go to show how poor Ashleys decisions have been.

 

Abramovich also spent over £200 million on new players, for a team that had finished 4th the previous season. That's a far better explanation of Chelsea's success than appointing Peter Kenyon.

 

 

The one that riles me personally is that another team with a bankrupt sponsor and loads of name players on ridiculous contracts had their manager walk out on them a matter of hours after the transfer window closed last summer citing a lack of control over transfers. That team is of course West Ham. Instead of dicking about and infighting, West Ham worked immediately to get a replacement, kept the fans informed and on the teams' side, and soon got a decent replacement in. Everything settled down and they've had a quite good season.  All we've done is incompetently stumble from one cock up to the next. It looks like we'll have to pay the ultimate price for them.

 

Curbishley's status at West Ham was not the same as Keegan's at Newcastle, and his resignation did not provoke a campaign to oust the board.

 

Arguing by analogy is a dangerous exercise.

 

True, but i honestly don't see how it makes any difference? Sittingontheball said West Ham: kept the fans informed, appointed a manager. How did Keegan's stature here obstruct the chance to do either of those things.