Is Mike Ashley steering Newcastle United in the right direction?

[Guest neesy111]

All he needs to do is get rid of fucking Derek and replace him with someone like Chris Mort, someone with at least half a brain.

 

Would that be serial liar Chris Mort?

 

He can lie all he wants, I couldn't give a fuck what they tell the fans.  It's what they actually go and do that bothers me.

 

mort brought in wise etc

[Skeletor]

I was pleased with our January activity, but that was more because I'd gotten so used to this regime letting us down time and time again. Think the permanent signings we brought in (plus the loans) have done alright...bar Leon Best but not every signing works out. I'm still nervous about the summer if we go up. I have no faith he's willing to invest what needs to be invested in terms of transfer fees and wages.

[Wullie]

Journalists reckon Newcastle fans are fickle, not half as fickle as the fucking journos themselves. Let's all lick Mike Ashley's hoop for being top of a division that his incompetence condemned us to. Let's not, eh?

[Liam Liam Liam O]

All he needs to do is get rid of fucking Derek and replace him with someone like Chris Mort, someone with at least half a brain.

 

Would that be serial liar Chris Mort?

 

He can lie all he wants, I couldn't give a fuck what they tell the fans.  It's what they actually go and do that bothers me.

 

He lied to Keegan & presumably drew up the contract for him that turned out to be as water tight as a carrier bag which is pretty poor given that he's supposed to be a high flying lawyer.

[Tisd09]

Anyone reading that article will make people think that only us fans gave Ashley stick last season. No matter what he did last season the journos hammered him, some of the stuff rightly so.

 

The decision making has definately improved this season, but could it get any worse? He is keeping his head down and things are working on the pitch so for now I am happy. As some have said he has massive decisions ahead of him. Will he get it right? I hope so.

[Wullie]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

[Mick]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

We bought players in January because we thought that we might not go up, the money was spent to try and improve our chances of promotion.  It's just a pity we didn't do the same to stay up but at least it does look like lessons were learned.

[Wullie]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

We bought players in January because we thought that we might not go up, the money was spent to try and improve our chances of promotion.  It's just a pity we didn't do the same to stay up but at least it does look like lessons were learned.

 

I'm sure it was but if we hadn't been favourites, he would not have done it imo. Too much chance of not getting it back.

[Thespence]

Del has been speaking non-stop this week due to his sons film premiere. There are few threads knocking around atm so if a mod/admin want to merge it feel free.

 

Mike Ashley is seeking a rapprochement with those Newcastle United fans whose militant demeanour has put an end to his once famous nights out on the Toon. The Newcastle owner's often controversial modus operandi has been staunchly defended by Derek Llambias, the managing director, who revealed that Ashley recently invested a further £25m in a club he now shows no sign of trying to sell.

 

Llambias is saddened that, even though Chris Hughton's team top the Championship, some supporters continue to abuse Ashley throughout matches and seem unable to forgive him for allowing Kevin Keegan to leave St James' Park before presiding over last season's relegation from the Premier League.

 

"That needs to stop," said Llambias, referring to the abuse. "Enough's enough. It frustrates me because we know what we've done behind the scenes and what Mike's committed to financially. We'd like to be able to go out on the town after a win – we always used to – and enjoy the crowd but it's very difficult for us to do that now. We understand we've made mistakes but they happened. Now we need to move forward."

 

Llambias and Ashley – once regulars in Bigg Market watering holes such as Blu Bambu – have been accused, with considerable justification, of a failure to communicate properly with the fans but the former said: "Whenever we've tried to communicate it's always ended up backfiring somewhere along the line. We're quite happy now to sit back and let our team do the talking."

 

How long will it be Ashley's team though? "The club's not for sale," said Llambias. "Mike took it off the market. He's decided that's it, he's going to back it as much as he can. He's committed to getting it up to the Premier League. That's why we spent so much money, why we spent £5.5m on new players in the January transfer window.

 

"We are going to carry on, put the club back to where it needs to be and move it along on our original business plan. With promotion we'll be able to grow and, two years down the line, we'll have a much better pot for buying players."

 

While the original Ashley plan featured a continental-style director of football, namely Dennis Wise, it is thought this aspect of the owner's blueprint has been scrapped. However, Newcastle now refuse to buy players over the age of 26 as they want every signing to have re-sale value and impose a strict wage ceiling on new recruits.

 

Not that Llambias wants to give the impression Ashley is cheapskating. "Mike put £25m into the club in December to keep it going," he said. "We needed to support our manager in January and we spent £5.5m on the team. We are fully committed."

 

Unfortunately an element of Newcastle fans still cannot wait to see the back of Llambias and Ashley. "It's just a very small minority," said Llambias. "There's no reality about them."

 

In his view, such dissenters cannot see that, in attempting to cut costs, Ashley has been a prophet in the footballing wilderness. "Slowly reality is coming into football - look at Portsmouth and West Ham," said Llambias. "The reality is football is not what it was."

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/mar/05/mike-ashley-newcastle-united-fans

[cubaricho]

More bullshit quotes strung together by "journalist" trying to polarize the fans.

[OzzieMandias]

"regulars" at Blu Bamboo.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

I mean, I'm not the biggest Ashley hater, and I agree it is a bit cringe worthy that it goes on every game, even when winning. However, its even worse he wants to go out on the Town after a win again! Just no.

 

Manage the club. Do a good job and in time we'll forgive (not forget), but don't go out, party boy.

[Howaythelads]

What has to stop is this shite from the Fat man and his monkey banging about putting money into the club when it was the profit taking of Jan 2009 and a string of stupid decisions from an inept idiot that got the club relegated and lost millions. He's probably too dumb to see it's down to him he's supposedly stumping up this cash, not that I believe a word the chimp says anyway.

[Guest Geordiesned]

They don't want to go to Blu Bamboo. They might get glassed!

[OzzieMandias]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

It's bollocks about him not "backing" us in the summer, though. He "backed" us by letting Hughton keep all the players who weren't suddenly looking for greener pastures and making up the shortfall on a wage bill that's pretty damn heavy by this league's standards. There was no fire sale. Having watched how it went, he then funded Hughton in addressing most of the obvious problems in January. Your concluding sentence is nonsense.

[Mick]

I mean, I'm not the biggest Ashley hater, and I agree it is a bit cringe worthy that it goes on every game, even when winning. However, its even worse he wants to go out on the Town after a win again! Just no.

 

Manage the club. Do a good job and in time we'll forgive (not forget), but don't go out, party boy.

 

Why shouldn't he go into town after a game?  Why should they or anybody else be unable to go out in town?

[Mick]

They don't want to go to Blu Bamboo. They might get glassed!

 

[jdckelly]

I mean, I'm not the biggest Ashley hater, and I agree it is a bit cringe worthy that it goes on every game, even when winning. However, its even worse he wants to go out on the Town after a win again! Just no.

 

Manage the club. Do a good job and in time we'll forgive (not forget), but don't go out, party boy.

 

Why shouldn't he go into town after a game?  Why should they or anybody else be unable to go out in town?

fair question

[Colocho]

I have complete and utter trust in Mike Ashley's running of this club.

[Guest malandro]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

We bought players in January because we thought that we might not go up, the money was spent to try and improve our chances of promotion.  It's just a pity we didn't do the same to stay up but at least it does look like lessons were learned.

Could he have done that without spending some ‘real’ money? The £2-3m we spent this January wouldn’t buy you one proven PL standard player.  Basically he spent as little as possible to make sure our stroll to promotion wasn’t derailed by an injury crisis. There’s nowt wrong with that but spending as little as he thinks he can get away doesn’t seem like a policy shift to me.

 

I think we’ll struggle but stay up, and there’ll be a distinct change in the atmosphere at SJP as we start losing a lot of games again. Personally I’d prefer to see a few proper contests and have a lot less points than watch another season of men against boys. 

 

[Wullie]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

It's bollocks about him not "backing" us in the summer, though. He "backed" us by letting Hughton keep all the players who weren't suddenly looking for greener pastures and making up the shortfall on a wage bill that's pretty damn heavy by this league's standards. There was no fire sale. Having watched how it went, he then funded Hughton in addressing most of the obvious problems in January. Your concluding sentence is nonsense.

 

If by backing us you mean "keeping the shit he'd signed on ludicrous wages because no fucker would be stupid enough to buy them" then yeah you're right.

 

It can't be any more nonsense than you sniffing his arse all last season and telling us how good it smelt. All the while you told us what a brilliant job he was doing then whoops, we got relegated, however did that happen? Poor Mike, it's not his fault.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

I mean, I'm not the biggest Ashley hater, and I agree it is a bit cringe worthy that it goes on every game, even when winning. However, its even worse he wants to go out on the Town after a win again! Just no.

 

Manage the club. Do a good job and in time we'll forgive (not forget), but don't go out, party boy.

 

Why shouldn't he go into town after a game?  Why should they or anybody else be unable to go out in town?

fair question

 

Doesn't look very professional. Nothing against him going out drinking, but to go out with the fans again - do you really want that?

[Guest malandro]

Has the decision making improved this season? I think we could just as easily have sank this season as swam because he wasn't prepared to back us in the summer. The players and the manager can take the credit for how we've done, Ashley has just got lucky. He's bought a few players in January because he thinks we're up - if we'd been so much as in the play-off positions, he'd have kept his hand firmly in his pocket.

 

It's bollocks about him not "backing" us in the summer, though. He "backed" us by letting Hughton keep all the players who weren't suddenly looking for greener pastures and making up the shortfall on a wage bill that's pretty damn heavy by this league's standards. There was no fire sale. Having watched how it went, he then funded Hughton in addressing most of the obvious problems in January. Your concluding sentence is nonsense.

You mean we kept the players we couldn’t get rid off?  It’s not like somebody was going to come in and offer Smith, Butt or Sideshow Bob £50k+ 

[Mick]

Could he have done that without spending some real money? The £2-3m we spent this January wouldnt buy you one proven PL standard player.  Basically he spent as little as possible to make sure our stroll to promotion wasnt derailed by an injury crisis. Theres nowt wrong with that but spending as little as he thinks he can get away doesnt seem like a policy shift to me.

 

I think well struggle but stay up, and therell be a distinct change in the atmosphere at SJP as we start losing a lot of games again. Personally Id prefer to see a few proper contests and have a lot less points than watch another season of men against boys.  

 

 

We spent £5.5 million in January and I think we could have managed without it.

 

If he wanted to spend as little as possible then we could have gotten rid of more high earners than we did.

[timnufc22]

I mean, I'm not the biggest Ashley hater, and I agree it is a bit cringe worthy that it goes on every game, even when winning. However, its even worse he wants to go out on the Town after a win again! Just no.

 

Manage the club. Do a good job and in time we'll forgive (not forget), but don't go out, party boy.

 

Why shouldn't he go into town after a game?  Why should they or anybody else be unable to go out in town?

fair question

 

Aye thats fair enough, I wouldnt use violence against them and itd be wrong for anyone else to. I just think they both have little respect for the fans, so the image of them partying with their 'customers' that they've shafted while potentially concluding a deal for the stadium to be called Asda@SJP is a bit slimy. But like I said, they should obviously have the right to go where they want, and if they seriously want to make ahmends and make the club succesful, and that happens, then Im sure it will be easier for them to do so.