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Mike Ashley


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Ten - 55 years without a trophy, there is going to be some party when that ends

 

I agree it is going to be amazing, fairs cup not count though?

 

Of course not. Mackems telt me. That's why they never took part, not worthy of their time.

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Lifted from this week's TBAWE - quite a decent overview.

 

The mission statement focused on the club’s strategy of scouting and attracting young players to United who can be developed into top players rather than weighing in for pop-star signings to keep the season ticket renewals coming in and make good friends with agents. There is little to object to in this having despaired of the monies squandered on pay-day chasing old pros who have viewed Newcastle United as the last stop on their pension plan. Too many knackered old pros have been brought in - Viduka, Babayaro, Kluivert, Duff, Smith, Geremi, Cacapa, Campbell et al and I shudder to think how much money has been wasted on them not to mention poorly scouted and researched parasites like Owen, Luque, Marcelino, Maric, Ambrose, Boumsong, Viana, Cort, Martins … God this is depressing, I’ll stop now. Few people are going to argue with that and nor will they take issue with ongoing investment in the academy when it produces the likes of Carroll, Krul, Ferguson, Sammy Ameobi, Vuckic and has us trooping to Whitley Bay to freeze our nads off to watch other United kids as well as scanning match reports from Carlisle to Gateshead to check out the progress of Tavernier and Henderson.

 

I get a little wistful when I read about the good work being conducted at Benton and can’t help wishing we’d done this years ago instead of scrapping the Reserve team whilst Hall concentrated on buying up Rugby, Ice Hockey, Basketball teams and racing cars (oh and drawing up a Rough Guide To Spanish Bordellos) whilst Newcastle United’s training facilities were, well not to put a fine a point on it, shit. But its being done now and everyone I’ve spoken to who has had any involvement with what is going on there, is very impressed. All of the indications are the club is at last being run professionally and whilst we guffawed previously at Arsenal of the North claims, now we can see what they were going on about. It would be churlish not to praise Mike Ashley for this work. This is his strategy in operation and its an exciting one. We all love to see players coming through the ranks and it adds another dimension to following the club.

 

As much as they have been slaughtered on these pages (with justification, I’d maintain) for the events culminating in relegation in 2009 (and plenty after), I’d take Ashley’s blueprint for United over anything Shepherd-Hall presided over, in a period of the club’s history that can only be described as a one of missed opportunities, greed and incompetence. This blueprint may not deliver Barca-style football and a trophy cabinet filled like the one at Old Trafford but it is the right one for the club given the financial bracket we are in. News that Mike Ashley was paying off the transfer fees of players who had left the club when he arrived should be set against the tens of millions pulled out of United in the cash-grab conducted by Hall-Shepherd. When I hear either man opining on United, I want to puke. The club was heading for disaster under those two charlatans but they rarely removed their snouts from the trough.

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Guest vainsharpdad

http://www.trophy4toon.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2275.0

 

"Apparently Qatar are looking at buying a football club to promote their football pedigree ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

 

Rumour is they have looked at Tottenham, Everton and Newcastle with us being the favourites as we already have the stadium, fans and team in place. "

 

 

They bought PSG

 

Aye - but if they are still looking for UK exposure some sort of sponsorship / partnership approach would make sense in that context.

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http://www.express.co.uk/football/view/280644/Support-for-Newcastle-owner-Mike-Ashley-from-unlikeliest-of-sources

 

 

Freddy Shepherd is still a Newcastle fan

 

 

FORMER Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd celebrated his 70th birthday last night with a big party in London.

 

 

It was attended by a number of football luminaries but safe to say there was no invitation for current Toon owner Mike Ashley.

 

Shepherd was ill in hospital in 2007 when he discovered Sir John Hall had sold his majority shareholding to the sports shop magnate, effectively forcing Newcastle United-daft Freddy to sell up too.

 

The largesse of the Hall and Shepherd era, which encompassed Kevin Keegan’s great entertainers, has been followed by the frugal financial times of the Ashley empire.

 

After Hall and Shepherd lavished around £130million on players, Ashley followed his Sports Direct policy of pile high and sell as he placed a squeeze on spending while flogging marketable football assets like Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan.

 

With Alan Pardew at the managerial helm, young and hungry players like Yohan Cabaye and Sylvain Marveaux were imported.

 

 

 

 

 

I am still a massive Newcastle fan

 

 

 

Former Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd

 

 

 

 

Pardew’s energised side travel to Stoke tomorrow still unbeaten in the Premier League. Around 4,500 members of the Toon Army travelled to Blackburn in midweek to witness a spectacular 4-3 defeat which seemed to belong to a bygone era. The fact that they almost pulled the Carling Cup tie out of the bag earned more praise.

 

Some of it has come from an unlikely source, Shepherd. He admitted: “I am still a massive Newcastle fan. True to say Mike and I have not always seen eye to eye but you’ve got to give him some of the credit for what is happening this season.

 

“I think it’s time for the fans to get fully behind him and give him a chance. After all, no one really owns Newcastle because it’s simply a football institution.

 

 

“Maybe he is right in his policy and I was wrong. Maybe we gave our managers too much money to spend in the transfer market. I reckon we spent around £300m on players like Alan Shearer, David Ginola, Les Ferdinand, Tino Asprilla and Michael Owen.

 

“Though we never won anything, it was still a great adventure for everyone connected with Newcastle. We were known all over the world. I have a photo of the day they pulled down Saddam Hussein’s statue in Iraq – there was a guy with a Toon shirt beside it.

 

“The fans are now clearly behind Alan Pardew and the team, and if they get behind the directors the only way they can go is up.”

 

Shepherd has been offered five clubs to buy since he left St James’ Park but added: “I am a Geordie. You can change your bank, your accountant, your wife, but you can’t change your football team.”

 

Ex-Magpies player John Anderson watches all their games for BBC Radio Newcastle and has been impressed.

 

“They showed real bottle at Blackburn,” said the former Republic of Ireland international. “Going into added-time 2-0 down, a lot of sides would have thrown the towel in. They got back into it with two great goals and were unfortunate to lose in extra-time.

 

“They have a togetherness and a belief. They don’t seem to know when they are beaten. A lot of people were saying this was a big season for Alan Pardew. This is his team after coming in halfway through last season. Right now he deserves an A-plus.”

 

Pardew revealed: “He (Ashley) wants us to be a top-10 side. Success drives him on. He does it in a way that sometimes can be brutal but my job is to manage that.

 

“Hopefully we can be successful but we’re not going to be by paying over the odds and trying to compete with Manchester City.”

 

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I swear there's an article every 6 months titled "Shepherd is still a Newcastle supporter". :lol:

 

 

are there many cases of people stopping being supporters?

 

Neesy but he changed his mind once we won a few games.

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