Mike Ashley

[Benwell Lad]

There have been various protests since Ashley arrived. Have any of them had a positive effect? They've arguably made the situation worse.

 

I seem to remember you being a big fan of protests against the NUFC board in the past.

 

Thanks for the characteristically cheap shot.

 

No answer to my honest question, however. There have been protests. Did you think they did any good?

 

How's it a cheap shot? For people who are unhappy with the direction and stewardship of the club there's little alternative other than to shut up and meekly accept it. Something you weren't prepared to do under the previous regime. Strange.

 

Still going for the man and not for the ball.

 

I'll rephrase my question yet again, in the probably vain hope of actually getting an answer:

 

If you think any of the protests against Ashley have had a positive effect, please tell me what it was.

 

A protest in our case will make little or no difference to MA's personal conscience, he does effectively hold all the cards with regards to NUFC however that does not mean to say that the/a protest was or would be unsuccessful.

 

What we as fans need to do is to highlight the mismanagement of NUFC and promote our worries and views to the national media, this is where our protests come in to play we need to use them as a vehicle to carry our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view because this is the only way that we will rid ourselves of MA.

 

The knowledge of our demise is out there we just need to promote it and bring it even further into the public light.  With this we can give MA a motivation to sell NUFC, he is not going to want bad headlines which could effect his FTSE 100 baby, at the moment he is cozy in bed with NUFC his business uses it as a vehicle to grow profits and he has the benefit of being able to draw money from the club as he pleases.

 

IMO Protests need to be used to highlight our issues and ultimately put us in the shop window for a new owner.  We can force MA out but chants of "sack the board" and FCB aren't going to do it.

 

Football club ownership is a very flawed thing nowadays and whether it's an oligarch, a US hedge fund operator, a "sovereign state", or local boy made good like Steve Gibson, it leaves itself open to criticism and fans are seldom totally happy.

As a veteran of several Newcastle "anti board" campaigns over decades I don't think we can "force MA out". His position is very different and when he goes it will be pretty much on his terms.

 

[TRon]

There have been various protests since Ashley arrived. Have any of them had a positive effect? They've arguably made the situation worse.

 

I seem to remember you being a big fan of protests against the NUFC board in the past.

 

Thanks for the characteristically cheap shot.

 

No answer to my honest question, however. There have been protests. Did you think they did any good?

 

How's it a cheap shot? For people who are unhappy with the direction and stewardship of the club there's little alternative other than to shut up and meekly accept it. Something you weren't prepared to do under the previous regime. Strange.

 

Still going for the man and not for the ball.

 

I'll rephrase my question yet again, in the probably vain hope of actually getting an answer:

 

If you think any of the protests against Ashley have had a positive effect, please tell me what it was.

 

A protest in our case will make little or no difference to MA's personal conscience, he does effectively hold all the cards with regards to NUFC however that does not mean to say that the/a protest was or would be unsuccessful.

 

What we as fans need to do is to highlight the mismanagement of NUFC and promote our worries and views to the national media, this is where our protests come in to play we need to use them as a vehicle to carry our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view because this is the only way that we will rid ourselves of MA.

 

The knowledge of our demise is out there we just need to promote it and bring it even further into the public light.  With this we can give MA a motivation to sell NUFC, he is not going to want bad headlines which could effect his FTSE 100 baby, at the moment he is cozy in bed with NUFC his business uses it as a vehicle to grow profits and he has the benefit of being able to draw money from the club as he pleases.

 

IMO Protests need to be used to highlight our issues and ultimately put us in the shop window for a new owner.  We can force MA out but chants of "sack the board" and FCB aren't going to do it.

 

Good post, and some good ideas. A protest campaign needs to be intelligent and well presented. While there might be good reason to be annoyed at Ashley's running of the club, we need an alternative owner on the horizon before we start getting militant otherwise all it will achieve is him taking his money out of the club sooner rather than later.

[Benwell Lad]

There have been various protests since Ashley arrived. Have any of them had a positive effect? They've arguably made the situation worse.

 

I seem to remember you being a big fan of protests against the NUFC board in the past.

 

Thanks for the characteristically cheap shot.

 

No answer to my honest question, however. There have been protests. Did you think they did any good?

 

How's it a cheap shot? For people who are unhappy with the direction and stewardship of the club there's little alternative other than to shut up and meekly accept it. Something you weren't prepared to do under the previous regime. Strange.

 

Still going for the man and not for the ball.

 

I'll rephrase my question yet again, in the probably vain hope of actually getting an answer:

 

If you think any of the protests against Ashley have had a positive effect, please tell me what it was.

 

A protest in our case will make little or no difference to MA's personal conscience, he does effectively hold all the cards with regards to NUFC however that does not mean to say that the/a protest was or would be unsuccessful.

 

What we as fans need to do is to highlight the mismanagement of NUFC and promote our worries and views to the national media, this is where our protests come in to play we need to use them as a vehicle to carry our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view because this is the only way that we will rid ourselves of MA.

 

The knowledge of our demise is out there we just need to promote it and bring it even further into the public light.  With this we can give MA a motivation to sell NUFC, he is not going to want bad headlines which could effect his FTSE 100 baby, at the moment he is cozy in bed with NUFC his business uses it as a vehicle to grow profits and he has the benefit of being able to draw money from the club as he pleases.

 

IMO Protests need to be used to highlight our issues and ultimately put us in the shop window for a new owner.  We can force MA out but chants of "sack the board" and FCB aren't going to do it.

 

Good post, and some good ideas. A protest campaign needs to be intelligent and well presented. While there might be good reason to be annoyed at Ashley's running of the club, we need an alternative owner on the horizon before we start getting militant otherwise all it will achieve is him taking his money out of the club sooner rather than later.

 

Isn't the line "our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view " slightly delusional ?

Why would anyone else be particularly interested in our ownership ?

Most fans in football bitch about their owners to a greater or lesser extent, and bearing in mind our current players, position and readiness for FFP etc, I doubt many fans in Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bristol, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, or anywhere else for that matter, will be too concerned about Newcastle fans' latest grievances.

[Guest neesy111]

http://tyneandwear.sky.com/newcastleunited/article/81225/nufc-supporters-unite-in-get-mike-ashley-out-protest-march

[PCW1983]

There have been various protests since Ashley arrived. Have any of them had a positive effect? They've arguably made the situation worse.

 

I seem to remember you being a big fan of protests against the NUFC board in the past.

 

Thanks for the characteristically cheap shot.

 

No answer to my honest question, however. There have been protests. Did you think they did any good?

 

How's it a cheap shot? For people who are unhappy with the direction and stewardship of the club there's little alternative other than to shut up and meekly accept it. Something you weren't prepared to do under the previous regime. Strange.

 

Still going for the man and not for the ball.

 

I'll rephrase my question yet again, in the probably vain hope of actually getting an answer:

 

If you think any of the protests against Ashley have had a positive effect, please tell me what it was.

 

A protest in our case will make little or no difference to MA's personal conscience, he does effectively hold all the cards with regards to NUFC however that does not mean to say that the/a protest was or would be unsuccessful.

 

What we as fans need to do is to highlight the mismanagement of NUFC and promote our worries and views to the national media, this is where our protests come in to play we need to use them as a vehicle to carry our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view because this is the only way that we will rid ourselves of MA.

 

The knowledge of our demise is out there we just need to promote it and bring it even further into the public light.  With this we can give MA a motivation to sell NUFC, he is not going to want bad headlines which could effect his FTSE 100 baby, at the moment he is cozy in bed with NUFC his business uses it as a vehicle to grow profits and he has the benefit of being able to draw money from the club as he pleases.

 

IMO Protests need to be used to highlight our issues and ultimately put us in the shop window for a new owner.  We can force MA out but chants of "sack the board" and FCB aren't going to do it.

 

Good post, and some good ideas. A protest campaign needs to be intelligent and well presented. While there might be good reason to be annoyed at Ashley's running of the club, we need an alternative owner on the horizon before we start getting militant otherwise all it will achieve is him taking his money out of the club sooner rather than later.

 

Isn't the line "our sorry clubs demise into the national and international view " slightly delusional ?

Why would anyone else be particularly interested in our ownership ?

Most fans in football bitch about their owners to a greater or lesser extent, and bearing in mind our current players, position and readiness for FFP etc, I doubt many fans in Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bristol, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, or anywhere else for that matter, will be too concerned about Newcastle fans' latest grievances.

 

By that i mean, our best chance of getting a new owner is to advertise the fact that we are unhappy with how things are.  There is a owner out there somewhere and our best chance of getting one is to bring the club to that person's attention whether they be from a national or international base.

 

My example would be this, Lets say we had a stay away for a live televised home game, Man Utd at home for arguments sake.  Well that would be a international message (with the game being watched all over the world), a message that says that we are so unhappy that we are willing to demonstrate whilst playing against the champions of England......we need to prick the mind of the person/s that want to buy and in the mean time will bring unwanted attention to MA.

 

So i suppose my point would be, the idea is to bring ourselves to the attention of a new owner not other football fans.

[NG32]

I suggested that pages ago.

 

Nothing will happen, people will go to the game regardless if ashely has raped their wife or not.

 

Nowts going to change anytime soon, if ever.

 

 

He has the nufc brand , hollowed it out and filled it with sports ditect tat.  He aint selling anytime soon.  why would he?

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

I can see what Southampton, Norwich and Swansea have done with their 60 million quid Telly cash. I wonder what Ashley's done with ours.

[Interpolic]

I suggested that pages ago.

 

Nothing will happen, people will go to the game regardless if ashely has raped their wife or not.

 

Nowts going to change anytime soon, if ever.

 

 

He has the nufc brand , hollowed it out and filled it with sports ditect tat.  He aint selling anytime soon.  why would he?

 

Ashley's raping people's wives now? He is a fucking wrong'un him like.

[NG32]

Mentally he is

[Interpolic]

He's mentally raping people's wives?  I think all owners do that tbf.

[NG32]

Raping them with shit sports wear and free mugs

[Interpolic]

There are loads of them mugs knocking about at my work, I'm always saying "Enjoy your Ashley juice, tosser".  Nobody knows what I'm on about.

[NG32]

Ashley juice

 

 

Not touchin anything from that shop unless the cunt starts selling ice hockey gear.  which he wont cos hes a cunt

[Belfast Mags]

Basically we need a serious journalistic endeavour to start exposing the dodgy dealing in relation to NUFC, how MA has basically hollowed out the club for his own ends and subjugated us to Sport Direct United FC.

[Belfast Mags]

So Wife asks me earlier about Newcastle and what's happen with the club etc so I start into a long winded assessment of where we are, blah blah blah and she just stops me and says "can you just break this down into a simple analogy so I can get the drift of it?"

 

Fair enough

 

"OK, lets assume that football is space, so basically, NUFC was the Starship Enterprise, a pretty cool ship manned by some interesting characters, cruising the galaxy doing neat things, all individual and shit and then out of blue the Borg (Sports Direct) turn up with their "resistance is futile" bollocks and take us over.

Basically we've been assimilated love, we're just a faceless, corporate void now bereft of any independent function, we're completely and utter "owned" by a entity that cares only for itself"

 

Was just met by total silence like 

 

Women, they know shite all about anything

 

 

[Rich]

Transitions seamlessly from football to Star Trek and expects her to follow

 

This is why I'm a big fan of Belfast Mags, fucking mint.

[Mick]

I don't know if this link has been posted.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2419156/Alan-Shearer-Andy-Cole-Rob-Lee-slam-Newcastle-owner-Mike-Ashley-Joe-Kinnear.html

 

Look what they've done to our club! Ashley and Kinnear taken to task by trio of former Toon greats

 

By Sam Cunningham

 

PUBLISHED: 22:40, 12 September 2013  | UPDATED: 22:40, 12 September 2013 

 

 

Newcastle United legends have slammed club owner Mike Ashley and  his sidekick Joe  Kinnear for the way the club is being run into the ground.

 

Fans turned out in droves for Steve Harper’s testimonial on Wednesday — the sell-out 50,793 crowd at St James’ Park was their highest this season.

 

There were 4,000 more than at their previous home game against Fulham, which said as much about their love of former goalkeeper Harper as it did their hatred for Ashley and Kinnear.

 

Gone are the days of competing for the Premier League title and glorious Champions League nights; of record transfer fees and regular England internationals turning out every weekend in front of an  adoring Geordie faithful.

 

After they had pulled on the black-and-white strip once again this week to play for a Newcastle Legends side, former greats Alan Shearer, Rob Lee and Andy Cole, stars of that golden spell in the 1990s, spoke out about the current plight of the club.

 

They fear no-one wants to play for Newcastle any more, claim the club are going backwards and believe Ashley should step aside.

 

Alan Shearer

 

The Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer joined Newcastle in July 1996 for a world record £15m and spent the rest of his career at St James’ Park. He scored 206 goals in 404 games and until recently had a bar at the ground named after him. Even his time as manager, when Newcastle were relegated in 2009, did nothing to tarnish his legendary status among fans. 

 

Andy Cole

 

Though only at the club for a relatively brief period, Cole made his mark. He joined from Bristol City in February 1993 and immediately helped Newcastle win promotion to the Premier League. In his next season he scored an incredible 41 goals in all competitions — which remains a club record for most goals in a season — before joining Manchester United.

 

Lee said: ‘Kevin Keegan sold this club to me when I joined. If Joe Kinnear was speaking to you, are you going to join this football club? I’m not so sure. Players don’t want to join Newcastle any more.

 

‘It’s not going to be a short-term fix. It’s not a case of the club only needing a couple of players and then they’ll be very good. It’s more long-term than that. There aren’t the kids coming through the academy any more. Since I left we’ve had Steven Taylor, Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi.’

 

The club broke the bank and the world-record transfer fee when they signed Shearer for £15million from Blackburn Rovers in 1996. Does he think those days are over? ‘I would say so and so would the 52,000 fans as well and a lot more,’ the former England striker said.

 

They played such good attacking football under Keegan they were labelled ‘The Entertainers’. In  successive seasons from 1995 to 1997 they finished runners-up in the Premier League. Had they not thrown away a 12-point lead over Manchester United in 1996, they would have won the title.

 

 

This season it took them until the 86th minute of their third league game to score a Premier League goal.

 

Rob Lee

 

Joined Newcastle in 1992 from Charlton and spent the next 10 years playing in the North East. In that time he helped Newcastle win promotion to the Premier League and was also a key member of Kevin Keegan’s side who challenged for the title. During his time at the club, Lee played more than 380 games.

.

Why did more people turn up to watch an exhibition match than a top-flight game? ‘It’s probably a break from the monotony of watching the team play,’ Lee said. ‘Against West Ham it was 0-0 . . . I couldn’t remember playing in a 0-0.’

 

Shearer added: ‘That 1996 team which just missed out on the title may be the best any Newcastle fan sees in his lifetime. But that is why they turned out on Wednesday night because that’s an era they loved and enjoyed. They enjoyed being entertained and that is just what that team did. It could be a long time before that happens again.’

 

 

Since Ashley bought the club  in May 2007 they have had six  managers, one executive director of football, two directors of football, an attempted name change of St James’ Park and a new sponsorship deal with payday lenders Wonga. They have been relegated to the Championship and finished in the top 10 only once.

 

‘They seem to get themselves on the right track and all of a sudden someone here derails them,’ said Cole. ‘The punters were fairly  happy a couple of years ago, the team were moving in the right direction and then decisions are made at the top which throw a spanner in the works.

 

‘It’s almost as if somebody running the club wants to upset the punters and I find that very strange. If you keep the punters on board here, it’s half the battle. If you upset them, they’re going to eventually vote with their feet because there is only so much they can take.’

 

 

Should Ashley leave? ‘In an ideal world, he should,’ Lee said. ‘But it isn’t an ideal world.’

 

 

Ashley and Kinnear have done themselves no favours by their  dismal performance in the transfer window. When he was appointed director of football in June, Kinnear boasted about his endless list of contacts, about having Sir Alex  Ferguson and Arsene Wenger on speed dial and that he was going to be the best director of football the world had seen.

 

New role: Joe Kinnear was appointed as director of football, but Rob Lee is not convinced he can attract the big names to St James' Park

New role: Joe Kinnear was appointed as director of football, but Rob Lee is not convinced he can attract the big names to St James' Park

 

When the transfer window shut they had signed a player on loan who turned them down in January — striker Loic Remy — and a little- known teenager on a free.

 

Yesterday manager Alan Pardew, speaking at a press conference about the lack of transfer activity, said: ‘I hope it doesn’t affect us. When the fans see how we play over the next eight games, if we keep everybody fit, I think they will feel a lot better than they did on deadline day.

 

 

‘Over the past 10 or so years since I’ve become a manager, I’ve said the first 10 games really and truly give you a clear indication about where you are at.’

 

 

The fans are going to take a lot of convincing. They have already accused Ashley and Kinnear of turning Newcastle into the laughing stock of football. Getting relegated would be no laughing matter.

[Rich]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

[Mick]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

[jdckelly]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

[Mick]

 

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

 

The pressure isn't only to sell.

[Kanji]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

 

Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous.

[Belfast Mags]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

 

Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous.

 

Basically when Mike want to buy someone, he wants to rape the selling club, if anybody wants to but NUFC he'll want to rape them as well, he's a serial metaphorical rapist 

[jdckelly]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

 

Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous.

there wasn't a load of people breaking down the door when it was for sale in the championship was there? Only one guy who couldn't afford a knock down price for it. The price isn't going to change. He will want at least to break even or perhaps even to make a profit.

[Kanji]

Pretty salient stuff from Andy Cole in particular.

 

It all adds pressure.

not really, main issue is still the same, no one wants to buy the club.

 

Nobody wants to the buy club at the price Mike wants. I'm sure there would be a ton of interested parties if the price wasn't so outrageous.

there wasn't a load of people breaking down the door when it was for sale in the championship was there? Only one guy who couldn't afford a knock down price for it. The price isn't going to change. He will want at least to break even or perhaps even to make a profit.

 

Think you are forgetting about the global economy meltdown when we went down too though mate.