Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

News

Mike Ashley Gambles With Newcastle United Again

11 years ago
Share

We now enter the two most important weekends of this club’s history. At stake is a pot of money beyond the wildest dreams of any supporter of this club. The nature of the Prem table is that despite being on the cusp of relegation, we only sit 2 points off 11th place! That we are in this position is no surprise to long suffering supporters, precedent was set many years ago.

The club are like that blonde temptress making eyes at you from the corner of the bar, the promise of joy unconfined and all for a modest outlay. The alluring words, the unspoken promise of pleasures beyond imagination. Then, when you buy the drinks and buy the food, she tells you that she has to go, for reasons she won’t disclose.

It is accepted that mistakes have been made, not enough players to bolster what was a respectable first X1, and with an extra competition to play in. A competition that we did very well in, and probably would have prospered more if we’d bought the ‘January’ players last summer.

Pardew’s constant bleating about the Europa League didn’t help his case, and some team selections were frankly baffling. If you keep whining about tired players, they use it for an excuse, even subliminally, so he might want to learn to keep quiet about that if we ever qualify for that competition again.

There is no doubt that we’ve bought decent players, and the policy of concentrating on a particular region could very well pay dividends. There does appear though to be a certain discomfort between the players and manager, with many touchline communications during breaks in play. This is not to excuse the players; they’re grown, mature men, of international experience in many cases.

This would suggest if the policy is sound, the players brought in are sound, then you look at the coaching and management. When you see that we haven’t scored from a corner for nearly 2 seasons, and we use the same tactic for free kicks every single time, of a lump into the area, it does make you wonder what sort of input the coaches have. That though is for the close season and hopefully in preparation for the Premier League. We have 2 games to negotiate and the computations are mind boggling when you factor in the other half dozen clubs around us. One thing is certain though, defeat at QPR is unthinkable. We have the players to do it, we have the incentive to do it, you could almost make a case for having the moral imperative to do it.

Ashley gambled by not pulling the trigger after the derby, when it would have been easy and popularist to do so, following a principle he’s employed in his business life. He is a gambler businessman, he is used to playing for high stakes, this time he’s gambling his £240 million investment and the £60 million tv money.

I suspect by Sunday afternoon we’ll know whether he landed on Red or Black and I don’t mean the roulette wheel.

blackadderboy@yahoo.co.uk

Add some extra interest to the end of the season and have a bet on who will be relegated, all relegation odds here, especially if you aren’t already a customer of BetVictor and take advantage of their special offer of a £25 free matched bet.

Sign up to BetVictor and get a £25 free matched bet

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks