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Mike Ashley Delays The Inevitable

9 years ago
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Nero is supposed to have fiddled while Rome burned, while lacking a musical background, Newcastle United’s owner Mike Ashley and manager Alan Pardew outdo one another in humbug as the team sinks without a trace.

A classic example of this cant came in Alan Pardew’s latest press conference with the few football hacks that aren’t yet subject to banning orders.

In it he said:

“I spoke to Mike and the chief executive and the message is very much ‘how can we support you?'”

The time when they could have supported Pardew was in the summer, when some of the club’s TV revenue should have been spent on a decent striker and a centre back.

Talking of support, was that what Mike Ashley was doing during his [intlink id=”48016″ type=”post”]Soho outburst[/intlink] a week ago? Was his fake bonhomie with the journalist from The Independent and the cut-throat gesture that accompanied it, a novel way of supporting his beleaguered manager? I think not.

Ashley’s unexpected comments were opportunistic – he ridiculed Pardew in an attempt to force his resignation, thereby saving himself several million pounds in compensation money.

By the same token, Pardew is determined to stay on, not because he loves the football club and likes being derided by the fans but because he wants his pay off.

His latest ploy is to play the victim. The media won’t leave him alone and angry fans are harrassing his family. Well, all of that would stop if he walked away from the job. Pardew says he has a duty to turn things round on the pitch and yet he sticks stubbornly to a style of football to which his team is clearly unsuited.

After 693 games as a League manager, one doubts whether he has any fresh ideas to impart.

Sooner or later, Ashley will have to sack him. All he is doing is delaying the inevitable.

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