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Opinion

A must read from Colin Murray on Newcastle United and Mike Ashley

6 years ago
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I must admit I have always found Colin Murray more annoying than entertaining.

The TV and radio presenter, and Liverpool fan, is ok in small doses, but I usually find myself switching over sooner rather than later.

I have to say though that I’m really impressed with what he has now written about Newcastle United and Mike Ashley.

Writing for The Metro newspaper, he has produced an excellent article, which sums up perfectly the position Newcastle fans currently find themselves in.

Namely, the hope that at last this decade of manipulation and stupidity under Mike Ashley could at last be at an end.

Colin Murray is really on the ball with his knowledge of Newcastle United and exactly how the Ashley era has played out, putting most of the ignorant idiots in the media to shame, especially those offering ‘expert’ opinion…

With one this week from an Express journalist who specialises in writing about Rugby, really taking the biscuit (read it here).

As for Colin Murray, I’m guessing he knows his stuff, has done his research, has mates who are Newcastle fans, or any combination of those.

I might give him a bit more of a listen the next time he is on TV/Radio…

Colin Murray writing for The Metro:

‘NINE months after the day Mike Ashley finally sells Newcastle United, the National Guard and the British Red Cross will have to be deployed on Tyneside to handle the explosion of child births.

What a party that will be. The clouds will part, the sun will shine, rivers of brown ale will flow.

Grown men will weep, children of the Toon under the age of ten will smile for the very first time…

This week, the ‘tracksuit billionaire’ not only reiterated the club is for sale but set out a clear path to the exit door. Potential suitors have been named, and the frontrunner appears to be PCP Capital Partners, a Middle East company spearheaded by Amanda Staveley, prompting one fan on Twitter to immediately pen the classic, ‘Oh Mandy, you came and you ***ked off Mike Ashley!’ I believe this needs developing by the Gallowgate End should she succeed.

If you were being kind, you would say he under-achieved. If you were being brutal, you would say he cheapened the club with low-rent sponsors and distasteful stadium name changes, punctuated by all-too-regular farce at managerial and boardroom level.

Personally, I feel Newcastle United under Ashley have remained a sleeping giant, and when there have been signs of stirring, it always felt like it was Ashley and his closest allies who, inadvertently or not, slipped this great club a couple of Xanax.

Take this summer for example. Back in the Premier League, an influx of TV money, a world-class manager in charge, and their net spend in the transfer window was less than Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield. This was not a one-off. When they finished fifth in the top flight in 2012, this was backed up by just one ‘major’ summer signing, namely Vurnon Anita.

With new proprietors comes risk but, while Mike remains, it is hard to see how Rafa can ‘make Newcastle great again’, so please don’t fall for the ‘better the devil you know’ baloney.’

To check out the full Metro article go here.

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