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Opinion

If Newcastle United takeover was really still live, would Mike Ashley be doing this?

3 years ago
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The just closed Newcastle United transfer window was a disaster, Joe Willock aside.

A team that struggled last season needed an injection of new blood and it simply didn’t happen.

Why did this transpire? For me, it’s a case of a tight fisted businessman with a hidden agenda and a ‘yes man’ who is only too happy to adapt to his whims. In fact, a team of yes men.

At least the failed window showed every sane Newcastle United fan what Mike Ashley is all about, there used to be some support and underlying hope but that’s disappeared.

With our current owner there is NO hope and with his vision, there will be no decent players left after more toil, depression and bad feeling. No future and this confirms we all need this narcissistic, spiteful, vindictive, mean tyrant out of OUR club.

Listening to pundits, ex professionals and other fans, they simply don’t get it. It’s easy for an outsider to simply point to unrealistic fans or the Covid crisis but I simply ask them one question, ‘would you put up with your club being run like Newcastle United?’

Bad press, ignorance and lack of communication are other factors. At least Alan Shearer has successfully educated Ian Wright! So what can we do to get rid of that smug, uninterested, gambling owner and his incompetent apprentices?

It’s not as straightforward as many think.

The popular view is don’t go, don’t buy his food and merchandise and put a slur on his advertising. Stop his income, cut off his financial supply and he will leave.

This may or may not be the case but it’s how he leaves that must be considered. Some will say ‘I’m not bothered as long as he’s gone’, think again. He may be aiming for this after the failed Newcastle United takeover.

Could Mike Ashley be doing what he loves the most, hurting the fans, letting them suffer whilst thinking of short term ways to make profits. If we were to be relegated he could keep all the prize money…

He could then sell all the top players, Joe Willock included, and make £100m there, then call in his personal loan of £100m plus. Far fetched? Maybe, but with this bloke, you never know. He would simply say ‘the fans don’t come anymore so we must adapt’.

This would be the vindictive cruel way of doing things but I believe he’s proved he has the capacity for this. Such actions would cripple the club, maybe even put them into administration, would he care, he’s done it before to other businesses?

The opposite option is to keep going and condone his bad behaviour. Many choose to support the team but not the regime, but that’s dropping off now, with many seeing what he is about. Ashley is taking the water and huge numbers are starting to see this.

As results deteriorate the gates will drop even more, many will see this as positive but I’m not so sure. This will affect players, isolate some and make them wish they weren’t here. This is what is at stake, a bad atmosphere the way forward? Not so sure.

Ultimately, I seriously ask, ‘is this chaos what Mike Ashley is actually trying to achieve’?

Sounds daft but he’s already appointed and tolerated a Head Coach nobody wants, broke off communication with the fans and weakened the playing staff in comparative terms. Others have strengthened as we have stood still, the already ageing team are another year older.

So what can we do?

Think carefully before diving headlong into a mass boycott. This could be the right way of course but with Ashley, this is more a game of chess rather than snakes and ladders.

My preferred way is to get influential voices on our side, that method has improved over the last couple of years with Alan Shearer leading the way. Pity he is Steve Bruce’s mate!

I happen to think that bad results will help the boycotters get their way. We are in for a long spell of depression with the supposed takeover never happening.

One final thought, surely the Saudi Newcastle United takeover is now dead, otherwise Ashley wouldn’t be gambling with our future and the buying side would be more animated. Where have they gone? Answers on a postage stamp please.

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