Ashley Has Taken Newcastle Back 20 Years!
Last updated : 11 November 2008 By Footy Mad - Editor
In the relegation zone - again - with a manager who doesn't know if he's 'coming or going'; Dennis Wise STILL doing transfer dealings; an owner who will not been seen on Tyneside for fear of his life; and players already looking for a quick exit come the end of the season.
Those fans old enough are looking back to 1988/9 when Jim Smith was drafted in - much the same as Joe Kinnear - to sort out the mess.
There was a sudden shift in hopes when we drubbed the Smoggies 3-0, thanks to a memorable display from Mirandinha, but it wasn't long before the shit hit the fan.
The warning signs are already there, and as the great Joe Harvey once said: "You can fluke your way through in cup competitions, but the league does not lie. When you're in a relegation spot, something is sadly wrong".
So what is Ashley going to do about it?
So long as he gets his dosh - whenever - he couldn't give a shit!
So what if Newcastle DO go down? So long as he gets his money BEFORE May I'm sure he will be happy.
His Newcastle shirt will appear on E-Bay, just like the Spurs one two years ago, and there's another 18 Premiership clubs he can support now.
As for former Newcastle United midfielder, Rob Lee, who believes that club owner could halt his bitter feud with the team's supporters to keep hold of St James' Park.
Sorry Rob ... but you're way out of touch!
Lee: "If Mike Ashley decides to sell then that's fine but we are in a market now where it is very difficult to sell anything, let alone a football club for £300 million, and crikey it's going to take longer than people expect.
"Maybe if Mike Ashley said, 'Look, listen I don't know a lot about football but I've had a year now looking at it and I got it all wrong and let's have a clean sweep' the fans would accept that because he's held his hands up and they would say let's start again.
"But it's now a matter of whether or not Mike Ashley wants to invest more money - because he will have to - or whether he just wants to get the club off his hands now.
"I don't think any manager worth his salt is going to tolerate anyone else buying their players.
"That is one thing that Kevin was very good at and if he's not allowed to do that then you take away what he is about.
"I admire what they did at Tottenham where Daniel Levy admitted 'I got it wrong, totally wrong' by letting someone else buy players for the manager. They've now resorted to the way it should be done with Harry Redknapp and he certainly wouldn't accept that."
