Ashley's system saw Kevin Keegan walk, we have been on a downward spiral ever since.
Jamie Carragher believes Mike Ashley will not be impressed at his return on his investment in Newcastle United this summer.
Newcastle United came off second best against West Ham last night, in a lacklustre 2-0 loss.
The defeat alone is one issue, but the fact the club are five games without a victory is of far more concern.
Despite a change in manager, Newcastle appear to have carried on where they left off at the end of last season.
Most concerning is that £50 million was spent in the summer, with owner Mike Ashley stepping up to invest in the team.
Former Premier League star Jamie Carragher told SkySports' Monday Night Football programme that Ashley could be wishing he had not bothered, and may seek to save himself the cash in the future if there is no discernible improvement in results.
He said: "You don't see what you are getting for your money. Mike Ashley has been criticised for not putting money in, rightly so I think.
"But he's probably looking at start of season and thinking this is no different, I've just spent £40-50 million here, I might as well go back to the way of just keeping us up, keeping the TV money, we're just continually wasting money on foreign players who are not up to standard."
Newcastle may need this summer's new boys to pan out as successes in order to keep Ashley's interest in spending, but it is too early to write them off as bad buys.
Florian Thauvin and Georginio Wijnaldum are players of quality, but will need time to be judged, while striker Aleksandar Mitrovic missed the game through suspension.
Before they, and the spending, is written off as a failure- Steve McClaren could even find his head on the block, to see if another manager cannot get them clicking if performances cannot improve.