THE MAG REPORT WHY ASHLEY MUST CHANGE:-
Peter Beardsley is still the subject of allegations of bullying and racist behaviour towards young players yet there is still no conclusion to this investigation which has gone on for over 16 months whilst the matter was investigated.
26 years ago, Kevin Keegan told John Hall that £1.5m was a bargain for Peter Beardsley.
To have an idea of what £1.5m was back then in terms of transfer fees, only a year earlier Blackburn paid a new English record transfer fee of £3.6m to land Alan Shearer.
In terms of football inflation, paying £1.5m for a 32 year old Peter Beardsley back in 1993, was far more than paying £16.5m for a 29 year old Salomon Rondon now.
Rondon of course can’t touch Beardsley in terms of ability but the principle is the same. A top class Newcastle manager identifying key players and needing to be realistically backed in their judgement.
In his second spell, Beardsley played four seasons and in all competitions made - 41 appearances (1993/94), 44 (1994/95), 40 (1995/96) and 37 (1996/97).
Newcastle having finishes of 3rd, 6th, 2nd and 2nd in the Premier League, in large part thanks to Beardsley.
So, I repeat, Peter Beardsley was truly brilliant in that second spell, arguably even better than his original time at the club. Yet for Mike Ashley, it would have just been an automatic no, purely because of his age.
It is widely reported that Mike Ashley is insisting on a return to his rigid policy of buying nobody aged over 26.
If that had been the case back in the day, we would never have seen Sir Leslie Ferdinand (28 when he arrived), David Ginola (28) and Tino Asprilla (27), to name but a few.
Age obviously is one factor when considering the value of a player but it is only one of a number of deciding factors.
Rafa Benitez must be given the freedom to sign whoever he wants.