Mike Ashley - Innocent or Guilty?

Simple question for the wise monkeys of 606 - does Mike Ashley really know what's going on? He's played his part in getting us t this position with years of penny-pinching, and hugely flawed transfer/recruitment/contract policies. He's ultimately culpable for the problem of Lee Charnley being where he is and, by extension, McClaren being the boss. But.....

....does he really know what is going on at NUFC?

By all accounts, this man shuns all forms of media - he is unlikely to be scouring the papers for Henry Winters assessment, nor checking Twitter to find out what Colin thinks. But how much wool is being pulled over his eyes? We all recognise that Lee Charnley, Graham Carr and Steve McClaren - by both choice, decision and the ludicrous board that was set up - are completely intertwined. Carr's mistakes are also Charnley's, McClaren's poor management is also Charnley's poor judgement, and so on. Highlighting mistakes will mean they're all in it together and for all the will in the world, these three men are not going to stand there and honourably resign, recognising each of their complicity in a disgraceful situation. The problem we have is not just that, but also that Charnley is not going to - 8 months after insisting it was the right call - tell Ashley he's an idiot. But they're all there. There have been comments about Schteve being safe now, but maybe under threat with an adverse performance vs. Stoke - why? What would/could be so different between losing a match in 15 minutes, regardless of opposition, that means a defeat to the perfectly decent Stoke is a sackable offence? It's diversion tactics by the club, again, the "fingers crossed it'll all be ok" approach that we have muddled on with for 8 years or more. We won't repeat the performance, so it'll either be a win (Steve's the right man), a draw (Steve's the right man) or a narrower defeat (there were promising signs we'll be ok - Steve's the right man).

So the point of this ramble is Ashley. We can see from the vomit-inducing spin the club puts out (Keith Bishop's latest apology letter, signed by Colo, another example of a club disgustingly out of touch) that Ashley is detached pretty much from reality, let alone the club. Given he tasks Keith Bishop's PR company ([email protected] if you fancy trying to reach out to someone there) with this job in the first place, rather than giving it to Lee Marshall (club PR) says a lot about the man himself. But are messages about the state of recruitment, the first team, and so on actually getting through? Is Ashley aware, at all, of the perils his band of fools have put the club under?

I'm not convinced he knows. Charnley's a self-serving weasel. He employs puppets, and too few of them to effectively run a football club. He's put himself and his interests well ahead of the future of the club. I firmly believe he isn't spelling out to Ashley quite how bad things are, because he's firmly responsible for much of it. It's a weird and inconceivable prospect, but is there a chance that Ashley just doesn't know and - if this is in fact the case - is it an angle to consider?!

 

does Mike Ashley really know what's going on ?



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
guilty

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NUFC is Mike Ashley's shop window
if he doesn't know what he's advertising then he's a bigger fool
than when he didn't do his due dilligence (alledgedly)

 

I think he is aware, and he does know what's going on. You don't get where he has by allowing people to run round wasting your money while you are oblivious. He is ultimately responsible. He appointed the men who appointed the men. He sits at the top of the pyramid. He has handed over the reins to a bunch of bumbling baffoons, who have wasted huge amounts of finance and been unable to muster a coherent approach. I can't help but criticise him for that much.

Many on here won't, or at least shouldn't. Many were very happy with our set up as we kicked off the season. Many were happy with the squad, how the money had been spent, Steve, the board, the whole shabang.

He seems to me a guy who struggles with getting it wrong. I think football has him completely flummoxed. He is trying to get it right but just doesn't seem to understand why his gambles are not coming off. The club just badly needs a leader and figurehead. A manager who can take control of its destiny. Ranieri is the obvious example but I actually prefer Koeman as an example. He is a strong character and has had to deal with adversity whilst there with sales and this seasons early struggles. The way he has arrested their problems and just been able to ignore everything going on outside the club is admirable. We need a clear thinker like that. Pochettino at Spurs is the same. They have an authority about them. They can work under the guidance of a chief exec/MD or whatever but there is no doubt who is running the show. Ashley needs to consider his next move carefully. He needs to bullet Steve, and probably Charnley too. He needs to scrap this football board ****e and go back to the basics.

 

I think he's presented a version of events by Charnley et al which obviously has a positive spin on it, but he's not daft. If Ashley doesn't get the results he expects after having taken his chubby fingers off the purse strings he'll be expecting clear answers on why and Penfold in particular will be held to account. I think the best course of action is to get to the end of the season and give the lot of them the bullet. Certainly Charnley, certainly McLaren, certainly Moncur (who does what exactly? Director of post-match smoozing?), and possibly Carr. Changing it now isn't going to make a difference as to us being relegated or surviving IMHO so as bad as they are, I'd just leave it and by the end of May have a new team in place, whether we survive or not.

What needs to happen is Ashley needs to appoint a proper football person to run the club - the football side of things anyway. I think he knows, though, that if he did get that person they would challenge him on providing funds and going for it more and he's never wanted that in the past. Maybe he would be more open to it now if he has indeed changed tack with his ambitions for the club but I'm not sure he wants anyone who is not a yes man.

 

Good assessment, probably pretty close to the truth. With all that in mind, and Ashley's previous aversion to bothering with this club, I'll revert again to something i've said before - the PL has now launched it's rebranding, taking it from a broad advertising platform (like the League Club) to something that has much more control over the sponsors (NBA, NFL, Champions League). From next season, Mike's going to have to pay the PL to have Sports Direct plastered everywhere - I'm not sure he has the appetite for that. With the money floating about from China, and still the US investment, I think he'll sell this Summer. Everton will be sold for £200m and whilst they have a more solid foundation, the stadium is crumbling - we don't have the burden of a £40m stadium bill, plus that isn't where the money will come from - it will come from East and West advertisers, subscribers and more TV cash.

 

New PL branding will not affect the individual clubs commercial activities, the focus on new commercial partners for the PL is to promote the brand across the globe rather than impacting on the individual clubs, Ashley along with every club is not going to have to pay the PL for their own commercial activity, as for Everton going for £200 million that is relatively cheap, it is a price indicative of Kenwright's desire to offload the club which he has wanted to do for some time now rather than exacting the full commercial value for the club.

 

Ashley is evidently a brilliant, if crass, businessman, but he's no football expert. He apparently likes to surround himself with lackeys and mates, rather than capable football administrators with great track records. Couple that with the thick skin of a rhino and the stubborness of a donkey and we have a recipe for bewildering mismanagement and serial incompetence. His decision-making has been unremittingly poor and he is only prepared to make the necessary changes when there is no place left to hide.

 

You've hit the nail with your head there mate.

 

I don't think we can wait until the end of the season. If we change McClaren out now, you give yourselves hope. Its far from a lost cause. The squad isn't great by any stretch, nor are all the ills cured. There is enough there with the right guidance to get out of the drop zone though. I don't believe McClaren is capable of turning it round. He is incompetent.

 

This!

It's a surprise that after so many years at NUFC, Mike Ashley simply cannot grasp what it takes to make a successful football club.

I honestly thought he would have sold-up by now but clearly the revenue streams are keeping his greedy fat fingers in the Toon pie.

Far too many mistakes (and crimes) to mention here but most of you already know what's gone before.

It looks very likely we're getting relegated this year and, at the end of the day, the responsibility for that lies with the fat man.

 

Bury the hatchet, bite the bullet, build bridges and every other cliche going and just do one thing. Get Keegan back in a Director of Football role. Not as a manager. Not in a million years. Get him to oversee the football at the club. Someone that understands the club, the supporters and someone who fans will listen to and respect. Appoint a proper old school manager who has direct input in transfers and can liaise with Keegan so that we can go out and get exactly what the manager wants. Get rid of Charnley, get rid of Carr and get rid of Moncur the stooge. The difference in the mood of the club and supporters would be massive. It would give everyone a major boost and we would have football people running the football club. Ashley and whichever MD he decides to appoint can run the business and leave the football to the experts. None of this 'football board' rubbish.

 

Kevin Keegan?

The same KK who closed the academy? (losing Michael Carrick amongst others)

I think not.

When you consider the whole 'constructive dismissal' shambles, it doesn't seem likely, does it?

 

It was a long time ago so my memory is foggy, but I think you're re-writing history there a bit. I don't think Keegan ever scrapped the youth sides at NUFC; I think it was that the reserve team was reluctantly scrapped because the league were forcing Premier League teams to play a certain percentage of their reserve games at their home grounds and the pitch couldn't take it.

I think Keegan would be a great figurehead and would work tirelessly to improve the club at all levels, but I agree it's unlikely considering he took the club to court over the way he was treated the last time he was here.

 

Forget Kevin Keegan. Its never going to happen. There are plenty of good football men out there though. They don't need a connection to the club. You simply need a good administrator/DOF and a manager with a clear vision. Obviously a scouting network the manager trusts too and acts on clear instruction from him.

To be fair to KK he never closed the academy. He scrapped the reserve team as they were being forced, due to some stupid FA ruling, to use their home pitch for a percentage of reserve games. The pitch was not standing up to it (I remember dozens of people running on at half time to replace divots) and KK decided enough was enough. The end result was the academy players stopped staying on when they came to the end of their time as they saw no gateway. Carrick's parents famously said to Carver who was working in the academy at the time "Where is he going to play John?" "In the first team" "Come off it" was the response.

Keegan readily admits it was his biggest regret. It led to the likes of Huckerby leaving too as they had no where to retain match fitness.

 

It would never happen with KK. But someone with that kind of personality is needed. To come in, tell Ashley a few home truths, put their foot down, take charge and tell anyone with no footballing background/ no idea to piss off. That is what is really needed at the club; someone that would not pull any punches.

 

The problem I see with Keegan being DoF is the moment the manager/head coach/whatever had a bit of a bad run, the idiot fans would start calling for Keegan to take over. I couldn't see any decent manager wanting to potentially put himself in a position where the club's most loved manager was sat just upstairs.

 

Possibly, but if not Keegan, then someone with the same type of aura. You have to wonder how players feel motivated when you have someone like Steve McClaren standing in front of you in the dressing room telling you to sit back and counter attack. He was an average player and has hardly set the managerial world alight.

 

He's a fat ****ing **** and I want the leech gone.

 

So, a "I don't know" on the part of Sammy

 

Not as guilty as AJ!!!!!