Mike Ashley has gone – Newcastle is free but was it the right decision?
I know a lot of Newcastle fans waned him gone but was he not doing the best thing for the club. He was a fan, he wasn’t some distant business man. He wanted success and had ambition – probably too much, but isn’t that what being a fan is about – dreaming and hoping of silverware.
He got King Kev back, but put some management around him. Keegan’s track record for spending lots of money with little return meant that a technical director, responsible for overseeing transfers, was needed and ex-Chelsea player Dennis Wise was duly appointed. In one sense it made very good business sense, Keegan spent a lot of money during his first spell at Newcastle, and later at Manchester City, but did not bring in trophies in return. I can see that it may have frustrated Keegan, and who knows if Wise was really the best person for the job, but the concept makes sense the more I reflect on it.
Keegan’s strengths have always been in coaching, in being able to get a team to play for him and Ashley recognised that. Wise hasn’t been too bad: Fabricio Collocini looks to be a valuable acquisition, as does Jonas Gutierrez.
Does it not say something about how our football is being run, that a true fan who invests over £240 million of his own money in just over a year is kicked out by the fans?
