Mike Ashley Is Walking A Tightrope At Newcastle United – But Takeover Hope Is Not Yet Lost

Mike Ashley Is Walking A Tightrope At Newcastle United – But Takeover Hope Is Not Yet Lost
10:45, 17 Jan 2018

Ten years to the day that Kevin Keegan returned as manager of Newcastle United, a move that would, eventually, lead to all-out civil war on Tyneside between the fans and owner Mike Ashley, it felt as though the second coming was on the horizon.

Back then, it didn’t seem possible for Ashley to remain at Newcastle, but nothing has changed in terms of the ownership in the last decade. He remains, still as unpopular as ever, and on the brink of another explosive storm on Tyneside.

In October, he finally seemed to get serious about leaving, putting Newcastle on the market again and claimed he wanted it sold by Christmas. Perspective buyers Amanda Staveley and her consortium PCP Capital Partners made their interest known and all seemed to be going well, if a bit slowly, but on Tuesday night, as Newcastle fans remembered the second Keegan era, Ashley announced all negotiations with Staveley were off. The scepticism of the entire deal was a feature throughout; Newcastle fans have been this angry and this disappointed before.

On the 16th of January 2008, Ashley appeared to have won the hearts of a football-obsessed region, cracking the code to success. Keegan was the man who, more than any other, appreciated what was demanded at St James’ Park; having proven his understanding as a player and a manager before. Everything soon turned sour, though, when hard-nosed businessman Ashley, a man known for never ruling with emotion, undermined Keegan at every turn. Promises were broken, the wrong players were signed and, after just eight months, Keegan walked.

After successfully suing the club under Ashley’s watch, Keegan made it clear the club could never succeed with him around. Newcastle fans believed their messiah then, but do so even more now. Two relegations, narrowly avoiding another two, and somehow falling further from the dreams Keegan once made them believe in, have followed in the last decade, but Ashley simply hasn’t learnt.

Directly after Keegan departed, when the protest began and the animosity grew, Ashley placed the club up for sale, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his attempts to walk away. Question marks remained over his true intentions, and he has since milked the benefits from Newcastle with free advertising for his primary company, leisurewear company Sports Direct, even if he hasn’t actually taken any money out of it.

Fast-forwarding again, a statement from a source close to Ashley told Sky Sports News that discussions with Staveley had become “exhaustive, frustrating and a complete waste of time”, perfectly summing up many fans’ feelings about supporting the club during the last 10 years.

Most astonishingly, the statement seemed to claim no negotiations had been taking place, but Staveley’s camp, understandably confused having supposedly found out of this development the same way as everybody else, insist a bid of £250million was made in November, some weeks after Ashley had made clear his desire to sell, after a period of due diligence.

The panic, the anger and the hysteria was an obvious side-note; Ashley has never recovered from the problems he created for himself with the Keegan fiasco, but he has made things worse, constantly alienating and humiliating a loyal fanbase and eroding the trust completely. Most worrying in all this is what Rafa Benitez, the current manager, on the way to being as revered as Keegan is, will make of it all. He is no stranger to the miscommunication and distrust that has become the staple of Ashley’s reign; there is yet no news on a January transfer budget for this season, while last summer and the previous winter were engulfed in negativity and frustration, too. There are similarities between the way Ashley is treating Benitez and the way it played out with Keegan; like the fans, the Spaniard is counting on a takeover going through. The alternative does not bear thinking about.

Crucially, though, nothing has really changed; the statement from Ashley maintained the club was still for sale and Staveley is believed to still be interested. The timeline makes sense for everything to be a ploy from the current owner to lure the buyers into making a bigger offer. It had been said Ashley wanted £300million, £50million more than Staveley offered, and even after the pair met face to face at a London curry house, where significant progress was believed to have been made, that gap in valuation has not been closed.

Anything Ashley said on Tuesday is his belief, but what he thinks is not the crucial part. It is now up to Staveley to open negotiations again, and this is a real test of her desire to buy the club. Everything surrounding her has been overwhelmingly positive; she has been painted as the good to Ashley’s evil, but the truth is not much is known of her intentions. Perhaps more information on that will come to light as this story develops further; it could be the jolt that was needed to take this process onto the next level.

It could all be over; Ashley appears to have burnt the bridge with Staveley but if Newcastle United fans have learnt anything in the last ten years, it is not to believe everything that comes from his, or his camp’s, mouth. The fact of the matter is, though, he is still at the club. With Newcastle just three points above the relegation zone and Benitez still unaware of his spending power this month, Ashley must focus on backing the man who has acted as the glue between the club and the fans in the last couple of years.

Mike Ashley may still sell the club, he may still sell it to Amanda Staveley. But it is most important that he acts in the proper manner by reopening the lines of communication with Rafa Benitez, or he could face another post-Keegan style civil war on Tyneside.

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