Christmas is traditionally not a happy time for Newcastle United on the pitch, but off it, this year could be the best yet. Rumours of Mike Ashley wanting to sell the club after 10 years at the helm were confirmed on Monday evening with a statement, sending thousands of fans into joyous raptures; he even wants it doing by the festive season. After almost undoing all the good work Rafa Benitez has put in since his arrival on Tyneside over the summer, it appears as though, finally, he has decided to walk away.
There are not many fanbases more sceptical than Newcastle’s, mainly because they have seen it all before. Directly after the Kevin Keegan saga, which saw the manager resign from his post for the second time in September 2008, Ashley put the club up for sale, but the demands he made to part company suggested he wasn’t fully motivated to do so; once again, a year later after the club had been relegated, he tried but everything was so precarious at that time, with so many assets being sold off, it was hardly an attractive proposition. Now, eight years on, it may just be the best option for prospective buyers in the Premier League.
Financial stability, which is down to Ashley himself, a 52,000-capacity stadium, in the centre of a one-club city filled to the rafters every other week by football-obsessed supporters and a Champions League-winning manager already in place; there is not much more to be asked for. The bar for popularity and success is extremely low, mainly because Ashley has failed to differentiate football from business; his balance sheets and profit margins have looked great, but that has come at a cost - the club has been stale and stagnated for years.
One of the biggest questions put to Ashley, who appeared to only ever talk in situations completely under his control, was why he consistently stayed at Newcastle if he didn’t want to make a success of it. Trophies are the aim, not the benchmark; the basic requirement to be the owner of a football club, particularly one as unique as Newcastle United, is creating an emotional bond, caring for the club, the people and the area and understanding what is required to make it tick. Benitez has been there almost nine years fewer than Ashley, but has achieved near legendary status already; just by the way he talks and acts. The results have helped, of course, but it really is that simple.
In the statement, Ashley said he wanted to sell to someone who could take the club forward and he was prepared to accept installments to make it happen. To most Newcastle fans this is the best action he has taken as owner, but there is some sad irony about that comment; as a billionaire, had he shown a level of interest in going places with the club, he could have been that man. It is easy to forget, but he was greeted like a hero when he bought out the late Freddy Shepherd and Sir John Hall in June 2007. Money was the issue for them; seeing Roman Abramovich taking over at Chelsea was the beginning of the end, but the poor relationship between the old hierarchy and the fans was mended off the back of Ashley’s complete neglect. Hall and Shepherd had their faults, mainly with money-management, but they had that emotional connection to their local club.
The Ashley era has brought with it much more than neglect and apathy; Keegan and Jonas Gutierrez both successfully sued the club under his watch, the naming rights to St James’ Park were sold, loan sharks agreed sponsorship deals and mind-bogglingly poor appointments were made in the boardroom and the dugout. Not to mention actively denouncing cup competitions and the humiliation of two relegations or the fact that Newcastle are facing an investigation from HMRC. Keegan famously said Ashley would always stop the club succeeding no matter how good things seemed, and his treatment of Benitez over the last few months only backs that up. There has always, on some level, been a negative atmosphere.
Newcastle fans have been given a rough ride over the last ten years, not only from Ashley but many outsiders, too. They are criticised for attacking the man who made them stable financially and doing so purely because he cannot and will not spend money on the level of Manchester City or Chelsea, or even because he comes from London. Anyone who takes those views, including Ashley himself in the case of the transfer budget complaints, has no understanding of supporters’ point of view. It has nothing to do with his accent or even his wealth; it is his lack of communication and respect, especially when it comes to Keegan, Alan Shearer during his short stint as boss and, more recently, Benitez.
Scepticism is understandable, but it does feel as though this could be third time lucky in getting Ashley to sell up. Rather than reacting to certain incidents, like the Keegan fiasco or relegation, he has planned this; the statement seems thought out, and more importantly, the club is in its best shape for years from a buyer’s point of view. There is no shortage of potential suitors and everything seems to be gathering pace rather quickly.
Claiming the counter argument ‘better the devil you know’ is rather futile at this point. Yes, debts have been wiped, but an ambitious, sometimes dangerous, board has only been replaced by the opposite, with an added lack of emotion. Mike Ashley has been toxic for Newcastle United overall, and the proof of that is just how easy it would be for his successor to become revered.
#NUFC fans right now...
