Despicable decisions, deceit, and double standards!

The world of business is cut throat. Most of us are aware of that and realise that nice men don't get too far in the world of business.

The problem is that when you get a successful businessman, who has made everything himself and done it all his own way, expanding into a different area yet trying to enforce the same ethos it doesn't always work. Take running a football club as a fine example, or running NUFC of you want to be precise. There are two sides - business and football - and both need to be managed. Balls one up and the other won't flourish and vice-versa. My problem is not Ashley's business acumen as that can't be argued with. It's his football side that lets him down.

In actual fact I may actually be being a tad harsh on Mike Ashley as it's Derek Llambias who runs things on a day to day basis so it will be him who makes most of the calls. Ultimately though he is the chap that Ashley trusts to run the operation so in essence I guess you can blame him. Blame starts at the top remember.

The Joey Barton saga has got a fair amount of people riled up. It's another football decision gone wrong in the eyes of many, to add to the long list of shocking football decisions. Let's just remember how cut throat the top level management have been since they arrived on Tyneside.

I'd guess that the biggest one is Kevin Keegan. That one ended up in a court which ruled in favour of Keegan and revealed that Mike Ashley and Co had deliberately lied to the fans. Not a great start really.

Alan Shearer is another one who as led up the garden path and then completely ignored by this ownership. They didn't even have the decency to tell him that he hadn't got the job which, ultimately, Chris Hughton benefited from.

It wasn't long before he too was dumped on after helping secure promotion and leading us to a decent start to life back in the Premier League. I always had a sense though that he was on the way out, especially when he was left to fend for himself without an assistant for months on end.

The singing section has been shat upon also after being declared a "wonderful idea" by the club. That idea has now been disbanded as they were singing songs about the board. They were then subsequently ignored when they requested to be reunited in another part of the ground. Boo Hoo.

Now we have numerous players claiming they have been lied to and have been misled leading to unrest that ultimately has been the cause of several recent outbursts by the likes of Kevin Nolan, Wayne Routledge, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique. Say what you like about the players having their own agenda, but it's hardly good news is it?

Alan Pardew is another one that I have no doubt is being hung out to dry. Why not? They've done it before so why wouldn't they do it again?

I'm sure there are reasons for all the decisions, but to me - a fan - those reasons seem to be very much hidden. Even the Joey Barton thing smacks of double standards. I mean if they are going to be so hardline with Joey Barton then why not be the same with Jose Enrique? Where was the hardline approach to Derek Llambias streaking across the pitch naked in front of children and allsorts?

The bottom line is that if you treat enough people with contempt it will eventually get the better of you. Not that I expect that Ashley or Llambias care about who they ride roughshod over, but eventually it will go full circle and people will either bite back or they will run out of people who will get close enough to them to be able to have the piss taken out of them.

Their reputation is shit and the poor press the club receives for every decision is never going to be a good thing in the long run. Still, we are stuck with them unfortunately and whilst I'm very concerned about things at the moment I think the best thing to do is to stick with the team as they are, quite clearly in fact, getting the same treatment as us fans are.

Back the team, not the regime!