A message to Mike Ashley: Sort it out or risk relegation AGAIN
I think all Newcastle fans are reaching breaking point on the takeover saga. Fresh ‘news’ surfaced last night over a potential second party now entering the bidding. Under the Ashley regime it is wiser to take these claims with a pinch of salt, after all it could be a PR stunt or smokescreen from Ashley to draw attention away from his lack of spending…again.
The constant dithering, lack of investment and interactions or updates with the fans is nothing new. But here is how Ashley is harming the club once more…
Rafa’s budget
It is quite incredible the manager has not been told this yet. Even if he admitted it is just loan signings and cast offs, then at least we could try and formulate a plan. To be nearly half way through the window and not even know your budget is embarrassing. The January window isn’t new, Ashley has owned the club for ten years – it must be a stalling tactic to try and shirk any investment as usual. He needs to meet with Benitez ASAP and back him. It is also laughable to think what Lee Charnley does in all of this, other than bring the club into tax probes. As the go between Ashley and Rafa and the guy tasked with getting deals done, this window is another big failure on his already abysmal record.
What happened to backing Rafa this window regardless of the takeover?
It was this idea which made sense when the club being put up for sale was announced. This was widely reported by outlets like Ashley’s favourite, Sky, to protect is investment and ensure we stay up. After all, a sale would certainly not happen or be worth half the amount if we end up in the second tier once more. But Mike seems to want to gamble with our future again and risk a trio of relegations in 11 years.
Ignoring Rafa and forcing him out
Ashley needs Benitez and surely even he knows it. He is the last thing stopping fans deserting this regime once and for all. I have no doubt Rafa is a big selling point and is attracting buyers in the first place. So keep him happy; if you can’t invest then keep open communications with him and try and sell the cub quickly so he gets his money and we can move on. Don’t keep him in the dark, leave him exposed in the transfer market and with the thankless task of facing the media. Forcing him out could send us down. Rafa will have a breaking point.
His incompetence off the pitch has taken away from the momentum we've built on it
Newcastle actually have some momentum. Key wins at West Ham and Stoke and progression in the cup was much needed after a poor run. But as usual, we can’t focus on this and are drawn to talk of the takeover, we're scraping for loans of Chelsea reserve payers and a bullying case against our own staff is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Ashley has not run with the club with any class since he bought NUFC, we know that. However, our squad isn’t good enough to take anything for granted; we need to focus on the pitch and attentions elsewhere harm our chances of staying up. Benitez has made that clear and he will be frustrated to see Ashley continue to shoot his own club in the foot.
Risking the club’s future to get more cash
To me it feels like Ashley is gambling again. A relegation clause is the sticking point with talks with PCP. Rather than invest some money now on players and make it back by a sale, Mike probably thinks he can get away with singings no players, banking on us staying up and getting the sale in the summer. He is gambling again on his inability to not know anything about football. We are unbearably close to the relegation zone and it’s demoralising he is risking going down again.
How are you feeling with the takeover saga? Do you think it will still happen and what might happen to our beloved NUFC in the mean time if it doesn't?
