George Caulkin exposes Mike Ashley in response to astonishing new interview - A must-read
Following Mike Ashley's astonishing interview with the Daily Mail, reliable north-east writer George Caulkin has hit back - and he's absolutely bang on with his assessment of the NUFC owner.
Here's what he's had to say on Twitter in the last few moments, hitting the nail on the head in response to Ashley's claims about Benitez, the Joelinton deal
"That Mike Ashley interview is desperately and depressingly familiar; the self-pitying, the delusion, the contradictions and the inconsistency. It’s always this way. The club says nothing and it’s terrible and then when the owner does speak it’s actually worse.
Where do you start with it? Benitez took the “soft option” to leave? He didn’t take the soft option to manage Newcastle when they were threatened by relegation, or to stay in the Championship. He left because he was out of contract & didn’t want to stay for more of the same.
Joelinton? Benitez didn’t think he was worth that fee. But if that money was there, allow him to spend it on his own targets. He’s the manager. He’s the man who won the Champions League. If Ashley wanted to put his own money in, great. Why not use it on the training ground?
“Every time with Rafa it was impossible - there was always another thing, and the next thing and the next thing.” Yes. Good managers don’t just settle. They push for more. They push for excellence. “I’m not a football expert,” Ashley says. No, but he employed one & now he’s gone."
“I could say to Lee Charnley, our managing director, I'll have £10m, £12m. But a good custodian will make every penny count. No interest, no repayments.” In 2017/18, Newcastle repaid a short-term loan of £33m to Ashley. Short-term, yes. But still a repayment.
"We’ve seen and heard it all before. Each time he talks, he admits to making mistakes while making them all over again. “I probably shouldn’t own a football club,” he says. That’s definitely a concept to get behind."
George hits the nail on the head - and not for the first time when it comes to Mike Ashley's baffling approach.
The comments on Joelinton are bang on. It proves how much of a control freak he is and that he has MUCH more say on the football side of matters than he cares to admit.
As George says, he occasionally accepts these 'mistakes', but he NEVER learns.
If he 'shouldn't own a football club', maybe he should take his own advice and leave!
