In Defence of Mike Ashley

St James Park - It always will be

Mike Ashley is percieved by man as a fat arrogant cockney git who knows nothing about about football and is the worst think to happen to Newcastle since the architectural abberations of T-Dan Smith in the 1960s. Ashley with able help from Derek Lambias certainly manages to continually shoot himself in the foot while it's still in his mouth , and look at what has happened since he came:

• Sacking of a perfectly good manager in Sam Allardyce
• Bringing back Keegan , and having Dennis Wise as director of football , a great player but a rubbish manager (Leeds , Millwall etc)
• The debacle of trying find a manager after Keegan , resulting in JFK (Joe 'king Kinnear) and Alan Shearer
• Relegation
• The attempted sale of the club , that no one wanted to buy because of the mess Ashley had made of the place
• Chris Hughton's appointment because no one wantted the job
• The sales of Andy Carroll , Jose Enrique , Kevin Nolan , sacking Joey Barton who they could have sold for a decent return , if not a profit
• The sacking of Chris Hughton and replacement by Mike Ashley's cockney casino buddy Alan Pardew
• The attempted commercial rebranding of St James' Park - yeah the Sportsdirect Arena sounds cheap , charver and nasty

So basically with this catalogue of horrors everyone in Newcastle is wondering what the hell is coming next , after all this . I mean look at Portsmouth, Hearts  and Rangers , is Ashley any better than these owners deemed fit and proper by the English and Scottish Football Associatians?

Well really you have to look at where the club is now . Mike Ashley expressed a desire to make the club like Arsenal , to bring players through without spending a fortune and make the club a viable financial proposition. On thing Ashley can do is make money , look at Sports Direct. So where is the club now?

• After relegation , the club won the Championship under the leadership of Chris Hughton at a canter.
• In their first season in the Premiership things were going OK until the sacking of Hughton and appointment of Pardew
• This coincided with an influx of French unknowns and the sale of Andy Carrol for £35 million on the final day of the transfer window last January. Pardew was promised the money but it never seemed to materialise
• Apparently it has been invested in undersoil heating at the training ground. Have you noticed that under Ashley's stewardship Newcastle's only injuries happen on the playing field.
• The team have taken 4 points off Manchester United , and lie a comfortable fifth in the Premiership
• Demba Ba a free transfer replacement for Andy Carroll - well compare the scoring records
• Papiss Demba Cisse the biggest buy under Pardew at £10 million scored the winner on his home debut
• Hatem Ben Arfa , Yohan Cabaye, Tim Krul have all progressed under Ashley's overall stewardship
• Apparently the naming rights for the stadium would pay for Cisse , whether that's right or wrong is another question

Basically the thing is the club is in an apparently better state under Asley that I can ever remember . John Hall's stewardship with hindsight could only ever have been temporary , but if at the start of the season you'd have said Newcastle could have a good shot at European football next season , I think you would have got a few laughs.

Basically Ashley is doing more right than wrong , and expect more gaffes , but beware of getting rid because there's not that many decent club owners out there

Facebook and Leicester and Me

Before Facebook I knew one person who originated from Leicester , and leicester to me meant a football team who did well under Martin O'Neill and Walkers Crisps and Gary Lineker. Since I joined up with Facebook people from Leicester pop up with alarming regularity in my Facebook encounters.

I've met players of Mafia Wars ,Scrabble and now I find the guy from one of my favuorite record shops (RPM in Newcastle) hails from Leicester. The latest incident was a guy asking about a Supercharge CD who actually went to my old school , but is now Director of Physics at Leicester University.

I've never been to Leicester , but everyone I've encounterd from there have been absolute top people, which is maybe the reason I don't live in Leicester , I obviously wouldn't meet their quality control!!

Give Me £50 - And I'll Let You Advertise My Product!

I have a problem , a good friend of mine bought me a £30 Fenwicks Voucher and I want to buy a denim jacket . Denim jackets are nowhere to be be seen , lots of winter jackets , Belstaff making a big comeback , but I just want a light jacket I can wear when its warm , then thought I maight get a paitr of jeans with G-STAR plastered all over them - £110!!

So I pay £110 and look like a human version of one of these taxis with Claims-4-U palstered all over them! In the sixties my uncled reckoned no on would be idiotic enough to wear T-Shirts advertising a product or brand. Now it seems it's almost mandatory!! Nike , Reebok , Levis , Paul Smith , Superdry , Tommy Hilfiger.

Everyone expressing their individuality by following like sheep , and paying for the privilege. In the mid seventies Don Revie  and Admiral sportswearcame up with the idea of squeezing more money out of Leeds fans by marketing replica shirts , now the biggest Premiership teams often have four kits a season , thats £200 if you want to keep up.

Personally I go for retro shirts , whicj means you buy what you want when you want , but it must be hell for parents keeping up with the kids wants.

It seems almost all we wear today has a brand that marks you out as a potential sales hoarding for the latest Nike , Prada ,Aramani or whatever. So I'm off to town to buy something , I wonder what!!

Football In Hock To Legalised Loan Sharks?

Last night I caught a bit of the seasons curtain lifter , Hull City vs Blackpool (though according the media with therir three page spreads on Manchester United and Chelsea and that team from Manchester the season hasnt started yet) , and was slightly worried by their shirt sponsors.

Blackpool are still sponsored by Wonga and Hull City by Cash Converters. To the left you see Gary Taylor -Fletcher in his sponsored shirt and the one to the right is from the Hull City web site!!



Worrying times indeed for football , sponsored by people who routinely charge 2000% interest to people who can't afford it , but can't get money from banks because they're paid pittance wages . Admittedly there will be some druggie scum in there but surely football should not be effectively endorsing these brands!!

Two I Can Understand - But Three?

Today I was in Newcastle and passing the club shop in town noticed they had a third kit on sale. Can some one explain this to me if it's not to rip off the fans that the club has already ripped the mickey out of with the antics since the sacking of Sir Bobby Robson.

A club needs a home kit (the black and white) ,

an alternate kit (this year it's the "Solero") ,

anything more shows naked unashamed greed.






Why don't they stock some of the retro stuff if they do want to sell more Newcastle shirts, the sort of thing that TOFFS (The Old Fashioned Football Shirt) provide?

Nothing Much To Report .. Apart From England Winning The Ashes

The football season is well underway , England have won the Ashes despite Australia scoring more runs , taking more wickets and generally being better , but that's the nature of the game , the best team doesnt always win.

Incidentally The Duckworth-Lewis Method of determining the score in one day cricket has inspired an album of the same name featuring the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon and an be sampled here.

The Newcastle saga shows no sign of resolution with Mike Ashley seemingly asset stripping the club of it's best players , while on the field the club are actually doing quite well , positioned at a healthy third in the Championship at the time of the post. We'll just have to see how things pan out.

Newgate Street in Newcastle Reopens and The New Football Season Starts

After what seems like years , Newgate Street reopens to busses . This is going to to completely mess with my head as the 36 reverts to it's normal back and forth route rather than the current circular one!

As well as that the new football season kicks off with Sheffield United at Middlesborough , Preston entertain Bristol City and Newcastle visit West Brom for the inaugural BBC televised match. Hopefully there will be many monents like Jeff Stelling's (hartlepool supporter) manic finale to the 2008-9 seaons when the Championship final play off place was grabbed by Preston thanks to goals from "The Beast" Jon Parkin and Sean Saint Ledger:

Seven Days In The Premiership

Being a Preston North End supporter, I don't have much to do with the Premiership, though living in Newcastle it's unavoidable. There's been a couple of incidents that have struck over the past week.

The first is Arsene Wengers rant against Stoke City's so called physical approach. He managed to fool even me. Failing to mention Adebayor's high challenge on DeLap and Robin Van Persie's sending off he went off on one about Stoke trying to injure his players. Everyone was focussed on Wenger's rant, NO ONE was thinking about the Arsenal team (with a bad injury list), and their current bad run. What do they do against a rampant Manchester United? The win and put their Premiership challenge back on course. Again Wenger shows his genius , taking all the flak while the team sorts itself out and returns to winning ways. The guy is a veritable god!!

Secondly the Referee's Ruling body want to get their Respect Campaign back on track following run ins with Joe Kinnear of Newcastle and Alex Ferguson , to name but two. They seem to conveniently sidestep the fact that respect must be earned , and regard any form of criticism as an attack on them. When they screw up there seems to be no comeback and and anyone who dares say anything is pilloried.

Take the goal that never was in the Watford vs Reading match. No action against the officials but Adrian Boothroyd , the Watford manager was censured for his criticism of the officials.

The latest is the situation with Barnsley's Iain Hume being hospitalised in the match against Sheffield United, the referee refusing to take action against some very physical action.

In and Everton v Liverpool derby Jamie Carragher wrestled Jolean Lescott to the ground on three occcasions and the referee di nothing, but was quick to red card Tim Hibbert after he'd touched Steven Gerrard in the area (after a word for Stevie G).

Until referees get it right and stop acting as though they're infallible they are not going to get respect , unless their name is Pierluigi Collina.

And now we have the Maradonna "Hand of God" thing raising it's head again. Maradonna got away with it , the referees / officials should have taken action at the time . They didnt because FIFA / UEFA encourage cheating, simulation is rewarded with free kicks and cards for the opposing team.

It's The Tyne Wear Derby

..and absolutely nothing hangs on on it!! . At the start of the season hopes were , in Toon, that this would be the match where Newcastle put Sunderland down. The Mackems dont look like they're going anywhere , and until three weeks back there talk of relegation in Toon.

Anyway, there's nowt riding on this bar pride (which is very important, as Ruud Gullit found out to his cost. Hopefully we'll see a lot of goals and given so I'll just have a punt of four or more goals in the match or maybe both teams to score.

Have a bet here if you fancy it:



As an addendum to this I had to tke a trip down Clayton Street, and had to weave my way through the overspill from Thr Black Garter and The Clock , very scary indeed. On Derby Days it's a good idea to avoid areas like Clayton Street , in fact it's a good idea to avoid any day!!

See the Toon won 2-0, keeping another clean sheet and ruining my bets (though I also had Owen to score so not all was lost).