Sometimes Protests Work: Ashley to Sell Newcastle

By: Daryl | September 14th, 2008

Newcastle United fans protested during the home game against Hull on Saturday. Some with banners (see above) others by just flat out not attending. The BBC has some nice video of unhappy Toon Army fans including one lady who says the new owner has ruined her life.

Supporter protests are usually completely ignored by boards and owners, especially when the fans are protesting against, well, boards and owner. But this is Newcastle, where anything can happen. And this protest was enough to convince Mike Ashley he was no longer wanted and to put the club up for sale.

But not before he took a little swipe at the fans.

“I am not stupid and have listened to the fans,” Ashley said in an extraordinary 1,644-word statement to supporters. “I have really loved taking my kids to the games, being next to them and all the fans. But I am now a dad who can’t take his kids to a football game because I am advised that we would be assaulted. Therefore, I am no longer prepared to subsidise Newcastle.

Not the classiest way to go out Mike.

My guess now is that the mysterious Friday night meeting with Kevin Keegan was Mike Ashley’s last ditch attempt to win the fans back with a positive PR move, but Ashley couldn’t convince Keegan to come back to work.

The big-boned beer-guzzling billionaire (alliteration rules!) did have some kinder words for Newcastle fans in his statement:

“I hope the fans get what they want and the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want.”

Read the full statement here. To be fair I’ve got some sympathy with Ashley in that the club did have debts and he’s not an Abu Dhabi or Roman Abramovich style billionaire who can pump a bottomless fortune into St. James’ Park. But no one made him hire Dennis Wise. That was just mental.

Which brings us to our next question: Who is going to buy Newcastle?

The Telegraph suggests Ashley has spoken to “Middle East investors” which sounds a bit vague, before mentioning Bill Gates, Indian billionaire Anil Ambani and Chinese property developer Xu Rongmao. Basically they’re just listing rich people.

I know Bill Gates is a philanthropist now and that Newcastle fans are long-suffering (more so of late.) But would Gates’ time and money be better spent on bringing a new right winger to Newcastle or on continuing the fight against Malaria in the third world? I think we know the answer. The Telegraph even report that Freddy god-damn Shepherd might be making a comeback. That can’t be good.

I wonder how Newcastle fans will feel about Ashley in the future. He wasn’t smart enough to run the football club (again, Dennis Wise) and wasn’t rich enough to buy the fans the a team they wanted. But if Ashley can sell Newcastle on to a Chelsea/Man City style megarich owner, then the Toon Army might one day look back on Ashley a little more kindly. Not today though.