It’s been a decade of ups
MEMBERS OF THE MAGPIE GROUP LOOK BACK ON 10 YEARS WITH MIKE ASHLEY
Sports Writer MIKE Ashley’s decade at Newcastle United has been tumultuous to say the least – and it may not extend beyond that 10-year mark with all this latest takeover talk.
Two relegations, two promotions, nine managers, an attempted stadium-name change, controversial sponsorships, the appointment of Joe Kinnear twice, a surprising fifth-placed finish, Kevin Keegan’s resignation and Rafa Benitez’s appointment - to name just a few of the highs and lows of the past 10 years at St James’ Park.
But, for The Magpie Group - and indeed to any supporter who lived through the 1980s - watching Newcastle struggle to achieve their potential is nothing new.
It was that frustration with the club’s consistent second-tier struggles which actually led supporters such as John Waugh, Alan Rooney, Peter Ratcliffe and Malcolm Dix - who has since become Newcastle’s honorary vicepresident - to form The Magpie Group in the mid-1980s.
They hoped to democratise the club, place its ownership into the hands of fans and try to bring success back to the football club.
In the end, they convinced local businessman John Hall to join their crusade to wrestle away the old shareholders’ grip on power.
Eventually, Hall would buy Newcastle in 1991, appoint Kevin Keegan as manager and help create the famous ‘Entertainers’ side who narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in 1995/96.
In 2007, Hall decided to sell his 41.6 per cent stake in United to Ashley for £55million - and the Sports Direct magnate eventually bought the entire club for £133.1m.
So, a decade on, what do four key members of The Magpie Group - who fought so hard to bring about change at the football club in the 1980s - make of Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle? How do they assess the decisions he has made? What do they make of Benitez’s appointment? And do they believe the club can fulfil its potential with Ashley as owner?
John Waugh [JW]: “John [Hall] seemed convinced that Ashley was the right man, and so none of us were going to argue. Financially, John could no longer compete - it needed a billionaire and he believed Ashley was a more viable option than some of the Middle Eastern groups who approached him.”
Malcolm Dix [MD]: “Ashley has always struck me as a reasonably fair-minded person whenever I’ve spoken to him [Dix has spoken with Ashley directly on a few occasions]. Business savvy, most certainly. He told me back then he wanted to expand the name of Newcastle United throughout the world, and it was his ambition to do that. He wanted to sit his company next to it, get that mutual benefit. It made sense, and Sir John knew that.”
Alan Rooney [AR]: “It’s all about branding. He’s a retailer – and he’s brilliant at that. That’s the vision he had; it had the potential to be a dream combination.”
MD: “I had met some real charlatans and some real crooks who were involved in football, some who said they wanted to buy the club. But this bloke [Ashley] was like a breath of fresh air - and I said so at the time. Freddy Shepherd didn’t appreciate it when I went on TV and said he should sell his shares to Mike Ashley after John [Hall] had sold up, that was made clear to me. But I firmly believed Ashley could take the club forward; it was a time for billionaires, Sir John and the like could no longer compete.”
Peter Racliffe [PR]: “The local-businessman owner worked in the 1990s, but it had changed by this stage. John thought he’d found the right man to take the club forward.”
JW: “Unfortunately Ashley has been influenced by people who have given him terrible advice. Bringing Dennis Wise in was an unbelievably bad decision. That cut Ashley’s legs off. It didn’t matter what Ashley did after that, putting that guy in charge then just killed him. It didn’t give Ashley a chance. If he’d not been given that poor advice then it might have been different early on.”
AR: “Fans embraced Ashley at first, they thought he could do something positive with the club. He should have capitalised on that. Instead, bringing in Wise, Tony Jimenez and the rest of them - that was a recipe for disaster. They didn’t understand the club or the region - that was never going to work.”
PR: “One excellent thing Ashley did was bring in Chris Mort [as chairman in July 2007]. He was first class. I’ve never heard a single bad word said about him. And he came into this club and did well, it was just a shame to lose him [in June 2008, after which time relations between the fans and new chairman Derek Llambias deteriorated]. Mort understood the way this club worked and he didn’t upset the apple cart; unfortunately, the same cannot be said of some of the other people he put his faith in, like Llambias.”
MD: “You need football people in important positions at football clubs. I don’t believe Ashley’s always made wise decisions in that regard. But it’s fundamental to success.”
JW: “Some of the statements along the way have been stupid as well. Cups are secondary to the league? Rubbish. That was ridiculous. It alienates supporters - what’s the point in being a fan if you aren’t allowed to dream? Cups are everything, they’re what football is about.”
AR: “Two relegations in a decade for a football club this size is not good enough. It was like going back to the days before the Magpie Group in the 1970s and 1980s. That was the norm back then – Keegan and Hall changed all of that. Hopefully Rafa can do the same.”
JW: “Hopefully it seems now as if he might have learned from past mistakes and is now trying to establish a base again. I think Ashley has certain beliefs and he wanted to use Graham Carr to help him bring through some youngsters, but it didn’t quite work without having the right manager in to develop them. But I think Rafa may be quite happy to use Carr’s influence because I think the guy is good. He’s identified some cracking players. It’s clear Carr has a talent to spot a player, but judgement has been lacking within the club. Rafa has that.”
AR: “If you’re going to go in a certain way, you can spend money - and Newcastle need to spend some but money is not everything. We’ve always believed that judgement and knowledge of the market is essential. Rafa’s judgement and knowledge are second to none. He has them in spades. Ashley seems to have put his faith in Rafa; finally, he’s turned to the judgement of the right person.”
JW: “I don’t believe this - in my view ‘c**p’ - that you have to spend X to get this player. I believe it’s judgement that’s missing from that equation. Judgement will bring you a very, very different thing and Rafa has judgement in abundance - just like Kevin Keegan did. Rob Lee cost £800,000 - g
AR: “I have put a smal friends in recent weeks t this close season that you be brilliant. Ashley has cheap in the past to sell cesses, but a lot of failure charge to make that appr man.”
MD: “Ashley made qui few years, but he’s startin ing Rafa in. We got releg low point, but bringing Ra
AR: “I actually like the window, things didn’t go t very clear that wasn’t righ he made it very clear, an again. I think there may h ing to do with football, tha it was financial more than have happened, and hope
JW: “Keep Rafa - and m own this club, you have ball and understand this heart, Ashley doesn’t wan