Where’s the romance gone?
CAN UNITED REKINDLE THEIR AMBITIOUS TILTS FOR GLORY UNDER A HANDS-OFF OWNER?
MIKE Ashley continues to take a back seat when it comes to life at Newcastle United.
The club remains up for sale but the price is believed to have risen to £400m while Ashley continues to inject interest-free loans into the business, meaning that figure could change again.
Ashley is open to offers but by the same token he is also content to sit on a profit-making machine, as Premier League and TV money continues to seep into the club he bought in 2007 after Sir John Hall sold his shares at United and changed the course of history at St James’ Park.
Rather than being hands-on like those before him, Ashley is happy to let managing-director Lee Charnley take the brunt of the pressure behind the scenes for £150,000 a year.
The day-to-day world of life at Newcastle United is strange for a football club whch is the focal point of the city and still considered as one of the biggest teams in Europe on paper.
Yet its owner has not attended a game in more than 12 months and is happy to be fed snippets of information here and there from his close aides.
Ashley replaced Freddy Shepherd and, while he started his stint in charge full of enthusiasm, the moment he realised it was costing him big bucks he stopped playing the role of crowd-pleaser back in 2008 when Kevin Keegan walked away never to return. It was Keegan who once famously stated: “You have to give these fans what they want.” However, the romance of the club is questionable under the guidance of its current custodians and, while the addition of £4m goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was a welcome and popular one, the excitement it generated sums up where Newcastle are at the moment.
Indeed, the Magpies are a long way from breaking world transfer records and bringing in marquee signings which will have this football-mad city throbbing with anticipation.
There is nothing quite like being in and around Newcastle when a big name arrives.
There will be many people reading this who have experienced the blind panic in the city when a new signing is made, fans falling over each other to grab a newspaper to see if it is true before then running up to St James’ Park to get a ticket or a glimpse of a new face.
I can still recall the day Alan Shearer was unveiled behind the Leazes End when supporters seemed to be in a trance just to see him paraded as a world-record arrival.
Glorious days – but they do not seem in danger of a return the way Newcastle United is today.
In fact, one of the snags in the contract offer to Rafa Benitez is the
fact he cannot splash out a lump sum of his transfer kitty without permission of the owner.
Even getting a deal done for Benitez and doing what seems to be the most logical and sensible thing for the football club seems to be complicated for the current regime – even though the manager is currently the best thing about the club.
Contract talks remain unresolved but at least things are moving when it comes to recruitment, albeit at the usual slow pace.
There is no chance of Ashley losing patience with Benitez over the contract talks and ending the existing agreement because it will cost the club £6m if they choose to activate the release clause.
So Benitez is here for at least another 12 months because he refuses to break contracts. Sadly, United’s current regime will not bow to public pressure either. After all, they were willing to weather the storm when they lost Keegan and they were prepared to leave Alan Shearer in the dark after talks of his future coincided with the club going up for sale again in 2009.
In their eyes, why would Benitez be any different from two of the club’s biggest legends?
So the situation at United will be the same as it has been for the last 10 years at St James.’ They will muddle through, try to save money here and there and ultimately continue to frustrate their manager who wants to move quicker than the club is willing to.
Newcastle will spend a chunk of money on players this summer and those new faces will be anticipated one by one.
That is how it will stay unless Newcastle do find that new owner or Ashley’s imagination is captured once again by the world of the Black and Whites.
While the addition of Martin Dubravka was a welcome one, the excitement it generated sums up where United are