ASHLEY MADE SUMMER’S BEST SIGNING

EVEN if the pre-planned closure of 31 House of Fraser stores goes ahead, Mike Ashley’s takeover is likely to save upwards of 11,000 jobs. So, of course, through football’s distorted lens, the benefit of this is being weighed against Newcastle United’s need for a striker, and cover at left back. ‘At least we now know where all the money has gone in Newcastle, which sort of sums the football club up under this owner,’ sniffed Alan Shearer, equating the disparate strands of Ashley’s business, as if 11,000 individuals, families, mortgages and household budgets, should really be balanced against the noble quest for a slightly higher than mid-table finish. Now we can all see there is a bigger and more successful club in waiting at Newcastle. That they have a fine manager in Rafa Benitez who would surely thrive given a more significant budget and an ambitious brief. So Ashley’s critics have a point. It is time to start looking up at what Newcastle might be, rather than settling for a mundane Premier League existence. Yet to imply the £90million spent on House of Fraser would be better invested in Newcastle squad men displays the most blinkered vision and sense of priority. If you are one of the 11,000 or more House of Fraser employees that will be spared the Job Centre, you may feel a little aggrieved to be told that your new employer’s money would have been more usefully spent on defensive cover. Particularly if this advice comes from a millionaire former professional footballer — as well-intentioned as Shearer’s opinion might be. And no, Ashley (below) did not buy House of Fraser for altruistic reasons. He spied a business opportunity, because he is a businessman, and clinched a deal for £390m less than Chinese conglomerate Sanpower paid for House of Fraser in 2014. Yet a handy by-product of this is that a minimum 11,000 jobs will be preserved. Yes, there are hard negotiations ahead over the 10,000 pension fund members, plus money owed to suppliers and concession holders. It is far from a perfect solution; but when companies go bust it rarely is. Ashley’s Newcastle takeover in 2007 was also the answer to a financial crisis. The reason the club were on the market was that Sir John Hall and the Shepherd family had run up short-term debts of £70m and recorded substantial further losses. Hall had been trying to sell his stake for three years and Ashley paid off £144m in external debts. Indeed, for a club with such untapped potential, it is hard to think of a time in more than a decade when Newcastle hasn’t been for sale. The first reports that Ashley was looking to cash in emerged in 2009 when a compensation claim from Kevin Keegan was considered to have endangered the club’s future, and he would certainly sell now for the right price. It makes the angry entreaties to get out of Newcastle ever more ironic. Ashley would: he just can’t find a buyer ready to take the

chance he did 11 years ago.