Advertisement

Newcastle United's potential takeover feels less like a sale and more like an exorcism

Amanda Staveley is looking to buy Newcastle
Amanda Staveley is looking to buy Newcastle

There’s a nervous anticipation on Tyneside right now. Usually that feeling is confined to the minutes and hours before Newcastle United kick-off, but in recent weeks it has spread, quickly and ubiquitously, amid talk of a potential takeover.

This is by no means the first time that the topic has arisen during Mike Ashley’s rocky tenure. The key difference, however, is that the party enquiring about the club feels thoroughly credible. In Amanda Staveley, (backed by PCP capital) there is someone not only with experience of negotiating to buy a football club, but also someone currently on the lookout for an investment opportunity.

Both Staveley and her backers were unknown on Tyneside until the former was spotted at St James’ Park in October. Even now, with the power of the internet, information is somewhat sparse. There has been speculation of lavish spending, of lofty ambitions, but that is no more guaranteed than snow on Christmas Day.

Such ambiguity could easily stir uncertainty among fans, but the notion of ‘better the devil you know’ no longer feels applicable to supporters of Newcastle. For a little over a decade Ashley has needlessly gambled with Newcastle and alienated himself from a city he still seems unable to understand.

READ MORE: Five things we learned from the Premier League weekend

READ MORE: Gossip – Barcelona want Eriksen and more

Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley
Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley

When Ashley first purchased Newcastle in 2007 he performed no stern examination of the club’s accounts. That lack of forethought, of planning, is a microcosm for his leadership — one that has cost Newcastle time and time again. Twice the Magpies have sacrificed their Premier League status needlessly, due in large part to poor organisation and strategy.

When they were successful – finishing 5th in the Premier League under Alan Pardew – Ashley stifled further growth through a restrictive and asinine transfer policy that stunk of him thinking he was smarter than the market he was operating in.

When talking about the negligence at Newcastle the club’s lack of investment in players is a solid starting point. Even this summer Rafa Benitez was hampered by those he is supposed to call colleagues. Newcastle’s squad was assembled to win the Championship and as such needed improvement. Benitez kept his end of the bargain by moving some of that group on along with some of the fringe players, only for Ashley to deliver nothing in return. Benitez had a plan, the owner had a balance sheet.

The club’s issues run far deeper than spending though. Benitez talks about building something, a gradual progression towards the top half, but fans know that such an ideology is at odds with the intent of their owner. Benitez is a veneer of sporting integrity on what is otherwise a three legged table.


The years of mediocrity infected the club with a dose melancholy and apathy. The club lived year to year, and it slowly ate away at the atmosphere inside St James’ Park. Attending games began to feel like a begrudging obligation.

Under Benitez, the waning excitement has been replaced by flagging displays and a largely positive crowd. The team’s success last season in the Championship allowed fans an opportunity to bury talk of Ashley and his approach, to focus on the positives and cheer a group of players they felt connected to.

For many though, non-participation is the only course of action. Speak to any Newcastle fan and they’ll likely know someone who packed in or dropped their season ticket due to Ashley. Some have returned in the wake of Benitez’s arrival, but there remain many that are devout in avoiding Newcastle until Ashley moves on.

Such a choice – begrudging acceptance or non-participation – feels an impossible decision to make. For fans, football is not a hobby. It doesn’t stop when the shirt is in the drawer, or when the full-time whistle blows.

The late Sir Bobby Robson articulated it best when asked what a club is: “It’s, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city,” he said.

READ MORE: Lukaku ban could benefit him, United and Jose

READ MORE: Gattuso takes Milan job as Montella sacked

Newcastle fans have rarely felt that belonging under Ashley. At its worst, Ashley’s Newcastle has resembled a cash cow, something to be milked annually when the TV money is deposited, or when Sports Direct want global advertising at a knockdown rate.

Many of the players signed were not at the club to make a career and bring success, but rather engineer a move to a bigger club as quickly and efficiently as possible. A penny spent for every pound earned.

The defeat to Watford on Saturday showed the consequences of his continued parsimony. While no one could accuse the current group of being mercenaries, quite the opposite in fact, it’s fair to say they have been assembled for the minimal possible outlay.

That makes Benitez’s attempts at improvement that much harder. Newcastle’s squad is a hodgepodge of players from the Championship and the bargain basement, with but one or two flickers of quality dropped in. Javier Manquillo and Joselu cost a combined £10 million, but neither have looked convincing, while Mo Diame is on a sharp decline.

The team lacks depth and attacking quality, and where Marco Silva could bring on Etienne Capoue or Roberto Pereyra, Benitez had lesser options.

He identified such frailties in the summer, and if Mike Ashley and managing director Lee Charnley had done as he asked Newcastle may now be enjoying a slightly less stressful season. That is why fans are encouraging a sale so strongly, and welcoming Staveley and PCP with open arms. Newcastle’s miserliness is of no benefit to anyone but the owner that has shown such contempt for those who follow the club.

The truth is, the fans have no idea of PCP’s intentions for their football club, but by now the sale of Newcastle United is less about a welcoming in the new and more about banishing the old. The sale will usher in a new era, but more importantly it will exorcise the toxic mentality that has dogged the football club for well over a decade.