Newcastle’s Mike Ashley Is Greatly Confounding
By Douglas Smith
@DFresh39
Getty Images
There continue to be rumors that Alan Pardew is leaving Newcastle United for Crystal Palace after the teams agreed to compensation to allow Pardew out of his current contract. There is no doubting that Pardew is interested in switching teams to one of his former squads, and a change of scenery would do the controversial figure well. However, it is Newcastle owner Mike Ashley who wears the black eye in this transaction. This is nothing new for Ashley, but his actions leading up to and surrounding the Pardew rumors are dumbfounding.
Pardew should have been long gone at this point. He head butted an opposing player last year and led Newcastle to a horrible finish. They started this season the same way they ended 2013-14, and fans were calling for his departure. Remember that Pardew was fired from Southampton amid reports of low staff morale before Ashley decided to give him a five and a half year deal. Sky Sports took a poll of 40,000 fans on who should be the next manager, and Pardew received 5.5 percent of the votes, yet Ashley backed him to replace Chris Hughton. It seems that Ashley saw him as a good puppet.
Pardew skipped the press conference after their 3-2 win this past weekend, putting Ashley into a corner. In many ways, it was retaliation to Ashley saying there would be no money spent in January after Newcastle enjoyed a resurgence after a slow start. After winning five in a row, Newcastle is 2-1-4, so maybe Ashley doesn’t see the point in adding players. This is nothing new with Ashley.
In fact, he has sold more stars than he has bought, and not allowed Pardew to have much say in the decisions. Pardew had to stand by and watch as Andy Carroll was sold. Newcastle was the only Premier League club not to make a signing in the summer of 2013 and added just one loan player. Financially, Ashley has secured Newcastle’s place in the Premier League, but has not put any funds back into the transfer market.
Ashley has also made questionable hires in the front office. He has twice tried to sell the club, and he has banned publications from being near the Newcastle grounds for writing pieces about selling the club that were called fictitious. He worked a sponsorship deal with a payday loan company that helped spark a protest among fans. Ashley has been deciding on Pardew’s future from his holiday vacation spot in Barbados, so it does not seem to be that concerning for the confounding owner.
Pardew needed to go, but things will remain the same as long as Ashley is with the team. Ashley has a chance to loosen his grip over the team now and hire an outspoken manager who will get some power. The track record says that will not happen and to expect the status quo. Ashley looks like a fool from the outside, but he does not seem to mind. He will just continue to hinder the advancement of Newcastle.
Douglas Smith is a soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DFresh39, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.
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