King Kev; 'Ashley needs to go'
December 11th 2010 13:10
Link: twitter.com/mattsaltmer
Back in February 2008, seven months after buying Newcastle United, owner Mike Ashley ad-eared himself to the fans. After sacking unpopular boss Sam Allardyce, he re-hired Kevin Keegan, known to the fans as King Kev. However, this was to be the last act from Ashley, to improve his popularity among Magpies fans.
He built around Keegan, a management team referred to in the north-east as the 'Cockney Mafia'. Dennis Wise was strangely appointed director of football, and transfer dealings were taken out of Keegan's hands. Amidst huge fan protest, Keegan left the club in September 2008, leading to Ashley putting the club up for sale.
Since then, Joe Kinnear, Alan Shearer and Chris Hughton have come and gone, and Ashley's popularity has consistently fallen. It is now at an all time low, after sacking Hughton last week, and replacing him with Alan Pardew on a five and a half year deal.
Today, Keegan has come out in the media, and blasted the owner, and board at the club, stating 'the club will never go anywhere' with them in charge. I agree with his sentiment, that a club can not progress, with someone in charge who does not really want to be there. Ashley has put the club up for sale twice, and is only still there because a buyer did not come in for Newcastle.
On Pardew, Keegan stated; 'He is not vastly experienced, he has had 17 months managing in the Premier League'. It is true that while Pardew is slightly more experienced than Hughton, not to an extent that it was worth sacking a man who was doing a good job. Keegan did give encouraging words that Pardew is a good lad, and a hard worker, but will that really be enough, to win the fans and players round?
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Comment by Steve Michaels
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