At the end of a season for Newcastle United that can only be described as a turbulent one to say the least, once again the owner of the club, Mike Ashley placed himself in the spotlight by embarrassing the whole foundation by deciding to place the football club up for sale for a price of £100 million which, for those who are interested in purchasing it, is to be done via email.
How pathetic.
Over the years there has been the "we are a big club" tag that has had a tendency to haunt Newcastle, as fifty thousand supporters come and see their local team week in week out with a backing that is second to none; however, there is no secret that the fans desire the success they feel they deserve.
Bouncing back from relegation is Newcastle’s priority, but the nightmare scenario is that they keep on sinking. Many Premiership clubs have been relegated over the years with no return—i.e. Leeds United. In my opinion Newcastle made similar mistakes to Sheffield Wednesday but on a far greater scale.
Throughout the season they got it wrong big time and they deserve what's happened because of the way they've been run although I take pitty on the real sufferers, the fans, who've dished out their hard earned money in these struggling economic times. Now, if they don't spend £50million to buy an entirely new squad, there's every chance they'll get relegated again.
There's no way those players want to play in the Championship. Even with a whole new squad it's a risk. They'll have players they won't be able to move on, and it creates disharmony inside the dressing room.
They're also about to discover something they might remember from when they were young. It's called contact. The Championship is a very different game to the Premier League. It's much more physical.
If Newcastle think things can get no worse after relegation, they should think again and perhaps hope history won't repeat itself when another of northern football's fallen giants, Sheffield Wednesday were sent tumbling out of the Barclays Premier League and are only just daring to dream of a return. It's a long and painful process and Newcastle are feeling distinctly queasy about it.
With word that Michael Owen & Co. are itching to jump on the next bandwagon that rolls through, you'd be forgiven in wondering where 80+ goals needed for automatic qualification will come from next season. Even Geordie, Steven Taylor will make a decision on his future only after a manager is appointed which fans hope is Alan Shearer.
Turmoil at the club has seen almost every player put up for sale but Taylor is on a list of players along with goalkeeper Steve Harper, midfielder Nicky Butt, and fellow defender Habib Beye, which Shearer wants to remain as the Toon attempt to retain a spine for their Championship campaign.
Three previous owners, injury prone, seen better days, available for nothing but needs a good home—any takers for Michael Owen? After listening to him during an interview this week I believed he still has that familiar chip on his shoulder, which suggests to me that he thinks the world owes him a living on the basis of that wonder goal against Argentina at France '98.
He complained about journalists writing him off, but if you demand so much on your payday, then people are entitled to some criticism; there's not too much wrong with that.
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