Newcastle fans protest against Mike Ashley

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has been heavily criticised by the Magpie’s fans for his financial management of the club

On Sunday afternoon Newcastle United suffered a 3-1 defeat at St James Park against Tottenham.

The loss was their sixth consecutive Premier League defeat and that terrible run of form has saw the Magpies remain just above the relegation zone.

Protests

This weekend’s game and run-up to the game against Tottenham brought protests from the passionate Geordie faithful, who are simply fed-up with the lack of passion and interest shown in their beloved club by owner Mike Ashley.

The fact that the club from the north east have a reported £30million burning a hole in Ashley’s pocket is cause for uproar amongst the Newcastle fans, and quite rightly so if that is in fact true.

The Magpies fans have had plenty of reasons to complain in recent seasons. Yesterday’s defeat equalled the clubs worst ever run in modern day football, matching a similar sort of run last season under former-boss Alan Pardew.

Mike Ashley does not deserve the sort of loyal and passion that the Magpies fans show their club season in season out.

However, for a lot of Newcastle fans the club is a big part of their lives. The clubs supporters are amongst the best in Britain. That is proven by the fact that Newcastle get big crowds for every home game, even when in poor form.

Yesterday a certain number of fans voted with their feet by not showing up for the game, while others made a late dash to their seats.

Business

Newcastle is supposedly in a better financial state than compared with the one that they were in when Mike Ashley arrived. However, Newcastle Football Club is not just a sports team. It is an institution in the north east.

Football may be regarded as a business by a lot of people, but being a success on and off-the-pitch can be achieved, just ask Southampton fans. The Saints are arguably a smaller club than the Magpies, yet are outperforming the team from the north east.

Ashley is a businessman and surely he realises that success on the pitch can bring financial gain off it. Newcastle fans are loyal, but when their team are playing exciting football the ground is packed to the rafters, replica shirts fly off the shelves of the club shop and the atmosphere in the city is electric.

If Mike Ashley just wants to make a profit he is in charge of the wrong club. The Sports Direct owner does not realise the potential of the club from the north east.

Potential

If Newcastle were based in London, they would have been taken over by a successful oil-tycoon by now and probably be challenging for the Premier League title.

They have the fan base, the tradition and the stadium to go far. The potential at the club seems unlimited. Instead of fulfilling that potential though, Ashley is happy to let the club remain in a constant state of mediocrity.

Ashley is happy as long as the Magpies are still in the top-flight and he is able to collect the television money without putting much back into the club.

Surely Ashley can see that the current Newcastle team is not one that is entertaining, exciting, or even winning games. Everybody else can, including their own fans, hence the protests.

Boss

Newcastle boss John Carver is a Geordie, but he has had enough time to prove that he does not have the managerial acumen to be in charge of a Premier League team.

He is well out of his depth at Newcastle. The experienced coach is supposedly in charge till the end of the campaign, but there is an ugly rumour doing the rounds that he may get the job on a permanent basis in the summer.

Carver was the cheap choice for Newcastle boss when Pardew left for Crystal Palace in January and the saying you get what you pay for has never been so apt.

Change

Unfortunately for the loyal Newcastle fans I highly doubt that Mike Ashley will be going away in the near future, not while the Magpies are still in the Premier League anyway.

The Magpies are currently seven points away from away from the Premier League relegation zone and are probably lucky that there are three worst teams in the league.

They look unlikely to get relegated this season and while they are still in the top-flight nothing will change, as Mike Ashley is happy to collect the profits and does not seem to be interested in helping the club progress.

The protests may register with the Magpies owner, but they are unlikely to likely to change anything at the club.

Are Newcastle fans right to protest against Mike Ashley?