Mike Ashley is Newcastle United's unlikely takeover saviour – a fan's view on changing perceptions

In some respect it started well for the Sports Direct magnate. He was seen sitting among fans, downing pints away to arsenal, wearing the club’s colours, and listened to fans and brought back Kevin Keegan to replace Sam Allardyce, the last manager appointed by the previous regime.

But as we all know far too well that is where it went wrong. The list of mistakes is plentiful. It’s a list that doesn’t make for pleasant reading, regardless of the club you support. Yet for years we have been told by ‘pundits’ that we should be grateful! We should embrace the man whose penny pinching has seen the club relegated twice, Keegan walk, Rafa Benitez feel like he couldn’t trust the board and let his contract run down, even Alan Pardew left for the

greener grass of Crystal Palace.

This is why we grasped onto the notion of any takeover occurring. It meant an end to Ashley, and his permanent black cloud that covers St James’ Park. He got the money to invest in the High Street, and we were rid of what can only be described as a someone slowly killing the club and what it still stands for within the hearts of the fans.

For years it has seemed that Ashley wasn’t a willing seller of the club, to the point you could set your watch by the time a new ‘rumour’ of an ‘interested party’ would surface. It got to the point where as fans we weren’t expecting much business in any transfer window, because one we knew the owner would look for a cheap deal with a big sell-on value, and two they without doubt hide behind a ‘takeover’ as a reason to do just enough business.

This time felt different. It actually seemed that Ashley wanted to finally hand over the keys to the (New)Castle. There was however one thing stopping him from doing so. The Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test. The man had finally had his price matched, but an enticing looking consortium made up of Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Amanda Staveley’s PCP and the Reuben Brothers.

On paper it looked like Newcastle would be the richest club in the world, Ashley would get the money he was after, and could finally set about saving the high street – albeit a high street that seemed remarkably cheaper thanks to COVID-19. A win-win.

But the Premier choose this moment to come up with as many hoops as they could for the consortium to jump through, and while they were playing puppet master, they sat by and watched the clock tick away until the problem just walked away.

It has been put to me by someone I know who has had dealings with Ashley in the past, “Mike is a d**k, but a clever d**k – and he doesn’t like to lose!”

This could not be truer if recent events are anything to go by. The Premier league did not count on angering Mike Ashley, and probably felt that he would just accept the decision, or lack thereof that they offered in the summer. The current owner would question the process and the practices made by the Premier league throughout the process, specifically naming Richard Masters. His scathing attack would follow the version of events given by Amanda Staveley, in that all answers to the League’s questions were legally checked and given to the Premier league Board.

He would call into question the League’s PPV system they have implemented this season, giving another viable option that could suit fans, the Premier league and the English Football League alike. But not one to not get the final word in, nearly outright stated that voting on the initial proposal of £14.95 to watch a game was made because they were offered no other viable option.

Then came the news, broken by the Shields Gazette’s Liam Kennedy, that a legal letter had been sent to the Premier league by a fans group. Rumours began to circulate this has the backing of Mike Ashley. He wasn’t going to let this lie, was he? It sounds like he’s determined to do the one thing he normally does in retail….WIN!!

A lot has been thrown at Mike Ashley over the years, much of it justified. The one thing that hasn’t, is that he will fight for what is right by the fans, and not just his own pocket.

That is not entirely true this time, as we know with Ashley, a lot of his decisions, if not all, are based on what can benefit him. However this time he is coming across as the unlikely saviour, fighting for us – and his own pocket!