Source: Telegraph
Rudderless Newcastle United have turned a disaster into a crisis
Rudderless and paralysed by uncertainty, Newcastle begin their first season in the second tier of English football in 16 years, mired in a crisis entirely of their own making. [LNB]A snapshot of the shambles has been played out this week. In London, Barry Moat has been in takeover talks with bankers working for Mike Ashley, who advise that the Tyneside businessman represents the owner's best chance of an exit strategy. Last night a deal had still not done with suggestions of alternative buyers circulating.[LNB] Related ArticlesAshley urged to quit by MPNewcastle takeover in balanceBarry Moat profileTottenham sign BassongFans urge Moat to hire ShearerShearer poised for returnAs they talked, Ashley's representatives in Newcastle dismissed Moat's prospects. And Ashley himself? He is in the United States, seven timezones away with the future of the club in his hands. [LNB]Also on holiday was the man who should be leading the club into the most important season in its recent history. Alan Shearer spent the week in Portugal with his family and flew home on Friday to resume his seat on the Match of the Day sofa, where he will be excused if he watches Saturday's season-opener against West Bromwich Albion from between his fingers. [LNB]Shearer will be restored to the manager's chair should Moat complete his takeover, but nothing is certain at Newcastle. Since Ashley arrived more than two years ago, the club has dropped a division, gone through four managers, lost the owner at least £100 million and it is not over yet. [LNB]The club were hardly a paragon of good management when Ashley bought them for £135 million from the Hall and Shepherd families. Despite suspicion of his motives and origins - Hertfordshire is too far from Haltwhistle to carry credibility north of the Tyne - Ashley's early steps with the club were positive. [LNB]He wiped out £100 million of historic debt incurred even as Freddie Shepherd authorised healthy dividends for himself and other shareholders. [LNB]The improvement in the club's financial health was not matched on the field, where Sam Allardyce, appointed by Shepherd, was proving as unpopular as Ashley is now. [LNB]In January 2008 Allardyce was sacked, replaced by Kevin Keegan as the owner pandered to the supporters he had joined on the terraces and in the bars of the Bigg Market. [LNB]With Keegan came a bizarre management structure that included Dennis Wise as director of football working from an office in London. Undermined by a plan that looked to have been drawn up on the back of a beer mat, Keegan walked away in September 2008, taking Ashley's credibility with him and rendering everyone's favourite drinking partner Public Enemy No 1. [LNB]Four days later Ashley put the club up for sale, seeking around £220 million, a price he can only dream of today after phantom takeovers from South Africa, Malaysia, China, India, Dubai, Iran, Bradford and Jesmond came and went. [LNB]Keegan's mystifying replacement, Joe Kinnear, did not appease anger at the "Cockney Mafia". His tenure was memorable primarily for a spectacularly foul-mouthed exchange with journalists, but "JFK's" term was cut short midway through last season by a heart attack. Too late, Ashley turned to a second Messiah, but in eight games in charge Shearer could not save Newcastle from the drop into the Championship. [LNB]The challenge now is to arrest the slide. As Ashley ponders his options in the American west, supporters numbed by the descent can only hope he trusts Newcastle's future to an owner and manager from the North East. [LNB]
