In July 2007, Mike Ashley gained 100% control of Newcastle United for £134 million. He, since then, has become one of the worst owners of a football club ever. He has enjoyed a poor relationship with fans throughout his ownership and has always looked to do things on the cheap.
Newcastle's spending under Ashley has been minimal. It was only in January that they broke their record signing (Miguel Almiron for £20 million) which had been £16.8 million they paid for Michael Owen in August 2005, coincidentally not whilst Ashley was there.
He has continued to look for cheap alternatives when replacing players. A tweet from @DobbySolanoNUFC sums Ashley up perfectly.
Mitro £22m Rondon loan. Merino £11m Ki £0. Townsend £15m Atsu £6m. Sissoko £30m Diame £4.5m. Wijnaldum £25m Hayden £2m.He runs Newcastle like a business (which you have to to a certain extent) but in football, an owner must invest and Ashley has never done that. His sole aim is to generate as much money for himself and he has never once cared for the thousands of loyal, passionate Newcastle fans that turn up week in, week out. He placed a £52 million bid to buy Game Digital in June 2019, so why can't he invest like that into Newcastle?
But will Ashley ever leave? He has (apparently) come close three times in the past two years. Twice, Amanda Staveley has tried to buy Newcastle, offering £300 million in November 2017. Then this summer, there seemed to be concrete links that Sheikh Khaled was in talks to buy the club for £350 million but nothing has materialized yet, and doesn't seem likely to.
Everything has been miserable for Newcastle fans for some time but in 2016, the appointment of Rafa Benitez as manager put smiles on their faces. He understood the club, got how much the club means to the city and tried his hardest to keep Newcastle in the Premier League.
Newcastle's squad is definitely of Championship quality. With Rafa in charge, he was able to buy quality players like Almiron, Schar and Lascelles because of he who is. Newcastle ended the season well, playing great football and with Rafa at the helm, things seemed very positive for the upcoming season?
What's that? Mike Ashley isn't willing to give Benitez the necessary funds and won't renew his contract? What a surprise! There's more? Ashley is going to replace a Champions League winning manager with one of those middle aged British unsuccessful managers? You can't write this stuff.
Steve Bruce as Sheffield Wednesday boss had a win rate of 38.9%, with a 38.5% ratio throughout his entire career. He has also won a grand total of 0 trophies. Bruce is one of those typical British managers who move from club to club after either being sacked or doing a crap job. His reward for winning 7/18 at Wednesday is a job at one of England's biggest clubs.
The only reason that Bruce is getting this opportunity is because no other manager would take this job because of Mike Ashley. Anybody would be foolish to manage Newcastle as long as Ashley is there. He does not invest and there will always be a negative atmosphere around the club. Newcastle are a prestigious club that used to challenge for Premier League titles way back, but they will be fighting to stay up with Ashley.
The Premier League season starts in around 3 weeks time and Newcastle have signed nobody but have sold Ayoze Perez for £30 million. Will that money be reinvested in the squad? No chance. Steve Bruce is not an inspiring manager (Rafa was) and I honestly can see no other ending than Newcastle being relegated.
It is honestly quite upsetting to see how a once great club like Newcastle can be ruined by one, greedy individual.
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