With Chris Mort (the chairman) due to return to his legal practise in London later this summer after a period of looking like a fish out of water in the football environment, Ashley will come out of hiding. Ashley Come Out From Under The Bed!
With Chris Mort (the chairman) due to return to his legal practise in London later this summer after a period of looking like a fish out of water in the football environment, Ashley will come out of hiding. Mort will be replaced by Derek Llambias, who is presently deputy chairman, and Ashley's involvement will increase significantly.
While the previous chairman, Freddy Shepherd, ran the rule over every player Newcastle signed, and the deals were only concluded if Fred liked what he saw ... Mort is not a football man, and he probably wouldn't know the difference between Christiano Ronaldo and Billy Askew.
Ashley's transfer policy is to have Newcastle focussing their resources on young, talented players rather than established professionals.
And that is a worry in itself. You do not win cups and titles with kids!
We have been down that road too many times before. Signing "wonderkids" who never get beyond their early promise.
Shall we list them? How long have you got?
Titus Bramble, Hugo Viana, Lomana Lua Lua, Diego Gavilan, Darren Huckerby, Des Hamilton, Jimmy Crawford, Bjarni Gudjonsson, Paul Robinson, Alex Mathie, Chris Holland, Darren Ambrose, Carl Cort, etc,
Does Keegan make all decisions on recruitment and sales?
Does Keegan remain the final arbiter over who joins the club ahead of Dennis Wise the executive director?
We wonder.