Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has admitted to having made mistakes in terms of decision making for the club over the years.
He admits to treating Keegan, Hughton and Shearer badly ... but despite ten years of mistakes ... he AIN'T GONNA CHANGE!
Ashley has long been slammed by fans of the club and manager Rafa Benitez recently criticized him for failing to provide sufficient funds to invest in new talent for this season.
Ashley has now confessed that some of the mistakes that he has made over the years include the sacking of Sam Allardyce too early, changing the name of St James Park to Direct Sport Arena in 2011 and allowing the wheels to come off at the club in 2014 after it achieved some stability.
Ashley said about his stint in charge of the Magpies, “Very naive in the beginning. In the middle I thought I was just about beginning to get my arms around it a little bit, we had a manager on an eight-year contract [Alan Pardew].
“We had the finance right, talked about investing in the training ground and the academy, we had a strategy, buying young talent and developing.
“I probably rushed in too early (with Allardyce). The first thing, letting Sam Allardyce go, I was probably too keen to get going and make a difference, and I was a bit naive about how football worked.
“The first thing you feel is stupidity, because as soon as you know the hindsight of something, you know what you were doing wrong.
“For example, I thought it was the right thing to do was to generate as much money as possible for Newcastle, so when people say to me: ‘Whatever you do on an interview do not talk about changing the name of St James’ Park!’
“Well I’m me, and I’m going to talk about making an error, and I should not have changed the name of St James’ Park. I should not have done that.”
NEWCASTLE 0 TOTTENHAM 2
Elliot, Manquillo, Lejeune (Mbemba 34'), Clark, Dummett (Lascelles 7'), Shelvey, Hayden, Ritchie, Pérez, Atsu, Gayle (Merinoat 76')
Subs: Murphy, Aarons, Merino, Darlow, Mitrovic
PRE-SEASON
NEWCASTLE 2 HELLAS VERONA 0 (Perez, Atsu)
Elliot (Darlow 64), Manquillo (Gamez 64), Lejeune (Lascelles 64), Clark (Mbemba 64), Dummett (Merino 64), Ritchie, Shelvey (Aarons 64), Hayden, Atsu (Murphy 64), Perez (De Jong 72), Mitrovic (Diame 64)
WOLFSBERG 1 NEWCASTLE 3 (Mitrovic, Ritchie Pen, Atsu)
Elliot (Darlow, 70), Manquillo (Mbemba, 70), Lejeune (Lascelles, 70), Clark, Dummett (Gamez, 70), Ritchie (Murphy, 70), Shelvey, Hayden (Merino, 70), Atsu (Aarons, 70), Perez (de Jong, 70), Mitrovic (Diame, 46).
Subs not used: Colback, Gayle.
MAINZ 2 NEWCASTLE 1 (Gamez)
Darlow (Woodman 60), Yedlin (Manquillo 27), Clark (Mbemba 46), Lejuene (Merino 79), Dummett (Gamez 46), Colback (Shelvey 60), Diame (Perez 60), Murphy (Hayden 60), Ritchie (Aarons 46), De Jong (Atsu 60), Mitrovic (Gayle 60)
BRADFORD CITY 0 NEWCASTLE 4 (Gayle, Murphy 2, Mitrovic)
Elliot (Woodman, 61), Yedlin (Manquillo, 46), Lejeune (Mbemba, 61), Clark (Saivet, 77), Dummett (Gamez, 61), Atsu (De Jong, 61), Shelvey (Aarons, 61), Hayden (Colback, 77), Ritchie (Murphy, 46), Perez (Diame, 46), Gayle (Mitrovic, 61).
PRESTON 1 NEWCASTLE 1 (Mitrovic)
Elliot (Darlow, 46, Woodman, 70), Mbemba, Hanley (Yedlin, 46), Lejeune (Manquillo, 77), Dummett (Clark, 46), Atsu (Murphy, 46), Diame (Colback, 46), Shelvey (Hayden, 46), Aarons (Perez, 46), de Jong (Roberts, 62), Mitrovic (Gayle, 46).
HEARTS 1 NEWCASTLE 2 (Gayle 2)
Elliot (Woodman 63), Aarons(Gamez 46), Clark (Dummett 46), Mbemba (Hanley 62), Lascelles (Lejeune 46), Haidara (Colback 62), Shelvey (Saivet 46), Diame (Armstrong 62), De Jong (Lazaar 75), Atsu (Perez 46), Gayle (Mitrovic 46)