Ashley Was Always Going To Replace Hughton - The Time Was Irrelevant!

Last updated : 07 December 2010 By Footy Mad - Editor

Ashley always insisted that Christmas was D-Day for the Toon boss.

Even during that 'buzzing' spell when we hammered the Mackems 5-1 and won at Arsenal ... Ashley REFUSED to offer the Toon manager a new contract ... saying (through the NUFC website) "we will look at things at Christmas".

Many of us felt this was always going to happen.

Robert Lee: "Nothing should amaze you at Newcastle United, but this is one thing that does.

"He's done a tremendous job to get the club out of the Championship and into the Premier League, and he'd done very, very well up to this point.

"They've beaten Arsenal away, they've had the biggest derby win for many years against Sunderland and they had a great result against Chelsea.

"They've had a few iffy results recently, but they've had a few players injured - Barton and Nolan have been out.

"If you look at it, the decision was probably made a little while ago when his contract talks stalled.

"They've probably been thinking about this for a while and decided they wanted someone more experienced in. Chris Hughton certainly couldn't have done any more.

"I think this is another decision that will bewilder most Newcastle fans."