Steve Bruce on Mike Ashley

Linny said:
I never understood why the Geordies hated him so much. Had the club on an even keel. Playing Prem football. Relegated once but he backed them and they kept most of their squad and walked back up.

Still, they’ve got their club back now. By giving it to the Saudi nation.
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Two relegations, once with us in 2009 and then once to replace us in 2016.
 
It's quite funny the Geordies now have the romanticised dream of wealthy owners who will plough money in to get them back where they belong.

They've spent close to 250 million since the saudis arrived looking at possible future points deductions to see themselves 10th and dropping like a stone.

I liked Ashley, i thought he ran them well i just think he picked the wrong managers at times.
 
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mbg42 said:
Two relegations, once with us in 2009 and then once to replace us in 2016.
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Is that massively out of line with Newvcastle's history?

Between the end of the 2nd world war and the Keegan promotion, they spent 16 of 46 seasons in the 2nd tier in 4 spells: over a third of their seasons. They finished in the top 5 of the top division on 3 occasions.

They had a decade, book-ended by the Keegan and Robson years in which they were a significant force in the English game. Like all football fans, the Geordies take the view that their peak is the norm/where they belong, rather than the exception. Ashley's era was really a continuity of the norm, not an outrage. Still, I don't expect any set of fans to see it like that when it's about their own club.

Where I think the Geordies were correct was to revile Ashley's dismissal of the importance of the cups. For mid-table PL clubs, cups offer a puncher's chance of sporting glory, as we know. Ashley just didn't care about that.
 
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If it wasn’t for Mike Ashley running the club so brilliantly then they wouldn’t have been on the radar of the Saudis. They were the best club to buy.
 
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