There was something inevitable about Chris Hughton’s sacking today, almost if after the last few weeks, it was a case of when rather than why. I was extremely critical of Mike Ashley’s reign in the season that Newcastle United were relegated and yet here we are again, two years on and the man simply can’t leave things alone. The trouble with some chairman is that because they own a football club, they think they actually know about football. Ashley continually proves this isn’t the case.
What I’m constantly astounded by is the Mike Ashley managed to become a multi-millionaire. How can someone who clearly has absolutely no clue about football make his money in sports retail? Hughton had done an astounding job by getting Newcastle United promoted at the first time of asking. Lets not forget this side, in the majority, were the one that limped so poorly out of the Premiership in 2008-09. Hughton cleared the dead wood, refused to panic after the humiliation of a preseason hammering at Leyton Orient and hit the ground running once the Championship season started.

Every mistake he made the first time round seems to be coming back to haunt the Newcastle faithful. Could any set of fans have such an out of touch owner since Peter Swales held the power at Manchester City in the 1990’s? It simply beggars belief that a man who employed Dennis Wise as a Director of Football and Joe Kinnear as a manager, now feels Hughton isn’t the man to take the club forward. A man who believe that Xisco was a better player than James Milner, who claimed that Newcastle fans had threatened his children and has refused to put a penny into the club in 18 months.
As Chairman go, Ashley shows all the facets of arrogance personified. Clearly he is under the misapprehension that he actually understands football when, with the exception of letting Hughton have the managers position, every major decision he has made shows he has none. He allowed Keegan to be ostracised over transfer policy, employed a manager who hadn’t managed to in the top flight for almost ten years, gave the job to Alan Shearer and then never rang him back once the season had finished and allowed Adidas to release that awful, awful cream and yellow stripe vomit inducing away kit last season.
As if I had anything left to surprise me, English bookmakers suspended the betting on Alan Pardew being the new Newcastle manager. Seriously. Sacked by West Ham, resigned from Charlton, sacked by Southampton. Of course now Martin Jol has walked out on Ajax too so he is now going to be the new Newcastle United manager. No-one has any idea really. Yet you have to ask yourself which top quality manager, after seeing the nonsense, chaos and simple bad management on display at Newcastle United would want to work in that environment.
I just feel sorry for Newcastle United’s fans. Often incorrectly portrayed as delusional big club chanting fans, Newcastle, over the last 25 years have seen so much talent leave the club, so many close shaves to major success and yet they find themselves continually run by people with no respect them as fans, as people and as consumers. That, for any set of fans is galling to take. Question is, have they finally had their fill of Mike Ashley or will the continue to turn up regardless.My colleague Matt earlier mentioned his disgust at the decision which you can read <a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/newcastle-sack-manager-chris-hughton-let-the-circus-recommence-27367" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here </a>but nothing that goes on at St. James’ Park under Ashley surprises me at all.
Please leave me your feedback below and you can follow me at http:\/\/twitter.com/paulbestall

Ah Mike Ashley, How I've Missed You - World Soccer Talk

Ah Mike Ashley, How I've Missed You

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>
Wednesday were all at sea for years…&nbsp;
Did you ever think that you would look at the Premier League table and see the Wigan in 7th, Hull take 20 points in the first 9 games and Fulham challenging for 6th?
If&nbsp; that wasn’t&nbsp;strange enough, once Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United are currently sitting in the middle of the third tier following in similar footsteps to the once impressive Sheffield Wednesday.&nbsp;
So what happened to the big boys who are nowhere to be seen in England’s top 20?
&nbsp;Leeds United – Essentially,&nbsp;Leeds&nbsp;spent millions&nbsp;that they simply did not have under the guidance of&nbsp;then chairman, Peter Ridsdale (now at Cardiff City)&nbsp;.&nbsp;Ridsdale took out large loans to buy&nbsp;players in&nbsp;an effort to&nbsp;build on&nbsp;the success of&nbsp;previous high finishes.&nbsp;The club expected to pay these back with prize money and revenue from television rights obtained from progress in the UEFA Champions League. Of course Leeds then failed to qualify and this led to high profile player sales to try and keep the club afloat, most notably Rio Ferdinand to bitter rivals&nbsp;Manchester United. This transfer caused the dispute between Ridsdale and manager David O’ Leary, under whom they never finished lower than fifth. Terry Venables took over followed by Peter Reid and then Eddie Gray but alas after three years of financial meltdown the club was relegated.
United were then the subject of a succesful take over bid by a Ken Bates (the once controversial Chairman of Chelsea). The club nearly made a return at the second attempt under&nbsp;Kevin Blackwell,&nbsp;Leeds finished fourth and reached the play-off final only to lose to Watford. Blackwell was sacked early in the following season after a sluggish start and was replaced by Dennis Wise. Despite the change in regime wise couldn’t lift Leeds out of the bottom three. With&nbsp;relegation&nbsp;virtually assured, the club applied to go into&nbsp;administration immediately in an attempt to incurr the 10 point dedution&nbsp;penalty whilst in the Championship. The football league overruled this and after a lengthy court battle and&nbsp;dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Leeds started life in League One, 10 points adrift. Amazingly they still reached&nbsp;the play off final and lost to Doncaster.
Leeds in 2009
They are currently seventh in League One and four points off the play-offs with a game in hand. Should Leeds achieve promotion, it will be an arduous task to keep them in the second tier. It will be a long, LONG time before Leeds compete for European football again.
Sheffield Wednesday – In the 1990/91 season Wednesday were relegated to the second tier having spent the previous six seasons in the top flight. Little did they know they were about to enter the club’s most succesful&nbsp;spell in the modern era. Promotion back to&nbsp;the top echelon of the English game&nbsp;was secured at the first attempt with the&nbsp;Owls&nbsp;finishing&nbsp;third. For all the joy that promotion brought the&nbsp;Hillsbrough faithful, this was&nbsp;eclipsed in some style by winning the League cup in the same&nbsp;season by defeating Manchester United&nbsp;1-0 at Wembley to win the clubs first major trophy since 1935.
&nbsp;The following season Trevor Francis took over the reigns in a player-manager role&nbsp;to fill the void left by Ron Atkinson’s departure to Aston Villa. Francis success was immediate, securing a third-place finish in their first season and Wednesday made four appearances at Wembley the following season. Defeating bitter rivals Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi final and losing the final after a replay to Arsenal.&nbsp;The Gunners&nbsp;had beaten Wedneday in the league cup final at the twin towers earlier in the season.
&nbsp;It was the 1994/95 season where most Wedneday fans feel it started to go wrong. After achieving another seventh place finish, Trevor Francis was sacked after a disappointing start that led to club finishing 13th and was succeeded by&nbsp;David Pleat and the latter by&nbsp;Danny Wilson&nbsp;This signalled the start of a managerial merry-go-round at&nbsp;Hillbrough,&nbsp;nine managerial changes followed in a mere&nbsp;ten years from Francis’ departure
Wednesday’s financial problems were starting to be exposed,&nbsp; the managers that followed&nbsp;Francis&nbsp;invested heavily in the squad with very little to show for it. Inflated transfer fees,&nbsp;high wages&nbsp;and badly negotiated contracts were the order of the day&nbsp;for the ailing club and they soon had to offload the high earners.
Wednesday started to capitulate and were relegation favourites for the&nbsp;1999/2000 season, a disastrous campaign demonstrated by the 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle United. As a last ditch attempt at survival Wilson was replaced by Peter&nbsp;Shreeves who failed to keep the club in the top&nbsp;flight, Wednesday were relegated&nbsp;away to Arsenal despite a 3-3 draw on the last day.
After relegation Paul Jewell, Peter Shreeves (again), Chris Turner all braved the hot seat. The Owls&nbsp;suffering another relegation under Turner’s tenure at the club.&nbsp;
Stability&nbsp;And The Future
&nbsp;Paul Sturrock brought the club off its knees and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship in 2004 via the League One play offs and even kept the club in the Championship after the promotion. Wednesday however started the next season in poor fashion and the&nbsp;scot&nbsp;was replaced by currrent manager&nbsp;Brian Laws who guided the club to ninth in the league. Last season Wednesday survived the dogfight&nbsp;but with an ambitious new Chairman and a solid manager in Laws &nbsp;who has performed well on a shoe-string budget,&nbsp;Wednesday may well return to Premier League in the coming years.

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday? - World Soccer Talk

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>
Newcastle United has named Joe Kinnear as their interim manager until the end of October.
Newcastle Executive Director Dennis Wise must have had his grubby hands involved in the appointment of Kinnear. The Irishman managed Wimbledon from 1992 to 1999. But while Kinnear never managed Wise at Wimbledon, there’s undoubtedly a close connection between him and Wise — and Newcastle fans won’t be satisfied with the appointment.
“The fans will be disappointed, I understand that, but I can’t do anything about it,” said Kinnear. “I will just be doing my very best because I am desperate to get back into the game. I will be going up to Newcastle on Monday and will pick the team from then. It is a big challenge but one I am really looking forward to.”

Breaking News: Joe Kinnear Named Newcastle Interim Manager - World Soccer Talk

Breaking News: Joe Kinnear Named Newcastle Interim Manager

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>
Yesterday in Dubai, Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley was offered $360 million for the club by Dubai investors, but called the offer an insult and snubbed Arab investors to instead partake in drinking cocktails at a local bar, according to <a href="http:\/\/www.arabianbusiness.com/531360-ashley-snubs-takeover-talks-for-cocktails" target="_blank">ArabianBusiness.com</a>.
Ashley reportedly received the offer earlier in the day and was supposed to meet with the Arab investors later that night at 11pm local time. Instead, he arrived at a nearby bar and stayed there — with Dennis Wise and Derek Llamblas — until after 1am.
According to <a href="http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/newcastle/2972714/Mike-Ashley-places-astonishing-481-million-price-tag-on-Newcastle-United---Football.html" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph</a>, the investor that was interested in buying the club was Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (pictured above).
Ashley and his party were scheduled to return to England on Thursday, but may return on Wednesday instead now that his “take it or leave it” estimation of $860 million was not met.
At this rate, Newcastle United fans may be stuck with Ashley for several weeks or months if a buyer isn’t found.

Mike Ashley Snubs Dubai Investors For Cocktails - World Soccer Talk

Mike Ashley Snubs Dubai Investors For Cocktails

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>If Mike Ashley wants to do the right thing and avoid being run out of Newcastle, he needs to sack Dennis Wise and get on his knees to convince Kevin Keegan to stay at Newcastle United.
King Kev is hardly a master tactician but what he does have is an immense passion for the Tyneside club and a drive to succeed. He has the fan’s best interests at heart, which is more than I can say about Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise.
I had to laugh this morning when I read an article entitled <a href="http:\/\/timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2008/09/dennis-wise-is.html" target="_blank">“Dennis Wise Is A Visionary In The Modern Game”</a> penned by Matt Hughes of The Times. As a manager and executive director, what has Wise accomplished? His biggest managerial claim to fame is taking Millwall to the FA Cup Final in 2004, where the London side lost 3-0 to Man United.
In his role as executive director at Newcastle, he’s responsible for transfers, scouting and youth development. What transfers? Six players were transferred out of Newcastle including James Milnar, and five players were brought in. Those five are Jonas Gutierrez, Xisco, Ignacio Gonzalez, Danny Guthrie and Fabricio Coloccini.
These five signings are hardly visionary. Gutierrez dazzled on his first performance for Newcastle but will take time to adapt to the English game. Coloccini seems comfortable in the back, but the jury is still out on him. Xisco and Gonzalez are untested in the Premier League, while Guthrie was a safe bet after playing in the Liverpool reserves.
Does Newcastle really need to pay an executive director such as Dennis Wise a top salary to help make five transfer signings? Couldn’t Keegan have made the same if not better decisions at no additional cost to Newcastle?
Where is the logic in keeping Wise? I don’t see it. Executives at Newcastle would probably say that their continental-style management structure works to support Keegan, but with so few transfers being made and Keegan feeling that he is being undermined by Wise and Ashley, this is a disaster waiting to happen.
Instead, Ashley should sack Wise and give Keegan more power to see if he can turn the ship at St James’ Park. Give Keegan six months to change things around and give the manager more funding in the January transfer window to bring players in who will make a difference. Reports are coming out of England that <a href="http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/newcastle/2679749/Kevin-Keegan-Sack-Dennis-Wise-and-I-will-stay---Football.html" target="_blank">Keegan has issued an ultimatum to Ashley to get rid of Dennis Wise</a> and vice-president Tony Jimenez and give the control of transfers in and out back to the manager. Let’s hope Ashley agrees with Keegan.
It’s also time for Ashley to face the press and public. He needs to share his vision for Newcastle and put aside his differences with Keegan and give the man a chance. While the team still has a long way to go, Newcastle United this season looks much stronger than they’ve done in many years. Sure, Keegan has got a lot of work to do but let him die trying instead of stabbing him in the back.

Sack Dennis Wise And Keep Kevin Keegan - World Soccer Talk

Sack Dennis Wise And Keep Kevin Keegan

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>OK. I’m sorry about the headline-itis there. I was up late last night and I haven’t had my coffee yet 🙂 The transfer market has had some interesting moves in the last few days and I will be back on Feb 1st to recap things. The news I want to discuss right now is the move Newcastle have made to sign Dennis Wise. 
Wise has left his role as Leeds manager and is going to be in charge of signing new players and developing Newcastle’s academy. He is not going to be involved in first-team matters but instead is supposed to assist the Newcastle board as an executive director on “football-related” matters. Newcastle cleared out a lot of the previous management team when Mike Ashley bought out Freddy Shepherd and this is a first step towards rebuilding their management team.
The real interest is that new manager Kevin Keegan has apparently had no say in this particular appointment, which many pundits feel he should have. Personally, I don’t agree. A “sporting director” takes a lot of pressure off the first-team manager in terms of transfer negotiations, day-to-day operations of the academy, etc. It’s a common setup in many other countries such as Italy and Spain but has not caught on yet in England. Many still feel that clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United are led by one strong figure but a closer look reveals that both Sir Alex and Arsene are working in tandem with their board and a strong support cast.
It feels like that’s what Newcastle are aiming to do and if that’s the case then it’s a step in the right direction. Whether Dennis Wise is the best person to take on that role is another question as he has only been in management a relatively short time. He started as a player-manager with Milwall in 2004 before moving on to Southampton, Swindon and finally Leeds but he did reasonably well everywhere he went. Wise has apparently been eager to get away from day-to-day management and move into more of an executive role and Newcastle have wanted someone on their board with hands-on football experience so the fit was good from that standpoint.
Newcastle will reportedly compensate Leeds to the tune of £1m. Newcastle will also hire Tony Jimenez as vice-president of player recruitment and Jeff Vetere from Real Madrid as technical co-ordinator. Jimenez is a former London property developer who has reportedly worked with Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the past. Jimenez is said to be close to the former Tottenham director Paul Kemsley and through his contacts in Seville, was involved in bringing Juande Ramos to White Hart Lane.
Vetere was once an apprentice at Luton Town, then the youth team manager of Rushden &amp; Diamonds, but his journey upwards took him to Charlton as “overseas scouting co-ordinator” and his growing reputation was such that he moved last January to Real Madrid. Vetere is regarded as one of the game’s most knowledgeable experts on emerging talent and there were rumours that Keegan was involved in his hiring.
Vetere and Jimenez are already at work for Newcastle and were spotted sitting together recently at the Everton-Chelsea League Cup semi-final at Goodison Park.

A Wise move for Newcastle? - World Soccer Talk

A Wise move for Newcastle?

Latest news from Dennis Wise. Find out about all the news related to Dennis Wise on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Dennis Wise"

General

Ah Mike Ashley, How I've Missed You

General

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?

General

Breaking News: Joe Kinnear Named Newcastle Interim Manager

General

Mike Ashley Snubs Dubai Investors For Cocktails

General

Sack Dennis Wise And Keep Kevin Keegan

General

A Wise move for Newcastle?