Mike Ashley is a gambler. Possibly to the point of addiction. Famously, he lost £1 million in two hours at Aspers. More notoriously, he lost over £100m by not carrying out that most basic and standard of business practices, due diligence, when buying Newcastle United from the Hall and Shepherd families. He is instinctive, has a great deal of faith in his own judgement, and seems unperturbed when it backfires
Most of us look at some of his more well-known decisions and wonder how on earth he manages to successfully dress himself in the morning, much less make over a £1 billion in a competitive market place. His appointment of Kevin Keegan , his subsequent appointment of Dennis Wise, hiring Joe Kinnear , sanctioning the purchase of Xisco and Nacho Gonzales to replace James Milner , after assuring the manager would be able to buy whoever he liked to replace him.
Most of these moves were calculated gambles, but none of them came off. Keegan, correctly, took a huff and walked out. Dennis Wise fell out with the fans and his transfers were a disaster. Xisco and Gonzales barely played, and we’re still, literally, paying for the fall-out. Joe Kinnear, being a terrible manager, got us relegated. Most of the decisions that characterised his first two years in charge can be accurately described as a complete f***ing train-wreck.
But then, after our promotion, something odd happened. He continued to make bewildering, almost insane decisions; he sold Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, sacked Chris Hughton, appointed Alan Pardew and then – as a final insult – didn’t fully reinvest the proceeds of the sales. Incredibly, it came off.
The cheap, relatively unproven players we brought in to make up the numbers have performed exceptionally. Alan Pardew has taken us to levels that Chris Hughton – for all of his considerable virtues – wouldn’t have managed. Our team spirit is the best its been since the halcyon days of Sir Bobby and the Champions League.
It is entirely conceivable to picture an alternative course of events last season; the combination of a resentful squad, led by Barton and co, taking against the new manager, the goals drying up due to Carroll’s exit, a 17th place finish, and the subsequent sale of Barton et al leading to unproven, unheard-of, demotivated and cheap replacements throwing us straight into a relegation fight. It is almost inconceivable that we were spared this chain of events, and no one must be more relieved than Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias.