Why Mike Ashley must start showing Newcastle with the same naked respect he does Sports Direct

By Simon Bird

Published 11:03 06/09/11

• 

Follow Simon Bird on Twitter

The sight of Mike Ashley doing a strip tease at a bash for his Sports Direct staff revealed more than his ample beer gut.

Even if you found it tacky and tasteless, here was a boss who mucks in at a party with a tight-knit core of trusted staff.

A boss who thinks nothing of making a fool of himself, and being one of the lads, his billionaire fortune irrelevant.

He’s popular with his Sports Direct workforce, knows his market inside out, rewards staff handsomely for success, and has their total loyalty (apart from the one who took the pics).

Contrast that with his other empire, Newcastle United.

Ashley still trusts few people in football. He keeps plenty of them at arms length, not respecting football’s way of doing things.

And he thinks he’s been had over, business-wise, by too many footballing rivals in recent years.

All of this explains to some extent - but doesn’t excuse - last week’s failure to sign a striker.

All Ashley, and MD Derek Llambias needed to do was lay down an extra couple of million quid or so for their chosen striker targets – whether that be Mevlut Erdinc who they chased for months, Modibo Maiga, or Papiss Demba Cisse.

They’d screwed the maximum out of Liverpool for Andy Carroll, got decent money for Kevin Nolan and bought French international Yohan Cabaye for what could be a bargain.

With £30million in cash from the Carroll deal in the bank, they perhaps should have realised they may have to pay over the odds, just this once to complete their squad.

With that new striker, they’d have had a content manager, a squad happy with new faces, and a fan base thinking the club was being ambitious.

Instead, despite some decent arrivals (balanced by heavy weight departures), Ashley and Llambias have sold the club short again this summer.

They’ve taken a gamble that the likes of Leon Best, Shola Ameobi and Demba Ba can see the club through until January in good shape.

The famous No9 shirt will remain vacant, but is still sponsored by a local dental business!

Cynics suggest it is retired in honour of Alan Shearer and Jackie Milburn. Another way to save a few bob?

The club have let down Pardew who has provided a strong start to build on.

They have sent another signal that their regime isn’t about having a crack at finishing best of the rest – just outside the top six.

In fact they’ve shown that they will spend the minimum amount to stay in the top flight, while keeping the balance sheet looking healthy.

There is plenty of merit in Newcastle’s transfer policy. Discover young players who will increase in value and make their name on Tyneside.

(Admittedly to be sold on at a huge profit a couple of years later, but at least they will have meant they’ve done well.)

During the summer Pardew did his best to delicately press the right buttons with his bosses and get a striker signed.

That was why he went on record to say he needed a new front man and a left back to make his squad stronger than last season (he got the left back in Davide Santon).

It is an occupational hazard for any manager at St James’ Park that such quotes comes back to haunt you – just like his declarations that Andy Carroll wouldn’t be sold.

The conclusion, from Pardew’s quote is that Newcastle are now have a weaker squad than in May.

But it is not Pardew‘s doing that a deal couldn’t be sealed. He has been left frustrated and angry at being left a striker short.

Llambias explained that: “We will not make knee jerk decisions at the last minute which are not in the best interests of the club.”

But having been presented with a list of a dozen possible targets, and had seven months to secure one after Carroll’s departure, that doesn’t wash.

One of those stop gap targets was Arsenal’s Niklas Bendtner who was secured late on by Sunderland on a loan deal and would surely have done a job for Newcastle too.

So where does Pardew go from here?

He has a strong hand personally - boosted by a good start to the season. He deserved to be backed and will feel aggrieved he wasn’t.

He has the balancing act of dealing with those who run the club, and the players and fans, often with conflicting agendas. And he’s the only person left to face the music in public.

Can he persuade key players to sign extended deals? The events of last Wednesday won’t help.

Thankfully Pardew is a fine coach.

This season he’s got his selections right, his tactics spot on, used his substitutes well and kept a team ethic bubbling on the surface.

Now he just needs some loyalty and backing from above when January (hardly the best month to do business) comes around.

That doesn’t have to come in the form of a birthday party strip-tease, but in the form of a fresh striking talent.

***

Read Simon Bird's weekly Newcastle United column exclusively on MirrorFootball every Tuesday

Fancy winning £3,000 for FREE this month? Play Mirror Football Streak for your chance to win cash prizes! Start predicting now!