Why the Newcastle takeover talk leaves me slightly concerned

Football FanCast guest columnist Luke Revell doesn't know whether to be happy or not at the reports that Freddy Shepherd's consortium is close to a takeover of Newcastle.

Whilst the rumours have already been doing the rounds on Tyneside actually waking up and opening the Times to see confirmation that Freddy Shepherd's consortium is a step closer to securing a takeover for Newcastle United, I really don't whether to be overjoyed, or look at it with total trepidation.

Mike Ashley has done Newcastle United a huge disservice in his time, which has ultimately resulted in us playing Championship football next season. He took advice from the wrong people, should have stuck by his own convictions and shouldn't have made decisions to simply pacify supporters; however to suggest that he is totally responsible for the decline of the football club is totally wrong. The club, as has been proven by financial figures, was in steady decline and the likes of Shepherd are just as culpable. I'm sure Ashley would have loved to let his manager go on a £50m spending spree, but his business brain saw that it simple wasn't viable. Can you imagine what state the club would have be in now had he sanctioned irresponsible spending? The prospect of being another Leeds United could have been a distinct possibility.

So here lie my fears about Freddy Shepherd taking over the club. Whilst it would be nice to have Geordie at the helm, a person that understands what the club means to us, at the same time I don't want reckless spending for the sake of appeasing supporters that was happening before. We all want the club to succeed, but we need to start operating correctly and not have the kind of situation that Ashley found when he took over and need a solid foundation from which to build on. Fortunately Ashley has gone a long way to achieving this so it's paramount that Shepherd and the fellow members of the consortium don't jeopardise it in the hope to get an immediate response. If they were to appoint Shearer, then let him build the club accordingly and not be so insistent on these champagne signings just to give the club a boost. Unfortunately Shearer was in fact the last one of these signings that actually been a success and Shepherd must learn from the clubs past failings with Michael Owen, that splashing out on big names isn't always the answer.  You only have to look at David Moyes to how he built that football club up. That is the blueprint this club needs to follow for the interim and we must start spending within our means again.

On the March by Joe Jennings

Football FanCast writer Joe Jennings follows the remarkable march of David Moyes' Royal Blue Army from Macclesfield to Wembley.

Traditionalists argue that the magic of the FA Cup has gone, and that the lack of respect shown to the competition has ruined its reputation as the best domestic cup in world-football. On the March shows exactly why the magic is still alive.

BUY NOW

READ MORE