Warranted praise, or the least Newcastle fans deserve?

Chris Hughton today praised owner Mike Ashley for keeping the club in business following Newcastle United‘s relegation to the Championship. Ashley apparently pumped £25 million into the club to ensure it stayed afloat in December, and whilst this figure may be offset by the final parachute payment Newcastle are owed from Premier League TV rights, Hughton has praised Ashley for his work this season.

Ashley reduced Newcastle’s wage bill by 50% following relegation, but despite his efforts, the club’s annual wage bill is reportedly around £40million, which is more than many smaller current Premier League clubs (Hull City for example pay out around £36 million a year). However, with operating profits reportedly set to be around just £50million, Ashley bailed the club out in December, ‘refinancing’ the club with a £25million loan.

Hughton told Chroniclelive.co.uk:

“We are a club in this division with a very high wage bill, and that is something of which we have all been aware… You have an owner who is still having to put money into the club, and that is reassuring.”

Ashley also provided funds for six signings in the January transfer window, with Fitz Hall, Leon Best, Mike Williamson, Wayne Routledge and Chelsea loanee Patrick van Aanholt all joining the club. Further, Newcastle fans may wake up this morning and feel less animosity towards their ‘cockney shopkeeper’ following the news that Portsmouth are to go into administration, having accumulated £60-70 million worth of debt.

However, Newcastle supporters, whilst recognising the club may not have been mismanaged to the extent seen at Portsmouth, are unlikely to forgive Ashley for his disastrous first two years in charge. His treatment of Kevin Keegan, bringing in Dennis Wise, the appointments of Joe Kinnear and Alan Shearer, and the lack of due diligence when taking over the club, leave Newcastle fans clear on where the buck stops, and will have little sympathy with Ashley following Newcastle’s financial predicament. Ashley was to blame for the club’s relegation and all the financial implications that it entailed.

However, if Ashley’s work behind the scenes has not been responsible for the good season at Newcastle, then surely praise must go to Chris Hughton? In some Newcastle quarters it has been asserted that Hughton is merely a Mike Ashley yes man, a last remnant of the cockney mafia, who only got the job owing to Mike Ashley’s failure to sell the club. Some on Tyneside have even levelled at Hughton that he has no contacts in the game, and would not have found a job managing at any other club in the Championship or Premier League. However, Hughton has led Newcastle admirably this season, and although at times it has not been pretty, Newcastle are five points clear of second placed Nottingham Forest with a game in hand. Routledge has proved to be an astute signing in particular, and with 14 games left, Hughton looks to be taking Newcastle back to their rightful place in the top tier.

Perhaps Ashley, in the wake of Portsmouth’s recent troubles, deserves some respite from the fans who taunt the Londoner at every opportunity. Perhaps Hughton’s name deserves to be sung for the right reasons at the Gallowgate End, with promotion now in sight. Or perhaps, promotion, and a sound financial footing, is the very least that Hughton and Ashley owe to Newcastle United…

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