After being crowned champions in the Barclays League Division One during the 1992-93 season, Newcastle was promoted along with West Ham and Swindon Town. During the 1993-94 , ex-Manchester United striker Andy Cole was in stupendous form. He was the top scorer in that season with 34 goal beating Alan Shearer (who was in Blackburn Rover at that point of time) for the golden boot. However Blackburn were runner’s up to Champions Manchester United with Newcastle in 3rd place. A perfect start for the newly promoted side whereas Swindon Town were relegated. The following season, Andy Cole moved to Manchester United for a whooping £7 million with £6 million in cash.
That left Newcastle with plenty of money to spend for new players. That very season Alan Shearer had an unstoppable season scoring 34 goals for Blackburn. Newcastle finished 6th that season. In 1996, Newcastle got a huge boost when they signed Blackburn Rovers ace striker Alan Shearer for £15 million shrugging competition from Manchester United and Liverpool. That signing proved to be historic for Newcastle as a club and for fans. He made an immediate impact for his new club, winning the golden boot, by winning it 3 times in succession.
Newcastle came runner-ups for 2 seasons in a row with Manchester United still champions. But ever since Kevin Keegan left the club for Fulham, Newcastle struggled with Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit trying out their luck for a year each. In 1999 Sir Bobby Robson, a former England manager took over as the manager of Newcastle United and stabled the situation. Before returning to England again, Robson had managed PSV Eindhoven of Holand, the Portugal side Sporting Lisbon and then rivals Porto and the mighty Barcelona. With so much experience and traveling Newcastle had no doubt that Robson is the perfect man for this job. The progress was slow but it was worth the wait as Newcastle were placed in the top 5 for three successive seasons. But in 2004, Robson was dismissed by Freddy Shepherd as Newcastle had an unconvincing start to the season. The Scottish, Graeme Souness was then appointed from Blackburn Rovers. Souness spell lasted for only couple of years and he was immediately replaced by Glenn Roeder.
In 2007, Big Sam (Sam Allardyce) was appointed as Newcastle’s new manager. But along came businessman and Newcastle fan Mike Ashley. And Sam Allardyce was shown the exit. Let’s pause for a moment and look back in brief the progress of Newcastle before the arrival of Mike Ashley. After the departure of Sir Bobby Robson, Newcastle were always placed in the bottom of the league except in 2006 where they placed 7th. Events from 1997 to 2007 1) Freddy Shepherd was appointed the new chairman of Newcastle. 2) In his reign, Newcastle have fired 5 managers in the span of 10 years. 3) Six out of Ten seasons they were outside the top 10 of the Premier League.
Mike Ashley (St James Holdings Ltd) stepped in and took over Newcastle United for £55,342,223 when chairman Freddy Shepherd sold his 28% share to Ashley. Chris Mort was appointed by Ashley to replace current chairman Freddy Shepherd. In 2008, he hired Kevin Keegan (the most successful manager for Newcastle) from Manchester City .
In 2007 and 2008 Newcastle were placed 13th and 12th respectively. They have been lingering in those positions for over a decade now. As per history, Ashley had made the absolute right decision in appointing Kevin Keegan but results were still not going their favor. On September 4th 2008, Keegan resigned as clun manager stating that "a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want.”. Fans were outraged at the owner Mike Ashley and to add to that Newcastle were heading for relegation after 16 seasons in the Premier League.
On Sunday 24 May 2009, Newcastle were relegated after loosing to Aston Villa 1-0. Mike Ashley was the owner for Newcastle United from 2007 to 2009. Is it possible for a club of that stature to fall with just one person involved? Was he a Victim or a Villain, that’s for you to decide?
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