Why Mike Ashley Bought Newcastle...

Sir John Hall has revealed why he sold the club to Mike Ashley. Sir John sold the club as he felt he could not compete with Roman Abramovich and the investment he made in Chelsea.

Two parties were interested in buying the club, one of them was Ashley and the other was a group of Malaysians. 

"I decided to sell my shares because of Abramovich. It took me just over two years. I was in negotiations with some Malaysians when I got a call from another group." Hall said.

"They wanted to meet me in London prior to my meeting with the Malaysians, I agreed. I was met at Kings Cross and taken by Rolls Royce to Freshfields and into a packed meeting room where this unnamed parties financial representatives began to make me an offer. 

"I told them that I would honour my meeting with the Malaysians so could not give them an answer. They tried their best to persuade me otherwise, but I’m a man of my word. 

"The meeting with the Malaysians went well but they wanted 6 weeks to do due diligence. The offer from the other party at Freshfields waived that right and was a better deal. 

"I was told that the man behind the deal was Mike Ashley and I sat with his representatives over 3 days thrashing out a deal."

At this stage, Sir John Hall was curious as to why Mike Ashley wanted the club and the toon army finally have the chance to see the club owner's intentions.

"I was keen to know why they wanted the club and they were quite honest. They wanted to market their sports goods in the Far East and would use the Club to help do this," Sir John revealed.

"To me it made sense to market the Club globally. It was a win win situation for Mike and the Club. We hadn’t done that. 

"Over the 3 days I gave them a lot of advice. When they took over they put Chris Mort in to run things and went private. It was a good move. 

"He’s not a fool and like Mike he came in with the best of intentions. His subsequent departure caused a few problems and Mike made a mistake listening to the likes of Paul Kelmsley at Spurs."

The former chairman revealed Ashley made a mistake in bringing back Kevin Keegan and appointing Dennis Wise. It was a well documented error and the toon suffered the consequences.

"I think he made another mistake bringing back Kevin Keegan. He was yesterdays man, like Dalglish at Liverpool now. It wasn’t a rational decision and he’s had to pay for it." the former chairman went on to say.

"The appointment of Dennis Wise upset Kevin and the inevitable fallout happened. I thought the local media handled the situation badly and the vilification with headlines such as ‘Get Out Of Toon’ were unjustified. 

"I believe the damage has been done and I believe he will get out of the club when he can, but it will have to suit both the club and him. 

"Mike has the wealth to challenge, but he’s been hurt. He needs to liaise with the fans. I think he made a huge mistake drinking with them in the early days, I think he took some bad advice." 

So there we have it fellow fans, Ashley's sole purpose was to market his business but since then, a lot has changed and his marketting has cost him a fortune.