Apologies if this may sound terribly cynical, but when Mike Ashley announced that he was closing in on a deal to sell Newcastle United, possibly even severing his ties before the end of the month, it wasn’t easy knowing whether to take it at face value bearing in mind his track record for being – and I will couch this as politely as possible – slightly careless with the truth.
Ashley does, after all, have previous when it comes to blurring the facts for his own means and, by his own admission, there have been times in the past when the club’s idea of PR – spin, make-believe, call it what you will – has involved saying whatever they believe supporters want to hear. Newcastle’s fans have been here before. More times, in fact, than they would probably wish to remember since they started longing for the end of the Ashley era. Or, perhaps more accurately in this case, the end of an error.
Related: Newcastle owner Mike Ashley looking at four bids in excess of £300m for club
Newcastle are hard-faced, happy to do everything on the cheap, with a demoralised fanbase
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