Fans fury at Newcastle chief

• Fans on Tyneside reacted with dismay as owner Mike Ashley ended his attempts to sell Newcastle United and permanently appointed Chris Hughton as manager.
  
  Some hailed long-overdue stability, but the majority said the decisions, plus the clubs suggestion of renaming St James Park, were "another blunder".
  
  "Ashley will continue to call the wrong shots at the club," read a statement from Newcastles supporters trust.
  
  "Now it has come down to the fans to step in to remove Mr Ashley."
  
  The trust wants to buy Newcastle United from Ashley, who had been prepared to accept an £80m cash offer from businessman Barry Moat, but the club say the price tag was not met.
  
  But BBC Radio Newcastle football commentator Mick Lowes said the trust should put its cash reserves into action now, to preserve the stadium name.
  
  "The Newcastle United Supporters Trust tell me theyve got £25m," Lowes told the radio station. "Why dont they give £2m to Ashley and say: End it now, theres £2m, just keep calling it St James Park."
  
  Lowe said ordinary fans would then feel "forever indebted to the supporters trust for keeping the name."
  
  Frank Gilmore, former chairman of the Independent Newcastle United Supporters Association, told BBC Sport appointing Hughton is "the worst decision Mike Ashleys ever made".
  
  He said: "Chris Hughtons a lovely man but hes no football manager. This season hes made decisions on the pitch which didnt add up and if hes been appointed full-time, then that doesnt show a lot of ambition.
  
  "I cant see Chris Hughton attracting the type of player we need to get us back to where we should be, and thats the top half of the Premier League.
  
  "Theres one guy just taken over at Middlesbrough who was available, whos got experience - Gordon Strachan. There are other managers out there."
  
  Newcastle, relegated from the Premier League last season, have fought their way to the top of the Championship.
  
  But Gilmore believes Ashley should have invested the £20m now promised to Newcastle over the summer, and appointed a manager in the close season, rather than settling ownership and managerial questions in October.
  
  "Were doing quite well for one reason: how far the Championship is behind the Premier League. Newcastle are basically top of a bad bunch," he said.
  
  "Any other time, the team weve got and the way were playing, we should never be top of that division. The same team wouldnt last five minutes in the Premier League.
  
  "We were very fortunate on Saturday to get three points against Doncaster Rovers.
  
  "Thats how far Newcastle have gone down. I ask you - fortunate to get three points. Youre talking about Newcastle United versus Doncaster Rovers. That really worries me."
  
  Lowes said despite their reservations, fans should be grateful that at long last, something bordering on stability was returning to the club.
  
  "It might not be the owner a percentage of the fans want but theyve got an owner. They were in limbo previously, and theyve got a full-time manager now too.
  
  "That has to be a more stable situation than having a caretaker who gets asked, week in, week out, whether he wants the job or whether hes going to get the job, and he cant answer either question.
  
  "Then youve had consortia all over the world allegedly interested in buying this famous football club, with an owner whos put it on the market and taken it off the market.
  
  "But this should have been tied up in the summer so they could hit the ground running. Theyve only found stability close to the beginning of November."
  
  Not all fans calling in to BBC Radio Newcastle on Wednesday were angry with the developments of the past 24 hours.
  
  One fan identifying themselves as CJ sent the following message: "At the risk of being lynched, isnt it about time Mr Ashley is thought of with a bit of thanks?
  
  "Without him, there would be no club at all. And the stadium will always be known as St James Park, no matter what its called."
  
  But Lowes, while admitting Ashleys "intentions were right" when he took over, said: "There have been major blunders and with some fans I dont think hell ever catch up in terms of credibility.
  
  "You could argue some fans are living in the 21st Century and are more keen to see finance coming into the club, rather than the old school, but I think this is another massive PR blunder.
  
  "You dont change the name of St James Park.
  
  "Naming rights come with building new stadia - at the Emirates when Arsenal moved out of Highbury, or at the Riverside when Middlesbrough moved out of Ayresome Park. This is a historic stadium that should always be known as St James Park.
  
  "Just when you think, Hes taken it off the market, given Chris Hughton the job full-time - OK, thats stability, theyre mending the situation, they slip in something like that and you think, No, no, youve misread it again."
  
  Source: BBC