Garth Crooks shared that he thought Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley deserved to be applauded for providing the area with Premier League football and supplying a top-class manager.
The BBC pundit while revealing his opinions on the businessman also weighed in on reports which claimed that former Manchester United and Chelsea executive Peter Kenyon was plotting a takeover of the Magpies.
“Newcastle are painful to watch, and on the front and back pages for all the wrong reasons,” wrote Crooks when sharing his Team of the Week for BBC Sport.
“Ashley has provided Premier League football to an area that is otherwise starved of a top-class football team.
“He has also brought in a top-class manager. For that he must be applauded, but neither works without serious investment.
“The news that former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon is leading a consortium to take over the Magpies is an exciting prospect, in the interests of everyone concerned, a deal needs to be struck .
“It’s time the club moved on.”
Sky Sports reported on Saturday that Kenyon was working on a bid for the Premier League club with Rockefeller Capital Management and is thought to have held preliminary talks with Ashley.
OPINION
Crooks is quite positive about Ashley when you consider that he isn’t exactly overseeing the goods times at the Magpies. The BBC pundit is perhaps giving the club owner a little bit too much credit as the Magpies had Premier League football ahead of him taking over, it wasn’t like he restored the club from the ashes. However he did bring Rafa Benitez to the club so maybe he deserves some praise for that, but then again it appears the Spanish manager is ready to pack up his bags and leave the club because of the way the owner locks away transfers funds. As Crooks states though hopefully Kenyon will successfully lead a consortium to take over the Magpies as it is clearly beyond time that the club transcends from the Ashley era. The only downside on the reported Kenyon links is that according to Sky Sports’ report, it does seem to be in the very early stages and it doesn’t seem that a takeover is going to happen quickly.
