10 Reasons Why Newcastle Fans Wish It Was The 1990s Again
7. Newcastle United Wasn't Marketed As A 'Stepping Stone'
In addition to rarely spending money on a perpetually weak squad, Mike Ashley has set a dangerous precedent of allowing foreign players to exploit Newcastle as a stepping-stone to the brighter lights of the Premier League top-four and beyond.
The policy that Ashley has implemented focuses on scouting abroad for young, talented players, who are acquired for a low cost and persuaded to join the club on the basis that they can use Newcastle as a platform to cut their teeth in England before being sold to a bigger club. Ultimately the goal for Ashley is to make a sizeable profit on the player once the high-end vultures begin to circle.
Then again, with such a warped policy towards competing in domestic and European cup competitions and an agitated fanbase, it's the only viable marketing strategy Newcastle have to attract fresh talent.
Supporters have already witnessed several star names capitalise on the policy. In the last two years Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Mathieu Debuchy, to name but three, departed to Champions League clubs for double or, in Cabaye's case, triple what they were originally acquired for, which was a fairly moderate outlet.
Debuchy openly corroborated the existence of the policy, candidly admitting to plotting out a career plan with his agent that included using Newcastle as a route to a bigger club after joining Arsenal for £10 million in July 2014.
In contrast, players bought to St James' Park in the 90's were sold the dream of becoming the first crop of players to bring silverware back to Newcastle for the first time since 1969. Immortalisation and the promise of a genuine crack at winning a trophy was the selling point back them. Oh, and not to mention playing in front of 30,000 fanatical Geordies every other Saturday.
If only Ashley could see that and harness it into a selling point.