Newcastle’s promotion to the Premier League seems distant memory as owner cuts funds

AARON Mooy ensured Newcastle lost last weekend’s EPL game, but it’s their “power drinking” owner who has The Toon in trouble.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (right) and Managing Director Lee Charnley.

IT WASN’T just that Newcastle lost 1-0 to fellow newly-promoted side Huddersfield, it was how they lost that will concern their overly passionate fanbase.

Disinterested and lacking a cutting edge, the Magpies showed the lack of spirit that has been the trademark of their recent Premiership campaigns. The difference this time is that the rot is setting in sooner than ever before.

Sitting deep behind the ball Newcastle freely ceded possession to Huddersfield and looked for opportunities to counter-attack. It was the perfect strategy given that last season, in the Championship, manager Rafa Benitez asked his men to do the exact same thing in the corresponding fixture and they came away 3-1 winners. Two months later Newcastle were dominant champions, Huddersfield was fifth, 13 points separating the two.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (right) and Managing Director Lee Charnley.

None of that mattered on Sunday. After a couple of early half chances and a great curling shot from Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie that produced an equally brilliant save from keeper Jonas Lossl, the game settled down and Huddersfield applied their trademark pressure on the Magpies. Consistently finding spaces on the wings they pumped crosses into the box, looking for $15 million-record signing Steve Mounie, with the breakthrough looking like more of a question of “when” not “if.”

The goal finally came five minutes into the second half when Aaron Mooy produced a goal he’s unlikely to top this season. Slowing things down on the left side, Mooy feinted, played a beautiful little one-two with Elias Kachunga, collected the ball 18 yards out and hit a perfectly curled shot past the fingertips of the diving Rob Elliot. The home crowd, watching their first top-flight game in 45 years, went ballistic.

Newcastle never recovered from the shock. Forced to actually attack, the closest they came to scoring was a tame Javier Manquillo cross to nobody in particular and an Ayoze Perez volley six yards from goal that ended up in the sky.

David Wagner’s men now have six points, four goals, and two clean sheets from their first two matches. They sit in second place behind only the mighty Manchester United and are the embodiment of their American manager’s “no limits” mantra. That has applied to the club both on and off the field seeing as they’ve broken their transfer record three times already this summer with the acquisitions of the Mounie, Mooy for $10.3 million and Laurent Depoitre for $4.5 million.

Benitez can only look on in envy. He’s the best manager Newcastle have had since the heady days of Kevin Keegan in the 1990s, but there is nothing the Spaniard can do about the brick wall that is Newcastle’s owner Mark Ashley. The billionaire has been the ruin of many great coaches mostly because he doesn’t seem to care about the product on the field. Instead, he plasters “Sports Direct,” the name of his sporting good empire, across everything associated with the club, essentially using it as a marketing vehicle, while partying whenever he gets a chance.

Just last month, he defended himself in court by saying, “I like to get drunk, I’m a power drinker … My thing is not to drink regularly, it’s to binge drink. I’m trying to get drunk.” The case concerns a $19 million wager he made about the stock price of his retail business during a night out at the pub, according to The Guardian.

Whether because of the trial or because of his longstanding apathy, Ashley told Benitez last week that his wallet was closed. Having made $45 million in low-key signings as part of what he thought was a larger transfer plan, a clearly glum Benitez admitted after the defeat on Sunday that Newcastle aren’t ready for the season that is already underway.

“Promotion was a long time ago,” he lamented.

It’s a feeling that Newcastle fans are very familiar with. It took eight games to get a win last time they were in the Premier League, and the season before that, it took seven. Players have changed, managers have changed, but one thing stays the same: Ashley. Until he sells the club, Newcastle will be in perpetual trouble.

GOAL OF THE WEEK

Etienne Capoue, Watford 2-0 Bournemouth

Etienne Capoue is many things but goalscorer isn’t one of them, except on the half-volley from 20 yards out, apparently.

BLUNDER OF THE WEEK

Michy Batshuayi, Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham

You’re defending a 1-0 lead at the home of a hated rival and you’ve only been on the field for minutes — don’t do anything stupid. Consider it a lesson learned the hard way for Michy Batshuayi.

This article originally appeared on The New York Post