It's not a great time for business in the UK at the moment. When America sneezes we catch a cold and with today's breaking news about Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch we are all hoping that the cold doesn't turn into influenza.
Exactly a year since Northern Rock went to the wall we see the football team it used to sponsor in peculiar trouble. Newcastle United is now on the market after a week of turmoil. The chaos began when its much revered manager Kevin Keegan sensationally quit his position. The fans turned on the owner Mike Ashley blaming his 'Cockney mafia' and calling for him to get out. Ashley (once adored by the same fickle bunch of fans for buying the club and bringing back Kevin Keegan) has poured millions of pounds into the club. This apparently doesn't matter to the baying mob and Ashley and his family have even had death threats.
Interestingly Ashley's response was to say "OK" to the fans. "You win, I'm off". The club is now up for sale. Not a fire sale he says but he intimates that whoever takes it off his hands will have to have very deep pockets. This seemed to be a remarkably quick decision and one largely coming from emotion rather than objective, calculated, logical thinking. Football is big business after all.
Football is also an emotional business though. This is evidenced every weekend when peoples' days, weeks and even years are made complete by the result of one football match. With this move Ashley has effectively set up Newcastle's famous Toon Army of fans for a huge fall. It is unlikely that they will find a buyer like Manchester City did. The club is now exposed and the fans might just get to come to understand that sometimes it is better the devil you know!
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