Fingers crossed that Ashworth leaving further destabilises Newcastle - don't want Man Utd to get their act together, but equally enjoy anything that causes difficulties for the sportswashers. Hopefully Newcastle follow Al-Ettifaq's lead and hand Howe a nice fat contract extension to counteract the optics of key men elsewhere jumping ship.
It'll be interesting to see if Ineos have the transformative effect all the Utd fans seem to be expecting. Some philosophies or approaches from other sports have been successfully transposed onto football, but Ineos don't seem to have revolutionised Nice so far, and how many jumped-up billionaires or businessmen have arrogantly thought they could crack the football code only to spectacularly faceplant (ahem, Boehly, ahem)?
I do think Utd's sense of self-importance may continue to be the biggest obstacle for them. In the absence of a once-in-a-generation manager like Klopp who can elevate all their players, their best bet is probably to follow a 'Brighton+' approach and make the manager subservient to a clear philosophy and approach with players. But would their fans have the patience to see it through, and would they become restless without the annual excitement of splashing huge money on the latest hyped up wonderkid or ageing superstar?
