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LONDON - OWNER Mike Ashley said Newcastle United parted company with Sam Allardyce in the week because he could not envisage much success under his former manager.
'When my chairman (Chris Mort) told me it was time for a change (of manager), I knew it had to happen,' Ashley told Sunday's News of the World.
'I bought this club to make it a success and the harsh truth is there wasn't much prospect of that. I bought this club to have some fun and I wasn't having much fun at all.' Allardyce was appointed in May and Ashley said his first thought upon taking over the Premier League outfit a month later was to bring in his own man.
'When I bought this club my gut instinct was to bring in my own team to run it straight away, including a new manager,' Ashley said. 'That's no reflection on Sam, that's just the way I have always done things.
'But for once in my life I ignored my intuition and, looking back, that was a mistake.' Ashley is keen for Newcastle to turn back the clock to the mid-1990s when the team played in a go-for-goals, swashbuckling manner under Kevin Keegan.
'I want a team that is going to be admired up and down the country because of our brilliant, attacking football,' the owner added. 'Like they did when Kevin Keegan was in charge here.
'To date I have invested 250 million pounds (S$699.9 million) to try and make it happen and I'm not the only one who could see it wasn't working with things as they were.' -- REUTERS
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