Ashley admits to naivety upon Newcastle takeover

Ashley admits to naivety upon Newcastle takeover Ashley admits to naivety upon Newcastle takeover The billionaire businessmen purchased Newcastle in 2007 and has frequently been criticised for his handling of the club, a theme that has continued with manager Rafael Benitez frustrated by their inability to land certain transfer targets. Ashley has overseen two relegations from the Premier League during his tenure and confessed removing Sam Allardyce as manager in 2008 showed a degree of ignorance. When asked his thoughts on his 10 years as owner, Ashley told Sky Sports: "Very naive in the beginning. In the middle I thought I was just about beginning to get my arms around it a little bit, we had a manager on an eight-year contract [Alan Pardew]