Now usually, antics such as those taking place over the past week or so an hour up the A1 would incur substantial ribbing, banter and, let’s face it, gleeful sarcasm from those dwelling in the finer parts of the north east.

But I will refrain from any such comments as the goings-on on Tyneside may just have started the process of returning the game to it’s true owners - the fans. And if this turns out to be the case, then we will all - well, most of us anyway - have a great deal to thank the Newcastle United fans for over the coming years.

Mike Ashley is, depending on your point of view, either naïve, conniving, scheming, stupid, or a combination of the former. The carefully crafted press release issued on his behalf claimed both passion and regret, building on his business-like running of the club by effectively stating that no manager can both run a successful team AND continue to build a squad capable of competing with the very best. Perhaps Mr Ashley has never heard of Manchester United or Arsenal. To my knowledge, neither club has brought players in without the full support of Arsene or Sir Alex. Sure, they have scouts worldwide - even the mighty Boro have those - but the final word on players both in and out rests with the man in whose hands the eleven who step out on Saturday afternoon at 3:00, or Sunday at 4 or Monday at 8 or whenever the hell we play games these days are placed.

Personally, I’ve never taken to Mr Wise either during his playing days or afterwards. It appears a strange train of thought that considers Dennis Wise a better prospect of putting together a team to challenge for honours above Kevin Keegan. Events last week clearly point to agreement on that point from a majority of NUFC followers.

Leeds Utd fans may well be looking on and thinking ‘why on earth didn’t we manage to get rid of Ridsdale sooner?’

Clubs in financial peril, players on weekly wages that some people dream about earning in a year, chairman entering negotiations with players by saying ’we absolutely won’t pay more than £25,000 a week’ when the players agent was hoping to get about £16,000, it’s all down to the one thing that has transformed our game both for the better and the worse - money.

Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool ,Man Utd, all have had big money buyouts to mention but four. Money can buy success as Blackburn showed in the nineties and Chelsea during the last few years. But at the end of the day, there are only 3 domestic trophies and 2 European trophies with the chances of success in the latter two significantly diminished by the small matter of a couple of dozen similar minded clubs from the continent.

Mike Ashley’s dream was probably to take Newcastle to domestic and European glory. That is what the fans of Newcastle and indeed all other clubs want. Yet down the road at the Riverside, Middlesbrough finally won a domestic trophy after 128 years and followed that up by very nearly winning a European one with some unforgettable battles on the way and spent a fraction of what some clubs have spent and are proposing to spend. The difference?

Steve Gibson is a chairman who is not only loaded and prepared to put his own money into the club, but is also a long-time fan who stood on the cold terraces alongside his peers, lived in the town, knows the area, and most importantly gained the respect and trust of the fans by being a fan first and having cash second.

Maybe Ashley’s downfall was caused by him losing the battle between head and heart in a vital area. As I’ve said before, when finally the champagne and caviar brigade disappear over the horizon with their satellite dishes because your average fan can no longer afford the luxury of forking out £30 a month to watch on the box as well as £30 a match to watch in person, it’s the same average fan who will be relied upon to save the game just as it was in the dark days of the mid to late eighties.

Back in 2004, a certain well-known screaming Teesside football commentator echoed a less well-known Mr Peacock by stating that ’in Middlesbrough’s case, your average fan is also the chairman’.