Newcastle's rumour mill threatened to thwart Chris Hughton’s quiet revolution

Deliver 17th place in the Premier League and manager Chris Hughton, for the second season in succession, would be hailed an unlikely Geordie hero.

The mission, if not simple, was straightforward, but Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, unlike their predecessors in the Newcastle boardroom, were unwilling to bankroll their manager.

It is a target which 10 years ago would never have been on Newcastle’s agenda, but encouragingly for Hughton, the Toon Army, once derided as the most wildly optimistic and unrealistic band of supporters in the country, had experienced a collective reality check. Relegation does that to you.

Why then, with the club sitting ninth in the league and Hughton surpassing expectations, did the black-and-white curiosity that is Newcastle suddenly become the centre of attention this week when it was erroneously suggested the manager was on his way out?

Those external forces, completely beyond their control, would have baffled and annoyed club owner Ashley and managing director Llambias due to their destabilising effect, but this is par for the course on Tyneside.

Ashley might not have been impressed, but he will be pleased there was no evidence of Hughton showing the strain when he spoke to reporters ahead of Sunday’s visit of arch-rivals Sunderland.

“The situation is no different to the week before, or the week before that and it isn’t any different to what it will be next week,” said Hughton, whose equanimity remains such a contrast to the turbulence that has become Newcastle’s bedfellow.

“Around everything that has been said, I can only do one thing and that is get on with the job and try to do the best job I can. Some weeks are more difficult than others, but the end product is the same from my point of view.”

That end product is Premier League survival, but fourth-bottom by definition means a roller-coaster campaign and if all parties will happily settle for that position in May, the journey towards it is proving hard to stomach.

With every loss there are inquests and with every poor performance there is introspection. Inquisitions take place everywhere from the boardroom to the pub, from internet chat-rooms to radio phone-ins, and the rumours begin.

The constant speculation whirling around Tyneside, and which is normal in the football industry, is anathema to Ashley, who was described recluse when he bought the club out of the blue from Sir John Hall and Freddy Shepherd. The sports retail magnate has tried and failed to sell it on twice since.

Things reached fever pitch this week when the club’s resolve not to be dragged into talking publicly about Hughton’s future, for fear of further fuelling rumours, was finally broken following a frenzy of betting over their manager.

It prompted a show of support for Hughton, whose current contract – estimated to be worth a relatively paltry £400,000 a year – expires at the end of the season and a promise that talks would start over a new deal at the turn of the year.

Ashley is determined not to follow the likes of Liverpool towards financial meltdown by splashing the cash on the marquee signings which became synonymous with the Shepherd regime when the likes of Michael Owen headed to the North-East.

A source close to Ashley said: “They’ve come from a very professional business-type world where business is different to football but Mike has come in as an exceptionally successful businessman and he is running football like a business.”

“Sports Direct is a results-orientated, highly incentivised business and that’s exactly the way they are trying to run Newcastle. Football can’t get its head round it because it has been a case of give them loads of money, keep them happy and everyone will be all right. That has been a recipe for disaster.”

According to another of Ashley’s close associates, the club were “in a bad way financially” when he took over and his desire to bring spending under control explains why money is spent sparingly in the transfer market, with a £35,000-per-week salary ceiling also likely to deter big-hitters.

He might not have forked out anything like the club-record £13 million Sunderland spent on Asamoah Gyan but it is understood that Ashley continues to invest much of his own fortune in St James’ Park to stop the club falling into the hands of the banks.

“Mike is investing in it all the time but chooses to keep that private, he is propping it up,” the source added. “It is not in debt thanks to his personal finance. He is keeping it afloat so the club doesn’t go into dangerous waters like Portsmouth and Liverpool.

“He wants to establish Newcastle as a respectable club, getting away from nonsense, keep it solvent and continue the mantra of building links with the community and developing young players.”

As for Newcastle supporters, it would seem they do not expect Ashley to be around for good. “Ashley’s running the club on a short-term basis, stage one was to get back into the Premier League, stage two is to stabilise but I don’t see any plan after that to take the club on,” said Mark Jensen, editor of The Mag fanzine.

“I bet Ashley will want to leave the club sooner rather than later but wants to do so when Newcastle are re-established as a top-flight club. If that plan comes to fruition maybe everyone will get what they want.

“A lot of the bad things of Ashley’s reign will be put to bed. This season there’s been a continuation of unpopular things off the pitch such as the renaming of the ground. I don’t think Ashley has a handle on what the club is all about and what it means to the people of Tyneside.”

Newcastle skipper Kevin Nolan is certain the future is bright with Hughton at the helm. “No matter what happens on Sunday we are going to still be 110 per cent behind Chris,” Nolan said. “No matter what we want to see Chris Hughton in charge of us. We are going in the right way with him in charge of us.

“We don’t care what anyone else says outside. As a group of players, as a staff and I believe as fans too we believe we are going in the right direction and the main focal point and the main leader in that is Chris Hughton.”