Home and Away: Mike Ashley's apathy will make Sir Bobby turn in his grave
Newcastle United owner only cares about profits and has no interest in giving fans what they want - a team who tries
In his autobiography, My Kind of Toon, the late Bobby Robson asked, "What is a club in any case?" "Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it," wrote the former Newcastle boss.
Nor is it the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes, he concluded.
No, "it's the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city", believed the one-time England manager.
Honestly, answer me, what would you do? One more loss and he's gone, he's over, finished
"It's a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father's hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love," he wrote.
Compare Robson's fine prose and sentiment with the louche interview offered by Newcastle United billionaire owner Mike Ashley this week, about the future of hapless manager Alan Pardew.
During an impromptu Q&A with a reporter outside a London pub, he said he would listen to the fans and sack Pardew if the side lost against Stoke on Monday night.
"One more game - if we lose against Stoke then he's gone. I have had enough," said Ashley, making a throat-cutting gesture.