Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley opened up that his naivety made him make some "unacceptable" decisions when he first took over the club. 
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, which will be aired on Sunday evening’s ‘Mike Ashley: Speaks Direct’ special on Sky Sports Premier League at 7pm, the 52-year-old directly disclosed all, following the marking of his 10 years at St James’ Park.
Ashley declared that he was too fast to sever all ties Allardyce had with the players in 2008 after buying the club, and also should not have renamed the stadium to the Sports Direct Arena, but that all his wrong actions were in hindsight.
When asked to give a description of himself throughout his 10-year work, Ashley told David Craig: “Very naïve 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].
“We had the finance right, talked about investing in the training ground and the academy, we had a strategy, buying young talent and developing.
“That was around 2013, 2014, going along quite well, and then within 18 months the wheels had come off, going back to really having to start at the beginning again
“I probably rushed in too early. The first thing, letting Sam Allardyce go, I was probably too keen to get going and make a difference, and I was a bit naïve about how football worked.”
And as for changing the name of the stadium in 2011, Ashley revealed that he wanted to bring in as much money for the club as possible to reinvest before he eventually changed his decision less than a year later.
“The first thing you feel is stupidity, because as soon as you know the hindsight of something, you know what you were doing wrong.
“For example, I thought it was the right thing to do was to generate as much money as possible for Newcastle, so when people say to me: ‘Whatever you do on an interview do not talk about changing the name of St James’ Park!’ Well I’m me, and I’m going to talk about making an error, and I should not have changed the name of St James’ Park. I should not have done that.
“Football is not all about making money and reinvesting it into football clubs, it has a very strange balance to it. I wanted to get naming rights, get money in and invest it into the club.
“The reality is, the vast majority of the Geordie fans would rather have the name of St James’ Park and finish maybe one or two places lower in the table, because they want to keep it special.
“You begin to learn that the special side of Newcastle means a little bit more than the ultimate end performance on the pitch.”
Newcastle have gone to relegation twice and had just one top 10 finish in the Premier League during Ashley’s time at the club, leading fans to consistently express their unhappiness. 
Ashley added: “I actually understand how cross the fans were. If I was a fan, would I have been as upset as they were? I would probably have been worst!
“It wasn’t acceptable what happened at Newcastle United Football Club, but of course I never did it on purpose. There was no gain for me at all to get certain things wrong.”
Sports

Mike Ashley admits Newcastle errors; regrets on Allardyce and stadium

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley opened up that his naivety made him make some "unacceptable" decisions when he first took over the club. 
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, which will be aired on Sunday evening’s ‘Mike Ashley: Speaks Direct’ special on Sky Sports Premier League at 7pm, the 52-year-old directly disclosed all, following the marking of his 10 years at St James’ Park.
Ashley declared that he was too fast to sever all ties Allardyce had with the players in 2008 after buying the club, and also should not have renamed the stadium to the Sports Direct Arena, but that all his wrong actions were in hindsight.
When asked to give a description of himself throughout his 10-year work, Ashley told David Craig: “Very naïve 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].
“We had the finance right, talked about investing in the training ground and the academy, we had a strategy, buying young talent and developing.
“That was around 2013, 2014, going along quite well, and then within 18 months the wheels had come off, going back to really having to start at the beginning again
“I probably rushed in too early. The first thing, letting Sam Allardyce go, I was probably too keen to get going and make a difference, and I was a bit naïve about how football worked.”
And as for changing the name of the stadium in 2011, Ashley revealed that he wanted to bring in as much money for the club as possible to reinvest before he eventually changed his decision less than a year later.
“The first thing you feel is stupidity, because as soon as you know the hindsight of something, you know what you were doing wrong.
“For example, I thought it was the right thing to do was to generate as much money as possible for Newcastle, so when people say to me: ‘Whatever you do on an interview do not talk about changing the name of St James’ Park!’ Well I’m me, and I’m going to talk about making an error, and I should not have changed the name of St James’ Park. I should not have done that.
“Football is not all about making money and reinvesting it into football clubs, it has a very strange balance to it. I wanted to get naming rights, get money in and invest it into the club.
“The reality is, the vast majority of the Geordie fans would rather have the name of St James’ Park and finish maybe one or two places lower in the table, because they want to keep it special.
“You begin to learn that the special side of Newcastle means a little bit more than the ultimate end performance on the pitch.”
Newcastle have gone to relegation twice and had just one top 10 finish in the Premier League during Ashley’s time at the club, leading fans to consistently express their unhappiness. 
Ashley added: “I actually understand how cross the fans were. If I was a fan, would I have been as upset as they were? I would probably have been worst!
“It wasn’t acceptable what happened at Newcastle United Football Club, but of course I never did it on purpose. There was no gain for me at all to get certain things wrong.”

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