Whatever is said about Mike Ashley, Newcastle United's embattled chairman, he is not a stupid man.

Ashley is a billionaire after floating his company, Sports World, on the stock exchange this year. Not bad for a man that started his first shop in his teens and managed to outmuscle more established rivals JJB Sports, JD Sports and Allsports. The latter, despite a decent high street brand, eventually folded.

It is also a very good achievement given that his shops resemble something akin to a jumble sale. But, using the same motto as Tesco, he piled them high and sold them cheap - something that afforded him the luxury of buying Newcastle United.

When he arrived, the Geordie public were smitten. With a billionaire chairman they could not fail to succeed, could they? Well actually, yes - Ashley is currently receiving a barrage of bad press. But the fans seems to have very short memories.

When Ashley bought the Newcastle, for a sum in the region of £120million, he also took on the liability for the club's debt. It may surprise many fans but this was some £80m, a very significant amount. Ashley immediately reduced this out of his personal fortune to a more manageable amount and set about trying to balance the club's finances. For this, at least, the club should be grateful.

In a recent, and rare, interview, Ashley also discussed some of the other financial woes he had been left with. For example, Newcastle United currently owe around £27m in unpaid transfer fees to other clubs for various players. He also revealed that under the previous regime, the majority of advertising revenue had been taken as a lump sum payment, rather than the normal spread over a number of years, to fund spending. It had all gone and this left very little income for the current board to work with.

The above is disturbingly similar to another problem club - Leeds United. We may all have laughed at Leeds, but Newcastle may well have gone the same way had Ashley not stepped in. Mortgaged on future gate receipts, advertising income spent and an unsustainable wage bill, Leeds now reside in League One. Would Newcastle fans prefer to be in that situation?

They say money cannot buy happiness and I think this is correct. Ashley bought Newcastle not for the power, but the glory. It is what all of the billionaire owners want. Roman Ambramovich did not buy Chelsea because he thought it was a viable business interest - no one makes money in football - he bought it for the glory.

The new owners of Manchester City have already stated they want to wins things. Like I said, it is all about the glory. To some extent, Ashley has had some glory. OK, not in terms of winning anything significant but when he sacked Big Sam Allardyce the fans were overjoyed. When he tempted Kevin Keegan out of retirement, again the fans came out in their droves to support the club and, ultimately, the chairman.

The protests, by coincidence, have occurred as Joey Barton faces his FA trial. If you speak to any Newcastle United fan, they would have loved for Barton to have been ousted from the club in the January transfer window. Speaking to a number of colleagues, they wish he had been sacked, never mind given the dignity of another transfer.

Many have criticised the club for keeping Barton yet, interestingly, it was their hate figure, Mike Ashley, that wanted him out. Keegan, the so-called “messiah”, was the man sticking by Barton. If Ashley had got his own way and sold Barton, were they have criticised him?

Spiderman knows it and Mike Ashley will also - with great power comes great responsibility. Newcastle fans, while concerned with their club's fortunes, also like to look after their own. The likes of Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan are untouchable in Geordieland and this has been Ashley’s mistake.

Was he right to bring King Kev out of retirement? In terms of shirt sales, “Keegan No.7” has done a roaring trade in the club shop and, with initial support, it was a wise move. However, the time was always going to come when Keegan bowed out and there was no way in the world it was going to be amicable. Had Ashley had the foresight, he would never have employed him in the first place.

Ebbsfleet United Football Club caused shock waves around the country when they were bought by My Football Club, the consortium of fans that paid around £35 each to create a fund large enough to buy the club. For Newcastle to be at rest, this is what needs to happen - the fans need to get together and buy the club. Only then will they realise the difficulties that Ashley faces.

Every club loves a big signing but if you cannot afford it, you cannot afford it.  hould Ashley dig deep and spend big? To be honest, the fans have such a short-term memory any spending would probably be forgotten in weeks to come.

Newcastle might be better off without Ashley - he would certainly be better off without Newcastle United! I will finish this with a fantastic text I received last night to announce Keegan's departure: “Agent Ashley, come in, mission accomplished - return to the Stadium of Light!”

Forget Eastenders and Coronation Street, the real soap opera is at St James' Park.