On April 7th 2014, Newcastle United announced that they had appointed Lee Charnley as the club’s managing director.
Interestingly, Lee Charnley stepped-up during a boardroom re-shuffle which saw the appointment of John Irving as director of finances and the arrival of Joe Kinnear as director of football.
A lot of supporters were less than pleased with the club’s decision to appoint Lee Charnley as the club’s managing director, as they took to Twitter to express their disappointment over the announcement.
@NUFC one or two signings a year? Priority is the PL? Will you be offering refunds to season ticket holders as this malaise lingers on?
— Richard Smith (@eight_b) April 7, 2014
https://twitter.com/JJFletcher7/status/453183961502867456
https://twitter.com/_Flan3/status/453239242240839680
https://twitter.com/AM7_Golf/status/453234282908368897
https://twitter.com/Phillwillkill/status/453200697400786945
Indeed, during the tenure of Freddy Shepherd and Sir John Hall, Charnley played second fiddle to the then chief operating officer Russell Cushing.
Lee Charnley became managing director of Newcastle United on the 7th of April 2014 after the position was left vacant by Derek Llambias in June 2013. He was previously the club secretary, and his first responsibility in the new role was to run the rule over first-team recruitment.
The Englishman has been busy trying to help sign players every window but it’s very rare that things have worked out. Although, he did manage to bring in Martin Dubravka for £4 million, who has proved to be arguably the club’s best summer signing and he helped conclude a deal for Miguel Almiron.
Also, he’s helped make the club a lot of money during his time from selling the likes of Andy Carroll, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Georginio Wijnaldum.
But, Charnley has been described as one of Mike Ashley’s ‘yes men’. And, there’s a heap of negative points to take away from his time at St James’ Park thus far as he’s kept fans in the dark, cancelled interaction at fans forum’s and his lack of previous football experience has became all too clear at times.
It’s fair to say that there have been some positives but things have been far from perfect over the years, with a possible change of ownership helping fans feel more relaxed without Ashley and Charnley at the club.
