Mike Ashley, the owner of Newcastle United, had his hand outstretched and a grin on his face. Manchester United were in town and Ed Woodward, the club’s executive vice-chairman, had just appeared at St James’ Park. Ashley went over to greet him and his opening line was probably an accurate reflection of the state of the two clubs.



“The most unpopular man in football meets the second most unpopular man in football,” he said.



At least Woodward could see the funny side of this little scene last season. Ashley then introduced him to one of his associates, who turned out to be a Manchester United supporter and wanted to know why the club kept announcing “all these noodle deals” rather than player signings. Woodward’s explanation was that the two could go hand-in-hand and, without the “noodle deals”, it would be a lot harder to make the signings. Which sounded fair enough — and a line, almost certainly, he has had...