Graphic: Newcastle United: good times, bad times

In the past few days I have taken to wondering who is the more embarrassed. Is it Newcastle United that they are sponsored by Northern Rock or Northern Rock that it is sponsoring Newcastle United? It must be a close-run thing.

I have also taken to wondering about Mike Ashley. The subject of gross abuse by the fans and sharp criticism in the media, apparently unable to take his children to matches despite spending millions on some posh tickets, Dave Whelan, his business rival and chairman of Wigan Athletic suggests that Ashley deserves the stick he is getting.

So what is the truth of it? Newcastle are in the dumps, but is it his fault? I think that Dr Henry Stott, Dr Ian Graham and Dr Mark Lathan have managed to cast some light on the situation. The starting point is that there is no doubting that the crisis is real. Take a look at the graphic. It shows how Newcastle's rank has deteriorated since the balmy days of Sir Bobby Robson's reign.

The Fink Tank ranking is based on the previous two years of goals scored and conceded and shots on goal made and allowed. These are then weighted so that the latest matches count more heavily. Then the clubs are compared with each other. When Robson was removed, Newcastle were ranked fourth; now they rank seventeenth.

It is interesting to see when the decline happened - during the Souness-Roeder years - and when it did not: the Ashley years. When Ashley bought the club, Newcastle were ranked 21st.

Another point worth noting - Newcastle improved quite rapidly under Sam Allardyce, rising to fifteenth, and slightly declined under Kevin Keegan this time around. Ashley might have been criticised for parting with the manager the fans hated (Allardyce), rather than with the one they loved (Keegan). And, incidentally, for all the criticism of his defensiveness, the improvement under Allardyce came from a sharply better attack. Even on Allardyce, however, there is a defence of Ashley's actions.

Newcastle got better, but they spent money doing it. The Fink Tank is able to use the size of the wage bill to predict the number of points a club should get. Year after year since the departure of Robson, the club have collected fewer points than expected, given the money they spent. In 2005-06, they underperformed only slightly. In 2007-08 the club registered a full 19 points fewer than an owner spending that much had a right to expect. Of all the teams in the Premier League, Newcastle provided their owner with the worst value for money.

Not only can Ashley's impatient experimentation be excused, but so can his resistance of demands to buy more star players.Which brings me to the people who do not seem to be mentioned often enough when criticism is being handed out - the players. Last season, only Gérémi, Michael Owen and Emre Belözoglu appeared among the top 100 Fink Tank Premier League performers.

Using our calculations based on every on-field action, most other Newcastle players lost points for the club compared with an average player in that position.

One final point. Some people think that Newcastle fans are deluded, that they should not expect greatness. I disagree. Newcastle have fabulous support and a lot of money. The fans should want greatness and they should be angry. They just should not blame it all on Ashley.