Newcastle legend Alan Shearer has labelled Mike Ashley's ownership of the club as "disastrous" in a brutal assessment.
Ashley sold the Toon to a Saudi-backed consortium last month after a troublesome 14-year reign in charge of the Premier League club.
During that time, Newcastle qualified for Europe just once and were relegated to the Championship twice.
In the 14 years before Ashley's ownership, the team didn't drop out of the Premier League and enjoyed seven top-six finishes.
When asked by Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast to summarise Ashley time in charge, Shearer said: "Disastrous, flat, no hope, no excitement.
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"I couldn't describe it in any other words. I don't think he should have ever got involved in the football club - I don't know why he did.
"He may have made a lot of money... he's an incredibly successful businessman and no one can knock him for that.
"But I don't think he - or his people - understand football or what he was getting into."
Shearer is the leading scorer in the club's history with 206 goals - six more than legendary figure Jackie Milburn - after a ten-year spell on Tyneside.
He was famously appointed Newcastle manager in April 2009 for the remaining eight games of the Premier League season with the club sinking towards the Championship.
Shearer was not given the job permanently once relegation was confirmed, becoming the second Newcastle legend to leave the manager's position under Ashley after Kevin Keegan.
Despite not getting a proper chance under the controversial owner, Shearer doesn't believe his departure led to Newcastle fans turning on Ashley.
The former England captain added: "I don't think that was the point. It was hugely disappointing for me because I thought I was going to go on and do that [become the permanent manager].
"I'd left a lot behind, in terms of leaving the BBC... I felt at the end of the eight games, what happened was a disaster but it wasn't through the want of trying or hard work.
"I knew we'd all given everything but I did want the chance to try to bring Newcastle back up.
"It didn't happen and then after a year or two I thought, 'You know what, it's never going to happen. I've got to concentrate on the media side of things.'
"But I don't think he [Ashley] lost it [the fans' trust] then, I just think over time - when you look at what happened, what he could have done.
"And no one wanted him to do what Manchester City were doing or Chelsea were doing or Man Utd were doing - spending hundreds of millions of pounds to demand the Premier League.
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"They just wanted a club that tried, that wanted to achieve something rather than just try to avoid relegation all the time."
When asked what Newcastle's new owners need to do win the fans' trust, Shearer said: "What they must understand is these people work extremely hard all week to go and support their club.
"They will travel all over the world, they will buy whatever you want them to buy - so long as they give that little bit of hope, that little bit of excitement and something to look forward to."
