YOU have to hand it to Mike Ashley, he doesn’t do things by half.

Not content with running Newcastle United into the ground last season, the outgoing Magpies owner now appears to be doing all he can to ensure the club starts life in the Championship in the worst possible position.

Four-and-a-half weeks on from last month’s devastating defeat at Aston Villa, and a situation that looked desperate at the time has only got worse.

In the intervening period, Ashley has done nothing.

Okay, not exactly nothing – it’s Wimbledon fortnight so he’s probably managed to knock out a few cut-price tennis balls – but in terms of preparing Newcastle for next season, progress has been non-existent.

No one has arrived, and more importantly, no one has left either. Other, of course, from the hundred-orso low-paid club employees who inevitably paid the price for Newcastle’s allround incompetence.

The process of selling the club limps on interminably, with Ashley and the equally hapless Derek Llambias hiding behind a raft of confidentiality agreements to maintain a wall of silence that has alienated supporters for more than two seasons.

We keep hearing suggestions that two competing consortia are talking terms with brokers Seymour Pierce, but then we’ve been hearing that for a couple of weeks now and the status quo remains.

And all the while, the clock is ticking. Newcastle’s players – and there are still plenty of them on £50,000-aweek – are due to return for the start of pre-season training next Wednesday. When they do so, it is imperative that a full-time manager is there to greet them. To make things even simpler, it is imperative that manager is Alan Shearer.

Ashley has kept his managerial options open in the last month, claiming it would be counter-productive to install a new boss at such a delicate stage of takeover proceedings.

Perhaps, at the start of the month, that was true.

Now, though, The situation has changed, and if Newcastle are to have any chance of hitting the ground running in August, they need a fulltime manager to sift through the wreckage of what remains from last season.

What they don’t need is Chris Hughton handing out a few bibs and cones as a group of disillusioned players trudge back to work.

Hughton’s limitations have been cruelly exposed, and if he was to begin a third caretaker spell in charge of the Magpies next week, the message would be one of impermanence and confusion.

The start of pre-season training should represent a line in the sand, but how can Newcastle possibly embark on a new era if no one knows who will be leading them through their pre-season programme?

Ashley has dealt in ‘What ifs’ when it comes to Shearer.

What if the new owners don’t want him? What if they are reluctant to meet his contract demands?

Fine, but with less than a week of the summer training break to go, the ‘What ifs’ are now outweighed by the ‘What if nots’.

If Shearer is not installed before the middle of next week, it is hard to see how anyone can have any confidence about where the club is headed.

The players want Shearer, the supporters want Shearer and all the prospective new owners appear to want the former number nine as well.

To his immense credit, Shearer still wants the job despite all the to-ing and fro-ing of the last four weeks.

It seems a no-brainer, but then that description seems to fit Ashley perfectly. It will be his biggest mistake - and that’s saying something - if Shearer is not installed before Wednesday.

THE best 20 minutes of sport this year? The final 20 minutes of last weekend’s Test as the British Lions tried, and failed, to overhaul a three-try deficit against the Springboks.

The worst? The 20 minutes either side of half-time that meant they had to overhaul a three-try deficit.

The tourists can make amends on Saturday, but changes have to be made.

Nobody likes to see a oncegreat player reduced to a figure of fun, but it’s hard to imagine Phil Vickery ever recovering from the mauling he received at the hands of Tendai Mtawira.

Vickery will undoubtedly make way for Adam Jones, and hooker Matthew Rees is likely to replace Lee Mears in a revamped front row, but the changes should not end there.

At 1-0 down in the series, it is time to be bold. Bring James Hook in at fly-half, and start with Shane Williams on the left wing and Rob Kearney at fullback and then instruct the backline to continue throwing the ball around. When the Lions had nothing to lose, they looked like they were going to win.