The Devil Wears A Toon Scarf: Why Newcastle Fans Hate Mike Ashley

If making football fans angry were a sport, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley would have to take the cake, in English football at least.

The Toon man has driven his club's supporters to the brink of insanity since taking over the club in 2007. Relegation, transfers, managerial changes, court cases; the works have taken place at St James' Park under the entrepeneur's guidance, with his insistence that the ground be referred to as 'Sports Direct Arena' only adding to fans' discontent with his tenure.

The ripping down of the St James' Park sign last week has again brought up feelings of anger, with some fans left asking why Ashley didn't do so when he announced the name change in the first place to help alleviate some of the ill feeling.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg for many Newcastle supporters, with Kevin Keegan's resignation, the forced sale of Andy Carroll and subsequent exits for Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique, and shock sacking of Chris Hughton forming many reasons for fans to harbour hope that Ashley will find that buyer for the club which he has searched for twice now.

IBTimes UK takes a look at just some of the reasons the fans have resorted to graffiti to make their feelings clear in the north east.