The People wrote:Schwein bottler! Mike Ashley blew Bastian move
Jul 11 2010 By Tom Hopkinson
MIKE ASHLEY must be black and blue rather than black and white ... after spending the past month kicking himself.
Back in 2008, the Newcastle owner was told by then-manager Kevin Keegan that he'd spotted the perfect replacement for James Milner, who was on the brink of his 12million pounds move to Aston Villa.
Keegan had lined up a deal to take Germany star Bastian Schweinsteiger to St James' Park for just 3million pounds and a very reasonable by today's standards, anyway 30,000 pounds a week.
But Ashley would not sanction the move and Schweinsteiger stayed at Bayern Munich.
Confidential understands the Toon supremo's decision not to sign the playmaker was one of the factors in Keegan quitting the club.
And how Newcastle must now regret not snapping up a player who was one of the standout performers in South Africa as Germany reached the semi-finals.
If true, and there is no reason to suspect it isn't, this really does show how badly Kevin Keegan's hands were tied with regards his transfer activity. Quite simple a shocking piece of business to not allow your manager to replace a £12m player with a £3m player, and the fact that player turned out to be Bastian Schweinsteiger just adds insult to injury.
That hurts!