Former Newcastle United great Steve Howey says that Rafael Benitez is being undermined by owner Mike Ashley.
The Magpies are yet to win in the Premier League this season, and on Wednesday night crashed out of the Carabao Cup to second tier Nottingham Forest.
And Howey is among the frustrated on Tyneside: “The fact is, fans are disappointed because they can’t see the club moving forward, progressing in any way,” he told Sky Sports.
“Mike Ashley was on Sky saying Rafa Benitez would get every penny generated, that hasn’t been the case. He said he wants to sell the club, that hasn’t been the case – or the club has gone up for too much money.
“He hasn’t been given a lot to spend. Rafa hasn’t been given the opportunity to bring players in. You’ve got a first class manager there and he hasn’t been given the tools to make things work.”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with anything Howey says. Newcastle did magnificently well to finish tenth in their first season back in the Premier League last season, but they’ve squandered any chance they had to progress. West Ham, who haven’t had a good start either, at least showed some ambition in the transfer window. Fulham, Wolves; newly promoted teams have given it more of a go than Newcastle this summer. The Magpies are a huge club with a rabid fanbase, they should be fighting it out with Everton, Leicester, Burnley etc. for the title of best of the rest. They have a top class manager in Benitez but they are wasting him by not backing him sufficiently. We saw last season what the Spaniard could do with a fairly mediocre bunch of players, imagine what he could with an owner who supported him in the transfer window. The sky’s the limit at St James’ Park, but the club is continually being dragged down by the Sports Direct tycoon.
