OPINION
Richard Keys’ bizarre offensive against Newcastle United highlights exactly the kind of ill-informed ignorance that has allowed Mike Ashley to run the club into the ground.
Following his outlandish comments over the weekend in which he suggested that Rafa Benitez should fund the Magpies’ transfer business if he was so worried about relegation, Keys has backed up his comments by claiming that the Spaniard should be grateful for the budget at this disposal.
In a post to his personal Twitter made on Wednesday afternoon, Keys referenced his own side, Coventry City, and argued that their manager would be grateful for the budget at Newcastle.
@henrywinter John. Try being a Cov fan. We genuinely are in a mess but the manager works diligently understanding of the parameters he’s constrained by knowing he can leave any time. Never once has he talked confidence down. He’d love a budget the size of Rafa’s.
— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) January 16, 2019
Quite aside from the fact that Newcastle are a Premier league outfit and City are in League One, Keys blatantly ignores the fact that for the past decade or so, the Magpies have been operating on a shoestring.
Up until August of last year, as reported by the Mag, the Toon Army had a net spend of just £32 million under Ashley. For Coventry, this would be excellent, but for a Premier League side looking to push for Europe, it’s nothing short of abysmal.
Comments like Keys’ have been a foundation for Ashley’s ownership. Drip feeding positive propaganda into the media has allowed the businessman to convince outsiders that the club’s supporters are ungrateful for his investment, and that they are deluded about the capabilities of the club.
The reality is that Newcastle should be performing much better than they are, and they key reason that they are not is because Ashley has held the club back.
Whether it’s jealousy or misguidance, Keys’ opinions on the Toon Army are unfairly painting a picture of that could really use all the help they can get.
