Former Liverpool star Robbie Fowler has claimed that Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez plays ‘a game’ with fans by pitting them against owner Mike Ashley.
Fowler played under Benitez during the Spaniard’s successful tenure at Anfield, where he won a Champions League title and an FA Cup between 2004 and 2010.
The former England striker, now a pundit for BT Sport, has now accused Benitez of playing a game with fans which is destroying morale at the Tyneside club.
Speaking on BT Sport programme Saturday Morning Savage, he said: “I think at times he does play a game, he does try and work the fans off the owners and I’m not sure whether that’s good for the morale of the club.
“Everyone sort of wants Rafa, and everyone wants Ashley to sell up, but I think he’s in a bit of a predicament anyway now because – for the club to get sold, you know, I think they need to buy more players, more expensive players to keep them in the Premier League so it’s easy for them to sell in the future.”
"He was a cold person, but tactically he was superb."
"He does try and work the fans off the owners."@Robbie9Fowler tells us what it was like to work under Rafa Benítez 🤔#SaturdaySav pic.twitter.com/8MCtHFwXE4
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 12, 2019
OPINION
This is an interesting view for Fowler to take on Benitez and his relationship with supporters, with many pundits seemingly of the opinion that the Spaniard does play games with fans at times. Obviously there is no denying that Benitez is in a unique and challenging situation at St. James’ Park at the moment, and is clearly doing all he can to address the plethora of issues which are facing him. His main problem is obviously with owner Mike Ashley, and the fans’ anger towards the Sports Direct tycoon would indeed make it easy for him to play the fans off the chairman. Whether you could describe this as a ‘game’ which Benitez plays is another matter, but you can see what Fowler is suggesting here. The fact is that Newcastle fans have an irreperable relationship with Ashley, and Benitez is in the middle, leaving him in a pretty tough situation which he is merely trying to make the most of.
