Former Newcastle United boss Glenn Roeder has surprisingly claimed that the club could have an owner who is a lot worse than current St James’ Park chief Mike Ashley.
He suggested that the club may be a lot worse off if Ashley ended up selling up and Newcastle had a new owner, adding that he hopes that the new ones that potentially come along have “deep pockets” in order to invest in the squad.
Roeder hinted that Ashley can be patient with managers he has had, saying that he had the opportunity to sack Alan Pardew after a number of bad patches.
“I’m not saying that they should embrace him, but I think you could have a lot worse owners than Mike Ashley owning your football club,” he said on Jim White’s show on talkSPORT.
“Alan Pardew, he could have sacked Alan three or four times in that really rocky period, but he stuck by him. In the end, Alan was bright enough to when the opportunity comes to slip out, he didn’t wait for another bad time when Mike could have lost patience with him.”
"You could have a lot worse owners than Mike Ashley."
"When he does find the price he wants, I hope the new owner has deep pockets to improve the squad."
Former #NUFC boss Glenn Roeder believes Mike Ashley deserves more credit. pic.twitter.com/vrAzm4HoLP
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 27, 2019
OPINION
Many Newcastle fans are no doubt seething after hearing Roeder’s comments about Mike Ashley. It is no secret that they hate their owner with a passion, and for him to say that they could have a lot worse owners will surely have them howling. There are valid reasons why they detest Ashley so much, with the number one reason being that he does not invest enough in the squad and in the Academy. He suggests that a new owner will have to dig deep in order to do that, but surely anybody is better than Ashley? Rafa Benitez could leave at the end of the season if he does not fulfil his wishes, and to be honest, no other owner would treat their club manager like that. Roeder’s comments do not make sense in the slightest and there is no doubt that many fans will be rather angry with him for making such positive remarks about their owner.
