Newcastle United fan group Wor Flags have launched an attack on Mike Ashley, saying their renowned displays will not be on show at St James’ Park until he leaves the club.
After the confirmed departure of manager Rafael Benitez on Monday, the group reacted by saying they would go on a hiatus until further notice. Wor Flags have now announced they won’t return until Ashley is out of their club.
Speaking to the Chronicle, a spokesperson for the group said: “Ashley has to go. There are people in the group who are cancelling their tickets until Mike Ashley leaves this football club – so it would be fair to say that [the hiatus] is until Mike Ashley goes.”
“It’s gone on too long, and we can’t keep pretending that everything’s okay. While Mike Ashley is there we just don’t feel it is right to pretend everything is okay.”
The controversial owner is said to be in talks to sell the North East club to the Bin Zayed group in a deal reportedly worth up to £350million.
The reported takeover was expected to be completed by the end of June, with no such news breaking so far.
OPINION
Not much seems to be going right for anyone involved at Newcastle at this moment, with one recurring theme. Ashley always seems to be at the heart of every problem at St James’ Park, and it has got to the unacceptable point where fans are refusing to show up for games, with the Wor Flag group suggesting people in their group have cancelled their tickets with the club. This is surely the breaking point for Ashley who cannot continue torturing the Magpies’ faithful with the continued stream of bad news. All the owner had to do this month was secure Benitez to a new deal at the club, and then sell his stake – something which never seemed too difficult. But, in true Ashley style, something had to go wrong and the fans are now the ones who have to deal with the consequences that could follow. It has got to the stage where all people will want is for Ashley to leave to class this summer as successful, with damage limitation looking the brightest outcome at St James’ Park.
