Derby County owner Mel Morris shared that Mike Ashley deserved respect for investing a lot of money into Newcastle United.
The Rams chief shared that he has previously met Ashley at games and pointed out everyone has their own way of doing things after Jim White asked him what he thought of the Magpies owner.
Morris repeated twice that Ashley had spent a lot of money on the club and he made clear that he thought due to this the businessman deserves respect.
“I’ve met Mike at games before and y’know everyone has their own way of doing things,” said Morris on talkSPORT (12:12, Wednesday, June 26th).
“And listen, he has put a lot of money into Newcastle, a lot of money over the years and deserves the respect for that.”
OPINION
Morris clearly had to be diplomatic with his answer regarding Ashley as it would be quite disrespectful for one owner to criticise another, however, that still won’t see the Derby owner’s comments be well received by Newcastle fans. After the Magpies confirmed that Benitez was set to leave St James Park when his contract expires on June 30th, it’s fair to say Ashley’s already low popularity had found a way to sink even further. While some may feel Ashley does deserve credit for the money he has invested in Newcastle, the fact his ownership has overseen a talented manager leave like Benitez and hasn’t seen the club be competitive in the transfer market; it’s hard to speak about his reign at the Magpies positively. However, the positive about Ashley’s reign is that its end is surely almost in sight. The Magpies owner has had the club up for sale since 2017, as stated by the Guardian, and there has been hope of a takeover occurring in recent times. In fact, The Sun previously reported that Ashley had agreed to sell the Magpies to Sheikh Mansour for £350million.
