One of Rangers’ biggest supporters clubs have pledged their support to help Newcastle United fans challenge Mike Ashley’s ownership of the club.
In a statement made to their website, Club 1872, who have over 75,000 followers on Twitter, made reference to the issues their own club have faced with Ashley, stemming largely from disputes over merchandising deals made during his time as a partial shareholder in the club.
But the statement goes on to claim that the organisation have made approaches with their Geordie counterparts over the prospect of working together.
It reads: “We would also take this opportunity to express our sympathy with Newcastle fans who find their own club suffering under Mr Ashley’s ownership.
“We have made approaches to a number of their supporters’ groups to discuss ways in which we can work together to challenge Mr Ashley and Sports Direct in what we believe is a matter of shared interest.”
OPINION
This is a bit of a bizarre story, but it just goes to show how unpopular Mike Ashley is amongst the footballing community. To have one British giant fuming with you is some achievement, but to have two, not to mention the prospect of them teaming up against you, is really quite impressive. What this will actually mean in practice is hard to say, but it certainly can’t be good news for the owner. It feels pressure is perpetually mounting against him at the moment, and you have to wonder how much unrest he can handle. Of course, Ashley might not feel the same at all. To him, Rangers getting onboard with the Geordie protests might just be a laughable little detail, and his separation from the feelings and concerns of both sides would suggest that he couldn’t give a jot as to what was happening. Still, things have certainly been better for the businessman, and if fans can’t make their voices heard, what can they do?
