OPINION
With everything Mike Ashley does these days, it’s hard not to feel as if he has an ulterior motive for his actions.
The controversial Newcastle United owner has repeatedly shown himself to be opaque at best, and downright untrustworthy at worst.
And so, every time something remotely positive comes out of the club, the knee jerk reaction is to assume that it’s a front for something altogether less pleasant.
Take the latest news on Ashley’ plan to invest in the Magpies’ medical facilities.
As quoted by the Shields Gazette, the controversial owner has stated that he plans to invest in the Toon Army’s infrastructure in his latest accounts from key company MASH Holdings.
He said: “The Group has invested substantial sums in sports medicine and science facilities to minimise the unavailability of players through injury.”
Obviously, this is a positive. Anything that improves facilities, modernising the club and potentially attracting new talent in the process, is a bonus.
But there are a couple of caveats to the update.
Firstly, this should have been done a long time ago. The club has stagnated for so long that it is still some way behind a lot of its Premier League peers.
Secondly, you wouldn’t bet against Ashley seeing this as a way of saving money in the long run.
The less his players are getting injured, the less he will be pressured into signing reinforcements in the transfer market.
Of course, this may all be hyper-cynicism, but given then manner in which he has run the club up until this point, nobody can blame Newcastle fans for taking everything with a grain of salt.