It’s been a tough start to the season for the Magpies as Rafa Benitez’s men remain winless in the league and currently sit 18th in the table following their 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.
The Spaniard was severely underfunded in the transfer market over the summer and it looks as though Newcastle will be fighting relegation this season, a stark contrast to their 10th place finish last year. Under Mike Ashley’s ownership, there’s been a constant dark cloud hanging over the club and the vilified owner’s appearance at the weekend didn’t help matters.
It’s safe to say that Newcastle have been a club that has been in flux since the Sports Direct owner bought the club. A club that at one time challenged for titles and was very much a part of the top six, Newcastle have now turned into a team that has been relegated twice in the last 10 years.
Not many Newcastle fans have ever attested that their team is comparable to Arsenal, Liverpool, or Man U but outside of that, Newcastle is arguably the biggest outside of the top six and on a level with Spurs. Still, talkSPORT pundit Ian Abraham went on a bizarre rant and concluded that Newcastle is in fact not a big club at all.
Danny Murphy: “Newcastle are well-supported but they are NOT a big club.”
@BroadcastMoose: ‘They get 52,000 fans but what else is there to do in Newcastle!?’
It’s a question that has been asked over and over again… Are #NUFC a big club?
[ @JimWhite] pic.twitter.com/LaCLBRPXOr
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) 24 September 2018
While Newcastle may not have the trophy cabinet of the likes of Liverpool and Man U, pre the new money of Chelsea and Man City, it seems a fairly ridiculous rant to go on and one that is pretty uncalled for.
All this suggests that, while Newcastle were a previously respected club who many would have thought of as a sleeping giant, Ashley’s terrible running of the Toon Army is making them look like a joke in front of the public. The talkSPORT lot may indeed be wrong, though that kind of thinking is creeping ever more prevalently into people’s thinking.
