Unfortunately as Newcastle fans, we have been victim to some truly shocking punditry which usually consists of bizarre support for the Head Coach or simply incredibly lazy views on the myth that we expect too much as a fanbase, but Rio Ferdinand’s latest outbreak may well be the worst yet.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Ferdinand suggested that Toon fans should come together to fund the money to buy the club if they were so unhappy with Mike Ashley’s ownership.
The former Manchester United centre half said: “He doesn’t care what people think. It’s his club and he’s doing what he wants to do.”
“Whether you like it or not, he’s the one that’s put the money up and he’s doing what he thinks is right for the club.”
As if his defence of Mike Ashley wasn’t bad enough, he then went on to say this: “Whether, the Geordies don’t like it, a lot of them hate him and don’t like him but, round your money up and take over the club.”
This man is often paid by TV companies to talk about football. Absolute madness.
There are so many reasons why this is an appalling take. For starters, fans already part with their hard earned cash to watch the club play and now they should be expected to come up with north of £300m? Laughable.
Also, if the billions and billions of pounds behind Amanda Staveley, the Reuben brothers and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund couldn’t get over the line in the Premier League’s owners and directors test, what chance does your average Newcastle fan have?
This is not the first time that Ferdinand has come out in support of the Newcastle United owner and he is well known by Magpies fans for his outbursts that have a tendency to wind up the Toon army.
In January 2019, Ferdinand defended Mike Ashley’s decision not to back the then manager Rafa Benitez in the transfer market whilst live on BT Sport as part of their coverage of Chelsea v Newcastle.
Why the Sports Direct affiliated Rio Ferdinand feels so strongly in defending Mike Ashley is hardly a mystery.