Kevin Nolan claimed that Newcastle United had enough to avoid relegation in the Premier League in his opinion if the team gave it their all in the upcoming games.
The former Newcastle midfielder reflected on the Magpies’ chances in the Premier League and claimed the current squad needed to prove their worth again after finishing 10th last season.
Nolan also remarked on the relationship between Rafa Benitez and Mike Ashley as he pointed out that the Spanish manager always knew it was a tough job at St James Park due to the club owner not wanting to throw money at the project.
“Listen it’s a club that I love and I love going back there and have been back a couple of times, it’s a fabulous place to be, I loved playing my football there and the crowd, the atmosphere, I think Rafa y’know has made his feelings clear about what’s happened, but it’s been like that since I was there with Mike (Ashley),” said Nolan on Sky Sports News (Monday 11th February, 11:09am)
“Y’know he wasn’t going in with his eyes closed, he knew what was expected of him and he knew it was going to be a tough job as Mike doesn’t really want to start throwing money at it which he has done in January to help, just to try and make sure, well to make sure they stay in the Premier League so that it’s a more saleable asset.
“For me, they’ve got to stick together, they’ve got to pull in together and they showed last year when they finished 10th with that squad and they’ve added to it now, so what they got to do is prove their worth again as a team as a squad, and do it for Newcastle and the supporters because at the end of the day they have fantastic support and deserve to be in the Premier League.
“So they should be going into these next games making sure they’re given their all and if they do, I think they have enough to stay up.”
OPINION
Nolan’s passion about Newcastle United was on show when he was delivering his verdict on the club’s current position and his insight into Benitez’s connection with Ashley was notable. The former Magpies midfielder is right to point out that the current Newcastle manager was no doubt always aware that Ashley was never going to splash the case on transfers as it would have been foolish to think otherwise. Benitez is not a fool so you have to think he always knew he may run into trouble with Ashley while the businessman was the owner of the club. However who knows maybe the genius manager thought that Ashley wasn’t going to a long-term owner of the club. It’s also interesting that Nolan avoids giving Ashley direct praise for sanctioning some incoming transfers in January as he highlights how the businessman did it to ensure the club’s Premier League status and more importantly so it kept the Magpies’ value of as a club in tact.