OPINION
Matt Ritchie has said that he understands why the Newcastle United supporters have protested about the club’s ownership this season.
On a number of occasions, sections of fans have shown their disdain towards Mike Ashley in different ways. Members of the Toon Army have decided to walk into the stadium in the 11th minute of a game, while protests have been made at Sports Direct stores and even outside restaurants where Ashley has been eating.
Ritchie has admitted to talkSPORT that the protests have had an affect on the atmosphere at St James’ Park, but he has also said that he can see why the fans have acted the way they have.
“I understand the frustrations but, at the same time, it did start to affect the atmosphere around the stadium,” the £45,000-a-week (Spotrac) ace said.
“That’s no criticism towards the fans because they’ve been fantastic and I understand the unrest. But support is what the team needs.”
Newcastle fans must surely be thrilled with Ritchie’s comments because that is a player in their first team who has shown a slight inkling of support to the fans over their protests.
Ashley is of course Ritchie’s paymaster and he’s never going to come out and openly encourage the supporters to protest against the club’s owner, however at least there is some kind of understanding as to why these protests have happened.
They have certainly died down since the festive period anyway, especially after Ashley opened up his wallet and allowed Rafa Benitez to sign Miguel Almiron, who has provided a major lift at St James’ Park.
The Paraguay international cost around £20million and broke the Tyneside club’s 16-year-old transfer record in the process, and that has quelled some of the angst shown towards Ashley.
However it should not distract from the fact that the majority of Newcastle fans Ashley gone, sooner rather than later.
And it is nice for them to hear one of their players sticking by their protests, even if he does admit that it does have a slight impact inside the stadium on matchday.