OPINION
Darren Gough shared his frustration with some Premier League sides over their lack of ambition in the transfer market and it seemed like one big dig at Newcastle United under Mike Ashley’s ownership.
The former England cricketer was discussing teams that were in the Championship that would make the Premier League better and then seem to vent his opinion on how some top-flight teams annoy him.
Gough claimed that there were some Premier League clubs just happy to keep running and make a profit rather than splash the significant cash in the transfer market on trying to improve their squad.
He even went on to say there were clearly clubs sitting on money rather than spending it.
“Well they’re just happy for the club to have a turnover and keep running, oh well we can secure our history for the next 150-years,” said Gough on talkSPORT (Tuesday April 16th, 18:12).
“I’m not saying you should go in and mismanage but a lot of these clubs have got a lot more money then they’ve actually spent, and that goes as far as Burnley, they could spend a lot more then they’ve actually spent on players.”
While Gough name-drops Burnley, his remarks are surely an indirect dig at the Magpies?
You just have to look at one telling stat that surfaced in the summer regarding the Magpies’ transfer business to know Gough is referring to them.
Sky Sports pointed out that Rafa Benitez welcomed £22.5million worth of talent only to see £43.5million of talent depart to see Newcastle United have the biggest profit of any side once the window shut.
While Ashley open his wallet a little more in the January that followed to welcome Miguel Almiron, it still leaves them drastically behind when you consider how much money the club could potentially spend.
With that in mind, while Magpies supporters won’t like the suggestion that their club is frustrating Gough they will no doubt feel the same way about their side’s transfer activity under Ashley.
Because as it stands, it’s hard to back the club to do anything more than achieve it’s Premier League status every season if heavy investment isn’t made in the playing squad.