The chair of the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust Alex Hurst has recently discussed Mike Ashley’s ownership of the Toon.
For a number of years now, there has been a long-standing dislike between the St. James’ Park faithful and the Sports Direct tycoon (per FourFourTwo).
Over the 13-year period which Ashley has owned the North East club, there have been multiple issues which have driven a wedge between the owner and the fanbase.
One of the most recent issues is Toon supporters’ struggle to be paid a refund by the club for pre-paid tickets for matches played behind closed doors (via Chronicle Live).
During the latest episode of The Price of Football podcast, Hurst made an appearance and slated Mike Ashley.
He said: “There [are] so many people – thousands of people, maybe tens of thousands of people – that have completely disengaged from the football club because they struggle to either give money to Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United or they struggle to even support it.
“There’s a number of reasons for that, you could probably fill a show with what Mike Ashley’s done at Newcastle United. It’s really, really bad and there’s a long list.
“Members of my own family, not only have they stopped going, they’ve stopped watching, they’ve stopped talking about it and that’s a pretty special thing Mike Ashley’s done to turn people so against such an integral part of the community like he has.”
Hurst also discussed the relationship between the supporters’ trust and the club, he said: “[The relationship] could be a lot better.
“I did an awful lot of talking with them over six months about what the relationship would look like, came to a good agreement with the SLO and with Lee Charnley and then it just has never happened.
“So, that’s really disappointing from our part.”
TIF Thoughts on what Alex Hurst had to say about Mike Ashley and the supporters’ trust’s relationship with the Toon…
Seemingly, the chair of the NUST has a very withering opinion of Ashley and he has been left very disappointed by the relationship between the club and the supporters’ trust.
Do you think Mike Ashley will have sold Newcastle United by this time next year?
No, he'll still be here
Yes, he'll be gone
With it having been claimed that Ashley is still ‘committed’ to selling the Toon following the recent failed Saudi Arabian-backed takeover bid to purchase the club (via The Mirror), it seems that it would be best for all parties if a sale was to happen as soon as possible.