Ex-Newcastle United midfielder Rob Lee has hit the nail on the head in an interview with TalkSPORT following last night’s big announcement, summing up perfectly just why Mike Ashley must leave the club – yet admitting he’ll remain sceptical until he sells.
Lee – who scored 56 goals in 379 appearances for us across 10 seasons – clearly has a soft spot for Newcastle still and whilst he refuses to get carried away until Ashley actually sells up, he perfectly explains here just why a change of ownership is essential for the club, our fans and Rafa Benitez:
“I’m very pleased really, but I’m very sceptical as well. I think the club’s been secretly for sale for a while now so he’s just come out with it publicly now.
“But whether he’s got a buyer or he’s hunting for a buyer it is good news – if he actually sells it.
“It has a been long time now with Mike Ashley and maybe people will say he helped us through a stage where the club needed help, but now it needs to be put in someone else’s hands who has got the money to push the club forward and get it to where the fans want it to be, which is not relegation, promotion, relegation, promotion. It is being in the Premier League consistently and pushing for titles and trophies.
“He seems to take one step forward and three steps back with some of the decisions he makes and you are not made very welcome back at the club. Most of the ex-players don’t go back very often at all.
“You hope with a different regime, with different people in charge, you can push the club forward. It is a great city, it’s got great fans and for someone to come in and put some money in, it is a great buy.
“Rafa Benitez has hardly spent any money. Our record signing is still Michael Owen from 15 years ago. Watford have beaten that, Bournemouth have beaten that.
“Newcastle need to spend a lot of money to get them back to where they should be in the Premier League.”
So much of this echoes what each one of us Newcastle United fans will tell you – even the scepticism, with so many of us knowing full well that what Ashley says and what Ashley does are two very different things.
We just want someone who will enable us to compete once again, allowing us to go into a season full of hope and ambition opposed to scraping survival. As Lee says, it feels like this can only happen under a new regime.
The point made about our club record signing by Rob says everything you need to know too. We’ve been failing to compete financially with too many teams for too long now and change really is needed.
Lee gets it spot on here and clearly shares the fans’ excitement of yesterday’s announcement, posting this tweet soon after the news broke!
At last ??? pic.twitter.com/Tgwd534aCp
— Rob Lee (@7RobLee) October 16, 2017
CLICK HERE to listen to Rob’s full interview on TalkSPORT.
