As reported by the Chronicle, Freddy Shepherd has spoken out about the man that he sold Newcastle United to.
When Shepherd was asked about Mike Ashley he said the following: “His sort of motto and brand is: ‘Business is business, and football is business.’
“That’s how he operates. He looks at the money all the time, and he should do, and he isn’t going to change.
“He bought the club and the supporters have got to get behind him whatever you think about him.
“Nobody ever owns Newcastle, everyone is just passing through – it’s an institution.
“He is a business guy, there’s no doubt about that.
“The team has been very unfortunate in the last few years not achieving what he wanted to – and I think he’s feeling a little sorry for himself.
“I think Ashley did back Benitez at the beginning.
“What’s happened between then I don’t know.”
However, Shepherd was quick to point out the difficulties of being an owner, saying: “But Benitez is no different to any manager, they all throw their toys out of the pram when they don’t get what they want.
“You’ve seen it 100 times in football that you throw football at it and it doesn’t work.
“Certainly I did, I spent more than £300m on transfers at Newcastle and it didn’t work.”
