Newcastle Fans Tear into Richard Keys as Disgraced Ex-Sky Man Backs Ashley Over Benitez on Twitter

With the overwhelming majority of football stories, there's two sides to the coin. It's very rare that you come across an issue where being on the other side of the debate is absolutely unfathomable. The Rafa Benitez/Mike Ashley Newcastle situation, however, seems to be exactly that.

And yet, along comes Richard Keys, football's answer to Katie Hopkins as a Newcastle fan so kindly puts it, bludgeoning us all with his ham-fisted, unsolicited opinion that Rafa, somehow, is in the wrong on this one...

To briefly explain the situation at Newcastle: Benitez was promised £45m to spend in the summer by Ashley, who then reneged on the promise and told him he had to operate on a 'buy to sell' basis - meaning he could only spend what he raised via transfer fees in the summer.

This itself was a pretty poor way to treat such a quality manager. However now, it seems, he's not even being allowed the freedom to do that much.

Benitez's been allowed to spend £14m on transfers so far, £9.5m of which went on Yoshinori Muto, who arrived yesterday. They've raised £43.5m through the sales of Mikel Merino, Aleksandr Mitrovic, Chancel Mbemba and Mats Sels.

Octavio Passos/GettyImages

If Rafa is handed another £30m to spend between now and the closure of the window next week then the situation will be redeemed somewhat. But he's not convinced that's going to happen, and he's worried about it - after watching his side lose 4-0 to Braga, no less.  And for this, Keys, professional pundit, is telling him to quit. 

Makes sense if you look closely and squint really hard, I suppose...?

It's hard to imagine it's an opinion he genuinely holds, especially bearing in mind his criticism of those in charge at Coventry just three days ago. Rogue, destructive owners are alright, as long as he likes them, then.

When you consider it, the Katie Hopkins comparison holds remarkably true: well, at least so far as they both have absolutely nothing to offer of actual value, so just mindlessly and soullessly hit out with controversial gibberish because that's the only way they can keep themselves in the headlines. 

Anyway, I digress. Here's what some Newcastle fans have to say on the matter. 

Spoiler alert: they generally disagree with old Richard.