Rafa Benitez Insists He Has No Issue With Newcastle Owner Mike Ashley Amid Protests From Fans
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has reiterated that he has no issues with club owner Mike Ashley, despite the club's struggles during the transfer window.
Despite making five permanent signings, Benitez and the fans believe that the squad was not strengthened enough, and fans took to the streets of Newcastle this weekend to voice their frustrations towards Ashley.
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However, speaking to Sky Sports, Benitez stated that his relationship with Ashley is fine, and it is time to move on from the summer and focus on the Premier League campaign.
Benitez said: "I think it's the time to concentrate on football. I don't have any issues because I am a professional and as soon as I talk about business, fine, but we talk about football and I concentrate on that.
"Until the end of the transfer window you have to try and improve your squad as much as you can. Now I try to improve my players tactically and technically and we push as a group.
"We have to concentrate on football now. We wanted to finish the window early to concentrate on football so everyone has to stick together. We cannot change what happened in the summer so now we must concentrate."
Despite their manager's calm outlook, a large group of fans opted to stage a peaceful protest outside the Ashley-owned Sports Direct store in Newcastle city centre ahead of their clash with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Flyers and banners were showcased, referring to Ashley as a "parasite" whilst backing their manager. Fans voiced their frustrations towards the owner of the club, questioning why the Magpies did not invest all their available funds into the transfer market.
Player sales at Newcastle generated over £40m this summer, but only around £20m of this was reinvested in new players. Fans have long been frustrated by Ashley's perceived lack of financial backing, and will have to wait until January to see how the club responds in the next transfer window.
