Rio Ferdinand has declared his love of Newcastle United fans on his latest Vibe With FIVE podcast years after suggesting fans should put their hands in their own pockets and buy the club from Mike Ashley themselves.
Apparently, he was joking, folks. It’s only taken him two years to climb down from those comments, but yes, they were tongue-in-cheek so all’s well. Thanks Rio. Good night.
Yeah, nah, you’re not getting off that easily, mate.
‘The fanbase is crazy’ – Rio Ferdinand
Let’s get to what Ferdinand said on his latest Vibe With FIVE Podcast on which Jacob Murphy – a Newcastle fan himself – was a guest: “I have to say, I respect what Eddie Howe is doing there.
“The fanbase is crazy – they don’t warm to me anymore after a couple of tongue-in-cheek comments about them ages ago.
“But I actually love the Newcastle fans and the way they support their team is phenomenal. When I come up the next time guys, give me a bit of love man! It shouldn’t be all hate.
“If there is any club that I’d love to see do well because I know what it means to the city, to the people and the way they support they will their club it would be Newcastle, so good luck man.”
Pundits are clamouring for a place on the Newcastle United train
This goes along nicely with Simon Jordan’s climbdown too. It seems that all the pundits are now running along the tracks trying to leap onto the Eddie Howe train. I’m personally quick to forgive usually, and I will reach out a hand and pull Simon Jordan onto the train. He just says things without thinking in a hope to generate engagement and I can kind of respect that.
Rio, though, he’s got some work to put in. Even as ludicrous as the comments were back then, he said them with such a poker face that there’s no way he didn’t mean it. Granted, maybe not to the extent that he actually expected us to dig into our own pockets, but part of him was truly frustrated and he was definitely trying to defend Mike Ashley.
He’s definitely right about our fanbase being phenomenal and deserving of success, but I wonder would he have said that were it not for Jacob Murphy being on his podcast? Would he be saying that were Newcastle not doing so well opening up a world of opportunities for pundits to work in the City as more and more games are picked for TV?
I’m staying cynical for now, Rio, but thanks for your kind words.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
