Former Newcastle striker Michael Chopra got some stick when he made the move to Sunderland a few years ago, but fans were behind him all the way as he lamented Mike Ashley on talkSPORT today.
He labelled Mike Ashley’s tenure at Newcastle as “a disgrace” and claimed he does not want to sell the club, despite public affirmations that he does.
The former striker backed up his statements with claims that he approached the owner last season on behalf of a potential buyer, only to receive a condescending response from Ashley’s lawyer.
He said: “I’ll go back to the end of last year.
“I had a guy from Saudi Arabia who was very interested in the club. We spoke to Lee Charnley who put us in contact with Andrew Henderson, Mike Ashley’s lawyer, so we called him up and wanted the mandate from Henderson to speak to the guy in Saudi about buying the club.
“Andrew Henderson says, ‘if the Saudi guy is that interested, he’s got enough money, he’s a royal out there, so tell him to fly to London and see me’.
“So from that day it made me think, realistically, they don’t want to sell the club; they won’t give a mandate to somebody who has found someone who wants to buy the club.”
Newcastle fans relieved that someone has finally given them a voice
Newcastle fans were quick to praise Chopra, and were grateful that a former player had the courage to tell people how it really is at the beleaguered club nowadays.
His sentiments echo those of a vast majority of fans, who have maintained all through the speculation that a sale would never happen, and believed there was no intention to sell the club.
Here are a few reactions to the interview from Twitter:
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