Newcastle United fans are being urged to “Stand Up To Ashley” during the team’s home match against Swansea City on Saturday.
Supporters groups have asked everyone at St James’ Park to get their feet in the 34th minute in protest at Newcastle having £34m cash reserves in the bank yet an alarmingly under-strength side on the pitch.
The message to Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, is to loosen the purse strings as John Carver’s struggling side endeavour to avoid a seventh straight defeat.
By way of emphasising their point the group AshleyOut.com is also asking Tynesiders to engage in “peaceful protests” outside Sports Direct stores in the city at 12.30pm on Saturday. This will be co-ordinated with a similar initiative in Glasgow involving supporters of Rangers, a club in which Ashley has a significant involvement.
Yet as powerful as the sight of up to 52,000 fans suddenly standing up partway through the first half could be, this plan also represents a tacit admission that pleas for Newcastle supporters to stay away and boycott games are likely to achieve only limited success.
At least 10,000, possibly 12,000, supporters did not turn up for last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park but the official 47,000 attendance – inflated by the practice of including season-ticket holders, regardless of whether they turn up or not – was still the weekend’s highest in the Premier League.
The catalyst for the protest movement, with the Stand Up To Ashley plan fully endorsed by the influential Newcastle United Supporters Trust, has been Newcastle’s recent announcement of record £18.7m profits for the last financial year allied to the revelation that an additional £34m is sitting in the bank for “cash flow” purposes.
“For those fans wishing to attend the Swansea game, we request them to StandUpToAshley after 34 minutes of the game, to represent the fact that having no manager and a threadbare squad devoid of quality, yet having £34m in the bank, is not an acceptable situation,’ said AshleyOut.com in a statement.
“We have seen a vast increase of awareness for Mike Ashley’s failed ownership of Newcastle United in the local and national media and amongst fans who were previously resigned to apathy.”
Of the plan to targets Sports Direct stores, the statement added: “Further details regarding this protest will be released shortly but we wish to emphasise that this must be a peaceful protest and is aimed at Mike Ashley and the shareholders of Sports Direct International plc.
“This protest is not aimed at the innocent staff members often working with minimal employment rights on zero hours contracts and they must be respected and supported at all times. This protest will be coordinated with supporters of Rangers Football Club who will target stores in the vicinity of Ibrox.”
