Outspoken pundit Simon Jordan has pointed to Nottingham Forest as an example of a club suffering “decline”.
The former Crystal Palace owner was speaking about Newcastle United, and how Magpies fans should not feel too aggrieved when compared to what other supporters have experienced.
Forest have spent more than two decades outside the Premier League, while Newcastle have recently yo-yoed between the top two divisions.
Jordan was addressing complaints of Magpies supporters towards owner Mike Ashley, and giving his verdict on under-pressure manager Steve Bruce.
“The problem for me is, I think Bruce is done there. I think it’s a matter of time,” he said on talkSPORT.
“I don’t know whether Mike Ashley is doubling-down because he won’t be told what to do by Newcastle fans.
“But I think Bruce’s time at Newcastle has run its course - not because I want it to, and not because I’m in the camp of wanting it to be the other way. I really couldn’t care less about Newcastle full stop.
“I think they get precisely what they deserve at times.
“If you want to see decline, if Newcastle fans want to see decline, go look at Sunderland, go look at what an owner does.
“Mike Ashley has done a lot of things wrong at that football club, and I think he was stupid to have bought it in the first place. I told him so at the time.
“Mike didn’t realise what the landscape of football can be like.
“You want to see decline? Go look at Sheffield Wednesday. Go look at Nottingham Forest. Go look at Leeds, who were out of the Premier League for 17 years. Go look at Sunderland and Ellis Short, there’s an owner who doesn’t give a monkey’s about your football club, doesn’t bankroll it and doesn’t do the things right.
“That’s real decline.
“I don’t defend Mike Ashley because I’m a particular Mike Ashley acolyte, but there are a lot of other football clubs that would look at Newcastle United - that are bigger than Newcastle United, by the way, that have had 17 years in the wilderness, like Leeds United - and go, ‘well, you know what, there’s a lot of reasons why you shouldn’t be complaining’.”
