Rio Ferdinand has told Newcastle fans to put their money where their mouths are in a controversial defence of the club's owner Mike Ashley.
Steve Bruce's side are teetering precariously above the relegation zone with just one win in their last eight fixtures amid a series of drab performances.
Newcastle's supporters have begun to fear the worst as 18th-placed Fulham have closed the gap on them to just two points.
Naturally Bruce is facing his fair share of critics, but Ashley continues to bear the brunt of the discontent over his running of the club, particularly as he keeps faith with the manager.
Yet Ferdinand feels the fans can have few complaints unless they are willing to take on the burden of financial responsibility themselves.
“He don’t care what people think,” Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel . “It’s his club and he’s doing what he wants to do.
“Whether you like it or not, he’s the one that’s put the money up and he’s doing what he thinks is right for the club.
“Whether the Geordies don’t like it… a lot of them hate him and don’t like him but… round your money up and take over the club then.”
Ashley's reign at St.James' Park has been fraught with issues from the get-go, with club legend Alan Shearer recently describing the atmosphere as "toxic".
The Sports Direct chief tried in vain to sell Newcastle in the summer but a £300million deal fell through when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund withdrew their takeover bid following a lengthy delay by the Premier League, who wanted clarity on who exactly would be running the club.
After the deal collapsed Ashley invested £35million in the playing squad along with a number of free transfers, including Jeff Hendrick and Ryan Fraser, but the general consensus among Newcastle's fanbase and beyond is he is only interested in making a profit from the club.
Since then their form has deteriorated but Ashley will reportedly stick by Bruce to try and turn things round with nine games remaining.
Despite his stance Ferdinand did concede however that Newcastle were lacking in their ability to bring top class players through from the youth team, even though they have access and dominance over a larger catchment area than most of their Premier League rivals.
“That’s my biggest point with Newcastle, like, they’ve got that area locked off, all of the north east is basically Newcastle’s because Middlesbrough aren’t in the Premier League, Darlington etc are not in the Premier League. So they have first dibs on all of the talent in the north east.," he added.
“Why have they not nurtured more more players into that first team? I don’t get it. Whether it is investment, or the quality of that the structure of that process at the club isn’t right.
“If I was a Geordie, if I was a Newcastle fan, that’s where I would be shouting and pointing my finger."
