Jamaal Lascelles admits Newcastle players grew frustrated with Mike Ashley's lack of ambition

Jamaal Lascelles and his team-mates once shared pizza with former owner Mike Ashley and urged him to push the club further up the Premier League table.

But the Sports Direct magnate, during a team bonding session in Ponteland at an Italian restaurant, repeated his party line that he could not compete with countries when it came to investment like United's Premier League rivals. This was a source of frustration for players who always insisted they wanted better players around them to kick on after promotion in 2017.

Ashley's pizza summit came in 2018 when Newcastle made an awful start to the season under Rafa Benitez with the Spaniard also left irked after any major recruitment drive just months after delivering a top 10 finish with the majority of his Championship squad.

Lascelles admitted that the players always wanted to see the club grow under Ashley after hoisting the Sky Bet title trophy five years ago. He told Chronicle Live: "Of course. It is always difficult if you are not competing financially.

"It is what it is. We loved to win games with the team we had but when you have loads of teams around you spending millions and millions every transfer window it is difficult.

"For years here we have tried to keep our team spirit together. Fight for it all, and give everything to the badge. I think that's what has kept us in the Premier League for so long. We have had a huge shift in mindset and mentality."

Lascelles has remarkably captained the Magpies to survival in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. And while he has not been guaranteed a slot under Eddie Howe he has still played a part in this season's great escape.

He said: "Every game we approach we want to win. We work so hard on the training ground. We did great business