'Surprised...' - Sky Sports expert reacts to news from NUFC; supporters 'will be disappointed’

Newcastle United supporters ‘will be disappointed’ with the news that the Magpies were the only Premier League club to have claimed furlough money two seasons running, claims football finance expert Kieran Maguire.

On 16 May, Newcastle submitted a report on Companies House which showed that the club’s turnover had fallen from £153m to £140m in the year ending on 30 June 2021.

The Tyneside outfit attributed £40m of the lost income to the damaging effects of the Covid pandemic, with home supporters unable to attend matches.

The report also highlighted how the Magpies claimed £900,000 through the furlough scheme that year, with a further £1.15m claimed in 2019/20.

As a result, Maguire, featured on Sky Sports, has now asserted that Newcastle fans will not be happy with the club’s actions.

Speaking with Football Insider, he claimed:

“A lot of people will be surprised and fans will be disappointed that they took advantage of the coronavirus job retention scheme in both of the last two years.

“I certainly haven’t seen any other Premier League club take this route.

“We have seen the fans of certain clubs kick up a bit of a fuss about the owners trying to take advantage. But Mike Ashley was an immovable object.”

Many Magpies supporters will be livid with the club’s actions, whereas others would have become so desensitised to Ashley’s actions whilst in charge, this sort of behaviour would have been expected.

Especially now with the colossal investment made by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, these actions may seem worse than ever.

Either way, Magpies fans’ opinion of Ashley will likely remain unchanged, and they can look to a brighter future under Eddie Howe, who has helped completely transform the mood on Tyneside.

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