Fans have a right to complain, says Rafa

NEWCASTLE manager Rafa Benitez has sided with fans angry with owner Mike Ashley. The newly-formed Magpie Group demonstrated outside one of Ashley’s shops in the city before the opening game against Tottenham and they plan to do it again before tomorrow’s visit of Chelsea. They claim there is a lack of ambition and investment in the club and fear that Benitez will walk away when his contract expires next summer. ‘We are here, we know what is going on and we have known that for two-and-a-half years,’ said Benitez. ‘The fans, they have been here for a lot of years and sometimes you analyse things with the heart but a lot of them they are analysing things with their brain. ‘I have a lot of sympathy for our fans. They know the city, they know the club. They would like to see the club do things in one way. ‘Just be sure that when you go to the stadium, you support the team because it’s the only way for us to be stronger.’ Benitez also dismissed as a ‘waste of my time’ the comments of pundit Andy Gray, who said Ashley deserves more credit and the Spanish manager had ‘played the fans’. ‘If we wasted time with these people — they are too far away and they do not know what is going on inside the club — then we lose energy,’ added Benitez.