Rafa relieved fans’ boycott is called off

NEWCASTLE United manager Rafa Benitez believes the decision to call off the proposed boycott for Sunday’s game against Wolves is a positive move.

The Magpie Group had planned to lead supporters into a boycott for the game which is live on Sky Sports - in protest at Mike Ashley’s tenure.

However following the news that talks over a potential sale of the club are ‘more progressed’ than ever before, the decision to cancel the protest was taken.

When asked if the decision to shelve it was positive, Benitez said: “It is positive because they understand the team needs support, they understand that with everyone behind the team it will be better for the long term - so I think it is quite good if we have more fans there supporting the team, and we will need them from now until the end of the season.”

The Magpie Group led an 11th-minute walk-in against West Ham, which up to a 1,000 fans took part-in, but that protest divided opinion with some fans claiming they were booed to their seats during the 3-0 defeat.

Benitez however appreciates that not every fan will have the same opinion about the club but most do have the same shared desire - to see the club do well.

“In football you have 25 players in a squad, 11 playing, the others they cannot be very happy. You talk about 52,000 or whatever number of fans of Newcastle - five million or six million fans - not all of them will have the same opinion.

“The way for them to express themselves is in this or that way but in the end what we want is to be sure when they go there [to St James’ Park], they’re behind the team because these players showed in the Championship, last year and this year, that they care and the last example is in the game against Everton. In the last minute, everybody was working so hard trying to get a result, I think they deserve the support, and the fans appreciate that.”

News of a potential takeover emerged on Monday when Ashley took to Sky News to reveal that it is ‘possible’ he will sell the club before the January transfer window opens. But despite Peter Kenyon tipped as the front-runner, and several other groups from various parts of the world also linked, Benitez maintains he is watching from a distance.

When asked if had any more information, Benitez said: “Not really, I was speaking with Lee [Charnley] before and the update is the same; ‘business as usual’ so we have to carry on.”