Kevin Keegan reveals his view on the anti-Mike Ashley protests at Newcastle

Kevin Keegan has told Newcastle United fans to stay behind Rafa Benitez's team as they attempt to force Mike Ashley to sell up.
Kevin Keegan. (Pic: Paul Marc Mitchell)Kevin Keegan. (Pic: Paul Marc Mitchell)
Kevin Keegan. (Pic: Paul Marc Mitchell)

Keegan was back on Tyneside this week to promote “My Life in Football”, his new autobiography.

In the book, Keegan delivers a damning assessment of the way the club, which was put up for sale a year ago by Ashley, was run during his ill-fated second spell as manager a decade ago.

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And Keegan says he “knows the frustration” of fans who want to see an end to Ashley’s 11-year tenure as owner.

However, the 67-year-old does NOT think that a boycott of games at St James’s Park is the way forward.

“I watch from a distance – I know the frustration,” Keegan told fans at The Sage, Gateshead. “It’s difficult. I know what Geordies are like. People keep saying to me,‘why don’t the Geordies just boycott a game?’.

“I always tell them that on a Saturday they might think ‘I’m not going again, I’m not watching that s*** next week’, and then they go to the Bigg Market and have a few drinks.

Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley.Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley.
Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley.
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“Get to Sunday, they’re still not going. They might go and play golf. Monday, they’re thinking ‘what am I going to do next weekend? And by Wednesday, you’re going to go again.

“I get that. That club means so much more than it does at most clubs. Other clubs, they maybe would be stronger in their protests.

“I think the protests are fine. Everybody knows, it’s very clear, that you want Mike Ashley out. Your patience so far has been fantastic.

“I always say this, he will go one day. He can’t last forever. He will go. Be patient. Just keep doing what you are doing, which is supporting your football club, because if that club goes down again because there’s no support there, then it could dive again.

“It could take more or it could take longer.

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“So it’s better in the Premier League for people. If he puts a sensible price on it, I think you’ll get a buyer.

“But it’s got to be a sensible price, and I don’t know what that is.”

* My Life in Football is published by Macmillian tomorrow