By Kieran Maguire

24th Aug, 2021 | 7:00am

Kieran Maguire slams 'tight-fisted' Ashley amid £8.3m Newcastle bombshell

Newcastle United have spent just £8.3million on infrastructure in the last decade – that is less than any other Premier League team.

So says finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Mike Ashley’s “tight-fisted” approach.

The owner has been looking to sell the club for over a decade and hopes to get a deal with PCP Capital Partners over the line in 2022.

Supporters have criticised Ashley for his reticence to invest in both the transfer market and the club’s facilities in recent years.

Maguire revealed that his own research had led him to discover how far the Magpies were lagging behind the rest of the division in the latter area.

He told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams: “Newcastle under new owners may be ambitious but under the current regime, they are not.

“I put some stats out about infrastructure spending last week. Newcastle were way behind for last year.

“So then I got the total infrastructure spend or every club that is starting this season the Premier League for the last 10 years.

“That includes clubs such as Brentford, who were in League One and the Championship over that period.

“Newcastle’s is £8.3million, so they have averaged an infrastructure spend of £830,000-a-year over 10 years.

“Remember, that’s replacement infrastructure. That’s new computers, new lawnmowers. It’s just another example of Ashley being tight-fisted.

“They are spending close to nothing on upgrading the facilities for player training and monitoring and so on.”

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