Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has revealed that the club has changed its stance towards domestic cups this season. In previous seasons, the club’s managing director Lee Charnley had prioritized League games and insisted that the club should not field its strongest teams in the League and FA Cups.
This stance was taken during the stints of Alan Pardew, Chris Hughton and John Carver as managers of the club when it did not utilize a full strength team.
However Ashley has now revealed that the club has changed its stance this season and that they will start taking cups more seriously. Though Premier League safety should be the team’s priority they should aim to do as well as possible for the sake of the fans.
Ashley said, “I get fans saying I’m not interested in winning a cup. It’s about priorities, I just didn’t want to lie to the fans. I don’t want to turn out and turn to the fans when we are playing nine reserves and pretend we were doing anything other than making the Premier League a priority.
“I actually now believe that Newcastle will look to make mid-table this season and maybe we can make the cup a priority this season. We can get ourselves safe and then go for a cup.
“It means that in my few years at Newcastle United I might be able to win something other than a Championship trophy.”
