NEWCASTLE UNITED have released a joint statement signed by Lee Charnley, Rafael Benitez and Jamaal Lascelles defending the club's transfer activity this summer.

The Magpies made a net profit of around £20m from this summer's transfer business, and had a lower net spend than any other club in the top-flight.

A number of supporters have voiced their anger at Mike Ashley's perceived lack of investment in the club, with the sportwear magnate having previously pledged to give Benitez "every penny raised" by the Magpies.

A series of protests are planned ahead of tomorrow's opening Premier League game against Tottenham, and today's statement appears designed to produce a united front ahead of the game at St James' Park.


The statement said: "Dear supporters,

As the transfer window closes and attentions turn to the start of the season, we wanted to make this joint statement, on behalf of everyone at the club.

Doing good business in a transfer window is about ending the window clearly stronger than when you started and we believe we have done this.  The view we all share is that we have a better squad now than the one that finished tenth last season and all involved have worked tirelessly to make this happen.

Collectively, we must extend praise to Steve Nickson and his recruitment team. Their operations are year-round, but they have worked day and night in recent months to support efforts to enhance the squad.

We are all excited about the seven players who have joined us this summer. Their combined experience in the Premier League and at an international level – with three of them appearing at this summer’s World Cup for their respective countries – cannot fail to strengthen us. 

Martin Dúbravka and Kenedy have already proven themselves to be fantastic players here and we are confident that Ki Sung-yueng, Fabian Schär, Yoshinori Mutō, Salomón Rondón and Federico Fernandez will be excellent additions to the dressing room.

Given our finishing position last season, we already had a team of players who were more than capable of performing well in the Premier League.  They have shown heart, guts and determination and the inference that they are ‘Championship’ players and not good enough is unfair and untrue. The players all believe in themselves and in the quality of the squad, and we all believe in the players.

Now, it’s about all of us pulling in the same direction, for the good of the club.  This came through strongly in a recent positive call between our owner and senior members of the squad, who agreed that better dialogue going forward will benefit all parties and is in the best interests of the club.  

With the transfer window now closed, the focus should be on unity and getting behind the efforts on the pitch. 

We know our supporters are incredibly passionate and we know that passion will be channelled into supporting the players we have in black and white on Saturday, and every matchday thereafter home or away.

Lee Charnley, Managing Director

Rafa Benítez, Manager

Jamaal Lascelles, Captain