Read Mike Ashley's letter to Newcastle MP as he defends his investment

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has defended his time at the club in a letter sent to Members of Parliament.

Ashley wrote the letter to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in order to reply to Chi Onwurah. The Newcastle Central MP oversaw a parliamentary petition in July which urged Ashley to provide more funds for, ‘players, training facilities and community engagement.’ Ashley took issue with the criticisms.

The letter claimed that Ashley was acting in response to, ‘unacceptable abuse,’ that he stated staff at Newcastle and Sports Direct have suffered, which he said were at, ‘unprecedented,’ levels following the, ‘irresponsible and misleading,’ letter.

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Ashley defended the track record of the club’s foundation and community work, writing:

‘We operate numerous community-engagement programmes through our Foundation, who met with your predecessor Matt Hancock MP earlier this summer to discuss our work. I enclose below a link to the Foundation’s most-recent annual report for your information. Having attended Foundation Events on many occasions over the past few years, Ms Onwurah should be well placed to have a detailed understanding of the extensive good work our Foundation does within the community.’

Ashley and current manager Rafael Benitez are at loggerheads over this summer’s transfer budget, but yesterday signed Salomon Rondon on loan from West Bromwich Albion.

Newcastle United finished 10th in the Premier League last season but Benitez has been reluctant to sign a new deal while it is unclear over how many players he will be able to bring in.