‘Everyone has to be careful with their comments’ – Eddie Howe hits back at Jurgen Klopp following spending remarks

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has urged people within the game to be “careful with their comments and opinions” after Jurgen Klopp made remarks on the Tyneside club’s spending power and ambitions.

Klopp spoke out after Newcastle’s sporting director Dan Ashworth made an assertion that “I don’t think there’s a ceiling” on the club’s ambition. “He is absolutely right,” Klopp said. “There is no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations, but some other clubs have ceilings.”

Howe claims Klopp had misinterpreted Ashworth’s meaning.

“I’m aware that one or two comments might not have been totally accurate and that’s when I have to stand up for my football club,” he said.

“What Dan meant was there’s no ceiling to our ambition long-term. It’s a difficult one because it’s probably been used in the wrong way [by Klopp].

“We have huge plans and want to go to places with huge ambitions. But the reality of what we are working towards and working with, there is a ceiling. Financial Fair Play, we’re still in a training ground that’s been renovated, we’re not living the life that is being discussed.

“When you know the truth of what we’ve done, we are living a very different reality. The club could have gone a totally different way I’m sure, with the takeover and everything that was talked about.

“But we’ve done it the opposite way. We haven’t splashed the money people maybe thought we would have done initially.

“Our wage bill is very controlled. We’re trying to do things in a very stable and controlled way. We are a long, long way from where we want to be.

“Although we have spent money on players (£200million this year), it has not been extravagant or out of sync with the rest of the Premier League.

“Everyone has to be careful with their comments and opinions.”