Lee Charnley handed bizarre reward by Mike Ashley to surge past Arsenal & Leicester peers

Latest club accounts show that Lee Charnley’s salary has skyrocketed by £400,000 since the last time figures were made public, with The Athletic reporting that his new £675,000 pay packet sees him out-earns MD's at Leicester and Arsenal.

Our managing director had long held the unwanted title of being one of the top flight’s lowest paid executives, with a £150,000 a year income previously reported.

His pay packet increased up to £267,000 in the accounts filed for 2018-19 , likely down to the successes of bringing in Rafa Benitez and getting promoted back to the Premier League.

Now, latest figures made public on Companies House show that Charnley’s wages have soared to a huge £675,000, giving him a whopping £400,000 pay rise from the previous year.

While anybody who has the responsibility of a Premier League club resting on their shoulders may expect to be paid accordingly, eyebrows should be raised as to why Charnley’s pay has increased so dramatically.

It’s not as though we have vastly improved as a club to warrant the rise. Newcastle have been mediocre top flight also-rans for four years now, so it seems bizarre that his wages have ballooned so much while our success on the pitch has not.

Who knows, perhaps Ashley was planning to give him one big payday before new owners arrived...