Newcastle United midfielder Matt Ritchie has called on fans to 'support the team' - admitting that he can't 'understand' where the discontent stems from.
The Scotland international is likely to miss Sunday's Premier League opener against Arsenal due to hamstring injury but has urged everyone to come together and roar the team on at St James' Park .
Fan groups are planning a boycott of the fixture with a march taking place from the Sports Direct store on Northumberland Street up to the stadium in time for kick-off.
The supporters have been feeling let down after Rafa Benitez was allowed to walk away from the job, and for some that proved to be the final straw for their support under the ownership of Mike Ashley .
Yet Ritchie wants to see everyone at the club pull in the same direction.
New head coach Steve Bruce has overseen the arrival of three new signings - Joelinton, Jetro Willems, and Allan Saint-Maximin - with Ritchie feeling Ashley is showing a willing to compete at a realistic level.
Here's the full transcript of Ritchie interview where he:
I don't understand the unrest - I've got to be honest.
The club's gone out, spent money.
We're pushing, trying to compete with the teams we can compete with and you have to be real.
To compete at the top of the Premier League now is mega, mega money - I think the owner has been honest in his interviews in the press and said he can't go and compete with them.
He's been upfront about that, and to do that he would have to sell the club.
For me we have to all be in this together.
I've said this since I arrived at the football club - there's always been a little bit of unrest - but the main thing I took from Bournemouth, and it's a smaller club I know but everyone was pulling in the same direction with the same philosophy, mentality and desire to help one another.
That's what we need to be here - the fans, the staff and the playing staff - all as one - and pulling in the same direction.
That's something I'm really passionate about - if we're all in this together, we can be a lot stronger and we need the fans to support the team, and be with us.
I said last season, we played Manchester United at home, and I got a bit of stick after the game because I said the atmosphere wasn't great but I don't retract what I said because it was how I felt.
After that period of games, the performances on the pitch changed how the fans see it and the atmosphere on the pitch, so it's down to the players to make the atmosphere good but from the word 'go' on Sunday we need everyone together.