JEREMY CORBYN has taken aim at bungling billionaire football club owners such as Newcastle United’s Mike Ashley and demanded that football fans be given “power” over the game.

The Labour leader drew huge cheers from a crowd of several thousand people in Newcastle on Saturday night as he slammed Premier League owners and their mismanagement of clubs.

He said: “There are people here tonight I’m sure who support Newcastle United.

“But none of you are very happy with how that club is run, are you?

“Football shouldn’t be just a business, football is our lives, our community.

“It’s the place where people go to socialise and enjoy each other’s company.

“Let’s take the beautiful game away from the billionaires and hand it to the fans instead.”

Although he said he wished to avoid the “gutter politics” of personal attacks, the statement could only be interpreted as criticism of Mr Ashley.

The billionaire businessman also owns Sports Direct, notorious for its use of zero-hours contracts.

Mr Corbyn pledged to bring “democracy back to football” and said that the next Labour government would increase football fans’ say in the administration of their clubs.

His intervention came as Newcastle supporters’ group Toons For Change issued a statement expressing concerns about safety at this evening’s match with Manchester United, after Mr Ashley’s management decided to allow away fans to purchase tickets in the home supporters area.

Other speakers included Labour Party chair Ian Lavery, who told the crowd that Brexit was a “sideshow” from the real challenges the country faces.

To great applause, he told the crowd that “the Labour Party is not a Leave party, the Labour Party is not a Remain party, it is a socialist party,” adding that its policy was to reach a “sensible deal” with Europe and put that to a public vote.

Shadow business minister Laura Pidcock also received a standing ovation for her insistence that “socialist politics are alive and well” in Britain.

Ms Pidcock also urged the crowd to be ready for “our politics to be tested in a general election.”