Benitez to Newcastle? Silence Speaks Volumes as Charnley catches cold

Shearer's Right Foot

The only people associated with Newcastle United that seem surprised by the side’s recent abysmal form and Steve McClaren’s ineptitudes are the people in control.

That’s what the past 72 hours of silence since the Bournemouth debacle suggests to me. Charnley and co were totally unprepared for this eventuality.

They assumed that McClaren’s men would manage a total of at least 3 points from the games against The Potters and The Cherries. To come out of those matches with nothing would be totally unacceptable…now that it has happened, the Newcastle hierarchy are scrambling around in the shadows as they leave a bewildered McClaren to supervise meaningless training sessions as they try to persuade a more competent manager to take over and save us from relegation.

The thing I find most disturbing about this is that most Newcastle fans, like me, would have been quite ready to show Steve the door following the 5-1 defeat to Pardew’s Palace at the end of November and have playfully been lining up suitable successors since.

Yet, Charnley however, seems to have been taken totally off guard. And having realised that to allow McClaren to continue would result in almost certain relegation, has spent four days brokering a deal with his replacement before relieving the poor bloke of his duties.

It’s another bizarre period in the Ashley era for Newcastle but the latest rumours Wednesday night suggest that we have approached Rafa Benitez and could possibly have him in place before the weekend.

Quite why they didn’t just sack McClaren on Mothering Sunday and openly go about their recruitment procedure is a bit of a mystery and makes a mockery of this new open and honest approach with the fans which has seen us all receive those cringe worthy emails from club staff telling us how hard they are working behind the scenes.

More cloak and dagger stuff it is as Moncur, Charnley and Carr jumped on a train to York in order to discuss McClaren’s future, or lack of it.

It’s not all doom and gloom though as finally Newcastle target a manager with proven pedigree. During the Ashley era we have seen plenty of uninspiring appointments right from JFK, through Pardew (sacked by Southampton), Carver (the best in the league) and lastly The Wally (sacked by Derby).

Benitez (Sacked by Real Madrid but former Champion’s League and UEFA Cup winner) is a much more ambitious appointment and one which certainly backs up the money spent in the past two windows that shows finally Newcastle are at least trying to move forwards.

SRF

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129 thoughts on “Benitez to Newcastle? Silence Speaks Volumes as Charnley catches cold”

  1. I’ll go first on this one.

    I don’t mind Benitez and liked how he proved people wrong when he took over Chelsea. All their scummy fans protesting him and he went and won them some silverware (albeit the Europa League) but I’m not sure he’d be suited to a side with a lack of quality like us!

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  4. I believe I’ve heard of it, unfair not to mention Atletico Madrid as well though!

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  6. Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two superpowers. Athletico won La Liga and reached The Champions League final but are in no way on par with Barca and Real.

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  7. Because they’re better than Real now, beat them the other week and look the only side that can ‘challenge’ Barca right now.

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  10. Yeah they will, that’s why I put challenge in inverted commas. Yeah very true, couldn’t see Gary Neville repeating the same sort of heroics at Valencia 😉

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  12. Nobody has had a forward line like Messi, Neymar and Suarez in the history of football so Simeone can be excused.

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  13. Nice read. Still think the Rafa deal will fail due to demands he’ll make. Question I guess is how desperate are we.

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  14. Yes. it is that bloody spell check again. Charnley always gets corrected to Charley on my phone.

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  15. Kimtoon: I think Charnley is finally trying to usurp Carr’s power at NUFC and Rafa would be his best move, although not quite check mate unless we stay up.

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  18. I’m 5% confident we will get him now.

    Still think there’s some very big issues to get past and I’m not sure we will agree to all his ‘demands.’

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  19. Stuart: his “demands” are only what any top Manager would want. He wants to be paid what any other similar Manager would and he wants to be Manager, not coach.

    I know Liverpool and Chelsea have different structures with a DoF but they will sack Carr.

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  21. I agree, Eric but everytime we hope Ashley has seen sense and changed direction he doesn’t.

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  22. Somebody has to take the fall for this McClaren fiasco and it will be Carr. It was his choice to hire him so Fat Man will sack him.

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  23. Eric, very few people get sacked from NUFC – regardless of performance. Maybe Kinnear did?

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  24. Fatty is absolutely mad though Stuart. Just when you think you know him he goes and hires or fires Keegan, or Shearer. OR PARDEW.

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  27. I suppose the question is, can any new manager keep us up? Is ten games enough to get your message across? Rafa is suppose to be an organiser and tactically excellant but will he have enough time? Moyes on the other hand is a motivator. Ron Atkinson is another motivator. Who should we be going for?

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  29. Rafa. If the choice is Atkinson or Ugly/Wrinkly John’s competitor in the Ugly/Wrinkly stakes.

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  30. Good news if we get him,but would have preferred Moyes only because he took over when Everton were in the same place we are kicked a few in the ***,and did well in the lower lges were as Rafa always

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  32. Well even the Spanish media are reporting now that Benitez is heading for NUFC. Only NUFC can **** this up from here. Poor McClaren…

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  33. There are 30 points left to play for, that’s a lot of points and we face teams who are in competition with us for surviving the drop. If Rafa is all they say he is, he should be more than capable of grabbing say 12 from that 30, even with the shower of players we currently have.

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  34. Can’t help feel for Steve, that’s a hellish few days he’s endured and reflects very badly on Lee and co. They have to get Rafa now what ever the cost because there is no way back for Steve from here.

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  35. If Rafa can’t get the better of Scum and Norwich then we really do have to look at the players I’m afraid .

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  36. With a coach of Rafa’s ability the games against Southampton away are not out of the question to get some sort of result with a bit of organisation.

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  39. A point that I don’t think has been made yet when it comes to is Rafa a realistic candidate – as in would the club make the changes or pay the money.
    Let’s not forget that we reportedly got around £4m compo for Pardew when Palace took him.
    I would imagine that Ashley would be thinking a lot more should one of the top clubs want him.

    To us fans it makes absolute footballing sense. To the money men it would also make absolute financial sense.

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  41. No manager gets full control at a PL club anymore; No way Ashley will let him make changes the rate he did at Liverpool: Buying 59 players & selling 72 in 6 seasons.

    Fine appointment though, The club trying to get best calibre of coach available to us.

    Isn’t that what we’ve always wanted?

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  42. I reckon we could finish top 3 next season with Rafa. Just behind Derby, Norwich and Sheff Wed. 😕

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  45. SSN saying Mc to be sacked and we are in advanced talks for Rafa to be manager.

    God if we can stay up this season, this could be the start of something big at the club.

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  47. Still don’t fancy our chances against Leicester. But we can beat the Mackems and Norwich so that might give us a fighting chance.

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  52. Eric – Scum, Norwich, Swan, Palace, Villa

    I think Rafa would be looking at those fixtures and seeing the points needed to stay up.

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  53. We already had the best squad/run in but hadn’t got a hope in hell under Steve

    This gives us more than a sniff, We are only one point adrift which seems to have been overlooked by the press who are talking like we’re miles away

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  56. Kim – SSN saying they are happy for Rafa to bring his own backroom staff in.

    I get the feeling that Charnley is drinking in Ashley’s last chance saloon and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get this one right IMO.

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  57. like I said there are 30 points up for grabs, it’s far from over if he comes in. The Derby game is key for me.

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  59. Sharpy, at least we’ll see how much was steve’s fault and how much was down to the players once he/if he comes in.

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  61. If we appointed Rafa at the beginning of the season we might not be in this mess. Oh ****, he had another choice. That Spanish club that won La Decima 2 years ago. Would have been a hard decision for him.

    I am a bit shocked that we might be going from Carver to Benitez.

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  62. Are the club dithering on this one? Or does Benitez have a list of demands
    as long as his arm?
    We’re in the dark. The Chronicle is in the dark and the rest of the media is
    just guessing. Not seeing why they haven’t sacked SM yet regardless of
    other negotiations. He deserves to go even if it leaves us managerless.
    Mr No manager couldn’t do worse than SM.

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  63. Lee Ryder Verified account 
    ‏@lee_ryder
    Sources close to Benitez saying they are preparing for face to face talks #nufc

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  65. Rafa won the Champions League with a pretty average Liverpool side (for European competition anyway) and La Liga with Valencia.

    He didn’t fail at Madrid or Napoli. Underachieved?

    He should not put NUFC on his CV. That is certain death.

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  67. Kim

    Very unprofessional, Whatever we think of him he’s still an Eredivisie & League cup winning former England manager. 99% of football managers won’t achieve anything like that certainly not their beloved Pardew, Allardyce or Pulis

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  69. Lee Ryder
    lee_ryder
    Sources close to Benitez saying they are preparing for face to face talks #nufc
    2:32 p.m. – 10 March 2016

    Lee Ryder
    lee_ryder
    It is understood that Steve McClaren has learned of his departure via the media. Not told face to face. #nufc
    2:35 p.m. – 10 March 2016

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  70. CC, Agree totally, like I said earlier, I feel sorry for him, the way he’s been treated is awful. He should of been sacked after the game and then search for a manager, I only hope Rafa doesn’t look at this carry on and get second thoughts.

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  71. I can do the Benitez negotiations. Here Rafa, these are 10,000 buckets of cash, you take 5,000 and spend the other 5,000 on new players.

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  74. If that lot from Ryder is true then it’s typical of Ashleys reign. Learning
    of his sack in the media then not even meeting Benitez yet.
    Long way to go on this one?

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