Rafa Benitez has admitted that he’d ‘like’ commit himself to Newcastle United for the next ‘five to 10 years‘ – however it’s reported that he will only sign a new deal this time around if it makes ‘footballing sense’.
He clearly wants to stay, but the Chronicle insist that he’ll only sign on the dotted line if the club prove they’re willing and able to pull in the right direction from a football point of view – suggesting emotion may not come into his next decision.
The Spaniard was quizzed by the press during yesterday’s 1892 presentation even for the NUFC foundation and made several intriguing comments about Ashley, his future and the contract he’s yet to sign with just one year left on his current deal.
The most exciting bit from it all was perhaps his first line here – although the second and third part of his statement reminds us all of the big role Mike Ashley has to play in all of this:
“I’d like to stay here for five years or 10 years if it’s possible because I can see the potential, the fans and the city.
“But Everybody (needs to be) pushing in the right direction.
“We have to do things like I imagine has to be done in a football club.”
He sounds positive and hopeful that his future would be resolved, but it’s not up to him now – and that’s the worry. Will Ashley deliver anything that gets remotely close to his ambitions?
This is the key here. Rafa has a plan for Newcastle and knows that he could bring the glory days back with the right resources, but, at the same time, he won’t waste his time and feed us false hope if there’s no chance of him achieving that under Ashley’s ownership.
It’s great to hear Benitez speak so fondly of NUFC, being open to committing another TEN years of his life to our football club, but it’s not up to him to make that happen unfortunately.
As ever, we live in hope.
Wits called forcing Ashley’s hand and he will not do it
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