Mikel Arteta tipped for NUFC role – & club reporter says it “makes a lot of sense”

Speaking during a guest appearance on talkSPORT, the Mail’s Craig Hope says he’s been told Mikel Arteta is in the running to replace Rafa Benitez at Newcastle United.

Hope – a North-East reporter for the Daily Mail – also believes this appointment would “make a lot of sense”, with him expecting Newcastle’s next boss to be more of a ‘head coach’ than a manager.

Not only is Arteta one of the early favourites to replace Rafa according to the bookies, he’s someone who’s been tipped to try his hand in ‘management’ after being Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City for three years.

Here’s what Craig Hope had to say during his appearance on talkSPORT, claiming the 37-year-old Spaniard is being mentioned following Rafa’s exit:

“One name which has been put to me is that of Mikel Arteta.

“I think if they were going down a head coach route then I think that would make a lot of sense.

“He’s obviously shown ambition to give it a go on his own and he was very close to the Arsenal job last year. And there’s a Spanish link in that a fair few of the players are Spanish, notably Ayoze Perez.”

The Spanish link is a little tenuous for me, even if the likes of Perez, Fernandez, Almiron, Lejeune and Manquillo all speaking that language.

One thing that did occur to me, however, is the fact fellow north-east reporter Martin Hardy has stated that Lee Charnley will be looking at a ‘young promising continental manager’.

OK, Arteta is currently in England and hasn’t ‘managed’ in a senior role as of yet, but he could fit the bill.

That said, I would be extremely worried if any ‘head coach’ was given no say on transfers – something that was suggested several times yesterday.

Not only would this rule out moves for most self-respecting candidates who want, it would mean that Mike Ashley’s grip on the football side of matters would be ever-present once again.

One thing’s for sure – even if Arteta is a bright young coach who could do well in management, there’s only one Spaniard I’d like to see back at St James’ Park right now..

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

13 thoughts on “Mikel Arteta tipped for NUFC role – & club reporter says it “makes a lot of sense”

  1. How can you leave the purchase of footballing talent to Ashley and Charnley?
    They know as much about football as I know about nuclear physics.

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  2. The club is being bought out , just another smoke screen till BZG get the reigns , hopefully next week !! If he appoints say Arteta in next 7 days there will be no takeover or it just won’t make sense appointing a man then selling club to a group that don’t want him .

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  3. Yes – Ashley can gamble on someone (that would be a huge risk) or he could have stuck with ‘proven’ quality like Rafa – seems like a poor business decision!

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  4. All paper gossip once again, the new owner will decide who they want not the outgoing regime, they may have their man ready to move in and will be announced on the takeover day.

    That’s my optimistic view anyway, Im not reading anymore of this tosh till then. HWTL

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  5. Glory days:
    The club is being bought out , just another smoke screen till BZG get the reigns , hopefully next week !!If he appoints say Arteta in next 7 days there will be no takeover or it just won’t make sense appointing a man then selling club to a group that don’t want him .

    The smokescreen is the pretence that Ashley is going to sell. He’s notoriously difficult to deal with. Expect the takeover to fall through at the 11th hour. Then there will be no time to get players ‘over the line’. Sound familiar?

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  6. Rafa wanted too much control. Ashley has the responsibility of finding a competent successor. Arteta should be good enough for either Ashley or a takeover party. Hoping it’s the latter.

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  7. The Ashley brand is toxic, surely even he must realise that his continual mistreatment of staff, whether Sports Direct staff on zero hours contracts or former NUFC employees Keegan, Benitez etc., will eventually mean that no self-respecting person or business organisation will want to deal with him. His name is mud!

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  8. There will be plenty of people applying for this job. All prepared to toe the line and follow Ashley’s rules. They will be paid several million and all they have to do is try to stay in this league and avoid relegation. Even if they fail they will have been well paid so its win win. Sadly this is not the type of manager we want but Ashley only cares about what he wants. The only hope is a takeover but, if a new manager is appointed first, that means there is no imminent takeover likely.

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  9. No raffa no new owners no hope and I bet the idiots still turn up and gladly hand there cash over and for what nothing if you want misery go to the stadium of ***** it’s cheaper and it won’t be long before we’re down there with them trying to fight of relegation fat ******* would have been gone years ago if we all got together why o why do you keep giving him your money it’s not like you get shares in the business he puts it in to and the business isn’t the toon and never will be

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  10. Mud, a polite way of saying ****.
    If this takeover is happening then it must be BZG who don’t fancy Rafa.
    Surely when they agreed to buy Newcastle it included all the chattel. If Ashley got rid of Rafa then sells Perez 25m, Almiron 35m, Longstaff ManU 25m more like 80m why would BZG pay the 350m asking price.
    They would be buying a mid table championship side 150m at best.
    Ashley’s quids in selling these players and a decent enough manager, Arteta, would be perfect for him to retain Newcastle.
    Ashley doesn’t need sell the Toon, he’s on a winner, he’ll continue to view the fans of Newcastle in the same light as we see Mackems.

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  11. Heard a good one last week that Mike Ashley is selling Newcastle.havent stopped laughing yet.????

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