During Simon Bird’s latest piece for The Mirror, Rafa Benitez’s friends have made it clear that the Spaniard will only sign a new deal at Newcastle United if there is a change of owner between now and the summer.
With the gaffer’s contract all set to expire next June, this comes as no real surprise, unfortunately.
Ashley has taken the squad out for Pizza, he’s returned to games at St James’ Park and he’s given post-match congratulatory messages to the players and staff in the NUFC dressing rooms, however this will clearly not be enough to pull the wool over Rafa’s eyes this time.
Here’s a snippet from the North-East reporter’s latest piece, with us picking up on this line during his latest takeover piece”
“Benitez’ future is said to depend on a sale with friends saying he is unlikely to extend his deal which runs into June, unless their is a change of owner.”
This sounds about right to me.
There’s been talk that Rafa is relaxed about his future and suggestions that Ashley is actually trying to build bridges between himself and the manager, however it feels like those bridges have been burnt?
Ashley has repeatedly deceived or neglected Benitez over the past three transfer windows, so what would any transfer promises mean to Rafa now if he put a spectacular new contract offer on the table?
The only way I see Rafa committing under Ashley is if he knew a new owner was coming in OR he saw the NUFC owner put his money where his mouth is in January.
Once again Ashley lets the club down, the staff down, the players, down, himself down and more importantly the fans down. Rafa desperately wants to stay at Newcastle, but having been repeatedly lied to and disrespected to a level beyond belief, nobody can blame him for refusing to listen to another word of his BS.
Our only hope now his that Ashley has enough sense to realise that the only chance he has of getting the money he wants for the club is by selling whilst Rafa is still here – as in selling now, not when it’s too late.
Rafa adds value to the club and everybody knows it, so even that clown must realise that. Sell now whilst Rafa is still in charge and do yourself, the club, the entire city and every fan worldwide a huge favour, because when Rafa leaves, the value plummets.
Bobbybee(Quote)
I will follow what ever club Rafa ends up at in the summer,sorry lads but hes bigger than the toon.
richard s(Quote)