NUFC issue pathetic response when quizzed about Rafa’s return – Enough is enough..

Newcastle have issued yet another “no comment” when asked about Rafa Benitez’s return to the club’s training ground for the first time in weeks on Monday afternoon.

Some will say Rafa Benitez is still contracted to the club and simply returned to work when spotted at the Benton training base, but it’s really not that simple anymore. Fans deserve answers.

A small part of me hopes that the constant ‘no comment’ means something IS happening behind the scenes and they simply can’t speak out about it. Then again, the BZG are, so why can’t we gain some clarity from our current owner? After all, our potential new buyers have spoken out more in the last few weeks than Ashley has over the past 12 years! Whether something is happening or not, that sums it up.

The rumours and constant uncertainty have existed without answers for far too long now.

The silence from St James’ Park is getting silly now, yet it just sums up how the club communicates with fans in the Mike Ashley era.

  • We’ve seen widespread reports from the national press claiming a takeover is in the offing almost three weeks ago. The club’s response? ‘No comment’.
  • We’ve seen TWO statements from the BZG, claiming talks with Ashley and their intention to buy the club. The club’s response? ‘No comment’.
  • We’ve been told by the BZG that documents have been signed and then sent to the Premier League ahead of a takeover. The club’s response? ‘No comment’.
  • We’ve seen Rafa return to Tyneside with just over a fortnight remaining on his current deal, with Lee Charnley also present at the training ground. The club’s response? ‘No comment’.

I could accept this if we’d been waiting for updates for just a few days, but we are now approaching mid-June and a month on from our final game of the season, yet uncertainty has totally taken over once again.

There was a stage where the silence felt golden, but it’s now baffling, tedious and becoming increasingly infuriating.

It could be that there was absolutely nothing in Rafa’s return to the training ground yesterday, but the following comments from Sky Sports suggest Benitez may have met with Lee Charnley:

At around about 1.30pm, he was chatting with staff here, reporter Tim Thornton told Sky Sports News. He stayed for just less than two-and-a-half hours and left at around about 3.50pm.

Interestingly, managing director Lee Charnley has been here this afternoon as well. We are not sure whether they have held talks. He was only here for around about 20 minutes and left just before Rafa.

No wonder fans grasp at anything and everything (like Rafa’s return to work) when the club fail to communicate. The ironic thing is Mike Ashley will no doubt be unhappy that Rafa is yet to respond to the contract offer posed to him several weeks ago. The bloke’s a hypocrite and the same man who’ll refuse to pay £16m for a 29-year-old Salomon Rondon, yet happily demand £15m plus for a 28-year-old Dwight Gayle. He’ll make derisory bids for our ‘top targets’ yet call parties interested in buying the club time wasters.

Hopefully the silence is golden and something great comes of all this, but we deserve to at least have an idea as to what’s going on.

Instead, we’re left in the dark, no knowing who’ll own the club next season, who’ll be in the dugout come August 10th or whether our player of the season will be signed after a superb season at St James’.

(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 “NUFC issue pathetic response when quizzed about Rafa’s return – Enough is enough..

  1. This club under the stewardship of Mike Ashley is both divisive and petulant. Churlish ‘no comment’ is nothing short of an insult to the fans who were here long before the fat controller and more importantly, will be here long after he has departed for pastures anew. To say that the man is a successful businessman is remote in its description. How can any sober minded owner not understand that to invest in a club such as ours will quite simply reap longer term dividends. The man has no moral compass and is devoid of emotional fervour. Whilst we love Rafa and desperately want him to stay, who in their right mind would blame the man for walking away at the end of the month? Ashley has manipulated puppets like Charnley to do all his dirty work for him such is his pathetic little ego, not wanting to soil his grubby hands; the man is an egotistical fool, nothing short of a rabid mackem searching for cheesy chips. Once and for all Ashley, crawl away and leave our club to progress to the next level in the hands of an owner who not only respects the fan base but importantly who can see the future of the club alongside the big guns of the Premier league.

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  2. Breaking….Mike Ashley stabbed at fairground in Hertfordshire two paramedics arrive on scene one says to the other what shall we do first other says I don’t know about you but I’m going on Ferris wheel

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  3. Stop whinging on and let it play out, there will be reason for no comment and as it stands I am very happy with this as it is more positive than most of the other **** knocking around.

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  4. On one hand I remember Ashley being castigated for making comments which didn’t result in a sale last time so I think – ok maybe he doesn’t want to be in that position again. On the other hand maybe he has so much contempt for the fans that he doesn’t feel he needs to communicate. After all, most of us will scream and shout but will still turn up each home game anyway. If I had a third hand I would hope that he is tied to a stringent confidentiality clause but I think this is as likely as me having three hands!

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  5. I don’t think there is anything to fear lads LC called Rafa up to Newcastle to inform him personally that the takeover is off and Rafa will be replaced with Alan Pardew.

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  6. Nufc11:
    I don’t think there is anything to fear lads LC called Rafa up to Newcastle to inform him personally that the takeover is off and Rafa will be replaced with Alan Pardew.

    In a desperate situation you should never underestimate John Carver

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  7. Despite your comment to the contrary Olly, it is as simple as that.

    Rafa is under contract to the end of the month. If he fails to carry out his duties as required he risks loss of bonuses and even termination.

    He’s stuck it out this far – I’m sure he’ll manage to the end of the month.

    As for no plan B, you can be sure Ashley has a quality replacement lined up and ready to go. Succession planning is a key business process.

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  8. These kind of jokes are not funny.

    Briiian: In a desperate situation you should never underestimate John Carver

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  9. He may be saying farewell to the staff at the Training ground with a plan to announce he will be joining Valentia in June together with Ayoze Perez ! This hopefully is **** ! Ashley has maybe been told to keep schtumm, and maybe the Club has too ! Not sure how this is going to pan out?

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  10. Whatever happens-if Benitez does go .. I wish him well & can’t thank him enough for the 3 tumultuous years he’s been here , as for Ashley he can just #%~€ off , this is our club and you have outstayed your welcome & it’s time to move on

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