Newcastle United fans are beginning to become accustomed to doubts being raised over Rafa Benitez’s St James’ Park future at regular intervals.
And as well they should - because, while Mike Ashley remains involved with Newcastle United, potential conflict between the stubborn, unpredictable owner and his single-minded, politics-playing manager will never be too far away.
Benitez has been on Tyneside for 15 months now, and already there have been at least three occasions where he has sought serious reassurances from the Newcastle hierarchy.
Unlike some of his predecessors under Ashley, Benitez will not sit idly by when he feels promises are not being kept by the Magpies board.
After the failed January window, when Benitez wanted two additions to his squad and was instead left to stew without any signings, he ensured his feelings were made known to Ashley .
First, there was the pointed interview on Sky Sports where the Spaniard made it clear it was not his “decision” to fail to sign anyone.
Then, over the next few days, Benitez made sure his discontent reached Ashley through the media.
He was never set to walk away mid-season, but he required reassurances at the end of the campaign - and most importantly he needed trust to be restored after a January in which promises were, in his view, unkept.
At the start of February, one national newspaper oversold Benitez’s anger as the Spaniard being “on the brink”.
It feels like this latest round of Sunday-morning headlines are doing likewise - though, once again, they do reflect Benitez’s current mood.
There is no doubt Benitez is extremely frustrated by Newcastle’s lack of progress so far this summer - he has made that clear to managing director Lee Charnley during meetings over the past fortnight, with more scheduled in the coming days too - but is he really on the verge of walking?
At this stage, resignation claims appear premature. But tensions are beginning to rise behind closed doors, with Benitez demanding an imminent breakthrough in the market.
Christian Atsu is United’s only summer signing so far, despite Benitez hoping for five additions by the time pre-season training begins on July 3.
Newcastle are set to miss out on free-agent goalkeeper Willy Caballero, who is close to joining Chelsea, while forward Tammy Abraham is understood to have chosen Swansea City over United.
A deal for Florian Lejeune has been agonisingly close to completion for a fortnight now, yet the defender remains an Eibar player - and such delays are angering Benitez, who wants to wrap these deals up and then move on to other targets.
Unfortunately, it seems as if Ashley’s frugal approach to transfer negotiations are hampering United’s progress.
Last summer, Ashley’s penny pinching was put to one side in order to secure the signings of Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle. This summer, Charnley is believed to have been instructed to haggle over minute payments in multi-million deals in a bid to keep costs as low as possible.
Given Newcastle’s restricted transfer budget - which will be somewhere between £80million-£120m, depending on money recouped from player sales - this makes sense to an extent. But Newcastle now risk missing out on players due to their unwillingness to pay what they perceive to be inflated prices, despite the fact the market they are attempting to operate in has reached ludicrous levels.
Talk of potential Chinese investment has not aided the situation either.
Newcastle’s transfer progress has slowed significantly since news of Ashley’s willingness to sell part or all of the club emerged a fortnight ago.
Though Benitez was informed of potential interest in the club during face-to-face meetings with Ashley last month, he has not been kept up to date with the ownership situation - and that has also increased tensions.
Graham Carr’s departure as chief scout this week marked a minor breakthrough for Benitez, who had decided his marriage of inconvenience with the talent spotter could not continue further, but the Spaniard remains concerned that promises are not being kept.
Remember though that it was not until June 29 last summer before Newcastle made a transfer breakthrough. Benitez knows this, but he expects to see signings arriving within the next week, otherwise his exasperation is likely to boil over.
Ashley’s decade-long ownership of Newcastle unfortunately highlights that, as long as the Sports Direct magnate remains involved with the Magpies, potential conflicts will regularly arise with a manager as strong willed as Benitez.
The billionaire is prone to making arbitrary, off-the-cuff decisions which are in direct opposition to anything he may have previously stated or agreed to.
Previous managers may have been willing to swallow that unpredictability in order to remain in situ at St James’ Park.
But not Benitez. He has extremely ambitious, long-term plans for Newcastle and he expects to be backed.
Ashley needs to heed this latest warning and instruct Charnley to get signings through the door imminently. Otherwise a potential collision course between manager and owner awaits.
