Jump to content
Newcastle-Online

George Caulkin

Tooj

by Tooj
in Football

 Share

Recommended Posts

triggs

triggs

Posted
Posted

So out of curiosity what would people see as minimum backing in the Summer to keep Rafa, net spend of £60mill ?, £70mill ? , more ?, 5 players who'd go straight into first team ?

No specific number, just as much as it takes to improve the team significantly

Link to post
Share on other sites
SEMTEX

SEMTEX

Posted
Posted

Basically back Rafa to the very limit of what we can do in terms of transfer fees, wages etc. He's not stupid and knows we are not Chelsea or Man City and would never risk bankrupting a club for quick success. If all we can afford is 50m say, let him have it and bring in who he wants within that kind of budget.

 

He gave McClaren not far off 50m iirc (well more accurately the TV money did) so I wouldn't worry if that's the expectation.

 

Problem is 50m isn't much in this day and age and I doubt it would be enough.

 

Yet we refused to even spend a penny in January. The bare minimum is what will be done. No matter what the situation.

 

Which would be pretty shit even if it did work, but Mike can't even get that right, as evidenced by our most recent Mike-generated relegation.

Link to post
Share on other sites
merlin

merlin

Posted
Posted

Whether that's true or not it's not relevant to the point being made. The issue with Rafa from Ashley's perspective is that he expects to be able to spend in accordance with his naturally high ambitions. In the summer that issue was able to be bypassed due it being vaguely acceptable for us to lose our best players of PL quality for large sums and spend enough to construct a Championship squad good enough to get promoted.

 

That absolutely won't be the case next summer (should we go up) and everything points to Rafa being extremely disappointed about the non-investment in January.

 

Then what was the idea behind appointing Rafa in the first place? I would have thought it was pretty obvious if you are going to hire a world class coach who has won honours throughout his career, that he is going to have at least some ambition. This can't be a surprise since most of us were pointing it out even when the rumours of us going for Rafa were being circulated.

They appointed Rafa because A) He was available, no compo and B) they were desperate to get someone with a proven record in the faint hope of keeping us up and taking the heat off them as well as ensuring there would be no desertion by disgruntled fans if we were relegated...all that has worked to a T for them but Ashley's short-term thinking and belief that he can never be wrong will ensure that his 2 monkeys at SJP will always be able to use him as an excuse to avoid spending big money for advancement...all he cares about is the PL financial reward, not the club and if they think they have a cat-in-hell's chance of getting a top manager after Rafa goes, they really ARE in need of certification.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 6 months later...
Wallace

Wallace

Posted
Posted

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/contradiction-that-is-rationing-newcastles-ambition-tdrtvvr23?shareToken=0617b98933aa62657dfbbb36b454e149

 

August 30 2017, 12:00pm, The Times

 

Newcastle must wake up to what it means to have Rafael Benitez as manager

 

George Caulkin, Northern Sports Correspondent

 

The Game Daily: Mike Ashley risks making the Spaniard his next apology

 

 

For as long as Rafa Benitez remains their manager, Newcastle United will improve. For as long Mike Ashley remains their owner, they will never be better in any meaningful sense, not if the definition of better includes vibrancy, hunger or straining for glory. This is the contradiction at the heart of a football club, the battleground of a testing, wearing summer, one which has left relationships brittle and ambition rationed.

 

Benitez’s connection to Tyneside has become profound and emotional, the stirring provoked when he agreed to manage a flailing, failing institution now anchoring him to St James’ Park. What pushes him is a desire to reward those supporters who spend their Saturday afternoons repeating his name as if they still cannot comprehend that one of the most garlanded managers of his generation ever consented to be there. They must hope it is enough.

 

If you ignored the heavy-handed spin of Ashley’s recent interview with Sky Sports, there was a moment which veered towards poignancy. Recalling the mistaken decisions which have peppered his decade at the club, he looked into the camera and spoke directly to Alan Shearer, one of his managerial cast-offs, and apologised. He did the same to Kevin Keegan, an “outstanding individual,” who “did his best for the football club”.

 

Keegan was an aspirational, inspirational figure, both as a player and then a manager, instilling a sense of wonder and possibility into Tyneside. Shearer was the world-record signing who came home, rejecting Manchester United to become the club’s leading goalscorer. Keegan was all heart and feel, Shearer the clinical assassin. Few, if any, men have held more influence at the club in the modern era.

 

After the first relegation of the Ashley era, Shearer never received a phone call telling him he was no longer required. Keegan had signings imposed upon him and left, later winning a case for constructive dismissal, in which Newcastle’s evidence was found to be “profoundly unsatisfactory”. The club’s insistence on doing things differently is occasionally interesting but has often felt like dysfunction and in both these cases it is unarguable.

 

That dysfunction has not evaporated. The decision-making process which made the manager or head coach “just another employee and not the most important one,” to quote one of Ashley’s former executives, has not been re-written since Benitez’s arrival. If they understand that the Spaniard is a different calibre of manager to Steve McClaren, John Carver and Alan Pardew, they have not opened their eyes to what that means.

 

Whatever happens between now and the transfer deadline, Benitez will not forget the club’s tardiness at the beginning of the window, when new players did not arrive and he challenged Ashley to “keep his word”. Nor that they refused to sanction the signings he wanted in January. It is not simply a matter of compiling a list and handing it over, but days and weeks of research and negotiations and effort. And, finally, it is about how much they trust him.

 

On a day to day basis, Newcastle is run by Lee Charnley, the managing director. In Justin Barnes, an Ashley lieutenant who has been seeking investment in the club, there has been another layer of bureaucracy for Benitez to contend with, with Keith Bishop, PR to celebrities such as Alicia Douvall, the model, and Russell Grant, the astrologer, as well as to Newcastle, sandwiched in between. In no way can their model be described as normal.

 

It was Ashley, though, who set strategy. His meetings with Benitez at the end of the last two seasons, when requirements were discussed and budgets agreed, were pivotal in persuading the manager to stay. If you have Benitez you must be prepared to be pushed, to listen and be advised. Why would you not want that or to keep him happy? Why not meet him after matches, make the odd call? And if you want to sell, then why not make Newcastle a going concern?

 

Benitez’s expressions of concern have prompted tension, but from his perspective he is working for the fans, doing what he can to improve his team. And it needs improvement. The saddest thing of all would be if his instincts were wrong, that Newcastle do not have the potential that he initially thought. Because the poignant bit about Ashley’s interview was him recognising what he lost but not what he has. And nobody wants to watch him squirming through another apology.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
NG32

NG32

Posted
Posted

People on Twitter still blaming journalists for creating the negative vibe. You couldn't make it up.

How old is Ashley? We're basically going to have to hope he dies because we'll never take this into our own hands. Too many utter fools.

 

Late 40s early 50s?

Link to post
Share on other sites
cp40

cp40

Posted
Posted

People on Twitter still blaming journalists for creating the negative vibe. You couldn't make it up.

How old is Ashley? We're basically going to have to hope he dies because we'll never take this into our own hands. Too many utter fools.

 

Late 40s early 50s?

 

54ish

Link to post
Share on other sites
NG32

NG32

Posted
Posted

People on Twitter still blaming journalists for creating the negative vibe. You couldn't make it up.

How old is Ashley? We're basically going to have to hope he dies because we'll never take this into our own hands. Too many utter fools.

 

Late 40s early 50s?

 

 

His heart can't be in good nick

 

I imagine he has regular check ups off a private doctor mind  :lol:

 

At some point I am sure he will have to stop the excessive drinking.  :undecided:

Link to post
Share on other sites
sempuki

sempuki

Posted
Posted

:sad:

 

Whenever I walk down Northumberland Street I always wonder why people still buy from Sports Direct. Any Newcastle fan should boycott his stores.

 

WAT ABOOT THA CHEEP SOCKS MARRA?

Refuse to even get my dog his footballs from there.
Link to post
Share on other sites
Greg

Greg

Posted
Posted

For Rafa Benítez, injury was added to insult. After a loveless end to the transfer window and a summer of festering tension, the Spaniard set off for Newcastle yesterday after minor surgery to clean out an old hernia wound, but discomfort turned him back to his home on Merseyside. Those stitches and staples, that flare up of infection, feel symbolic of a club who are once again ailing.

 

Benítez is stubborn, but his staff are advising him to miss Sunday’s Premier League fixture away to Swansea City. It is an inconvenience, but it may also be what the future looks like, because there is a sickness to Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United, a regime with an allergy to consecutive good decisions. Where their manager is concerned, supporters fear that a long goodbye has already begun.

 

Promoted to the Premier League as champions, powered by momentum, coalescing behind a garlanded coach, Newcastle should, in theory, be in the rudest of good health, a rebirth the city yearned for. They were no longer the dead-eyed works team of Ashley’s Sports Direct, but an energised institution, promising more. Blissfully, briefly, they shimmered with possibility.

 

That moment has shrivelled. Having confounded precedent by appointing a man with a gilded CV and a reputation for pushing clubs — as all good managers must — the sportswear retailer is sowing discord, spreading dismay.

 

Last week, as the deadline approached, Benítez travelled to Switzerland to attend the Uefa elite coaches forum, chaired by Sir Alex Ferguson. Back on Gallowgate, Newcastle were trying and failing to sign Matt Targett, a bit-part left back, on loan from Southampton.

 

It made for a depressing juxtaposition. “What an irony,” nufc.com said, that Benítez should leave such a prestigious gathering, “to try and manage a club with absolutely no ambition and run like a pub side.” It was not a dissenting voice. At True Faith, the Newcastle fanzine, there is “an overwhelming sense of dread”. The Mag, meanwhile, wrote that “the ‘Rafalution’ and Newcastle’s last hope now hang by a thread.”

 

To understand the plunging mood, you must contextualise Ashley’s decade at St James’ Park, the two relegations, the dismissal of cups as not a “priority”. He has twice employed Joe Kinnear and meted out humiliation to Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan. The name of the ground was changed. There is plenty more, but as a banner inside the stadium summarised: “We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a team that tries”.

 

Alan Pardew, John Carver and Steve McClaren all explained that Newcastle could not compete, which was what made Benítez’s arrival last March all the more extraordinary, both from his and Ashley’s perspective. Benítez spoke about stature and history. He looked at the club and did not simply see the eyesore of countless hoardings for Sports Direct, he saw potential.

 

At a meeting with Ashley at the end of last season, Benítez was given a budget and, like the previous year, encouraged to stay. He set up deals for Tammy Abraham and Willy Caballero but nothing happened. Abraham will face Newcastle for Swansea City on Sunday having joined on loan from Chelsea, while Caballero moved on a free to the league champions. Newcastle were playing catch-up but never caught up and Benítez, who refused to dismantle the Championship team he had assembled before replacements were signed, expressed concern. In public, he implored Ashley to “keep his word.”

 

When all the haggling stopped, Newcastle’s net spend was below Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, both promoted with them. There was no new goalkeeper and no fit left back. “A complete shambles,” nufc.com called it. “These penny-pinchers are gambling with our future yet again.”

 

In January, Benítez wanted two new players, but none came. An absentee landlord, Ashley began attending matches, but avoided his most prominent employee. Dysfunction again, infection spreading. There has been no direct conversation between them since May. When Ashley gave a rare interview to Sky Sports last month, he apologised to Keegan and Shearer, but does not have the wit to see history repeating itself.

 

Not for the first time, Ashley is seeking to sell the club but he has learnt nothing. His drive for self-sufficiency at Newcastle now feels like ideological austerity. Beyond some skin-deep alterations, the training ground is unimproved. Commercial income has fallen. And now the team have been starved of investment and the great risk-taker has rolled the dice on doing just enough.

 

Benítez is not a just-enough manager. He longs to repay fans who have shown him adoration but avoiding relegation is a questionable dream and although he will not resign, it is not unreasonable for him to expect more. When his health allows, he will get on with it, anchored to the club by a contract that stretches for one more full season, by his relationship with supporters and little else.

 

One day, West Ham United, who are long-term suitors, or some other club will stump up Benítez’s £6 million release clause. Ashley believes he has spent too much of his own money, but millions have been wasted chasing his mistakes. He is making another one and the cost will be more than cash. He is not Newcastle’s owner, he is its illness.

Link to post
Share on other sites
sempuki

sempuki

Posted
Posted

For Rafa Benítez, injury was added to insult. After a loveless end to the transfer window and a summer of festering tension, the Spaniard set off for Newcastle yesterday after minor surgery to clean out an old hernia wound, but discomfort turned him back to his home on Merseyside. Those stitches and staples, that flare up of infection, feel symbolic of a club who are once again ailing.

 

Benítez is stubborn, but his staff are advising him to miss Sunday’s Premier League fixture away to Swansea City. It is an inconvenience, but it may also be what the future looks like, because there is a sickness to Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United, a regime with an allergy to consecutive good decisions. Where their manager is concerned, supporters fear that a long goodbye has already begun.

 

Promoted to the Premier League as champions, powered by momentum, coalescing behind a garlanded coach, Newcastle should, in theory, be in the rudest of good health, a rebirth the city yearned for. They were no longer the dead-eyed works team of Ashley’s Sports Direct, but an energised institution, promising more. Blissfully, briefly, they shimmered with possibility.

 

That moment has shrivelled. Having confounded precedent by appointing a man with a gilded CV and a reputation for pushing clubs — as all good managers must — the sportswear retailer is sowing discord, spreading dismay.

 

Last week, as the deadline approached, Benítez travelled to Switzerland to attend the Uefa elite coaches forum, chaired by Sir Alex Ferguson. Back on Gallowgate, Newcastle were trying and failing to sign Matt Targett, a bit-part left back, on loan from Southampton.

 

It made for a depressing juxtaposition. “What an irony,” nufc.com said, that Benítez should leave such a prestigious gathering, “to try and manage a club with absolutely no ambition and run like a pub side.” It was not a dissenting voice. At True Faith, the Newcastle fanzine, there is “an overwhelming sense of dread”. The Mag, meanwhile, wrote that “the ‘Rafalution’ and Newcastle’s last hope now hang by a thread.”

 

To understand the plunging mood, you must contextualise Ashley’s decade at St James’ Park, the two relegations, the dismissal of cups as not a “priority”. He has twice employed Joe Kinnear and meted out humiliation to Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan. The name of the ground was changed. There is plenty more, but as a banner inside the stadium summarised: “We don’t demand a team that wins, we demand a team that tries”.

 

Alan Pardew, John Carver and Steve McClaren all explained that Newcastle could not compete, which was what made Benítez’s arrival last March all the more extraordinary, both from his and Ashley’s perspective. Benítez spoke about stature and history. He looked at the club and did not simply see the eyesore of countless hoardings for Sports Direct, he saw potential.

 

At a meeting with Ashley at the end of last season, Benítez was given a budget and, like the previous year, encouraged to stay. He set up deals for Tammy Abraham and Willy Caballero but nothing happened. Abraham will face Newcastle for Swansea City on Sunday having joined on loan from Chelsea, while Caballero moved on a free to the league champions. Newcastle were playing catch-up but never caught up and Benítez, who refused to dismantle the Championship team he had assembled before replacements were signed, expressed concern. In public, he implored Ashley to “keep his word.”

 

When all the haggling stopped, Newcastle’s net spend was below Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, both promoted with them. There was no new goalkeeper and no fit left back. “A complete shambles,” nufc.com called it. “These penny-pinchers are gambling with our future yet again.”

 

In January, Benítez wanted two new players, but none came. An absentee landlord, Ashley began attending matches, but avoided his most prominent employee. Dysfunction again, infection spreading. There has been no direct conversation between them since May. When Ashley gave a rare interview to Sky Sports last month, he apologised to Keegan and Shearer, but does not have the wit to see history repeating itself.

 

Not for the first time, Ashley is seeking to sell the club but he has learnt nothing. His drive for self-sufficiency at Newcastle now feels like ideological austerity. Beyond some skin-deep alterations, the training ground is unimproved. Commercial income has fallen. And now the team have been starved of investment and the great risk-taker has rolled the dice on doing just enough.

 

Benítez is not a just-enough manager. He longs to repay fans who have shown him adoration but avoiding relegation is a questionable dream and although he will not resign, it is not unreasonable for him to expect more. When his health allows, he will get on with it, anchored to the club by a contract that stretches for one more full season, by his relationship with supporters and little else.

 

One day, West Ham United, who are long-term suitors, or some other club will stump up Benítez’s £6 million release clause. Ashley believes he has spent too much of his own money, but millions have been wasted chasing his mistakes. He is making another one and the cost will be more than cash. He is not Newcastle’s owner, he is its illness.

Final sentence says it all.
Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...