Rafa Benítez, Mike Ashley, and Newcastle United: What’s going on?

It is time to ask the question. What is going on with Benítez and Newcastle United?

It’s a new season and everyone is excited, but Newcastle United fans are dreading it. Having yet to fully strengthen areas of weaknesses, failing to beat Championship side Hull City, and losing 4–0 to Braga, Benítez and Newcastle United Football Club are in a crisis. The season hasn’t started, but there are alarm bells ringing. Instead of reassuring the fans and the media that there’s a healthy relationship between Mike Ashley and him, Benítez is experiencing what so many previous Newcastle United managers have experienced, and that is transparency & trust.

Newcastle United want to stay up once again this season, but with the newly promoted teams spending big and other competitors, their chances of staying up seem even more unlikely. Going into the season Newcastle have signed a couple of players, but despite that, their issues run deep.

Rafa’s relationship with the club

Following Newcastle’s defeat and Benítez complaints about the amount of money that the club has given him, there was a general response amongst everyone.

This response amongst fans was that Ashley hasn’t Rafa enough funds nor has their been enough trust between the both of them to get the players that he wants. Newcastle have added reinforcements this summer, yet struggle to offload their Championship quality players and replace them with Premier League quality players.

The relationship between Rafa Benítez and Mike Ashley isn’t all so great. While Ashley strong denies that there’s any conflict and issues between the both of them, Rafa tells another story, usually venting his frustration towards the media.

Here are a series of quotes from Rafa Benítez following their defeat to Braga:

“I said two months ago what we needed, and 10 days before the start of season we still are where we are. There’s 4/5 players we thought we could bring but we haven’t.” “Am I optimistic, thinking that in ten days, we can do what we didn’t do in two months? I don’t think so. But, still, I think it’s obvious we need people, we need bodies.” “We have been talking for a while about players. I think it’s the time to act, more than talk.” “I can’t say too much about players coming because in the end it depends on so many things and we don’t finish the deals.” “Things are not going well off the pitch… I’m worried.” He added: “Fans are concerned — they have to be. We are concerned.” “Our fans are very clever. They know what is going on.”- said two months ago what we needed, and 10 days before the start of season we still are where we are. There’s 4/5 players we thought we could bring but we haven’t.” “Am I optimistic, thinking that in ten days, we can do what we didn’t do in two months? I don’t think so. But, still, I think it’s obvious we need people, we need bodies.” “We have been talking for a while about players. I think it’s the time to act, more than talk.” “I can’t say too much about players coming because in the end it depends on so many things and we don’t finish the deals.” “Things are not going well off the pitch… I’m worried.” He added: “Fans are concerned — they have to be. We are concerned.” “Our fans are very clever. They know what is going on.”- said two months ago what we needed, and 10 days before the start of season we still are where we are. There’s 4/5 players we thought we could bring but we haven’t.” “Am I optimistic, thinking that in ten days, we can do what we didn’t do in two months? I don’t think so. But, still, I think it’s obvious we need people, we need bodies.” “We have been talking for a while about players. I think it’s the time to act, more than talk.” “I can’t say too much about players coming because in the end it depends on so many things and we don’t finish the deals.” “Things are not going well off the pitch… I’m worried.” He added: “Fans are concerned — they have to be. We are concerned.” “Our fans are very clever. They know what is going on.”-

Mike Ashley

Now we are that point where Mike Ashley isn’t just a bad owner, but an owner who does not care at all about the club he owns. According to Craig Hope there is no one but Lee Charnley to run the club. It’s a shocking lack of care to leave one underpaid person to oversee literally everything at a football club. In the summer, most deals Rafa desired were actively blocked by Justin Barnes, and now there’s not even an attempt to get a transfer through. Rafa and Charnley know they don’t have the power to spend money that isn’t there.

Managers

Former Newcastle United managers Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan have both spoken on the issues that go on behind the scenes at the football club

Before we get into the specifics of what needs to change with Mike Ashley at Newcastle United, let me just make it clear that Ashley is responsible for giving Rafa the funds. Ashley gives Rafa the funds, of which Rafa then spends that money accordingly.

Mike Ashley is THE epitome of what’s wrong at Newcastle. Once in a while he’ll show signs of being a good owners, but there’s just been so many times that Ashley has failed to attract managers and players to Newcastle, and once they’re there, Ashley fails to establish any sort of trust. But this mistrust isn’t just going with Rafa, but it’s been going on for a while.

Former Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan on working on Mike Ashley

Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew, speaking in a BBC documentary, feels that Ashley has learned his lessons by handing full control to the manager.

“I kept nagging (Ashley), kept telling him I thought the process was wrong. I made that very clear behind closed doors,” he said. Pardew also took another dig at United’s recruitment policy, which he says left him feeling “frustrated”. “At times I had a very unbalanced team, very unbalanced squad. It’s very difficult to pick up results when you don’t think the players that are being signed for you fit what you want. “That makes it frustrating a little bit, and I was a bit frustrated at Newcastle. The financial element came first, then the technical side of it. “But the vision of the manager and how he wants to take the team forward, that must come first. “I like to think they’ve learned some lessons. I think Mike, at Sports Direct, has learned some lessons — I think he’d be the first to say that — and he’s had to learn lessons on the football side.”

Newcastle United legend and BBC Sports pundit Alan Shearer, has also spoken on the issues that lie at Newcastle United:

But the reason I think Newcastle fans want change — or at least most of them want change — is because they are not getting value for money. This is the reason why — every club in the Premier League over the last two or three years has broken their transfer record. “Newcastle’s transfer record? It’s 2005 that it was broken when Michael Owen signed for £16million. “Another reason? Nine of the players who played against Man City were in the Championship, and the other two were Javier Manquillo — who was at Sunderland — and Joselu, who was at Stoke. “That’s the reason why Newcastle fans want a change of owner.”

While Newcastle United did manage to secure a top half finish this past season, including home wins against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United, there still seems to be a lack of satisfaction amongst the manager, players, and the board.

The fans

Newcastle fans have been on Ashley’s back for a while now. Whenever Newcastle are in a vulnerable position or whenever they have been relegated, they never forget to criticise Ashley. Whenever Newcastle United have had the chance to spend a bit more on quality players or use the money effectively, Ashley has hardly helped when it comes to buying players. Even though Mike Ashley’s relationship with managers remain frosty, his relationship with the fans remain frostier.

#IfRafaGoesWeGo

With pre-season not going to plan and underwhelming signings, Newcastle United fans on social media (namely Twitter) have started a hashtag: #IfRafaGoesWeGo. While this group has been around for some time, the group has come to everyone’s attention after the comments that Rafa Benítez made after the game vs Braga. The group plans to protest extensively ahead of Newcastle’s opening match against Spurs, by bringing out large banners saying “Ashley Out” around Sports Direct and St. James Park.

With such a growing movement going on, this could bring Newcastle United fans closer than ever to getting Mike Ashley out, ending the controversial regime of Mike Ashley.