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Newcastle United’s relegation was a tale of missed opportunities and failed judgement.

A combination of self-interest and self-denial combined to demote them in just the season when their participation in the Premier League was essential. Here is the story of United’s failure.

ACT 1: Another new start

It was a pleasant afternoon in May when Newcastle United’s power brokers started the process of making their own luck.

Under brilliant, azure blue skies at St James’ Park, Mike Ashley was hosting the annual Sports Direct gathering of top employees on Tyneside. The company’s “annual conference” is one of their highlights of the year – a boozy party that has played host to the likes of Graham Taylor and Ian Rush in previous years.

And Ashley was in a celebratory mood after seeing Newcastle beat West Ham, agreeing to meet Graham Carr and a relieved Lee Charnley in the days that followed a victory that the board believed would change everything.

A tough season had strained relationships. Ashley told business associates he was shocked by the protests that surrounded April’s match against Spurs, and he questioned the advice he had received not to turn up to that match. He had told Charnley to sort it out, retaining the supposedly hands-off approach that he had taken ever since he gave United’s young Managing Director the freedom to turn Newcastle into a club that could look after itself on and off the field.

For all that, Ashley still needs to sign off the big business. He may not be ‘hands-on’ but he wants to be kept abreast of developments. One source close to transfer negotiations says that they have learned not to even ask about big money, established players over the age of 28. “It wouldn’t be entertained,” is the message that comes back.

For his part, chief scout Carr – who had considered stepping down two summers before when Joe Kinnear’s appointment threatened his role – had grown frustrated by the inertia of the club’s transfer business. Newcastle frequently haggled over valuations for the players who came highly recommended – ending up having to scroll down to the third or fourth target. Warnings that Manu Riviere should only be signed as a back-up to a senior striker were not heeded – he ended up being the only forward signed 12 months before.

But the news was much better when they convened in the early part of the summer. Ashley told them to go and spend the money in the bank. Fees were mentioned: the green light was given to buy big that close season. Even without a manager – or head coach as it would be – Carr and Charnley left optimistic about what was to come.

The process of formalising Charnley’s favoured structure – in which power would be shared equally between him, the chief scout and the soon-to-be-appointed Steve McClaren – was under way. And from that point forward, the club’s direction was set. As it turned out, it was the road to ruin.

ACT 2: Steve McClaren makes plans

The office was empty but his dreams were big.

Steve McClaren had been snuck into the stadium the day before in a storm over preferred media partners but on a warm day at Benton, he appeared much more at ease. The office had been stripped to the bare essentials. A couple of sports biographies, a book on how to maximise sporting performance. The portrait of Sir Bobby Robson still looked down on the new man in charge.

(Image: 2015 Newcastle United)

McClaren’s smile was wide as he met BBC Newcastle and the Chronicle. He believed firmly that he could be a man who built bridges. Studiously, he asked before any questions were posed to him why there was such antagonism at Newcastle. He nodded at tales of mistrust between board, media and supporters. There was acknowledgement that too much had been said without any of it coming to pass. He said he was “working on it”.

There was other interesting titbits. Asked about Cheick Tiote, he made a comment about needing to alter his “lifestyle”. And when asked directly about Charlie Austin he smiled and agreed that Newcastle would benefit from a “number nine”. A hasty phone call later asked if that could be struck from the record: Papiss Cisse might not be happy when he read about it.

But McClaren was already fighting a fire. He appeared weak for allowing a controversial plan to grant just one national newspaper an interview the day before. The message – and McClaren had been coached by Steve Black that getting the right message across by repeating key buzz phrases would work – had been seriously diluted.

The day after the negative stories appeared in most national newspapers, Charnley was pulled to one side. A more reasonable voice asked him what the point was in doing it when it antagonised media and led to more negative headlines. He wouldn’t budge. There was no room for negotiation. It was a worrying portent of what was to come.

McClaren walked into a job to find many of the things a head coach would decide had already been sorted out. The transfer plans were in place, pre-season was done and a budget was sketched out. So he got to work on things he could change, like the environment at the training ground. A keen proponent of Neuro-Linguistic programming, he made it his mission to have a one-to-one meeting with each of his players when they came back. He wanted to get an idea of the characters he was working with.

He was promised a serious injection of quality.

Newcastle moved to get Georginio Wijnaldum but there were nagging doubts even as they pursued Aleksandar Mitrovic and Chancel Mbemba. Scouts had been unsure about Mitrovic’s suitability in particular – his tendency to gain weight and his lack of control at key moments. They liked his aggression but for the money, doubts were raised.

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A scouting mission to Germany in December, when Mbemba and Mitrovic had excelled against Borussia Dortmund, eventually swung it in Mitrovic’s favour.

McClaren wanted Charlie Austin but made the mistake of mentioning a shoulder injury that hadn’t been widely known in a transfer meeting. Charnley never felt the striker was worth the value – another example of MD’s judgement over that of his head coach.

McClaren mentioned Michael Dawson, the centre-back. He had wanted Michael Carrick as a dressing room leader. Rickie Lambert was another he said would be a cheap, experienced head. Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend – later to arrive – were also mentioned. Joey Barton even claimed this week that McClaren had spoken to him about returning. None transpired at the time.

A source close to McClaren said this was the squad Carr and Charnley had hand-picked. Much was made of the fact that he gave the targets the green light but McClaren’s influence was virtually nil. “And with the greatest respect, what does Lee Charnley know about playing Premier League football?”

The pre-season trip to the States , with its games against lower-tier opposition and long air travel, was poor preparation. McClaren made it known that he would not have approved such a schedule.

But he remained optimistic. The players signed had ability and enthusiasm and there was a satisfaction that Newcastle had done well in the market. They hadn’t missed out on anyone they wanted.

Yet they had made two fatal errors. A tired, unmotivated Fabricio Coloccini – described by a former team-mate in May as one of those who was “past his sell-by date” – was handed a new contract after enquiries about a more senior defender fell down on price. And Florian Thauvin, a player McClaren believed was signed under duress and was virtually impossible to motivate, arrived to fill the role he had earmarked for Townsend.

The board had reasserted its influence. It said it all that McClaren – concerned by now – reassured them that he could coach the team to better things.

ACT 3: West Ham (away)

The problem was by now, many of the old failings were showing up. McClaren had told his players to forget about what had happened before, but the problems were recurring.

A 2-0 loss to a West Ham side that they had competed with the season before was the first alarm bell. United were all-over-the-place: tactically they looked completely lost and in terms of character they had been found lacking. McClaren asked his players to stay compact, not to retreat into their own half and to make sure they gave West Ham nothing. Within nine minutes, they were behind. It was two but it could have been ten.

After the game a watching Ashley put a flea in the ear of Charnley demanding to know where the improvement he’d promised was. The line that Newcastle were not far away from clicking – parroted by McClaren right up until his demise – was heard. Newcastle were bottom of the league.

His new ideas – Black had advised buzz words at Press conferences to reinforce messages and to kick into the Leazes End in the second half because Newcastle supposedly had a better record that way – had failed to rouse a collective response.

ACT 4: Liverpool - and the problem with mirages

McClaren nearly paid with his job after the Crystal Palace debacle. Had Newcastle not roused themselves to beat Liverpool and Spurs, he would have been gone by Christmas.

But McClaren’s trick was to keep producing mirages – Bournemouth was the turning point, he’d confidently asserted. Leicester then routed them at St James’ Park.

And things were getting strained by now: a Crystal Palace coach told his players to simply put Newcastle’s under pressure from the off. “Knock the spirit out of them and then they will go,” was the word. United scored first but lost 5-1 at Selhurst Park, a result that should have earned McClaren the sack.

John Salako expanded: “When they went up they were full of confidence and we still had a belief. To equalise quite quickly knocked the stuffing out of them and you could just see their heads going down. There was no belief. It was a complete contrast (to Monday). Alan Pardew said it, we hate playing against Sam Allardyce because they’re dogged. They came with that back five, they’d been working on it, they were just going to frustrate us, make it difficult, keep the crowd quiet.

“And Newcastle didn’t do that. They didn’t earn the right to win that game and in the end they let us walk all over them.”

Above all, this was turning into a failure of team building. Thauvin had gone missing – more concerned about flying back to France when he got the chance than turning around his woeful performances. Coloccini went backwards. Players were already starting to get their excuses in. Collectively they were grumbling about broken promises. Responsibility was difficult to pin on any individual.

McClaren admitted that what United needed were players able to respond to set-backs. He’d tried to re-sign Kevin Nolan by this point – only to be knocked back. Rafa Benitez later started virtually walking the players through games but McClaren didn’t have the credibility to do it. Plans worked on during the week went out of the window when they went one behind.

It clicked against Liverpool. Energy and endeavour combined with lucky breaks to give Newcastle their biggest win of the season. At Spurs they again rode their luck. Siem de Jong’s influence – even though he wasn’t playing that well – was seen as key.

'Judge me after ten game' - Here are the quotes that define Newcastle's season

Time Line Quotes of the season 'The objective is top eight and to win a trophy' Steve McClaren set the bar high when he took over. With a contract that contained incentives for progress in the Cups, McClaren's appointment spelled an end to the club's indifferent attitude to the FA Cup. But these lofty ambitions look ridiculous given the way the season has gone. 'Whilst we are all unhappy, we must not panic or make rash decisions' Into September and Lee Charnley has released his second open letter of the season in which he admits to a disappointing start. But he speaks about a collective responsibility and says they are working hard to get it right. 'The most-frustrating team I have ever worked with' Steve McClaren again, talking about the inconsistencies of a side that could beat Spurs but lose so pitifully to Swansea, Bournemouth and others. McClaren spoke of the "character flaws" in his side at the same time. It was the first time he'd spoken in such depth about the club's character flaws. 'I’m a striker – I love scoring goals. I’ve already started to prepare. I’ve arrived and I’m ready to go.' Seydou Doumbia's opening words - "I'm ready to go" - now look rather ridiculous. Doumbia has not started a game since signing. Despite United's desperate need for a forward, he is not fit enough to play. 'Whatever that journalist writes, I’m afraid I don’t read it' McClaren picked a fight with a journalist before his final game - and lost. He made it personal against Craig Hope of the Daily Mail and when he was challenged on it, he walked away. It made him look weak. Losing to Bournemouth made his position untenable. 'Yes I love Liverpool, but I love Newcastle at the moment and I have to get three points' Benitez takes over and is a breath of fresh air. He injects belief into the team - but it's too late. 'The club appreciates the work required to move up the table and remains confident that it will remain in the Premier League at the end of the season' Unattributed, this one. The Fans Forum in February saw the club claim they were still "confident" of staying up. Then came Bournemouth, Rafa Benitez and - ultimately - relegation.

ACT 5: January trouble

The call came through: Lamine Kone was stopped from coming to the Sunderland training ground. The Black Cats were wavering over the big centre-back – Lorient were growing restless. He went back to the Hilton in Gateshead facing the prospect of returning to Ligue 1.

At that point, Newcastle were given the option. They didn’t take it. The Black Cats came back. Sunderland’s transfer business has long been questioned at St James’ Park. “Would you do any of the business they did?” a question posed when relative spends were compared.

But Newcastle got it wrong this month. Charnley was under huge pressure by now and wanted to strike quickly. They moved for Shelvey and Townsend, abandoning budget restraints that had stopped them moving for those two in previous years. Fatally, they decided a defender wasn’t a priority.

Henri Saivet signed: Newcastle’s board disagreed over when they should make their move for him. Having promised to make an impact, signing him would feel underwhelming, Charnley was counselled. But other clubs were interested. Swansea were mentioned and besides Tiote was leaving: they had to move.

Kone has turned out to be a very astute piece of business and another of the mistakes made by United. The club where a senior official said that they would be “doomed” if they started the season with Mike Williamson and Coloccini as the centre-back pairing were instead now turning to Coloccini and Steven Taylor.

Over Saido Berahino, they waited for too long for West Brom to blink . At one point, Ashley was urged to get involved on account of a friendly relationship with Jeremy Peace at the Hawthorns. But he didn’t, and Newcastle failed to heed the early warning that West Brom would only do a deal for upwards of £30million. Their hope that the player would push the deal evaporated.

Newcastle’s buys were decent enough but in retrospect, they were relying too much on existing players to step up to the plate. In Swansea, they couldn’t believe their luck at unloading Shelvey. A text from a Swansea source simply read “unbelievable” when he was handed the captaincy.

Newcastle hadn’t done enough. A panic loan signing of Seydou Doumbia papered over the cracks but he wasn’t fit enough to feature , as any club prepared to do due diligence would have worked out with one phone call.

United had signed players who looked good on paper. But they did not fit into any sort of team shape or offer the club balance. As an exercise in box ticking, it looked good – but for any serious head coach it left problems.

Steve McClaren - a losing game McClaren's career win ratio 44.9% McClaren's Newcastle win ratio 22.6% (Lowest of his managerial career) Soccerbase

ACT 6: Chelsea away

Ultimately, it was as much a failing of collective character as it was the mistakes of a head coach with far too little power and less wherewithal to get things right.

On several occasions McClaren had clashed with players and tried to shake them out of their lethargy. Tiote and Cisse, who Newcastle had wanted to sell, were problematic. But it was when Georginio Wijnaldum reacted badly to being substituted at half-time that McClaren appeared to have lost the dressing room.

There are strong voices inside the dressing room but they are pulling in different directions. Jamaal Lascelles was caught on camera saying “No-one gives a f**k” after being sent off at Everton and he was right.

Daryl Janmaat’s agent had started casting around for a new club early in the season , telling interested parties he would not be at Newcastle for 2016/17 whatever happened. That sort of thing seeps through in the end.

McClaren must have expected to go by this point. Many senior players did. Instead Charnley – taking a gamble that a pay-out would look bad and contradict his promise to stick by the head coach – indulged his request for a mid-season training camp. It was fatal inaction.

ACT 7: Rafa - but it’s too late

After Bournemouth it was time. But it was not in time.

Charnley had been at the game and finally was pushed into a corner. The noise around the stadium was deafening but it was the performance of a team that had lost faith in its leader and the team set-up had been all over the place. Two days earlier, McClaren had looked weak when he picked an argument with the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope and lost it. He’d walked away from that but would not walk away from the job.

Rafa Benitez arrived and club sources said it immediately felt like a change had occurred. He demanded a louder whistle. He got the players in to train on their day off. He wanted to know why things that he thought were essential to success were missing.

Benitez joined fully aware of the reputation the club had. He employed “the best” employment lawyers to make sure the contract he had signed was water-tight. His wife had asked him if he was sure about it, believing the stuff about St James’ Park being a poisoned chalice.

John Gibson calls for Rafa to stay at NUFC

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Just as McClaren found, the job was bigger than he had first anticipated. Defeat at Southampton appeared to confirm United were damned but Benitez was prepared to make the big changes that McClaren had threatened to but pulled out of.

A response arrived. Benitez streamlined the changing room, focused minds, promoted Moussa Sissoko, dropped Shelvey. He meant business. Players started working harder. What ultimately eluded him was turning around that away form: the biggest problem that will face the team in the Championship.

He was dealing with others’ failures: a cultural failing that has seeped into the club’s DNA. Charnley made mistakes at every turn in the last 18 months – so many that it feels like death by a thousand cuts.

Epilogue

Newcastle’s relegation is the wake-up call the club cannot afford to miss. The board must be dissolved: the power lines redrawn. Charnley should go but if he remains and Benitez stays, his job must be to rubber-stamp deals, not decide which ones are done.

United must be turned over to people who have the club in their best interests, not those who are protecting their own patch of authority or who are so desperate to please the owner that their judgement is fatally clouded.

That means wholesale changes. It means the club learning from its mistakes and putting proper foundations in place – not just kidding itself, like it did last time, that getting into the top flight was enough.

Charnley says there will be an end-of-season review. But no one at the club barring Benitez has the knowledge, wherewithal or experience to be trusted with the job.