Don’t go to war with Benitez.. let him help you win back the fans, mike

HE led Valencia to two La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup, then left because he felt the owner didn’t share his ambition. Or, as Rafa Benitez famously put the purchase of Fabian Canobbio, when he had demanded another player: “I was hoping for a sofa and they’ve brought me a lamp.” He led Liverpool to two Champions League finals in three years, then threw a hand grenade at the club’s new owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, ushering in an all-out civil war at Anfield. Or, as Benitez put it the morning after the 2007 defeat to AC Milan, when the Americans had flown out of Athens without giving him the go-ahead for his summer transfer targets: “I’m tired of talking, talking. I want things to be done. They need to invest in the squad.” He won the Italian Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup with Inter Milan, before demanding he be backed in the transfer market to the same degree as Jose Mourinho, or be sacked. And they chose the latter option. So, although Newcastle owner Mike Ashley might have more pressing financial issues on his plate due to yesterday’s HMRC raid, he should take very seriously Benitez’s hesitancy, when asked if he’d still be there next season. “You never know, that is football,” he said. It was an opening shot across Ashley’s bows. It said, ‘Don’t assume you can keep me happy without sharing my ambition and backing it with cash’. The second shot came when it was leaked that he wants a £100million transfer kitty and total control of how it is spent. The Spaniard (right) was letting it be known he is not going back into the Premier League to fight annual relegation battles, but make a gradual push towards the European places. Because that’s his level. And he’s getting his message out now because, despite Ashley (left) offering him the world to stay last May, the two have rarely had a meaningful conversation since. That lack of communication wasn’t helped by sightings of chief scout Graham Carr sitting alongside the owner at away games, neither was the refusal to give Benitez funds to bring in two players in January. It only takes hesitation from Ashley to release the kind of funds Benitez believes he needs, and a sense that Carr’s input into player recruitment threatens what he wants, for the Spaniard to go to war. Ashley would be wise not to take him on. During the final game of last season, Toon fans sang Benitez’s name for 90 minutes, imploring him to stay, despite having taken them down. They could see that finally they had a world-class coach with the clout to stand up to the club’s aloof dictator as opposed to the yes-men who mired them in mediocrity. Surely Ashley’s vanity and stubbornness cannot lead him to make another shocking decision. He needs to see very quickly that this is not about how good Benitez is, or where he sees his future. That’s decided. He is very good. And he will only ever settle for a future that gives him a chance of competing with the elite. How this summer goes at St James’ Park will define how good Ashley is as a football businessman and how he views the future of a club he’s owned for a dismal decade. He should see the opportunity he has with this manager to win personal glory or sell the club at a profitable price. And he should back him to the hilt. During one of his many budget spats at Anfield, Benitez remarked: “If you have a car and you win a race, you cannot just settle for that. You must try and make the car better. You always want a bigger engine.” What he is offering Ashley now is a chance to show he’s more than the spivvish second-hand car salesman of common repute.