RAF & READIES
Toon chiefs ready to bankroll Benitez for a proper (and long overdue) crack at bringing silverware back to Tyneside
RAFA BENITEZ will be given the firepower to make Newcastle a force again – after the club revealed a huge “all chips in gamble” to get back in the big time.
The Spaniard has been told Newcastle share his ambitions and will back him to the hilt.
There is an expectation that Benitez will stay on for next season, whether he signs a new deal or not, with owner Mike Ashley admiring how he has remoulded the squad.
Newcastle are recalibrating their targets and want a proper crack at the cups, with regular league finishes of seventh to 10th.
Boss Benitez is currently negotiating a bigger budget to keep rebuilding his squad – and revamp the training ground and Academy – after the club revealed the successful “all chips in” punt they took to return to the Premier League a year ago.
Managing director Lee Charnley has explained the club ran the highest-ever Championship wage bill of £80.3m – more than 100 per cent of turnover – with only 11 Premier League clubs spending more.
Sports Direct tycoon Ashley had to pump in £15m to keep the club running mid-season, which took his interestfree loan to an all-time high of £144m. They spent £55m on players to equip an ultimately successful promotion campaign, recouping £44m – received over several years – from selling stars such as Moussa Sissoko and Gini Wijnaldum.
Newcastle hit the jackpot with their high-risk strategy.
They won promotion 12 months ago, then finished 10th in the top flight later this month.
That means they will bank £125.8m in TV money alone for this past season – compared with a total income of £47.4m in the second tier.
Having rescued Newcastle from the Championship, Benitez and United spent £46m net after promotion last summer to gain a top-half finish.
Charnley (below) admitted: “It was a one-season gamble that was not sustainable. What could have happened if we hadn’t gone up? It would have been a
catastrophe, a bloodbath. You cannot operate a business continually that has a wage bill higher than its turnover. It is not sustainable.
“We’d have had to reset, recruit Championship players and it would have taken years in order to get out of the Championship.”
Newcastle have spent £100m net on transfers since July 2015.
Charnley insists the club is now ready to push on and that all the cash available will be spent on team strengthening.
He added: “At the beginning of the season did we intend to finish 10th? I think no is the answer. This year was about staying in the Premier League and it’s about growing and improving year on year, but doing that within our means. “That’s not to say there is a lack of ambition, because there is definitely not, it’s just it will take some time.”
Benitez is looking for “extra quality” players, who will also “fit into the team spirit”.
Charnley added: “We have got a group now who have an incredible spirit, an incredible work ethic and a real togetherness. Some players we’ve had in the past were more talented as individuals, but this is a better team.
“If you look to improve going forward, it’s a fight to get the balance between improving the quality of individuals and retaining that team ethic. You look at other teams and I think Stoke have said this since they got relegated – they probably moved away a little bit from where they were before.
“Characters have to be right. Improve the quality of the group, without losing that team spirit and work ethic.”
Ashley has been accused by some fans of not investing enough.
But Charnley said: “It’s not like we’re sat on a big pot of cash saving it for a rainy day. Money comes in, money goes out and what’s left is available to spend, it’s that simple.”
If we’d not gone up it would have been a catastrophe ..a bloodbath