Raf-volution

> Magpies’ momentum has given way to mistrust, after a stagnant summer Benitez’s future is now in serious doubt

future remains uncertain. He thought the problems that stopped him from signing Andros Townsend in January had been ironed out.

There is confusion once more at another U-turn in club policy and there is a growing resentment at the inertia as clubs like Huddersfield, promoted along with Newcastle, have spent £36 million already and that the optimism last season’s campaign built is ebbing away.

Benitez has a long term vision for Newcastle United based around three strands, how the club will be represented, its performance and improvement of the infrastructure and of the players. There is a strategy to change the philosophy of the club, filtering down into the way the academy will play, if he is given time. He has embraced the city and its people and he draws comparisons with his relationship with the supporters from Liverpool, where he won the Champions League and where his family still lives.

Benitez wanted control – witness the departure of the former chief scout and Ashley favourite Graham Carr – but he has been left with none. There are parallels to 2008, when Newcastle bought a central defender – Fabricio Coloccini – but undermined the then manager Kevin Keegan to such an extent that he left claiming constructive dismissal and won his case against a football club he had brought back to life twice.

Those warning signs are back flashing. A clock is ticking. Deals need to be done, players need to start arriving and the coffers need to be opened, as Ashley promised in his statement after a four hour meeting had taken place at Shirebrook, the headquarters of Sports Direct, with Benitez and Lee Charnley (Newcastle’s managing director) after the Championship title had been won.

“I’ve confirmed to Rafa and Lee that they can have every last penny that the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means in order to build for next season,” said Ashley. It feels hollow.

The real financial bonanza of being promoted will come later this month, when the television money falls into bank accounts of all 20 Premier League clubs. Newcastle then will start feeling like a top flight club once more.

If they do not start acting like one, there is a very good chance they will lose their Champions-League winning manager. – The Independent