Carragher familiar with political games Benitez is

JAMIE Carragher says Rafa Benitez will “not quit” and is playing a political game at Newcastle to earn more transfer funds and improve his bargaining position with owner Mike Ashley.

Carragher knows Benitez as well as anyone in the English game, having played under him at Liverpool. and witnessed the power struggles on Merseyside which eventually resulted in his departure.

He thinks Benitez is playing a similar game at Newcastle.

In a fascinating column in the Daily Mail, he set out the backdrop to what he thinks is unfolding on Tyneside and said Benitez needs to be careful pushing the owner too far.

He also says Benitez will “not walk away.”

Here, MARK DOUGLAS has the highlights of the column.

RAFA will not quit

“He will not quit. He never quits. That is something Newcastle United fans should remember as another storm starts to blow around Rafa Benitez.

“It should have been a week of celebration on Tyneside, the club having secured an immediate return to the Premier League, but instead a group of supporters who have so often had to endure disappointment find themselves confused by the uncertainty which has followed.

“Benitez has indicated he will only stay on at St James’ Park next season if he feels Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s owner, shares his vision for what is needed to be successful back in the top flight - but he is confident ‘everything will be fine’.

“Watching the episode unfold brought flooding back.

“Everything I have seen and read in the last few days had me thinking of many things from our time together at Liverpool.

He had three different sets of people to answer to at Anfield and fell out with them all.

“Rafa is an excellent manager and one of the biggest influences on my career — perhaps the biggest in terms of being on a pitch.

“I played my best football under him and many of the memories things he taught me I still bring in to practice, whether it is on these pages or on TV.

“He is, without doubt, the most political figure I have come across in football.

“I saw what is going on at Newcastle happen at Liverpool. It happened at Valencia, too, where he famously said he ‘asked for a sofa and they gave me a table leg’ during a row over transfers.

“This posturing has a purpose. Benitez wants the maximum amount of money he can get ahead of the transfer window to keep Newcastle