Playing - but says boss won’t leave Toon

competitive. If he does not get the funding he feels is necessary and next season goes badly he can turn around and say: ‘I told you so.’”

If he walks, where will he go?

“What job in the Premier League outside the elite is bigger than Newcastle?

“I find it difficult to see any of the top six clubs taking him.

“So what else is out there? Maybe West Ham if Slaven Bilic was to leave.

“Yet would that represent a bigger step up than Tyneside? No. He is working at a club with a brilliant stadium and a huge fan base which has potential. He is also being handsomely rewarded for it.

“This, though, is a dangerous game he is playing. Ashley has been subjected to huge amounts of criticism during his period of ownership but if he feels Benitez oversteps the mark, have no doubt he will fire him.

“Why wouldn’t he? Ashley was not afraid to axe club legends and local heroes Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, so why would he think twice about pulling the trigger on Benitez? You don’t amass the business portfolio and personal fortune Ashley has by shying away from big decisions.”

Rafa is the man to end the trophy drought.

“Rafa is back working in the Premier League, the domestic competition he loves more than any other, and Ashley has a manager who represents his best chance of a trophy.

“It should not be forgotten there are few better managers in world football than Benitez in preparing a team tactically for a one-off game and there is no reason why Newcastle cannot win, for instance, the League Cup under him.

“Ashley, ridiculously, has never regarded cup competitions as being important to Newcastle even though they have not won anything domestically since 1955.

“Yet Benitez excels in them and - with the exception of Real Madrid - has won silverware at club he has managed since Valencia, including Napoli and Chelsea.”