LEERYDER Takeover is the only way ahead for Benitez and United

TOON CANNOT KEEP TREADING WATER

NEWCASTLE United’s poor run of form has resulted in some mixed responses from the club’s fanbase after the 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford made it three defeats in a row and one win in seven games.

Toon fans always knew this season was going to be hard and Rafa Benitez warned his board several times in the summer his squad lacked experience and quality.

But the club decided to plough on with the job – despite Mike Ashley admitting he can’t compete with top sides in the Premier League.

So if United can’t bring in top players, does that mean the club are simply treading water and plans to be ambitious have been shelved for a later date?

Only the current board, who operate beneath a veil of silence most of the time, can answer that.

Here are some of the arguments that Saturday night’s loss threw up as Newcastle were well beaten by the Red Devils. THE Magpies are a newly-promoted side as a consequence of bad decisions in the 2015/16 season.

After a near-brush with relegation in 2015, also caused by refusing to spend big, Newcastle did splash out by their standards under then boss Steve McClaren.

They paid £14.5m for Gini Wijnaldum, coughed up £13m for Aleksandar Mitrovic and £8.5m for Chancel Mbemba, to name a few of the big buys that summer. The issue was – something that wasn’t new at the time (ask Alan Pardew) – that Graham Carr was effectively choosing the squad and McClaren had no say in who came in.

By the time he finally got into the ear of the club’s managing director, Lee Charnley, and persuaded them to sign Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend the Magpies were nosediving to the Championship.

The reason Newcastle were relegated in the end was because of the political instability at St James’ Park and, while McClaren’s results weren’t good enough, his big mistake was believing he could persuade United to do it his way.

The fact Newcastle missed out on the first round of the big TV deal was completely avoidable with better decision making. IN short, no – and the vast majority of fans aren’t going down that road.

If anything United should be grateful that Benitez is happy to try to do the job with such limited resources!

When Newcastle handed Benitez a three-year contract in 2016 they did do in the knowledge that the Spaniard would be fully in charge of football operations. After relegation, the main aim was to make an instant return to the Premier League and he achieved that. This season the first aim is to achieve survival, but Benitez made it clear that the current squad would need quality additions and some experience to pull that off. These requests were ignored over the summer and Benitez was told that the club didn’t have the funds to compete. Therefore, it left Benitez with a limited budget and he spent it accordingly, bringing in the likes of Joselu at £5m and Javier Manquillo at £4.5m, and Steve McClaren’s big mistake was believing he could persuade United to do it his way spent £10m on Jacob Murphy – regarded as good value for a player with potential.

But Newcastle did not put forward funds for bigger earners, meaning they missed out on a host of players with more experience.

Benitez can now only try to get the best out of a young squad that still has plenty of Championship players in it.

The fact he’s guided Newcastle to 11th so far is a respectable achievement. THEY have an opportunity to do exactly that if they choose to do so. But will they? Ask anybody close to the squad