United will reap huge financial rewards of Premier League survival but keeping Rafa is biggest benefit
NEWCASTLE United have edged closer to Premier League safety thanks to their 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
It means the club are on the brink of securing another big cash boost, with more than £100m coming the way of the Toon boardroom in terms of Premier League prize money and TV revenue.
Once the transfer window closed last summer, Rafa Benitez predicted the future would be bright if the Magpies stayed afloat.
Back in November, when the dust had settled following a disappointing summer trading period, Benitez said: “After some months this team will be stronger because they continue to work very hard.
“Then we will stay in the Premier League, we’ll get money from the TV and we can compete against teams we couldn’t this year because of wages and transfers.
“You can talk about players at Bournemouth or Burnley that we couldn’t sign because we couldn’t afford the fee or their wages.”
Benitez has maintained that securing top-flight safety is the most important thing of all at the moment but once that is confirmed, the future of Newcastle United will come under even more scrutiny. We are still waiting to see if Amanda Staveley comes back with a fresh offer for the club after both PCP Capital Partners and Ashley effectively laid their cards on the table in January. In the end, Staveley didn’t up her
offer and Ashley dismissed PCP Capital Partners as timewasters. But what next? First up, is Mike Ashley still serious about selling the club like he stated last year – and if he’s not, what’s the plan here exactly?
And secondly, will a convincing contract offer be on the table for Rafa Benitez?
Without these issues thrashed out properly, Newcastle will always be a club that are just chugging along and risking relegation year-in, year-out.
Benitez is an ambitious man and simply fending off relegation each season isn’t going to be an attractive proposition given his track record of winning titles and cups.
As Benitez has stabilised Newcastle and clawed the team away from the danger zone on a limited budget and with a team that played in the Championship last term, you do wonder what he’d do if he was able to have a little bit of a spending spree.
However, until that contract is extended, Newcastle’s whole future is up in the air.
When you have a world-class manager in charge, such uncertainty results in chatter on the football circuit, and reports in Spain over the weekend linked Benitez with Real Sociedad and a possible return to La Liga.
That sort of talk doesn’t go away when you have just over a year left on your contract, and it will only intensify the longer Newcastle’s board and Benitez don’t agree a new deal.
After the game, managing director Lee Charnley and Mike Ashley’s closest aide Keith Bishop made their way down from the boardroom and towards Benitez’s office, presumably to congratulate him on the win over the Terriers.
There have also been one or two whispers that Ashley is prepared to work with Benitez next season, but ultimately the Toon manager will want some written assurances given the last three windows have been so unsatisfactory.
The next political move by Newcastle United’s powers that be needs to be a big one.