Charnley: We’re up for the cups
ASHLEY MAY HAVE TOLD RAFA TO GO FOR A TROPHY BUT THEIR RECORD’S POOR
AS IS so often the case with Newcastle United in the Mike Ashley era, material evidence is needed before the majority of the fanbase will believe the hierarchy’s promises.
There is no doubt that Lee Charnley’s latest revelation about the message both he as managing director, and Ashley as owner, have delivered to Rafa Benitez regarding domestic cup competitions is a positive one.
“The players are hugely incentivised when it comes to the cup competitions,” Charnley told The Mirror.
“We’ve made our view clear on the cups in the past but now our view is, and we’ve said this to Rafa, ‘Have a go, try and win a cup.’”
But we have been here before.
When Steve McClaren was appointed in 2015, the public utterances from the club was that a cup competition would be targeted.
After narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the 2014/15 campaign, Ashley also went on Sky Sports and promised that he would not leave the club until they had “won something” or, at the very least, had qualified for the Champions League.
Instead in 2015/16, Newcastle – already destined for relegation – were dumped out of the League Cup by Sheffield Wednesday at St James’ Park, and then eliminated from the FA Cup at Watford in a match during which Florian Thauvin was booed by a section of his own supporters.
That revision of the Magpies’ approach to the cups came less than 18 months after Charnley’s infamous “pound for pound” declaration – and the club’s admission that knock-out competitions were secondary to their focus on the Premier League.
Chastened by Newcastle’s flirtation with relegation in 2012/13, when Alan Pardew’s threadbare squad unsurprisingly failed to cope with a Europa League campaign alongside a 38-game Premier League season,
Newcastle told their manager that cup competitions were no longer a priority.
In a Fans Forum meeting back in May 2014, the club stated: “The board outlined research into Premier League clubs in relation to domestic cup competitions in the last five years, with Swansea City the only club outside the traditional top six to win a domestic cup and not be relegated in the same season (Birmingham and Wigan Athletic were both relegated).
“Independent research into the cost of relegation over the past 10 years showed there is a 50% chance of not gaining promotion back to the top flight and a 30% chance of being relegated to League One or further. In addition, if clubs do return to the Premier League, it takes four years on average.”
The Magpies, a club with a proud tradition of reaching 13 FA Cup finals and lifting the trophy on six separate occasions, have never won more than one FA Cup match in any given season under Ashley.
Barnsley, Reading, Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic and Millwall all have all achieved something in the Ashley era which Newcastle have not: they have all played FA Cup semi-finals at the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium.
It was embarrassing that the Magpies’ first visit to the modernised ‘home of English football’ last month came in a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur, given their woeful record in cup competitions under Ashley. Not since they were humbled 4-1 by Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff back in April 2005, more than two years before Ashley bought Newcastle, have the Magpies reached the final four of the FA Cup.
United have embarked upon 10 separate FA Cup campaigns since the Sports Direct magnate seized control. None of them have progressed past the fourth round. It is also more than 12 years since Newcastle’s last away win in the Cup; the last time they triumphed in the competition away from St James’ Park came against Cheltenham Town in 2006. Since then, Newcastle have travelled to play Stevenage, Plymouth Argyle, Oxford United and Brighton and Hove Albion – among others – in the competition, and have failed to return victorious even once.
In fact, the last time Newcastle played an FA Cup tie outside of January was before the Ashley era began – also more than a dozen years ago, when they were knocked out of the competition by Chelsea in the quarter-finals in March 2006.
Thankfully it seems such an approach to cup competitions has been consigned to history.
Alongside Charnley’s declaration that Benitez can target trophies, Ashley even offered £20m in bonuses to the United squad had they won the FA Cup in 2017/18, and seemingly a similar heavily-incentivised scheme could be proposed for 2018/19, too.
It is essential that these words are supported by action. That is what Benitez is demanding in his discussions with the club, too.
The Spaniard wanted to target the cups in 2017/18, too, but felt his squad was not strong enough to compete on more than one front.
He needs to be backed not only by being given the chance to sign the “quality” players he seeks, but also by being allowed to retain a deep strength, with back-up options to bolster his first XI.
Charnley’s statement is positive, but now we must see substantive evidence it is implemented.
If it is, then Newcastle fans have little doubt Benitez can be the man to finally break thei r nigh-on 50-year wait for a major trophy.