GEORGE CAULKIN
july 5 2017, 12:00pm, the times
Difficult Newcastle owner providing Benítez with reassurances
Newcastle United’s training ground at the beginning of this week. As Rafa Benítez and his players reassembled for pre-season, catching up on gossip with the medical and fitness staff, swapping anecdotes about their summer holidays (not that the manager took one), there was the usual array of emotion; anticipation about the club’s return to the Premier League, excitement at the sense of possibility, pent up energy and nerves.
There was also something else, too, something which explains the strange mood which has hung around the club since their promotion in May, an easing of tension which has built and itched and niggled away. It felt like relief. After a testing, barren few weeks, which has seen transfers stall and logjam, Benítez was back on the grass, doing his stuff, finding percentages, seeking improvement where others would focus on flaws.
On Monday evening, when Florian Lejeune turned up to complete his £8.7 million signing from Eibar, there was another exhalation. Lejeune’s arrival was belated, but at least he was there, the 26-year-old centre half - who can also play in midfield - agreeing a five-year contract and becoming Newcastle’s first new addition (Christian Atsu had already joined from Chelsea, but was on-loan at St James’ Park last season).
Lejeune’s transfer had been described as “close” by a well-connected Newcastle source four weeks earlier. Benítez and his recruitment team had done all the groundwork, identifying the player, establishing the cost of his release clause, all the niceties that can be worked on. The same applied to a loan for Tammy Abraham, Chelsea’s England Under-21 striker and Willy Caballero, the goalkeeper, who was out of contract at Manchester City.
Benítez believed that each player was prepared to move to Tyneside and that tentative arrangements were in place. After a meeting with Mike Ashley in May, Newcastle’s owner had said that the Spaniard could have “every last penny that the club generates through promotion, player sales and other means in order to build for next season,” but that is not the same as writing the cheques or sending the decisive emails.
Having given his first list of names to Lee Charnley, the managing director, Benítez sat and waited. And then began to stew. Nothing happened. Chelsea moved for Caballero, Bournemouth and then Swansea City began courting Abraham. Benítez had been eager for a deal to be sorted before the Under-21 European Championship, but that deadline came and went. And then Abraham went to Swansea. From Benítez’s perspective, it was avoidable.
Edginess in transfer windows is not a new phenomenon, but what applies to most clubs has been magnified at Ashley’s Newcastle. Historically, part of that can be explained by the shape of their hierarchy - the limited power of the manager or head coach, the influence wielded by Graham Carr, the chief scout - and also by their transfer policy, the requirement to source younger players, often foreign, with a view to finding worth.
Benítez’s arrival blurred that. He has the final say on transfers. Carr, who should have been given a graceful exit a year ago, has now gone. And if there is still a desire that Newcastle should find value, then he has no problem with that. But it remains a strange club, with a strange way of doing things, reflecting Ashley’s unpredictability. And there is a feeling that Charnley has been caught in the middle, appeasing above and beneath him as much as making decisions.
When Ashley, previously an absentee landlord, suddenly turned up for matches in January, accompanied by the marginalised Carr, Benítez was bewildered, particularly when the sportswear retailer did not speak to him. Benítez asked for new players to propel Newcastle towards promotion; none came. When Newcastle went up, days went by before Ashley called to offer his congratulations. It made for unease.
In the background, there have been other complications, other sources of confusion, from the HMRC raid in late April which saw Charnley arrested and then released without charge, the involvement of Julian Barnes, a lawyer and long-time Ashley “fixer”, in financial and strategic matters at St James’, to the story - which disappeared into thin air - that there was Chinese interest in a takeover of Newcastle.
If this presents a wholly negative view of Newcastle, then it is unfair. Benítez remains hugely popular with supporters, a manager of genuine calibre who thinks of his club in terms of stature and potential, rather than crushed by limitation, or drained of vigour, as it had been under Steve McClaren. To have a man defined by winning things at the head of a club allergic to silverware still feels transformative.
It also feels delicate. Benítez has worked at Liverpool, Chelsea, Read Madrid, Inter Milan; few understand the machinations of football better than him. He knows about politics. Reports in Sunday newspapers a couple of weekends ago that the 57-year-old had become disillusioned were well-sourced and reflective, but were also a warning to Newcastle. The question is how much Ashley will have noticed and how he would respond.
Benítez is realistic. His concern is that the Newcastle team which came up is not equipped to compete in the Premier League and he does not want to be embarrassed at Anfield, Stamford Bridge or anywhere else. Even consolidation will take effort and although club directors will always tell you that no transfer is straightforward - and Newcastle’s squad requires trimming - opportunities have been missed.
As much as Newcastle need players - Benítez has no substantive interest in Manchester City’s Joe Hart, nor in Sam Clucas or Kamil Grosicki of Hull City, who have all been mentioned as potential targets - it also about relations and whether they can remain viable. Benítez is not an easy manager, but then neither was Kevin Keegan. Nor are José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. They demand. They push.
Good owners know when to listen, when to push back. The problem at Newcastle is that second-guessing Ashley is fraught with peril. He is not an easy owner. He can disappear for months and then take an interest, put pressure on Charnley for sanctioning a transfer that has not worked out. Disquiet then ripples outwards. It is why this week has brought some reassurance, players training again, the manager coaching. But at Newcastle, at this Newcastle, the itch is always there.
