He's done OK. I think you are desperate to find angles or excuses for him but he has just done OK. The figures I got are simple to find on the internet - just put in 'cost of squad'. There is no doubt whatsoever that the likes of Burnley and Leicester, when they won the league, have done far better than Benitez has done on a much lower budget in terms of transfer fees.
I am not saying he has done badly or that pundits don't rate him or ex-players don't love him or he can't organise a good defence. What I am saying that if he is a 'World Class' Manager that a lot of your fans want to profess then a relegation (not his fault obviously), a 10th and a 13th are pretty disappointing returns. This blame of Ashley is wearing thin. You should be asking more of your 'World Class' Manager and stop looking for excuses for him. If you finish 12th next season and do nowt in the cups will you still be singing his praises and looking for who you can blame for yet another non-season?
I've shown you figures that show the money we've spent on wages is among the lowest in the division. The money we've spent on transfers is amongst the lowest in the division. And we're a recently promoted side.
Our finishes under Benitez are indicative of his style of play (pragmatic, hard to beat, efficient), and the standard of our players (how many of our squad would get into better sides?). We're not spending all that we can afford, not even close to that, which means, on the whole, Newcastle United under Benitez are a squad bought rather cheaply. This also means his missteps in the transfer window are more costly.
Ashley
has to shoulder the majority of the blame here, just as he did for failing to strengthen when Pardew somehow managed to get us 5th. Or overseeing a broken transfer policy. It's his limitations as an owner that truly hamstring Newcastle United, not Benitez' limitations as a manager.
If Benitez is given total control over the transfers, actually gets every penny the club generates, and gets his 1st choice signings (instead of f***ing Joselu), yet we still do nothing in the cup and finish 12th then of course he shoulders the blame.
We consistently said Pardew didn't buy the players and that it was Carr.
Allardyce did have control over the transfers which is why we turned into a team that played f***ing awful football under him.
We did mention Net Spend because Carr seemed to be doing a good job on uncovering good players for buttons, and we hadn't yet seen the on-field cost of that.
The problem under Pardew wasn't the standard of player, it was the standard of the manager.
Who signed the Japanese lad? (is he Japanese?)
The same guy who signed the Slovakian goalkeeper, the Swiss defender and fought tooth and nail to get the Venezuelan striker
You're funny.
