Rafael Benítez has reminded Mike Ashley of his enduring craving for trophies and suggested the time has come for Newcastle United’s owner to either buy into an ambitious blueprint or bid him farewell.
Benítez’s contract expires on 30 June and Newcastle’s manager will not renew it unless Ashley offers him autonomy over recruitment and the transfer budget needed to make the club competitive. “For me, the potential’s here,” said Benítez, whose team travel to Brighton on Saturday. “It’s a massive club, a massive city and the support’s massive.”
The Spaniard’s problem is that Ashley seems content with Premier League survival. “I used to compete for titles and I’d like to be sure we can compete against anyone,” the former Valencia, Liverpool, Internazionale, Chelsea, Napoli and Real Madrid coach said. “I’m not happy when you play against a top side and it’s a draw. When you’re used to winning, you want to keep doing it.
“But at the same time, I’m realistic. I understand each club has its own potential and has to decide what they want to do or can do; that’s fine. You can bring in another manager and then maybe he will be happy if they finish 15th. But I would like to compete for something more.”
The subtext is that the time has come for Ashley to make his mind up about the scale of his plans for Newcastle. “It’s just so simple to understand,” Benítez said. “I don’t want to push anyone, it’s just to be sure where we are. If we’re clear, we move forward. If we do the right things we can compete and try to be at least close to winning something.
“With the potential we have we can compete and we want to compete – or at least I want to compete – we want to be able to go into any game and try to win. I want to try to win trophies but you cannot compete in the cups when you’re at the bottom of the table, have a risk of two or three key players getting injured and don’t have the replacements.”
