Newcastle United’s transfer window was a complete disaster… and Mike Ashley is the WORST thing to ever happen to the famous and historic club
“WHAT you have to do is make sure that you do the right things and everything will be fine.”
These were the now very ironic words of Rafa Benitez just a day after securing promotion to the Premier League, back in May.
I was there that day, perched in the Gallowgate, swallowed by flags and hope.
Jubilation and euphoria cascaded through the stadium when the final whistle came and the score at Villa Park was confirmed.
Our great club was back where it belonged, as Championship champions and with a world-class manager at the helm.
Fast forward four months and that mood couldn’t be further from the truth.
Having spent just over £10million net, £30-40m less than fellow promotees Brighton and Huddersfield, Newcastle look a thread-bare, devoid of real quality and at serious risk of a return to the second tier.
The transfer window for NUFC was quite simply a failure.
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Rafa’s list was drawn up well in advance of the window opening.
The early days saw players fall through the Toon transfer net – Tammy Abraham was well courted by Benitez, but the powers-that-be did not agree the fees were good business.
The same went for Willy Caballero and then Ruben Semedo.
And when it took almost a month for the club sort any sort of deal for Florian Lejeune, the alarm bells really did start to ring.
Newcastle were naive, slow to react and continued in the penny-pinching vain we have witnessed nearly every transfer window since the club fell into the hands of the man who is responsible for ten years of underachievement and embarrassment.
Mike Ashley... to say this man has been one of the worst things to EVER happen to NUFC would be an understatement.
Just when you think he may finally understand the nature of football in the city of Newcastle - pulling out the stops to secure the services of a manager like Benitez - he reminds us of his true colours once again.
"Rafa can have every last penny", were his reported words in a Premier League preparation meeting.
Well, Rafa didn’t get that. Not even close! The club made £30m profit on transfers last season alone.
So why the moving of the goal posts? Is Mike preparing to sell the club, knowing something we don’t. Probably not – we aren’t that lucky!
Or is he sapping the club for what he is owed? He made it pretty clear how he felt about investing any more in the club in his "staged" TV appearance.
OK, players needed to be shifted and the wage bill (the highest it had ever been under his tenure) needed reducing.
But in the final week of the window, Rafa saw the backs of five players, three of which were permanent.
Yet still, we didn’t see a single incoming and couldn’t even push through a move for Southampton’s third-choice left back!
We have arguably a weaker squad than we were promoted with, we have no specialised left back, a bunch of goalkeepers Rafa obviously doesn’t trust and inadequate cover for our forwards.
To make matters even worse, we strengthened the squad of one of our rivals this year by loaning them our only goalkeeper with vast Premier League experience.
Rafa had commented about his "Newcastle project" and having a "five or ten year plan".
Well, not any more. He no longer sees his job as long term. How could he?
The trust between him and Ashley has completely gone and it is only the relationship he has with the fans and some of his players that are keeping him at the club.
A man of Benitez’s stature and integrity does not deserve to treat the way he is at Newcastle and unfortunately, I don’t see him tolerating the lack of ambition and distrust for much longer.
Whether that is days, weeks or months remains to be seen.
One thing is for sure though – no fan of the Toon would blame him and he would leave with the admiration and respect of pretty much every single one of us!
Our club began to deteriorate the day Mike Ashley sat in his owner’s office for the first time and is headed absolutely nowhere under his lead.
He has proved yet again he knows zero about football and even less about Newcastle United.
He continues to use our great club as only an advertising vessel for his cheapskate sports shop; the one and only thing he seems to really care about.
We’ll enjoy Rafa while we still can but at the moment, the future is looking very bleak indeed.