Alan Shearer is still not convinced that Rafa Benitez will accept the Newcastle manager position and manage the club in the Championship next season.
Well at least Alan is consistent and he’s sticking to his opinion, even though the news coming through seems extremely positive that Rafa could be signed up before the end of week.
Alan Shearer – not convinced
This is what Alan Shearer said on BBC Look North yesterday:
“I’d still be very surprised if he was to be Newcastle manager.” “I’m sure he’ll have many offers.”
“And I’m sure he’ll have many questions that he wants to ask the owner, and many assurances that he’ll want to ask: including about whether he will be allowed to manage the whole football club.”
“He’ll want all that down in black and white.” “I hope he stays but I’d be surprised.”
“The atmosphere on Saturday at St James’ Park for a team who had just been relegated was just unbelievable.”
“You looked at the players celebrating when they scored a goal, and the passion and commitment they showed – but where has that been all season?”
“I know there was nothing on the game, so really there was no pressure on them, but really the performance was baffling for me.”
It’s fairly easy to answer Alan’s question about where was has that passion been all season.
Rafa wasn’t with us earlier – but it still doesn’t show our players in a good light one little bit – that’s true also.
We hope Alan is wrong on Rafa, but it seems this interview was before the news broke late last night about how much closer Rafa is to accepting the Newcastle job.
Comments welcome.
69 comments so far
dok - the horrid colonial
May 17, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Comment #1relax alan,
perhaps leave your comfy desk and cushy job, and come to st james and help build mitro into your form… least you can do for the club the idolizes ya…
dok - the horrid colonial
May 17, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Comment #2oops Ashley out..
sorry tsunki 🙂
Jib
May 17, 2016 at 12:29 PM
Comment #3Dok
Channel 5 in the UK has a pretty crappy highlights show called the Football League Tonight on a Saturday 2100 hrs.
It was pretty dire this, it’s first season . but C5 have promised to improve it for nest season.
I addition Sky are contracted to show a minimum of 50 matches live (Leeds United owner actually complained about them being on too much ) so they should be streamed .
http://www.watchallchannels.com/channel-5-html/
Wayayman
May 17, 2016 at 12:30 PM
Comment #4I’m hoping Alan’s just still bitter about the way Ashley treated him after the last relegation, and that he’s thinking that as Ashley didn’t give him what HE wanted last time, then there’s no way Rafa will get what he wants.
Hopefully Ashley has seen the error of his ways and won’t pi55 on our chips yet again. Everything crossed.
funlovingexpress
May 17, 2016 at 12:35 PM
Comment #5I love Alan but lets put some perspective on this.
A lot of what he says is because of his own experience but it is very different with Benitez.
Alan was a world class striker and loved by the fans but he had absolutely no experience as a manager.
Benitez is a world class manager but was never a world class striker.
If you were looking for a striker then you would cave into Alans demands because he was world class. You wouldn’t cave in to Benitez’s.
The reverse is also true.
If you are looking for a world class manager then you would cave into Benitez’s demands but you wouldn’t cave into Alans.
What I am basically saying is that Alan cannot compare his own experiences with respect to what was offered and not offered, with those of Benitez.
Bobbybee
May 17, 2016 at 12:36 PM
Comment #6It could be that Ashley trusts our club in the hands of Rafa, whereas he hasn’t trusted anybody else that much. God knows why, when he trusted Charnley and Carr, but Rafa is a very successful manager who lives, eats and drinks football and has earned that trust. Charnley and Carr simply didn’t work, whereas Rafa has already shown what he can do given the right backing. Alan, you are still a legend and always will be here, but sometimes your comments are off the mark. Wait and see before leaving yourself wide open to ridicule. Unless you genuinely know something we don’t know? In which case, don’t you think you owe it to us to share it?
jimmysmith
May 17, 2016 at 12:40 PM
Comment #7Well he’s right in as much as the offer he takes may not even have been tabled yet. Newcastle could get gazumped at any moment. When Rafa talks about things being resolved inside a fortnight, it seems unlikely he is talking about Newcastle being the only bidder for his services. Still the Newcastle job, on his terms, would be in many respects an attractive proposition for him.
Bobbybee
May 17, 2016 at 12:40 PM
Comment #8Funloving, spooky. 😉
funlovingexpress
May 17, 2016 at 12:41 PM
Comment #9Bobbybee I fully agree.
I think after the last 6 games and after meeting Benitez Ashley will realise that he has been fed a steady stream of bu°°sh°t from chancers and charlatans over the last 8 years.
Blackley and Brownlie
May 17, 2016 at 12:45 PM
Comment #10BandB
You say, “Now SD is to pay for the advertising, I do wonder if there will be a new quid pro quo for the loan, and is so what it will be. It seems a reasonable question.”
This is the point I’ve been banging on about for years and you’re only now saying it’s a reasonable question. As FunlovingExpress points out, thanks to people’s whingeing, it might well cost the club more if Ashley decides to take interest at a full commercial rate on his loan.
I see you want Adhley to pay down the debt from profits but now you say you don’t want it yet. You ask me. I say it would be great if the club eere debt free. But to get in that situation the club would have to use profits to pay back the drbt and not use them to invest in players. When would be a good time to that? Is there ever a good time to pay back someone’s loan while they are more than happy to give it to you interest free?
rozehnal
May 17, 2016 at 12:45 PM
Comment #11I am getting sick of Shearers negative comments, I am sure he said that Benitez would not join us either. Why don’t he try to convince him instead just saying negative words in the media. Not helping our cause at all!!!
Hail Wor Ashley
May 17, 2016 at 12:46 PM
Comment #12Maybe the money from SD will go straight to servicing the debt owed to Mash? Basically Mash converting SD money into his own personal wealth.
Essex Geordie Bill
May 17, 2016 at 12:46 PM
Comment #13Just thought I’d repeat my last two comments mainly because I want to.
Essex Geordie Bill // May 17, 2016 at 12:54 AM
Just watched the Brighton SW game and my tip for the third promotion spot continues to prosper.
I am very impressed by Bruno and would be happy to see him in a BW shirt but can someone tell me just what is the point of Nuhiu.
He’s basically a CH trying to be a CF and failing dismally.
Forestieri is a fabulous conundrum of a player, I would both want and not want him in my team, when he’s good he is very good but when he’s not.he’s…………!!!
45Essex Geordie Bill // May 17, 2016 at 1:01 AM
I remember our last pre-season when the appointment of an ex England manager had a lot of us wetting our pants with excitement,(I was a skeptic but willing to go along with the possibilities)
I really really hope we are not going to have a repeat of that scenario, pleeeeeease.
Ardua par astra, I hope!
bettyswallocks
May 17, 2016 at 12:47 PM
Comment #14I am very concerned that Rotonda thinks Rafa is a good manager and can hopefully provide us with a winning team.
I would feel far more comfortable if he judged Rafa to be a bad choice and predicted that he will fail.
magscar
May 17, 2016 at 12:48 PM
Comment #15Bobby
I agree that Ashley will only give the reins up to someone he trusts but coupled with the spice of he hasn’t got any realistic options right now.
BandB last thread
You aren’t thinking of Llambias by any chance? Tougher but he couldn’t carry out all of Charnley’s duties presumably as he didn’t last time so would Charnley stay in a ( even more) reduced role? Has Llambias the personality that might just rub Rafa the wrong way? The immediate way forward is surely sweetness and light:-)
Longer term who knows – probably not even Ashley yet!
Bobbybee
May 17, 2016 at 12:49 PM
Comment #16Funloving, i’ve never bought into the argument that Ashley wants to fail. He has always maintained that he wanted what was best for us and as you say, he’s been fed crap advice over many years. This is his best chance to back his words and he’d be a mug to turn it down. He certainly appears to be willing to try, if rumours are true. It’s what he needs and definitely what we want and deserve after his many years of getting it wrong. Fingers crossed.
BandB
May 17, 2016 at 12:50 PM
Comment #17They appear to be negotiating in good faith at the moment, and both sides have a right to a negotiating position.
I think Shearer’s point is this.
Will Newcastle hand over the golden ticket and wrap this up while they are ahead?
Or will they haggle until they are gazzumped…..again.
They must know they do not have Benitez over a barrel.
Toonces
May 17, 2016 at 12:51 PM
Comment #18Dok
In the US, beIN has the television rights to the Championship – they have been airing the playoff fixtures this week as a case in point. They also have La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 so they typically show the marquee fixtures from those in preference to the Championship over the majority of the season. But, beIN has an online streaming service BeIN connect where they can show matches not on TV proper. So maybe we will see some Newcastle games made available either on the beIN channels themselves or on their web service. I am in Florida so I am hoping that we will find a way to be able to watch as many Newcastle games as possible.
dok - the horrid colonial
May 17, 2016 at 12:53 PM
Comment #19ty all for the info on how to watch the toon during the upcoming season… beers for eachof you :p
dok - the horrid colonial
May 17, 2016 at 12:53 PM
Comment #20toonces,
thanks, if I find a way here in tex-ass, ill let ya know as well 🙂
jimmysmith
May 17, 2016 at 12:54 PM
Comment #21I can’t imagine a single way the club would benefit in paying back an interest free loan to it’s own owner. Think of it as a gift, because that’s essentially what it is if Ashley starts to charge SD for advertising. Ashley gets his money back when he sells, with interest, if he builds it;s market value, as it should be, when he alone owns it lock, stock, and barrel.
BandB
May 17, 2016 at 12:54 PM
Comment #22I think Charnley will stay magscar.
I’m not clamouring for his head.
He would just be moved out of Rafa’s way.
IF they agree.
Toonces
May 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Comment #23Preferring a legit online stream to a dodgy virus filled one, of course. But I will watch the dodgy stream if that is all we can find. Cheers.
magscar
May 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Comment #24BandB@17
Put more succinctly than Shearer – perhaps you should audition to ghost write his Sun(?) column for him .
Then again with that sort of brevity he would have to cover more topics to fill the column so he would prefer to spin it out much as he does on the sofa 🙂
Jail for Ashley
May 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Comment #25Blackas,
We are maybe about to sign one of the best managers in our history, I don’t really think anyone gives a flying funk if Mike Ashley pays for advertising or reduces debt. It has been an issue in the past as we have been told continuously we can’t compete with Stoke and WBA etc if we start to win stuff and play well then finance is secondary
bettyswallocks
May 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Comment #26BandB…… I don’t think you have grasped a full understanding of Blackley’s explanation. The repayment of the loan would hinder our cash flow and the tax situation combined with expanding the corporate fiscal accountancy repayment plan would result in a negative equity scenario from that particular transaction. Please try and understand pet.
BandB
May 17, 2016 at 12:56 PM
Comment #27As you know, I never took the “football board” seriously, so “Sack the Boar” is not something I would ever say.
Toonces
May 17, 2016 at 12:58 PM
Comment #28Dok,
That will be much appreciated!
BandB
May 17, 2016 at 12:58 PM
Comment #29Does that mean we’ll get promoted again betty?
Will we start kicking the ball in the goal again?
Sack the Boar, I say.
giimps
May 17, 2016 at 12:59 PM
Comment #30I think chumpley will stay too, unfortunately ,on the plus side though Rafas pencils will always be arranged in order of hardness and his cup of tea will be perfect along with his lemon puffs and a piece of red velvet cake………Lamearse couldn’t do that!!!!!!
magscar
May 17, 2016 at 12:59 PM
Comment #31BandB@22
I do to.
There has to be some sort of continuity for now but things will evolve.
Jail for Ashley
May 17, 2016 at 12:59 PM
Comment #32You can butter up anyway you want what people want done with Churnley, sacked, demoted, moved to one side, assigned different duties. I really don’t care what they do with him as long as he’s not deciding what players we buy and that Rafa is happy for him to carry on doing whatever new tasks they give him.
Bobbybee
May 17, 2016 at 12:59 PM
Comment #33Ashley retains the right to employ who he chooses, what with owning the club, but I for one would be happier if he chooses to keep Charnley, it’s on the understanding that his only job is to facilitate Rafa in everything he asks for. If he gets in the way, he has to go. 😉
bettyswallocks
May 17, 2016 at 1:01 PM
Comment #34Don’t you mean sack the bore!
Rotonda heights
May 17, 2016 at 1:02 PM
Comment #35shut up shearer, keep it to yourself. you may well be right but no one wants to hear it right now.
Jail for Ashley
May 17, 2016 at 1:03 PM
Comment #36Rafa is in a position to tell Ashley who he employs a swell as Ashley needs Rafa a whole lot more than Rafa needs him !
banjax
May 17, 2016 at 1:03 PM
Comment #37I respect Alan’s view on Rafa Benitez ‘walking away’ from the club even though things seem to be moving in the right direction. At the moment there is no decisive answer either way and although reports are positive Benitez will stay, we all have to manage our own expectations and wait (as the saying goes) until the fat lady sings. Even now it seems impossible that Benitez would walk away because of the press reports but he well may just do that. So for me it’s patience and no more blogging on this subject until the news is confirmed – either way.
BandB
May 17, 2016 at 1:06 PM
Comment #38What they are taking about today is a transfer budget.
An ACTUAL agreed transfer budget that the manager can spend, rather than waiting to see what is coming in the post and knowing it is likely to be yet another pair of fluffy white socks
The world has gone mad.
bettyswallocks
May 17, 2016 at 1:07 PM
Comment #39Ashley will keep Charnley to continue their role- play scenario of lion and lion tamer. Ashley makes Charnley get down on all fours and then puts his head in his mouth.
Bobbybee
May 17, 2016 at 1:10 PM
Comment #40Right, as much as i’ve enjoyed this, i’m being called for other duties. Driving duties. Catcha all later. 😉