Football finance expert Kieran Maguire delivered his verdict on the current uncertainty surrounding Rafa Benitez’s future at Newcastle United.
The accountant who is a lecturer at Liverpool University where he has become a specialist in football, according to the Daily Star, shared that Mike Ashley needed to focus on securing the Magpies boss’ future rather than selling the club.
Maguire claimed that if Benitez was to depart there would be serious consequences for the Magpies and fans’ anger levels would reach a level where it was no longer tolerable.
“Benitez has got one year left on his contract and I think he is the one reason preventing Newcastle turning into a civil war,” the expert told the Daily Star.
“While Rafa continues to deliver, it keeps the fan’s anger at a level which is tolerable.
“The irony is that if he went to West Ham, it would have been to prevent the exact same thing that has happened at Newcastle.”
OPINION
The Daily Star describes Benitez’s failure to pen a new deal at the club as an ongoing saga and it hard to argue with the fact that is slowly becoming that. It was previously claimed, by the Chronicle, that Ashley had instructed his managing director to get a deal signed sealed and delivered by Benitez by the time July came around. However until the ink is dried on any contract, Magpies fans will continue to fear that they might lose the Spanish manager sooner rather than later. Maguire’s verdict on what will be the consequences will no doubt heighten the fears among Magpies supporters as it’s hard to see the situation he predicts not occurring. While the expert’s field is in finance, and this seems to be a non-money issue that he is commenting on, hopefully he is barking up the wrong tree if Ashley somehow lets Benitez get away from him. With the previous report stating by July, fans should just try to keep a calm head until August hits.
