Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has said he would have expected the club to be challenging for trophies this season if more money had been made available to him, but instead the football betting odds preview has them languishing near relegation.
The Magpies boss has has seen the pursestrings drawn typically tightly at St James’s Park this summer, despite a huge financial windfall from the Premier League TV rights deal.
And the Spaniard has revealed he did had rather high hopes for the upcoming campaign: “I have said before that I compete for trophies, even with less money at Chelsea, Napoli,” he told the Chronicle.
“At Valencia we were competing for trophies. Why? Because we had time and confidence from the top and then we delivered.
“Now I was expecting that we would be competing for something after one year, especially after guaranteeing the money from TV this season. I am a little bit surprised but I will do my best.”
OPINION
A tenth place finish last term was a remarkable achievement from Benitez and his players, and at any other club he would likely have been backed to the hilt this summer to go and surpass the previous season’s totals. Not so on Tyneside. Bargain basement deals are the order of the day at St James’ Park. Even with an owner as notoriously thrifty as Ashley, however, you would’ve thought Benitez would see a bit more of the TV money. That was huge money pumped into the club, but it’s gone nowhere really. A few players have arrived but none for any significant amount of money, and it’s clear the manager still wants a few more faces in before the transfer window shuts. His admission that he expected to be challenging for trophies this year if he’d had more money to spend is especially disheartening for Magpies fans, as it reveals what might’ve been at the club under different ownership.
