Mark Schwarzer claimed that Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley knew how important keeping Rafa Benitez at the club was even though the businessman will not admit it.
The Sky Sports pundit, regularly seen on Football Centre or The Debate, shared that Magpies fans are aware that it is key to keep the Spanish manager at St James Park due to the amazing job he has done, and Ashley likely feels the same deep down.
However Schwarzer pointed out that he thought the Magpies owner couldn’t admit to feeling the same as it would possibly weaken his bargaining power during contract negotiations.
“Newcastle fans know how important he (Benitez) is and what an amazing job he has done for the club and I’m sure Mike Ashley deep down knows the same thing,he just doesn’t want to admit to it as it possibly weakens his bargaining power with him,” said Schwarzer on Football Centre (Sky Sports News, 11:56am, Friday April 12th).
OPINION
Schwarzer is probably spot-on with his view on how Ashley feels about Benitez as the businessman isn’t naive. Ashley knows that he hasn’t spent the sort of money on transfers that other owners of Premier League clubs have, yet as it stands the Magpies are in touching distance of securing their top-flight status for another season. So it would be bizarre if Ashley wasn’t aware of how impressive a job Benitez has done or that it was important to keep the manager in place. While some may argue that Ashley can’t be fully aware as he would have sorted the manager’s contract by now and done whatever it takes to keep Benitez at the club, the businessman is always going to strive to get the best deal possible. The club’s previous transfer windows have shown Ashley doesn’t like to splash cash for the sake of it, and that conservative stance is probably similar to how he is handling Benitez’s contract situation.
