OPINION
No matter how bad things get on Tyneside, the key point to remember is that they can always get worse.
With Mike Ashley at the wheel, Newcastle United have lurched from one catastrophe to another, with several near misses along the way to spice things up as well.
Now, however, it feels as if the controversial owner might finally have pushed his luck too far by failing to secure a new contract for Rafa Benitez.
The Spaniard is set to leave St. James’ Park, as confirmed by the club, after being unable to agree to a new deal, and now the Magpies must go into the rest of the transfer window, and whatever lies beyond it, with a distinct lack of leadership.
Obviously, fans are up in arms, and rightly so, but when the dust settles and the initial fury subsides, the Toon Army are still going to be left with a void to fill in the dugout.
Already, several names have been thrown out there as potential replacements for Rafa, but perhaps the most worrying was that of Avram Grant.
The former Chelsea manager was linked with the vacancy on Monday afternoon, as reported by Sky, and if he were to land the post, it would surely be a disaster.
Grant may have been a hit during his time at Chelsea, but twice in consecutive seasons he was relegated from the Premier League, with Portsmouth and then with West Ham, and during both of those spells he never really looked like the right man for the job.
According to Transfermarkt, he averaged just 1.12 and 1.21 points per match at those respective clubs, and there is arguably a reason that he has not had a job in England since.
Toon fans should be grateful, therefore, for the latest report from Sky Sports journalist Keith Downie on Twitter, who has sought to clarify that the 64-year-old is not part of the Magpies’ future plans.
Given his recent record and the way things are shaping up for the Toon Army the summer, that could prove to be a silver lining in itself.
