OPINION
The Newcastle United supporters are going through a tough time right now after the announcement that manager Rafael Benitez will be leaving the club this Sunday.
You don’t want to rub salt in their gaping wounds, but the latest takeover report makes for dispiriting reading for the Magpies faithful. The Sun claimed on Saturday that a new consortium was preparing to rival the Bin Zayed Group in an attempt to purchase the club from Mike Ashley.
The group were a French one, and were attempting to barge the BZG aside. However, it’s thought that they are now having second thoughts after Benitez was giving his marching orders. They believed the Spaniard was the right man to lead the club forward, but may now no longer be interested in buying the north east giants.
So not only have the supporters lost their finest manager since Sir Bobby Robson, but they have potentially missed out on a much-coveted takeover. You couldn’t blame the Newcastle fans for having their heads in their hands on Sunday.
It just goes from bad to worse, doesn’t it? The supporters want nothing more than freedom from Ashley’s tyranny. That, however, is proving to be a difficult thing to achieve.
The ideal scenario for the fans was always for Benitez to remain in charge and for someone to buy the club from Ashley. It seems, though, that we are careering ever closer to the opposite occurring.
That would be devastating for the hard-done-by Newcastle faithful, but there’s little they can do at this point. Who could blame a consortium for having doubts after Benitez was dismissed? Where this leave the supporters, though, is anyone’s guess.
