Newcastle United would ideally like to have a manager appointed before they jet out on their preseason trip to Asia, according to the Chronicle.
The Magpies will be managerless when Rafa Benitez’s contract expires this evening, and it is understood that the club wishes to resolve that problem as soon as possible.
United travel to China for the Premier League Asia Trophy preseason tournament this summer, with their first match taking place on Wednesday July 17th.
According to the report, U23s manager Neil Redfearn is currently on standby to take training when the players return from break on July 4th, presumably meaning that he would also take charge in that competition should no permanent successor to Benitez be found before then.
OPINION
This is definitely a positive for Newcastle United. The fact that the club are wanting to act so quickly shows that they are looking to learn from their mistakes with Benitez, but it begs the question, why couldn’t they have showed this kind of willing when the Spaniard was still around? It’s alright being proactive and driven now, but surely it would have made more sense to apply those same qualities in negotiations with the world class manager they already had. The other thing to point out is that just because the board want to do something, or claim to want to do something, doesn’t mean that it will happen. Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley are the masters of broken promises, and both will know that it is beneficial to them to give the impression that they are grafting away to find a replacement, regardless of if they actually are or not. Don’t be surprised if Redfearn is still at the helm when the Toon Army jet out to China.
