Charlton manager Lee Bowyer shared he thought Newcastle United needed to sort out Rafa Benitez’s future so the club can start building around him.
The Addicks boss, who just signed a new deal with the Championship club, shared he was in a similar situation, but on a different scale, in regards to him having ended the 2018/19 season with an uncertain future.
Bowyer then proceeded to rave about the job Benitez had done at the Magpies as he claimed it was unreal what he had achieved.
“I can see that regarding Rafa, he is in a similar situation (to me) on a different scale,” said Bowyer on talkSPORT (Saturday, June 22nd, 10:39).
“But for me, the most important thing is the stability of the club and you need a man who is in charge, and Rafa would be that.
“He has proven that in last couple of years, they should just nail him down if they can and then start building around him.
“As I said what he has done, has been unreal really.”
OPINION
No one is going to disagree with Bowyer as he is spot-on. The former Magpies player seemed to believe his uncertain future, which only recently got resolved, had made it difficult to start planning for the 2019/20 campaign as there was no guarantee he’d be the club’s manager. However that’s the least of Newcastle’s problems regarding Benitez right now, because as it stands they haven’t sorted out a new deal for him unlike Charlton have with Bowyer. There’s still a very real possibility that Benitez will walk out of the doors of St James Park when his current deal ends on June 30th (Source: The Sun) and not look back. If that happens the Magpies then need to find a replacement for him, and that’s going to delay them getting their team in order. This is because a manager is surely going to want a say in who the club signs and who the club sells, so it’s not like the Magpies can get their transfer dealings done early if Benitez goes. The only way that would prove not to be the case is if the Magpies have a replacement lined up for Benitez, but why would they have done that if they were focusing on keeping him?
