Rudderless Newcastle lurching towards a troubled season
Posted on July 5th, 2019 | No Comments |
With the 2019/20 Premier League season just over a month away Newcastle United remain an organisation in turmoil.
Rafa Benitez’s departure as manager hasn’t gone down well with the club’s fans and has only served to increase their animosity towards owner Mike Ashley.
Read on as we assess the latest state of play at St James’ Park.
Who will replace Benitez?
Newcastle can be backed at 7/2 to be relegated next season and there will be plenty of punters eager to use a bet bonus code to take advantage of those odds given the current situation at the club.
Benitez’s exit from the club was pretty inevitable, but who will replace the popular Spaniard is anybody’s guess.
Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has been linked with the job, but it’s unlikely that he would be an appointment that would excite the fans.
Mikel Arteta, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Patrick Vieira are also believed to be in the running, while Porto boss Sergio Conceicao has been touted for the role.
Whoever comes in will certainly have the backing of the fans, but issues off the pitch could hamper their hopes of being successful.
Takeover situation rumbles on
The Bin Zayed Group claimed they had agreed terms with Ashley to buy Newcastle during May, but things appear to have gone a little quiet since then.
Predictably there has been nothing forthcoming from the club, despite fans being desperate to find out more information.
However, Dubai-based journalist Peter Redding has given them renewed hope by tweeting that Sheikh Khaled’s group are still eager to conclude a deal.
Ashley is known to be difficult to deal with, but the club can ill-afford this process to be dragged out for too long.
With the season fast approaching, the situation must be resolved quickly to ensure everyone knows where they stand when the action gets underway.
New season looming large
Newcastle don’t have a manager right now, but that hasn’t stopped them being active during the summer transfer window.
Ayoze Perez has completed a £30 million move to Leicester City, while Joselu looks like he is on his way to Alaves.
Sean Longstaff continues to be linked with Manchester United and other players are being tipped to leave St James’ Park – all of which could leave the Magpies’ squad looking threadbare.
Appointing a new manager is clearly a priority, although this could be complicated due to the situation surrounding the proposed takeover.
Newcastle fans will hope these issues are resolved ahead of the season opener against Arsenal. Failure to do so could leave the club looking at a hugely difficult campaign.
NUFCBlog Author: Frankly Various
Frankly Various has written 67 articles on this blog.