OPINION
While it is Mike Ashley who has financial control over Newcastle United, the British businessman has delegated plenty of power to right hand man Lee Charnley – and it is time for the chief executive to deliver.
The Telegraph claim that the Magpies are at serious risk of losing manager Rafael Benitez, arguably the club’s greatest asset right now, at the end of his contract in the summer, with no chance of a new deal being penned if the club do not deliver on their promise of two new signings this month.
As the man who is in direct contact with Benitez, Charnley is the one who needs to manage this situation and with it seemingly having escalated to breaking point, his head has to be on the line.
Of course a lot of people will point to Ashley and his unwillingness to provide the funds as the key problem but Charnley is doing an abysmal job of managing the club and that will not go down well in the books of either the owner nor the manager.
It would have been Charnley who made Benitez believe he was going to get two signings this month and if the Spaniard walks as a result of that promise being broken, then it could well be the senior figure who takes the fall on Ashley’s behalf.
The owner has a distinct lack of loyalty and while Charnley might well be his yes man for now, there is no saying he cannot find someone to take his place, especially if the pressure builds on him from the Toon Army.
Charnley cannot consider himself safe now and his head is firmly on the chopping block to take the blame for Ashley’s incompetence at St James’ Park.