OPINION
If Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is public enemy number one at St James’ Park then his right hand man Lee Charnley is public enemy number two.
The duo are seen as the root of all problems at the club and understandably so, their running of the Magpies leaving the club battling, if not suffering, relegation in recent years.
Keeping out of the limelight where possible, managing director Charnley is the man on the ground for Ashley, dealing with all the footballing matters on Tyneside – which will no doubt include the future of Rafael Benitez.
The Spaniard is out of contract this summer and there seems to be no new deal in the pipeline in a bid to keep him tied down for the foreseeable future, which will no doubt have the Toon Army tearing their hair out.
The Northern Echo report that Charnley and Ashley are actually not that concerned with the situation, with a belief that Benitez would not walk away from the club after three years in charge.
However, the same report hints that the top brass have got it horribly wrong about the manager and that he actually would turn his back on Newcastle United if his demands, which were said to be submitted by the former Liverpool boss at the end of March, were not met.
If the reason Newcastle have not been pushing for Benitez to stay is that they are confident he will not abandon the club, then it appears as they have been misjudging the situation – and action needs to be taken immediately.
Charnley needs to be on the phone to Ashley today to figure out what their plan moving forward is, for they cannot afford to be lackadaisical about the situation any more.
Losing Benitez is the worst case scenario for Newcastle United and with no significant progress said to have taken place in months despite Benitez making his demands clear, it is time for the club to pull their finger out.