OPINION
Newcastle fans should be getting worried after a report from the Northern Echo claimed that Newcastle have effectively made up their mind about whether Rafael Benitez will stay at the club.
The newspaper’s article claims that current owners Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley have put in place no plan B for if the Spaniard leaves St James’ Park this summer.
What’s more, the Northern Echo also claim that not only have Ashley and Charnley not put a plan in place, but they don’t intend to at any point in the next few weeks.
Benitez was offered a contract by the club hierarchy to stay on in Teeside in the middle of May, and he is said to be still mulling over the offer ahead of him potentially leaving and becoming a free agent at the end of the month.
This has surely got to worry Newcastle fans. It seems as if the Newcastle hierarchy are supremely confident, almost arrogant, about their chances of keeping Benitez.
In having that frame of mind, they better hope that the deal they have proposed to Benitez is a good one, for there are plenty of reasons why they should fear Benitez could leave.
The Spaniard is reported to want to stay in Newcastle, but if he does not get the financial assurances he needs to be able to take his team to the next level, then he could well leave.
And if that does happen, Newcastle could well go into the eye of the transfer window storm next month in dire straits, not only having to look for new additions but a new manager too.
There is a hell of a lot riding on the future of Benitez at Newcastle, and you would have thought that the Newcastle hierarchy would have come up with at least some sort of contingency plan.
But alas, this is just another thing that surely will ramp up the anxiousness for Newcastle fans. It has not been an enjoyable start to the summer months for them whatsoever.