Having spent a total of 27 weeks and counting in the bottom three of the Premier League this season, few can say that dropping to the Championship is an undeserved disaster for Newcastle United.
It has been on the horizon for over two years now. After finishing fifth a few years ago, Mike Ashley failed to recognise that selling United’s key players would only lead to a downfall.
There are too many reasons for the demise of Newcastle to talk about in this piece – it would take me a very, very long time to do so.
The sheer incompetence of the Magpies’ hierarchy has been the sole reason for their current plight.
For instance, a few weeks after narrowly avoiding relegation on the final day of the 2014/2015 season, Lee Charnley and the idiotic “Football Board” turned to a man sacked by Nottingham Forest and Derby County whilst in the Championship.
A regular fan on the street could predict that the appointment – as well as the ludicrous “top eight and win a trophy” target – would not work out well on Tyneside.
The signings of Henri Saivet and Seydou Doumbia, not sacking McClaren earlier, the failure to improve the defence, not improving the slowly dying training ground. These are just four of about 100 reasons as to why Newcastle are going down.
Fans have come to terms with the fact that, barring a miracle, United will be playing Championship football next season.
The main question on everyone’s mind is: Will Rafa Benitez, the only loved manager this club has had in over a decade, stay on for next season?
After years of false ambitions and ridiculous decisions, Mike Ashley simply must learn from his mistakes and do everything within his power to keep the Spanish magician on Tyneside.
If he ends up staying on, it would most certainly soften the devastating blow of relegation to the second tier of English football.
Newcastle would have a brighter future and a more realistic vision than years gone by. They would have the chance to totally rebuild, to rid the club of some of its mercenaries that call themselves professional footballers.
In my opinion, it would be one step back for multiple steps forward. They must hand Rafa the keys to the castle. Let him have full control.