Rafael Benitez is wasted at Newcastle – he has to leave this failing institution

“If Ashley stays, Rafa will have to go.”

Those were my final words when I dedicated a column to Newcastle last season. Looking at the situation at the club at the start of this one, from a footballing perspective it is difficult to explain why my former manager is still there.

For a coach of Rafa Benítez’s pedigree to be treading water with no prospect of doing anything beyond retaining Premier League status is incomprehensible. There is nothing more he can do at St James’ Park. Not without regime change, and that is not happening.

The current arrangement is no more than a marriage of convenience, a short-term alliance with no future beyond the season.

Mike Ashley can’t afford to sack Benítez. Why would he anyway since he is the best man to keep them up and it would only rile disillusioned fans even further?

Rafa will see out contract because it would cost £6 million to buy out its final year. Newcastle are a big, prestigious club, Benítez is on a lucrative salary and he retains the overwhelming support of the St James' Park crowd, but the reality is an institution limping along until an inevitable parting next summer.

Yet again, the Newcastle fans will suffer when this has played itself out. While they cherish Benítez's coaching talent, those running the club are wasting it.

It would be fascinating to hear from Ashley what exactly his plan is for Newcastle. Not just this season, but beyond. Does he have one? Is there anyone sitting in his boardroom working out where the clubs needs and wants to go and how they intend to get there?

A top class football club can never solely think short-term, they have to constantly think ahead.

Ashley’s only concern is preserving Premier League status so while he has a manager who can keep the club up the constant sniping at his ownership has no effect. I don't even believe he is actively trying to sell the club.

Other than the continued employment of Benítez, everything at St James’ Park smacks of zero ambition. Is there anyone at Newcastle drawing a list of managerial successors to Benítez when his contract expires in June?

What kind of manager can Newcastle expect to lure once Benítez has gone? No-one of his calibre will go near the job given they know how little money has been spent on the team.

Rafa was given full control of the club's football operations when he decided to stay to regain promotion, but what does it amount to?

We continuously hear about targets not being pursued vigorously enough by the hierarchy, players' wages being considered too excessive to complete a deal, and a multitude of reasons being presented not to secure a transfer a month before the signing eventually arrives on deadline day – thus ensuring they need a month to fully adjust to the new set-up.  

Ashley can argue Benítez is one of the highest paid managers in the Premier League so he has spent more than he is credited, but the transfer fees over the last four years and beyond paint a different picture. The club came out of the last transfer window with £23.2 million profit at a time when they had to spending a minimum of £40 million net to improve the team – and that is a conservative estimate in the current era of spending.

Ashley has baulked at players salaries from the most moderately paid players by Premier League standards. Newcastle is a club that used to dream of fighting with the top clubs for players, now they can’t even compete with promoted teams like Wolves and Fulham for the same targets. At the moment they are losing out to clubs like Burnley who are more willing to meet contract expectations. That is what happened when the clubs were pursuing Jack Cork a year ago.

The owner must be calculating he can save money now by relying on Benítez to keep the club up, but it is a false economy. The bill will come later as a less capable manager will need cash to match the job he is doing next season.

Given the demanding fixture list so far, it is no surprise Newcastle are in the bottom three. A truer judgement of the side’s quality can be made over the next two months, starting with Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace. Games against Leicester, Brighton, Southampton and Watford follow soon. The season has to kick into shape now.

But the reality is Newcastle travel to Selhurst Park as underdogs. Crystal Palace, on paper, is a superior side. There is no-one of Wilfried Zaha’s class in the Newcastle squad, which is why Benítez has opted for a much more defensive approach to keep the team up.

Leicester are far better, too. They are the type of club Newcastle fans must watch and think, ‘why can’t we be like them?’ We all talk about the miracle of their Premier League win – and given the standard of opposition in the top six it was – but look deeper and it was achieved with smart investment.

Leicester’s owners appointed a renowned ex-Valencia, Chelsea and Napoli manager and spent money to build the team – as they still do with signings such as James Maddison for £25 million. It does not guarantee the unprecedented success of a title, but it ensures you go into every game believing you can win, even against the top sides. It is a long time since Newcastle could say this.

I criticised Benítez’s style last season, believing they should have been more positive in their home games regardless of the calibre of opponent. I stand by that, but in a strange way I think taking on the Newcastle job and being prepared to set-up his side in such a manner is brave from Benítez knowing the criticism that will come, and the damage it can do to him when trying to attract the attentions of a club competing in the Champions League – a competition he had spent 13 consecutive years managing in prior to his move to Newcastle.

It was telling that when the Arsenal job came up in the summer, they turned to a manager less successful in Spanish football and with none of Rafa’s Premier League experience.

Knowing Rafa as I do, he will be desperately missing the Champions League, watching those games in midweek and so frustrated he is not trying to outsmart those younger coaches. He will feel he has one more crack at the European elite in him, but he would have to go back overseas to do it.

The shame for Newcastle is they could have been that ‘one last big job’ if they had just some of the cash – and ambition – of Premier League rivals.

Newcastle fans justifiably argue they can never achieve such lofty ambitions until Ashley gets out of St James’ Park.

For Benítez to satisfy his and enhance a decorated list of honours, he will go first.