Newcastle’s hunt for a new manager appears to be focusing on young, upcoming candidates, and a report in the Daily Telegraph gives a few names, all of which are currently in work.
Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard, Mikel Arteta and Eddie Howe – all mentioned in the article – all currently have jobs, and would mean Newcastle having to pay compensation to secure their services.
Even the names noted as “fallback options”, Sean Dyche and the very uninspiring Steve Bruce, are both presently at clubs.
So how realistic a prospect is it, that Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley – who both seem to hate paying £1 when 50p will do – would fork out huge sums to clubs to take their manager?
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Although it is not beyond the realms of possibility that they will do just that to get the right man, knowing how important a decision it is, with fans’ anger at previously unknown levels, a cheaper, out of work option will always be seen by cynics as their preferred route.
Would any compensation come from transfer budget?
Perhaps a more important question is: where would the compensation package money come from?
With a limited budget made available to Rafa Benitez during their doomed negotiations, fans will rightly wonder where the club hierarchy can suddenly conjure up £5-10 million to secure their manager.
The concern for fans will be that it might come from the very budget set aside for players. The result would see a potential £60m become £50m overnight, thus hampering a new manager before he even hangs his jacket up in the St James’ Park office.
But wherever they find the funds from, they simply must get the appointment right, and even then, it will not be enough to win many of the disgruntled, disillusioned fans over.