Rafa Benitez will be leaving Newcastle then as talks between man and club clearly didn’t work out. It’s probably an ambition thing with the Magpies owner Mike Ashley not giving Benitez the free reign to do what he would like to do for the club in the transfer market. So the only thing known at this point is that Newcastle are going to be looking for a new manager.
Next Newcastle Manager Odds*
Jose Mourinho 9/2
Mikel Arteta 6/1
Garry Monk 8/1
Avram Grant 8/1
Davis Moyes 10/1
Chris Hughton 10/1
Patrick Vieira 14/1
Gennaro Gattuso 14/1
Eddie Howe 16/1
Phil Neville 25/1
Marcelo Bielsa 25/1
* (betting odds taken from Coral on June 24th, 2019 at 9:15 pm)
Who will be the next Newcastle manager?
Who do the Magpies turn to? It’s well documented that Ashley keeps the purse strings very tight and that’s not an easy thing for any manager to work with in this day and age. But at least the owner has made the club self-sufficient and not running up big debts. But of course, the allure of the job is that it is managing one of the biggest clubs in England, one which has one of the best fan bases around.
Mourinho coming back to the EPL?
So where were the early markets in the Next Newcastle Manager betting market turning? Jose Mourinho was put in as an early front runner to the tune of 9/2 with Coral* (betting odds taken from Coral on June 24th, 2019 at 9:15 pm). He’s out of work currently and is a manager with a proven track record. Newcastle did, after all, manage to lure Benitez there in the first place, so could they charm Mourinho back to the Premier League?
Monk and Grant early contenders
Garry Monk was an early favourite tossed out there at 8/1 price. Monk is another manager who is ready for a new challenge after parting company with Birmingham about a week ago. Another contender at the same price is Mikel Arteta, who is starting to be linked to very open job available. Arteta is an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and is unlikely to jump ship really for such a big first-managerial challenge.
Another name making single figures on Monday with Coral was former Chelsea boss Avram Grant. He is currently working as a technical advisor for NorthEast United in the Indian Super League. There have been contrasting reports about any potential interest in him. Some are saying that he is being considered, others saying that he is not. But you just never know with these Next Manager markets.
Naturally, it’s all up in the air a bit. Gennaro Gattuso would be a big capture for them as well, having departed AC Milan at the end of the season. He could toughen things up at the club perhaps. But Newcastle are just not an easy club to manage because of how they operate under Mike Ashley.
They are a Premier League side but they also need a lot of development to be something more than they are currently, a bottom half of the table unit. They have just lost arguably the best manager that could have, one that was loved and respected by the fans. That will make it even tougher for whoever takes over next.
