But Benitez said he could yet stay at St James’ Park following encouraging talks with Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley on Thursday.
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Benitez took over from Steve McClaren at Newcastle with 10 games of the season remaining but was not able to guide the club out of the relegation zone, and their demotion was confirmed when Sunderland beat Everton on Wednesday.
Benitez is believed to have a break clause in the three-year contract he signed upon his arrival, which gave him the option of cancelling the agreement in the event that Newcastle did not survive.
While it’s been a less-than-stellar season for beleaguered football club Newcastle United, they managed to end it with a bang after roundly thrashing Tottenham Hotspur, which itself is recovering from a loss to Leicester for title glory.
Benitez also put Newcastle’s fine performance down to them playing without pressure, saying: “When you are under pressure you don’t play at the level you can play”.
Benitez has a get out clause now present in his contract and is mulling over whether or not to stay on at St. James’ Park as the club prepares for life in the Championship.
“We will talk, have more meetings and then we will see what will happen”.
“I didn’t need to talk with the owner to prepare the players. If we go together, it has to be the best for both”. I was open to talk, and now I am even more open to talk, and hopefully after this we will start analysing what is going on, and what will be the future of Newcastle United and my future. “They are where they are and I think they will go down, but they’ll bounce back”. I was not a famous star as a player, so I needed to work very hard.
In an open letter to fans and staff on Friday, Ashley wrote: “I am writing to you in the immediate aftermath of the relegation of our club – a bitterly disappointing outcome for all of us”. That’s it. Tomorrow they will show their appreciation and we will try to do well for them. I have also won a lot of trophies, so I can understand when some people say he cannot stay and there’s others that say he will do it.
“Once Newcastle have formally become a member of the Football League this matter will be discussed with the club”. “We have to come next season with ambition!”
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But Newcastle restored their two-goal advantage in the 72nd minute when Sissoko was brought down in the box by Jan Vertonghen and Wijnaldum scored from the spot.
