Mike Ashley will pull out all the stops to keep Rafa Benitez at relegated Newcastle.
The Magpies' owner is expected to stage a face-to-face summit with his Spanish manager on Monday to try to convince Benitez he should stay on Tyneside and galvanise the club into an immediate Premier League return.
The Toon Army will make their own passionate pleas to boss Benitez during Sunday’s final game of the season, at home against Tottenham.
Benitez has been linked with a return to Spain at one of his old clubs, Valencia, but is keen to stay in England, where his family has settled in the North West following his time as Liverpool boss.
He said: “I like the idea, I am really pleased here, I am flattered with the support that I have from everyone.
“Mike Ashley is keen to talk and I am really pleased that we can sit down and talk. I don’t have any problem with that. The message he is sending is quite positive.”
Benitez added: “I have been so many years working so hard to win so many trophies that it is a question of now deciding whether you want to enjoy it, or you want to make money, or you want to win trophies. And I would like to enjoy winning trophies.
“At the moment I am really pleased with the reaction and and I want to be sure that if I decide to stay it is because I want to win.
“If I stay it is because I want to win, not because I want to stay here in the Championship for ten years. That is not my target. My target, if I stay, is one year and five in the Premier League.
"If I decide to stay it is because I have confidence we can get the job done.”
The former Liverpool boss, charmed by the efforts and the passion of the Toon Army, acknowledges the supporters have done their bit.
Benitez said: “The fans have done so much. Flattered is the word. They have been fantastic. Even today, the staff were showing me a video of the Newcastle fans singing my name. It was like in Liverpool when we won the Champions League. You cannot expect more from them.
“It is very similar to Liverpool, it was even the same song, the same way. It was very good. I was at Liverpool six years so the connection and the feelings are there.
"The two cities are very similar.
“They are working class cities with the passion of the fans and the support of the team. There a lot of similarities. It is one of the reasons I decided to come.
"This is a big club that needed to maybe wake up. It is just we have to make sure we have what we want for the future in terms of a strong team that can compete and promote again.
“Relegation is really bad for anyone , no matter how big is the club, especially when you have been working so hard, fighting so much. It’s really disappointing but you have to accept what is going on, and then think about the future."
If managing director Lee Charnley fails to land Benitez he will come under increasing pressure to quit — or could even face the sack.
Former League ref David Laws, who has just stepped down as chief executive at Newcastle Airport, would be among the front-runners to replace Charnley.
He has also been linked with a similar vacancy at Sunderland.
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