Newcastle sack Steve McClaren, Rafa Benitez arrives at St James' Park

Speculation about McClaren’s future has been rife all week, with the former England coach first expected to be sacked on Monday - following the disappointing Premier League defeat to Bournemouth at the weekend - and tipped for the chop every day since as rumours about Benitez’s arrival gained momentum.

The ex-Derby County and Wolfsburg boss left the club’s training ground on Thursday evening with a decidedly glum expression, leading to assumptions that he had finally been told his fate - or that he knew what was soon coming his way.

And his sacking duly finally arrived on Friday morning – with reports suggesting that Benitez had demanded that his fellow manager be officially informed of his fate before he would travel to the North East to finalise the terms of his appointment.

Benitez was later pictured arriving at St James' Park ahead of his formal appointment.

In a statement, Newcastle acknowledged that the process of removing McClaren had not been handled perfectly.

"After the defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday the club has spent some time considering its position and has today concluded that Steve McClaren's employment with the club will end with immediate effect,” a statement said.

"However we felt that this time was necessary to ensure the right decisions were reached with the best interests of the club at heart.”

McClaren leaves Newcastle sitting 19th in the table, one point of safety. Under his direction the club won just six of their 28 league games this term.

"I would like to thank Steve personally for his services to Newcastle United,” Charnley continued.

"He is a man of integrity and class and he has conducted himself with great dignity during this difficult time.

"Steve worked tirelessly to try and bring success to Newcastle United. He has the utmost respect of all the players, staff and management and he leaves with our very best wishes and sincere thanks.

"We feel that a change is now needed in order to give the club the best possible chance of securing its Premier League future.”

McClaren's departure comes with a rare acknowledgement of fault from the Newcastle hierarchy - with their PR team wisely advising Charnley to apologise for the shoddy way in which the club has gone about removing McClaren. While it obviously makes sense the club would want to have a successor lined up before dispensing with a coach, you do not keep the current man hanging on for days - with everyone including him knowing he is a dead man walking - in order to do so.

Friday's news allows all parties to move on, at least, as the club gamble their future on Benitez's managerial acumen. It is a calculated risk for both parties - Benitez sees a potentially huge club to be rebuilt, as long as he can keep them up, while Newcastle hope the Spaniard's vaunted CV is enough to achieve exactly that.

In the long-term there seems little doubt Benitez will improve Newcastle (how could he not?!), but it is the next 10 games on which that will pivot. Benitez essentially has to beat the results Sunderland, Norwich and Aston Villa have over the last 10 games - a 50/50 proposition in which Sunderland should be the strongest challengers - but there are no guarantees he will.

Benitez is not an inspiring manager, so it remains dubious how much he will immediately lift a squad that looks, at first glance, rather unsuited to his style - lacking in solid defensive players and overburdened with work-shy attacking ones. He is an organised one, yes, and probably better tactically than McClaren, but it is difficult to imprint that on a team in such a short window.

It is a mammoth initial task he faces - if he keeps Newcastle up, the club can surely look to brighter future under his stewardship. But if he does not he will surely not hang around - and who knows how much further a club so poorly run it cannot even sack a manager properly might yet fall.