AS Newcastle United’s shortlist for replacing Rafael Benitez begins to become clearer, a few early conclusions can be drawn. Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley are yet to decide on their preferred candidate, but their early thought process is nevertheless instructive.

First, and perhaps most importantly, this does not look like being a temporary, stop-gap appointment. Newcastle are not sounding out coaches who might be prepared to hold the fort for a couple of months, and that sends out an important message regarding the state of Ashley’s takeover negotiations.

We are not yet at the stage where we can say a takeover will not happen. But Newcastle’s thought process hardly suggests that a change of ownership is two or three weeks away, or even a likely scenario before the start of the new season.

If Newcastle offer their managerial job to Patrick Vieira or Steven Gerrard, they will not be doing so with the caveat that a new owner is waiting in the wings, potentially with their own ideas about who they want as boss.

Would Gerrard leave Rangers if there was huge uncertainty about who would be his boss in a month’s time? Would Vieira give up a prominent position in charge of Nice to lead a club about to be turned upside down?

The same is true of Sean Dyche or Eddie Howe – or indeed any of the potential candidates currently in employment elsewhere. The first question they would ask in an interview would be, ‘If Mike Ashley goes and a new owner comes in, what happens to me?’

All sources I have spoken to claim that Charnley is leading the process of searching for a new manager, with input from the rest of Ashley’s inner circle. Outside parties connected to a potential new owner – whether than be the Dubai-based Bin Zayed Group or any other consortium interested in taking over – are not involved. Would that be the case if a takeover deal was on the brink of going through?

Newcastle’s current owners appear to be conducting a thorough assessment of potential candidates, and while Dyche and Howe are being considered, Premier League experience does not appear to be a key criteria.

It has been in the past – hence why Steve McClaren and Alan Pardew were ushered through the entrance door – but this time around, Charnley and Ashley appear willing to follow the increasingly-popular model of appointing an ambitious young coach eager to prove themselves in a formative managerial position.

Gerrard and Vieira are currently managing in the SPL and Ligue 1 respectively, but this would be their first managerial position in England. Mikel Arteta has built up extensive coaching experience working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, but this would be his first managerial post.

It looks as though the Newcastle hierarchy have looked at the rapid development of the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino, and even David Wagner at Huddersfield, and concluded that limited experience of the English top-flight is not a barrier to success.

The talk of Anthony Hudson arriving as a head coach has subsided markedly in the last couple of days, but there does appear to be a shift towards more of a ‘continental-style’ model, with a clear demarcation between the responsibilities of the head coach on the training  ground and the responsibilities of an office-based recruitment team when it comes to signing players.

Benitez clashed repeatedly with Charnley and Ashley over his transfer budget and potential targets – there appears to be a determination to ensure such a scenario cannot be repeated in the new set-up.