Ashley has balanced the books and that seems to be the limit of his ambitions. What he has never done, until Benitez, is appoint a manager and give him the right to choose his own transfer targets. But, of course, with Benitez he has denied him a sufficient budget. Pardew and McClaren may have had more money spent on the squads they had but they didn't choose the players bought. They had to rely on Carr & Co and Charnley who came up with such gems as Riviere and a host of others best forgotten. I always thought it unfair to judge a manager who was expected to get results with players he hadn't chosen to buy. Now Benitez can choose but only from the bargain basement. For £5 million you get Joselu not Coutinho or Lukaku. Benitez will never have the funds available to Mourinho or Guardiola. Many managers can spot talent but only a few can afford it. Benitez should be given enough to buy mid range players such as Sturridge or Townsend. Judgment on Benitez is, therefore, in my view suspended until he can be given a decent transfer budget but in retrospect, as I've said, we should remember what I said about Pardew and McClaren. One final point on comparisons is that a reasonable comparison could be made now with the two other clubs promoted with us which also don't have megabucks to spend.