Relegated by Sunderland and seeing Middlesbrough promoted is bad enough, but Newcastle can’t let Rafa Benitez go
THEY say bad things come in threes.
For Newcastle,
we are bracing ourselves for the final blow.
Toon have been relegated from the Premier League at the hands of arch-enemies Sunderland.
We watch our other North East rivals Middlesbrough
take our place in the top-flight. Now, we are surely going to see Rafa
Benitez slip our their fingers.
When the Magpies went down in 2009, it was a bitter pill to swallow — made
even worse by the taunting Aston
Villa fans at Villa Park.
Newcastle deserved to be relegated that season. We lacked firepower, urgency
and passion.
The same can be said for much of this term. Which is why we will be playing in
the Championship — and missing out on a £100million TV cash windfall — once
again come next campaign.
A heavy-handed 6-1
defeat at Manchester City in October, followed by a 3-0
humiliation at Sunderland shortly after and a 5-1
demolition at Crystal Palace in November, at the hands of Alan Pardew,
were early warning signs for owner Mike Ashley.
Clubs are often slammed for not giving their managers enough patience. But
Steve McClaren was a head-coach, and he should have gone sooner.
Benitez, on the other hand, demanded to be acknowledged as the 'manager' when
he was appointed.
What is a real knockout for everyone on Tyneside is the obvious resurgence the
team has had under Benitez.
The Spaniard took over from McClaren in March with ten games to go.
A near-impossible task, even for a manager of Benitez’s calibre. As Tyneside
legend Alan
Shearer said, “it is too little, too late”.
But, following a turbulent first four games in charge, the ex-Real Madrid
chief solved what had stumped McClaren. He got the players playing for him.
Jamaal Lascelles’ rant at his under-performing team-mates after a shambolic
3-1 defeat at Southampton proved a turning point for Toon.
The rookie centre-back, having only played 15 times for the club at the time,
questioned the attitudes of his peers on the pitch.
He blasted: “We need bigger characters on the pitch, players who care and who
are going to get after each other.”
And he was right.
Benitez
backed the former Nottingham Forest defender, admitting, “he was saying
what everybody is thinking”.
Newcastle were given the kick they needed — and are still unbeaten since the
22-year-old’s passionate outburst.
Admittedly, the goalless
stalemate at Villa on Saturday was a serious blip in form.
But the optimism on Tyneside over what Benitez could deliver at St James’ Park
is infectious.
Should the man who masterminded Liverpool’s
2005 Champions League triumph stay at Newcastle, the feeling is he can
restore the success that Toon fans have long forgotten.
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The prospect of Benitez having a transfer window to assemble his own team and
a full season to have a go at the league is exciting.
But despite the club honouring Benitez’s £5m-a-year salary in the
Championship, there are fears he will move to Everton
— the team destroyed by Sunderland on Wednesday night.
The release clause in Benitez’s three-year contract has been triggered —
allowing him to leave now — and it’s Newcastle who are in the firing line.