Rumour: Rafa Benitez expected to take over as Newcastle boss

Andy The Magpie

In a breaking development, Rafa Benitez will be appointed as new manager of Newcastle United on a three year deal according to Sky Sports presenter Jim White.


After the reported sacking of now ex-Newcastle United boss Steve McClaren earlier today, rumours have been circulating that Spanish manager Rafael Benitez who has twice managed in the Premier League already with Liverpool and Chelsea will be taking over the hot seat at St James’ Park for the remainder of the season.

With the club currently occupying 19th spot inside the Premier League relegation zone, it was clear that Newcastle needed to act quickly and decisively should they wish to remain in the English top flight for at least another season. With a La Liga title with Valencia, Champions League title with Liverpool and a Europa League title with Chelsea to boot, the rumour suggests Newcastle clearly believe they’ve found the man who can lead the club to safety.

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245 thoughts on “Rumour: Rafa Benitez expected to take over as Newcastle boss”

  2. KIM he hasn’t put pen to paper yet so nothing legal,media can talk about it till cows come home as we do means nowt,SM must be sacked before Rafa can sign,they could even resign SM but must be in different role,as I said all ****

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  4. Ice – That’s a problem for us then. We don’t want to sack McClaren until we have Rafa and Rafa can’t and probably won’t sign until we sack McClaren!

    Apparently Ashley is in a Soho pub tonight. Hope he gets pissed and blurts a load of ***** out.

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  8. Some lad on Twitter took a pic of Ashley in the pub. Said to him “Get Rafa” and Ashley said “working on it, people working round the clock to sort the problems.”

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  11. Regarding site issues – just spotted the mobile comments seem to be going weird.

    And also just had a quote back from a tech guy I know to change the numbers (toonsy and I couldn’t figure it out) so should be all systems go tomorrow.

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  12. Will also take a look at the next article showing up issue tomorrow too. Please hang tight 🙂

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  14. Andy – thanks for the updates mate 😉
    Are yous enjoying the new challenge of running this site yet? 😕 😎

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  15. all systems go tomorrow then 😕
    might even get a pre match press conf too
    we live in hope

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  16. Andy, if you wouldn’t mind could you sort this bleeding mess out at the club too while you’re at it?

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  19. Independent saying Ashley has to give the thumbs up before Charnley takes any action. That will be a no then as soon as he sees what the salary would be.

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  22. ERIC cheers I loved them clips,one problem my Mrs who’s upstairs shouted down,do you know what time it is they can hear you laughing all over the village,he’s my hero

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  28. Thing is toon have a big problem,PL rules state a press conference must be held before a game,now who is going to do it I wonder

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  30. Well every paper saying we are looking at tying Rafa deal up today. Although they’ve just changed the date on the articles and used the same story as Wednesday.

    4.5%

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  31. Jeez, this is a hopeless site to come to to catch up on things – far too many clicks involved. It was much easier the other way. Anyway, didn’t bother reading comments for the last week.

    So, it seems that Benitez might be in the frame according to a few papers. The journos are creaming themselves stupid in speculation. However, it won’t happen. People who are never wrong have said that Ashley would never pay for a top manager.

    I’d like to see it, though, but whether he can save the club is another thing entirely. I would imagine that getting somebody like Rafa in would be quite a negotiation; I’m sure he has a lot of provisos he wants in the contract. And I wonder if relegation features there. Would he stay if we were in the Championship? Well, that’s probably all part of what’s holding things up.

    Whatever happens, let’s hope a change of manager brings a derby boost as well and we can do a Sunderland on Sunderland. I’d say the Leicester game is a write-off. Staving off relegation all hangs on the games against Sunderland, Norwich, Villa, Swansea and Palace. Can Rafa do it? Will he be there to do it?

    Come on, lad, become a hero.

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  32. Bris – people that are never wrong have had nothing to say all this week. Keeping their powder dry should these protracted negotiations fall down. 😉
    Personally, I don’t think they will, and we will hopefully have a very good, top class ‘manager’ in post today.
    Just hope and pray it’s not all too late to save us.
    If the players are moved by it, then I would expect to see a much improved performance on monday, no matter who is in the dug-out.
    Dare to believe.
    75%

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  33. There is no doubt that Rafa is a very good manager, much better than anything we have seen since Sir Bobby. My only concern was that I was not convinced that he left Liverpool a better club than the one he took over, but since that does not apply here 😈 👿 👿 👿 it doesn’t matter

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  34. If we win the Champions League, Prem, I don’t think I’d care if when he leaves we are debating whether we are a better club then than now.

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  35. How he leaves us in the future, is a long way off.
    Right now, I will be happy if he gets us into the top half of the table and keeps us there, with a team/squad that can compete.

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  36. BB so you think we will have him in today ?
    If and its a big if we do get Rafa apart from the fact IMO he is a top notch manager, and I have been saying for a few yrs that the club should push the boat out for him or a top manager like him.
    The biggest and most important thing is that it would give me real hope for the future that Jabba has finally changed his ethos and ambition for our club.

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  37. Bris I think that’s what I said. Whether he left LFC better or not is irrelevant coz he cant lave it any worse than it is now.

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  38. I hope so Big Dave, but thats all we have, HOPE.
    If it’s not sorted today, then I don’t see it happenning at all.
    on to plan ‘c’ 😕 (if there is one )

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  40. Long term for me, even if that means relegation this season and a complete re-build job.
    I doubt he will want to manage in the championship though, so I’m just hoping and praying he gets enough out of the current squad of flops to keep us up. That’s a big ask though. We need 4 wins and 3 draws from 10 matches, starting Monday night.

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  41. I think the owners at Liverpool had more of a responsibility for the state the club was in when Rafa left to be honest.

    It’s such a huge shift in Ashley’s MO that I can not realistically accept we will get Rafa until it actually happens.

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  42. Put it this way, if Rafa cant keep us up, then nobody can.
    This should have been done weeks ago.

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  43. Sham – He has to sign a 3 year deal with a relegation clause. It would mean the players would know that staying up gives them a real chance of playing under one of the best managers in the world.

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  44. Stuart – you are right, we won’t realistically get Rafa until it happens.
    you must be up to 20% by now though surely ❓

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  45. But Sky Sports are reporting that there hasn’t even been any face to face meetings between Rafa and Charnley! It’s shambolic, man!

    Honestly, I reckon everyone might have been jumping the gun here.

    2.5%

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  48. Rafa’s got Ashley by the short and curlies really.
    Agree to his demands or be dammed 😛

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  49. I still cant believe that after the last 2 games that the team got monday off and friday 😯
    Not a bit of wonder we are **** if the team get rewarded for being ****.
    I see Dummet is suppossed to be out injuried for a month

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  51. Dave, nowt makes sense with the club, you’ll do your head in trying to fathom their thinking. Starting to be more convinced this Rafa talk is all PR **** too. If they really wanted him, I reckon he’d be signed up by now. At the very least it’s looking like we won’t meet his demands. Will be shocked if he actually arrives now. The meeting with penfold greatly worries me as I have zero faith in the mans ability to do a deal.

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  53. Keith Downie ‏@SkySports_Keith · 2 mins2 minutes ago

    On duty at St James’ Park today as the McClaren/Benitez saga moves on to a fifth day. @SkySportsNewsHQ

    poor sod, someone get him a bacon bap at least.

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  57. Just saw SSN latest, Keith Downie looks a jaded man now by the way!!.

    Talks still at an advanced stage – for over 24hrs they have been at an advanced stage now.
    Also said there has been no face to face discussion yet, but there is potential for that to happen today … POTENTIAL!!!! Fucking POTENTIAL!!!!.
    Get your fucking finger out of your **** you little Penfold looking ****** and go and get us one of the best managers in world football.

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  60. come on guys, this has to happen.
    Even if it is only temporary.
    I refuse to be negative today
    TOON TOON

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  66. Stu – where have you got that from?

    Nowt on SSN yet and if Keith Downie has let that one get passed him, he’ll be pissed right off!!!.

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  67. Sharpy, I know someone who does a lot of work at the club. Not a ITK kind of guy but he’s got the ear of a couple of people there. I’ll be in his box for the Derby… 😯 😆

    Lets see.

    19%

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  68. A few media outlets running with the story that Rafa is now in NE to talk, if so I would say its really only a formality as im sure his agent etc would have had everything sorted by now.
    So maybe they want Rafa to be the Gaffa and do the pre match interview

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