On the face of it we have now acquired the services of a top notch manager. Just a glance through his CV tells you what he’s capable of and likely to bring to the table. You have to give credit to the club in securing his services albeit rather late in the day.
In truth this should of been done last summer, rather than searching in the bargain bucket for a coach again. It’s a mystery why the club continually chased after Steve McClaren (asking him no less than three times to coach us) when other better options were out there.
But of course it’s actually pretty obvious why Newcastle courted McClaren really. Here was a man looking to rebuild his reputation in England and ultimately get back into top flight football via a Derby promotion. Sadly for Derby it didn’t come off and a great start to the season saw them fall well short and miss out on the promised land of the Premier League. At this point alarm bells should of gone off for the Newcastle hierarchy that this wasn’t the coach to guide us anywhere let alone Premier League safety. A good coach he may be (so all the ex-pro’s say) but not a manager. So after a sacking by Derby he finally said yes to Newcastle’s advances. Yet another desperate coach seeking some kind of redemption joins us, just as Pardew had previously.
Time and again that man in charge, Mike Ashley, believes he can do this football malarky on the cheap. Time and again his blueprint for the club comes back to bite him and still he never learns. So here he is paying off his latest mistake and his backroom staff but has he finally learned?
Our new manager (yes, manager not coach) is Rafa Benitez, and I think we are all still in shock that we’ve actually signed such a good manager. The big question though is, is this really a case of lessons being learned by Mr Ashley? Has he finally seen that for a good job you need a very good Manager who can manage on his own terms?
We have to assume that Benitez has been promised autonomy in most aspects of his job and that he has been assured of future funds being made available, else he likely wouldn’t of signed up no matter what the financial benefits on offer.
Given that all of that was promised, should we stay in the Premier League will we see these promises come to fruition? That’s the biggest question and worry for me. We have seen Rafa Benitez at logger heads with previous owners over funding for players previously, notably at Liverpool. If he isn’t permitted to bring in the players he wants this could cause real problems and and result in him walking away. If that scenario were to pan out will we see a return to the hired yes man type of coach?
It is very difficult to have any trust in an owner who has lost his way so many times in trying to get this ‘football thing’ right and as fans he can hardly blame us being a tad skeptical over his long term desires for the future of the club. In fairness he has dipped his hands in the clubs coffers and spent a huge amount by our standards this season. And now he has acquired a top coach to try and ensure our Premier League survival so we can hardly complain.
Yet, I don’t now about you but I’m still wary of his will to carry out his promises to Rafa Benitez and the long road to trust seems a long way off to me. Let’s hope that lessons have really been learned this time and we can go forward with real hope.
Kimtoon
9th highest paid manager 😯
He’s going to have to win our games though, coz Man City have done us no fucking favours today!!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Very good article Kim. Well done!
I guess you’re asking if Ashley has finally changed his tune and decided to do
things properly for the first time? The £70m spend and this appointment
suggests that. Apparently Rafa’s on £5m a year which is massive. If he’s given
him total autonomy then maybe there are good times ahead. We’ll see.
Georgio(Quote)
I wonder does Norwich draw helps us in putting more pressure on Sunderland who doesn’t play till they meet us~
😐 😐
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Good thing about Scum game is we know how they play. Allardyce will have no idea how we are going to set up at home because he has not ever seen Rafa and this squad at home.
Good read Kim. I am convinced Rafa will not have joined without those assurances so if we stay up we are golden. If we drop however I believe it will be business as usual…
Shamrock(Quote)
Good read kim
we need to secure our prem status first. after that we can only hope the roads not too rocky.
I can honestly see Mike falling out with Rafa in the future. Mike isnt going to spend money like he has this season, every season, Although a lot has been wasted on *****.
Some shrewd buys from Rafa and a little investment should see us ok.
Wow we have a MANAGER! like a proper one wooo hoooo 😉
Gashley(Quote)
KIM well done lass,it looks to be getting harder and harder,needed a bloody City win,will do Norwich a power of good
Icedog(Quote)
Thanks Kim.
We have to keep the faith and believe the fatman has had a change of heart and desire for his club.
I don’t want to be sceptical, I want to believe again.
But right now, I am just so nervous for the rest of this season. Nothing is going our way.
Needed Norwich to get a hiding today and it never happened.
The derby is massive, MASSIVE.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
@Shamrock : Let’s hope Gini continues his home scoring form especially against the Scum. 😡
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
good draw for Norwich 😈 buts its another game less to save themselves.
Gashley(Quote)
presser on ssn now
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
I can see Swansea dropping like a stone. Starting with Bmth today.
Shamrock(Quote)
oh well not much said there
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
They have 3 points next week (Villa) then it’s stoke, Chelsea, us, Leicester, Liverpool, west ham and man city.
Shamrock(Quote)
Interesting Rafa said some players who were injured on Thursday but then could train on Friday. Funny what a change in manager can bring…
Stuart79(Quote)
I have said this before, but if you are being chased by a bear you don’t need to outrun the bear, just the bloke next to you. So, if Norwich and Sunderland keep fucking up we will be golden.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think I spotted Obertan at training.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If’s and but’s Eric
too many
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Please, no.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
yeah he was there Eric.
did you see the pain on his face doing those leg stretchy things
Rafa has just said he now expects the players to give everything , every game from now til the end of the season.
Colo has said he and the players are very excited
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
I think a good few of our slackers are in for a rude awakening
about bloody time n all
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
As you would expect he’s saying the right things.
Convinced we will get a new manager bounce with this guy. As Sham said on the previous thread, it’s really important we stay up as it could be exciting in the future.
Stuart79(Quote)
Perhaps a lot of our players that were “injured” may be a lot less “injured” now. They maybe just couldn’t be bothered to play before. We did have an abnormal number of injuries especially in training. 😯 😯
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Hope Rafa is going to implement double training sessions. Whip these feckers into shape!
Stuart79(Quote)
My fear is the Rafa signing will galvanize rather than terrify teams around us. They knew the minute he was bought in they all had to step up cause it’s likely we will.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim. You worry too much 🙂
Other teams won’t be worrying about us as we shouldn’t worry about them
As Long as we concentrate on getting results we’ll have the upper hand with Rafa
1-1 fast paced game this
Gashley(Quote)
Not seen Norwich that organised in yonks, mind you City were ***** today.
kimtoon(Quote)
Gashley, well one of us has to keep the reality hat on 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
🙂 true
Not sure if my stream is on x2 speed but this game is one of the fastest I’ve seen. End to end, hammer and tongs
Gashley(Quote)
Kim. Norwich often look OK but struggle to score
Gashley(Quote)
Exeter game off, smoke coming from stand at SJP 🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
Swans looking decent but I fancy B’mouth to win
Gashley(Quote)
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/newcastle-united/latest-nufc-news/rafa-benitez-legend-alan-shearer-told-me-to-take-newcastle-job-1-7793490
kimtoon(Quote)
I wonder what team Rafa will pick? The defense almost picks itself because there are so few of them fit. But we have options in midfield and up front. Plenty of them, actually.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Colo trained, Townsend was there too
Gashley(Quote)
Shelvey said everyones been turning up early to try and impress Rafa
kimtoon(Quote)
Don’t believe Colo was injured tbh, rather he fell out with Steve.
kimtoon(Quote)
As opposed to turning up late for McClaren..
I always turn up early for work. If I’m bang on time I consider it late 😡
Gashley(Quote)
How much of that do you think is because he’s Rafa or coz they are now playing for the manager – an organ grinder rather than a monkey.
What the hell is going on down the road as well?. Are Boro on self destruct or what?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kimtoon: I don’t believe Obertan was injured either. He was just *****.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You can see why B’mouth battered us. Good team with a decent attacking 3.
I love a forward line with pace, only Doumbia and a fit Cisse can offer us that
Gashley(Quote)
Eric 😆
Sharpy, Aye, it’s mental, apparently he told the players he didn’t wanna manage them anymore and stormed out the training session 😯
kimtoon(Quote)
Swans level 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
2-2
Gashley(Quote)
Sometimes the stats don’t lie. I think Obertan had like 1 goal and 4 assists in like 4 years. So. hopefully we have seen the last of him since his contract is up in the summer.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Bournemouth and Swansea enjoying a good game. Do we want a draw or a win for one of them? Personally I would be saying to the players we are targeting Palace. We need to finish above them and we will stay up.
Stuart79(Quote)
Eric, Hopefully we’ve seen the last of a number of players. Rafa will have no time for shirkers, sick notes or **** right donkeys
kimtoon(Quote)
Stu, I would think we want Swans to lose
kimtoon(Quote)
Swans are not our competition for relegation anymore. It is Norwich and Sunderland. We do have to beat Swans though in order to stay up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Kimtoon: I refer you to my comment earlier about being chased by a bear. Swans are faster than us at the moment. We have to hope that Norwich and Sunderland are not.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Swans could also beat Magpies and Canaries in a fight. And probably a small black cat, but not a panther.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
swans losing
kimtoon(Quote)
3-2 ?
Gashley(Quote)
Stuart79
March 12, 2016 at 15:27
”Hope Rafa is going to implement double training sessions. Whip these feckers into shape!”
I agree. We have lacked intensity for so long. Partlt due to the Grin Reaper’s awful tactics, partly because the players were not trying for him and partly because they are not fit enough.
Kim – We might see Big Al back at the club as a coach if we stay up?
Shamrock(Quote)
I almost changed my mind, the more the merrier in the relegation scrap. Although I still think it is a 4 team mini-league.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric I think Swansea are relegation rivals. They will pick up 3 points next week then I think they will fall faster than Andy Johnson’s lies in a Court Room.
Their fixture list is: 3 points next week (Villa),Stoke (a), Chelsea (h), us (a), Leicester (a), Liverpool (h), west ham (a) and man city (h)
All of those teams except Chelsea and Stoke have something to play for. Meanwhile Stoke and Chelsea are never comfortable fixtures.
Of course it could be lights out for us by 5pm next saturday so it might not even matter.
Shamrock(Quote)
?????????????
Gashley(Quote)
Sorry ignore that ?
Gashley(Quote)
So let’s look at the teams we have left to play and how many will have nothing to play for?
Swansea – Mid table
Palace – (?)
Villa – Already relegated
Man City – Out of title race
Southampton – Won’t get into Europe and won’t go down.
Liverpool – Will they be in the race for top 4 or just have Europa league to play for?
Spurs – Reckon title will be decided before this game.
Interesting fixtures but I still maintain that if we beat Norwich, Sunderland and Villa we will stay up.
Stuart79(Quote)
Palace will be OK. Whilst Pardeu is prone to long winless streaks, he tends to go straight on long unbeaten streaks straight after.
Shamrock(Quote)
If we don’t beat Sunderland and Norwich, we’re down basically. Two massive games but each one is important now.
DJG(Quote)
Sham, I can’t see Al touching the place while the fatman is here but yes he’d be great on the coaching staff.
kimtoon(Quote)
One game at a time, like Rafa says 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Swans lose
kimtoon(Quote)
Maybe as Sham says Swansea’s run in makes it hard for them but also they went to Arsenal and won and only just lost to Spurs so no pushover. We need to get a couple of surprise results like Sunderland did against Man Utd and Swansea did against Arsenal. Starting with Leicester…
In fact if we beat Leicester I would say that would be us staying up because it would destroy Norwich and Sunderland and we would have the confidence and the effect of a new manager in our next game against Sunderland.
Having said all that I still reckon we will probably get beat on Monday but the performance will be better than it would have been.
Stuart79(Quote)
Big result for Bristol City today Kim.
Made up for Bournemouth. They are safe now. Great effort from my local side.
Shamrock(Quote)
we have 2 more games on Norwich and one on Scum and swans, need to make it count AGAIN
kimtoon(Quote)
Sham, yes huge mate, they were behind for a fair bit, good come back.
kimtoon(Quote)
Sham: Andy Johnson was that bald Scottish bloke that played for Palace and Fulham.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It is probably the auto correct again. Mackems get turned into Madeira or Madagascar on mine.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Not auto correct this timeEric mate, just me being rubbish!
Shamrock(Quote)
Kim good read Lass 😉
For me I haven’t felt so optimistic about the club from Jabba brought KK back. I just cant wait to get the points on the board for this season, then I can start looking forward to next season.
Cant believe Jabba has finally changed his MO regarding how he runs the club, though at the back of my head I cant help thinking that he only done it because we were certain to go down.
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave, yes there is always that concern.
kimtoon(Quote)
We need players like man mountain Sissoko to start challenging like Everton are v Chelsea.
Let’s see if Rafa can install a bit of steel into their play. No shirkers allowed in our run in ?
Gashley(Quote)
Did you know Real Madrid’s first manager was English – and he had the job for 10 years?
Shamrock(Quote)
When our players did not perform, Scteve praised them. You can imagine the dressing room, refusing to acknowledge their bad points after our losses – always talking about what they did well and how we have 13, 12, 11 cup finals left…Complete nut case. Worse than Wolfie.
Benitez once subbed Benzema after he had scored. Benzema complained and Benitez’ response to the press? ‘Maybe Benzema should not worry about being subbed and start worrying about scoring more.” He has no mercy. Exactly what our lads need. The bar is now set very high and the players best get on board or they wont be playing.
Shamrock(Quote)