Things Just Keep Getting Better for Rafa Benitez

As reported by The Chronicle, Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez has been awared the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month for the month of October.

During October, Benitez saw his side win all five of their games, conceding only two goals and the Spaniard spoke of his delight in winning this award.

Benitez said: “I’m really pleased. As a manager when you win a trophy it means that your staff, your players, the people who work in the club, they are working very hard. So I think they also deserve this award and it’s important for everyone here.”

There can be little doubt that this sort of attitude is one of many qualities that endears Benitez to the Newcastle faithful, as they set him apart from other managers that have recently held the hot seat.

Benitez, although he is arguably over-qualified to be where he finds himself, also seems the most gracious and grateful manager that the club have had in years, after being given the opportunity to take us forward.

120 thoughts on “Things Just Keep Getting Better for Rafa Benitez

  1. Just appoint Rooney manager FFS. 40 yard passes to nowhere, check. Horrible scouse accent in press conferences, check. Have done nowt for England since 2004, check.

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  2. Can you imagine Brian Clough writing a pre-prepared resignation letter before a game against Iceland? Bobby Robson? Bob Paisley? Rafa Benites? Fck no.

    Steve McClaren, yes.

    Mr. Roy, absolutely, yes.

    Gareth Southgate, emphatically, yes.

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  3. I know I am on a rant. But what can you do when Trump is elected President and Southgate England Manager?

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  4. Really, Mr. Roy came into a press conference with a pre-prepared note giving his resignation after the Iceland game. Really!! Now we have Southgate? What the F are these people playing at?

    They appoint a blowhard and middling at best manager before him and now go for a serial loser. Appoint Ugly John FFS, he has about the same CV.

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  5. Yes I know I am ranting. But really.

    Really!!

    This will come back to haunt England football like a Troysta on a sugar binge.

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  6. What?!!!

    I think I am in some alternative reality.

    Trump President?

    Gareth Southgate manager of England?

    What’s that you say?

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  7. Well taken goal there for our Mitro. It’s starting to come together for him now.

    Kim I’m in the emergency services mate.

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  8. Just watched the Liverpool win over Watford. Goodness me they can play some one touch football. We have work to do if we don’t want to get absolutely mullered by them next year.

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  9. Mitro is a win-win for the Toon. 15 mill is peanuts, he keeps cracking the goals in for Serbia, establishes himself in the toon line up and carries us into the Premiership.
    Alternatively he fails to break into the Toon line up, STILL keeps cracking the goals in for Serbia, and some desperate Italian club pays 30 mill for him.
    It worked for Sissoko, so it’ll also work for Mitro….
    Economics ala Lambias ?… easy innit…. In Rafa we trust…
    Hope the lad makes it at the toon though, he has the trappings of a legend, and the fans have a canny chant for him…

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  10. I suppose the question is are the toon at the moment not good enough for Mitro, or Mitro not good enough for the toon. He’s still only a big bairn, stick with him I say, we won’t lose money on him that’s for sure

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  11. Sham, regarding your Liverpool comment, agree 100%, outthinking Preston reserves is a long way from Liverpool and the top of the Prem. At the same time I would hope that the toon can re-establish themselves at the top of the bottom 8 league in the EPL. One step at a time….

    Regarding Kloppo, he has a shelf life of 5-6 years I reckon, his energy levels are amazing but things take the toll and he gets sussed out, happened at Dortmund too. But dear me what a great time it was watching him at work !! Fantastic ! Thats’s what peeved me so much with our relegation, seeing Klopp, Pep moving over from the Bundesliga then us not being part of the new wave of international managers arriving on the island. Conte seems to have Chelsea firing on all cylinders, Wenger is still doing brilliantly, wonder what Rafa makes of it. It’s a bit like the old days when SAF, Mourinho, Wenger, Rafa were all getting stuck into it winding each other up… hopefully we’ll be back amongst it all soon !

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  12. Shamrock:
    Well taken goal there for our Mitro. It’s starting to come together for him now.

    Kim I’m in the emergency services mate.

    Ah right Sham, that explains the Shifts.

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  13. I like Mitro’s passion, so long as he channels it right he could under Rafa’s guidance be a Toon legend. My only worry is I’m not sure Rafa rates him highly enough, it could be just a trust issue.

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  14. Kim – Rafa rates Gayle so it’s really hard for Mitro to get in when he’s wedded to 4231. Great to have two good strikers though even if it’s hard to keep them both happy.

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  15. it stands to reason that no matter how much badge kissing Mitro does he’ll want to play. For this reason promotion is absolutely necessary this season, so he can try himself out against the best. Failing that, 30 mill to Italy, ta very much. In Rafa we trust.

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  16. Can’t really fault Mitrovic at the moment. For all the question marks he gets, the lad is scoring a goal per game. I’ll take that for our second choice striker. Would a 22 years old Xisco or Sammy Ameobi have done that? I know who I prefer. He’s not the quickest but not every player is. I’m not saying he is a Le Tiss or Bergkamp or anything but he is a CF who gets stuck in. Every team needs one of those, I would keep him as long as we can unless it is clear after two seasons in the Premier League that there are better options available. He is at the right end of his career and should only get better, like a Centre-half would, he plays a position that needs experience.

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  17. “I had an operation a month ago and I’m probably a fortnight away from being fit so I’m excited about getting back in training and being among the lads again.”

    Delph added in an interview with City’s official website: “The tendons in my groin were pulling against the bone and it’s an issue I’ve had for about eight months and it’s been hampering me quite a bit and it got to a stage where it was better to resolve it rather than play on.

    “We tried rehab, but it ended with an operation that involves cutting the tendons away and that seems to have solved the problem.”

    – Fabian Delph

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  18. DJG agreed mate, Mitro is work in progress and I have more faith in Rafa than the previous incumbents of the toon hot seat to bring him along nicely. There are enough of them about, good enough for there national teams, but not good enough for the Prem/ Championship.. a case of watch this space…

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  19. KIM cheers for that up date,when i first started reading it i thought it was you that just had a opp lol 😳

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  20. Icedog 🙂 🙂 Kimtoon, thanks for that mate. I was wondering why he was so cheap, 6 mill is nowt these days, for an international too. Hopefully not another sicknote, maybe a loan deal in January to prove his fitness with an option to buy ? Rafa has also realised that we are totally dependent on Shelvey …

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  21. I think Delph would be a cracking buy at £6m. My only issue would be we already seem well stocked in that position. If we say we play a 4-2-3-1 system then I reckon Delph would probably be in the 2 of that formation. For me we already have Shelvey, Hayden, Colback, Anita and for me Diame is better suited there.
    I would like to see us improve that middle spot of the 3 behind the forward – currently being shared by Perez & Diame. Perez has done the better of the 2 so far IMO – but neither have been particularly great.

    I do think Delph was a big player for Villa though. He’s a good player and seemed to have a great mentality.

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  22. Icedog, I’m staying here this year mate, but will be in the toon around easter next year. Are you heading off to see the family anywhere nice ?

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  23. Sharpster, agreed to a certain extent, though not convinced of Anita and Colback in midfield, I reckon Perez and Diame will get found out in the Prem…will prove good squad players but not the main men…

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  24. Munich Mag:
    Icedog, I’m staying here this year mate, but will be in the toon around easter next year. Are you heading off to see the family anywhere nice ?

    nah mate staying here,sending the money that i would have spent going to Malta for xmas to son so he can have better xmas with the kids,but ill miss them like

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  25. Munich Mag:
    Sharpster, agreed to a certain extent, though not convinced of Anita and Colback in midfield, I reckon Perez and Diame will get found out in the Prem…will prove good squad players but not the main men…

    MM – I’ve never really been convince of Colback mate – works hard but lacks in quality for me (certainly PL level). Anita has looked best at RB rather than CM but could still cover there if needed. Diame would be better further back, but Shelvey & Hayden would always be ahead of him for me. Delph would be a decent addition and cheap at £6m – but the injury thing would be a concern for me.

    From what I’ve seen of our league so far this season Anthony Knockeart & Will Hughes look real quality – I’d be happy with either of those – though I reckon both would cost a pretty penny & neither would be sold in Jan I reckon.

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  26. Munich Mag:
    Kimtoon, have you moved into your new pad yet ?

    😆 joking mate. Lost my first buyer after survey which was a crock of **** and scared her off. She thought she could move into an old Victorian villa and the only thing she’d have to do was renew the boiler at some point 🙄 A builder is buying it off me now as he wants to live in this street . It’s £7,000 less than the first offer but I can still just about afford the bungalow and meet the fees and stamp duty. Like everything though it takes time and although the bungalow couple are pressing for a quick move I’m not dancing to their tune as I can’t get respite for lew mid to late December and I am not moving with him in tow. Then I get search stuff back about the bungalow and although it’s land registered title absolute the fecking deeds are missing which I am not happy about. We know it has covenants on it and a rent charge but not how much they are or what the covenants are as the deeds are lost with no copy at LR. I will now need two indemnity policies, one to cover cost of bungalow and one to cover rent charge which is never collected. And god knows if I ever want to move again how much it could put off buyers of the bungalow. Pissed off doesn’t cover it at the moment mate. Builder has sold his flat to a cash buyer so at least that’s something, that’ll probably go wrong now though. Why **** like this always happens to me I don’t know. I swear if the builder tries to gazunder me at exchange I will just jack the whole lot in as I actually like my house and am only moving for Lews comfort and an easier life with handling him.
    Bet you wish you’d never asked now 😆

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  27. i dont think Colback or Anita are good enough for the PL and need cover for Shelvey most clubs have more than one attacking midfielder,Colback and Anita were part of the reason we went down in the first place among others Rafa will weedle them out Delph is the right cover he done ok in the PL before,Antia will be ok at full back in the PL

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  28. Sharpy17:
    Ice – I’ve just booked up to go to Malta next Aug mate – not wasting my money then?!

    i love Malta mate where are you staying?? the north end of Malta i hope,i hope you like heat july/aug it can get to 40/45c thats to hot for me thats the only two months i miss lol,dont forget change your money at Malta end you get a better rate,if you need any help or advice about anything just ask,after going for more than 30yr i know a little bit about it

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  29. icedog: i love Malta mate where are you staying?? the north end of Malta i hope,i hope you like heat july/aug it can get to 40/45c thats to hot for me thats the only two months i miss lol,dont forget change your money at Malta end you get a better rate,if you need any help or advice about anything just ask,after going for more than 30yr i know a little bit about it

    Yeah mate it’s a hotel called Seabank Resort in Mellieha Bay. I’ll be honest I struggle with heat like that but it was abroad or another UK holiday in Aug and the last 3 have just been total wash outs ? and felt like a waste of money.
    Never been to Malta before but it was a really decent deal in comparison to other places we were looking at, and it looks like an interesting place to go visit so job done.

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  30. Sharpy17: Yeah mate it’s a hotel called Seabank Resort in Mellieha Bay.I’ll be honest I struggle with heat like that but it was abroad or another UK holiday in Aug and the last 3 have just been total wash outs and felt like a waste of money.
    Never been to Malta before but it was a really decent deal in comparison to other places we were looking at, and it looks like an interesting place to go visit so job done.

    thats a nice place mate,you can get a bus anywhere from there but keep the ticket as it lasts all day,they love English people so your fine,any way ill give you a few tips closer to your date

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  31. Ice – good man. We’re in Mexico in April so were just looking for a week somewhere in Aug but it wasn’t much more for 11 days so went for it. The missus has her eye on some of the boat trips too I think.

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