Imagine a fan base full of optimism despite having recently experienced relegation. It should be a club in turmoil if logic dictates. But it’s not. Why is that?
Well, in this case, it’s due to one man and his name is Rafael Benitez. One of the top ten managers in the world came to Newcastle United when they were in a dire situation. He could not get us out of that situation, but his dedication to the cause and decision to stay on despite relegation has lifted the fanbase of this great club.
But why is he gaining all this trust from our fan base? The Spaniard has only managed the club for twelve league games – ten in the Premier League, from which we were inevitably relegated from, and two in the Championship, both of which we’ve lost.
There are several reasons for our continued support.
- His record. It speaks for itself. Two La Liga titles. An FA Cup title. A Champions League title. A Europa League title. The list goes on. You want this man to manage your club, and he is on a different level to his inept predecessors.
His attitude. This man is genuinely a good person, through and through. He has time for people – the Spaniard is a great supporter of various good causes, and he contributes to lots of charity work. Rafa doesn’t coach players through fear tactics, he makes you want to follow him. Benitez respects you, but he also demands that same respect.
His work ethic. The man seemingly does not sleep. Rafa is a realist, but he’s already done a lot of work to improve everything from club relations to facilities for the players. He has brought unity into a club devoid of life as we once knew it.
Many hope he’ll emulate the late Sir Bobby Robson. Maybe he will, but if that is the case, he’ll do it in his own way, Rafa is his own man. He needs no comparison – you can easily tell that he doesn’t follow in footsteps, he makes them.
We have to remember, nine first-team players have exited, and eight have arrived. When you make such wholesale changes to a club, a new culture will take time to settle. If you yourself are a leader in a workplace with many employees, you’ll understand what I mean.
Then there are things such as gelling, tactics, formations, selections and still wanting to add an additional three players to the squad. We have a very young squad now which will need time to settle. Benitez has more or less completely eviscerated the backbone we had in the Premier League, not because he wanted to, but because that’s was what was needed and because some wanted to go.
The biggest part here is the pressure. The pressure to perform for the fans who both want and expect a direct promotion. The pressure on the players themselves to perform at their best from game to game. Let’s not trick ourselves, we can say that this’ll be difficult as many times as we want, but we want to win games – we want to win them all.
So let realism take the place of anger and disappointment and put common sense in the driver’s seat every once in a while. This league will be tough, Newcastle United fans know what it means to go through a rut. But we’re always there for our club, we are always loyal.
Let’s let Rafa do his job. I urge you to not make your own conclusions yet – it’s far too early for that. We could not ask for a better man to lead this club.
He’ll sort us out, we just have to give him time and support.