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Can't wait to see his first team sheet man. Love to see how he envisions setting us up.

 

From his interview it seems he has watched us play and is familiar with the team somewhat.

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Pool fan here. I come in peace. I am a bit of a Rafa fan and thought would share my views on positives and negatives of Rafa.

 

Style of Play: Functional. Hates loosing more than loves winning. Players will be drilled, day in day out. You will have the best defense seen at the club for ages. It can grate fans who like the attacking style of football but I can guarantee one thing - Newcastle United will never let the fans down in terms of effort. He will demand every player to cover every blade of grass 10 times over in each game. Once his tactics take shape, expect Newcastle to suffocate the opposition.

 

One of the reasons he is unpopular in the media is that he never bows down to others. His attitude towards Mourinho "F*** you", towards Ferguson  " F*** you", towards Allardyc " F*** F***  F*** you". You will go to Nou Camp, Madrid, San Siro and play with the "F** you we are Geordies, this is how we play attitude". His Valencia and Liverpool teams never bowed to anyone. Ayala used to say about how Rafa wanted him to kick players in the shower and create fights in the dressing room when someone was giving less than 100%. Expect the same at Newcastle.

 

Player management: He is not the best at managing egos. He views each player as a chess piece. If he believes the team performance improves after drinking tea which Alan Shearer makes, he will ask Alan Shearer to make tea. He is all about drills. Players come in repeat the drills over and over again till it becomes second nature. He is from the Sacchi school than Cryuff.

 

Attention to details: Obsessive. He will spend hours analyzing every bit of detail about the opposition. Stop him on the street and ask about next weeks game, he will be able to recite the height and weight of all opposition players from memory. He will give you 400%. When he got fired from Inter he started coaching the U 10 or U 8 football team his daughters played for, and apparently parents got bewildered when he stood at the sidelines and started shouting at 8 year old girls for not following his instruction.

 

Relationship with owners: Not the best at maintaining relationship with owners. Frequently gets into fights.

 

Relationship with fans: Dont listen to the media who portray him as a cold person. You will love him. He embraces the city, the culture and when you loose you can see the hurt in his eyes. He will give you his everything. Him and his wife Montse Benitez are wonderful human beings who will do a lot for charity. When he left he gave the HJC a check for $96000. I know he makes millions but having the presence of mind to pick that number shows everything about him. Other incidents:

Google for Montse Benitez charities. She and Rafa have done a lot.

 

Tranfers: A bit of a mixed bag. His transfers initially were brilliant. He loves choir boys than mavericks. But when he gets it right, he really gets it right - Alonso, Torres, Mascherano, Reina. The right type of players love him. "Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano has expressed his gratitude to Rafa Benitez and feels the Real Madrid coach saved his career. Mascherano has not forgotten about his former mentor and has stressed he will always be grateful to Benitez. He's a great man, and a diligent and excellent coach," Mascherano told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has thanked Rafa Benitez for helping him to a reach a level he never expected to hit." Bellamy: "I have gone on record recently and I will say it again now that I have learnt more from Rafael Benitez than any other coach I have worked with. I am a much better player for the time I've spent working with him and if I do go on to manage at some point in the future he's the model I'll use in my career. I can't make my respect for him any clearer than that."

 

Football infrastructure: He builds the long term football infrastructure along with the first team. His coaching staff are serious technical people - not people who get jobs because of their playing career. He revamped the youth setup at LFC and Sterling, Ibe, Flanagan - not exactly class of 92 but still the best youth setup LFC had in ages. Expect some personnel from Sevilla, Barcelona, Madrid youth setup to join yu guys in the future.

 

Will Newcastle win the Premier League if Rafa is the boss for the next 10 years? Not sure. But you will definitely win cups and most likely nice shiny European ones. If my life depended on the outcome of a two legged European tie, there is no one on the planet I would pick to manage my club other than Rafa Benitez. Loose to Reading on Saturday and then go to Nou Camp and defeat reining European champion Barcelona on their home turf. Expect a lot of weeks like that.

 

Good luck. Wonderful manager, great person. You will love him

 

Loved reading this.

 

I've fallen in love with football again. We've finally done something right.and worthy of being excited about.

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fucking fools- Ive always looked on him as one of them Top managers- managing the champions league clubs- way out of our league- a place we once under SBR tasted but long since left us behind.  The top end of football we could watch but not be involved- so to get a manager from that caliber here is just .... fucking pinches myself,

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You know he'll have been devising a plan all week to get something on Monday, no way did he just start thinking about it today.

 

This sort of thing unites a fan base. One of the worst things about the last few years for me is how estranged from my fellow NUFC fans I've felt. Now we can all unite in support of Rafa and get on with loving the club again as a collective. Who knows, if we stay up and Ashley keeps his promises we might even see the return of a lot of fans who had walked away from SJP for a while, and get a real atmosphere back. We've all seen it before, this club is a juggernaut once it gets rolling.

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He didn't say, "Let's do our best or see what happens"...He said, "Let's win that game"...Referring to Leicester.

 

Yeh, totally noticed. What a refreshing change. The talk of a winner. No relegation experience...because he's a winner. Wants 3 points in every game...because he's a winner.

 

If we lose trying to win, then fair enough. It's the losing while not trying that has been killing me for years. And losing before we even kick-off. Mr P's favourite approach.

 

We have a proven winner leading us! :frantic:

 

He's also zero-bullshit in his interviews, which will make a far refreshing change from the recent incumbents. Note that this is not always a positive, since he's a bit tone-deaf from time to time.

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"One of the worst things about the last few years for me is how estranged from my fellow NUFC fans I've felt"

 

So much this, it's really strange here as the association is with so many who follow different clubs and the remoteness of things black 'n' white - yeah the platitudes flow but the reaction the morning is generally "how the fuck did you pull that off"...spring in the step and (even if it's only for a few days) immense pride

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My friends, family and colleagues have seemed genuinely surprised by how giddy I've been about all this news today. They're seemingly so used to how downbeat and negative I am about the club that they've been taken aback by my optimism and excitement. I'm sure the wife thinks I'm putting it on.

It's been exactly the same for me, Dave. My missus isn't in the slightest bit interested in football, but I do think she's chuffed at how happy I've been today.

 

All week when I'm home from work "Has the manager gone yet?"

 

"Nah"

 

She wonders why I go, why I watch, why I listen, why I read about NUFC, why do I bother when I get so fed up with all the shit? It's literally impossible to explain to someone who has little or no interest in football, just how it makes you feel.

 

To go from over 10 years of apathy, misery and anger to the emotions I've experienced today is just insane. Those seasons under Sir Bobby were exceptional, of course they seem like a lifetime ago but to have even a hint of that excitement again is long overdue. I literally cannot fathom how any sane NUFC fan could consider this a risk or a bad move in any way. It could be the start of something so special.

 

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Massively heartened by the appointment and have watched his little interview a couple of times now. Was struck by the contrast of him and McClaren, the positivity, the organisation, the plan, the goals and the knowhow to get the job done. No bullshit, no spin, no waffle. After hearing him, a proper manager, speak about the club, the fans and the players it's no the wonder the players simply weren't responding to McClaren - utter fraud (nice guy) but an utter fraud and they clearly had no belief in him or his message. I think they'll respond to Benitez. I'm not buzzing yet because we're still very much in the shit but we're looking up now and we've finally got a bloke in charge who can get shit done.

 

:bluf:

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You know he'll have been devising a plan all week to get something on Monday, no way did he just start thinking about it today.

 

This sort of thing unites a fan base. One of the worst things about the last few years for me is how estranged from my fellow NUFC fans I've felt. Now we can all unite in support of Rafa and get on with loving the club again as a collective. Who knows, if we stay up and Ashley keeps his promises we might even see the return of a lot of fans who had walked away from SJP for a while, and get a real atmosphere back. We've all seen it before, this club is a juggernaut once it gets rolling.

 

Aye but juggernauts crash big, we've seen it all before.

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It was like a day dream watching his first interview. I know it's a cliche but it still hasn't quite sunk in.

 

Just mentioned this in the other thread. That interview just blew me away. Such absolute sense of direction and focus. He almost seems to be relishing the fixture with Leicester while making the point that every one of the next 10 games is important right up until the end.

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Massively heartened by the appointment and have watched his little interview a couple of times now. Was struck by the contrast of him and McClaren, the positivity, the organisation, the plan, the goals and the knowhow to get the job done. No bullshit, no spin, no waffle. After hearing him, a proper manager, speak about the club, the fans and the players it's no the wonder the players simply weren't responding to McClaren - utter fraud (nice guy) but an utter fraud and they clearly had no belief in him or his message. I think they'll respond to Benitez. I'm not buzzing yet because we're still very much in the shit but we're looking up now and we've finally got a bloke in charge who can get shit done.

 

:bluf:

It's so excited to be engaged in the club again and actually look forward to a game.

 

Not only has the club got a lift but this place has as well, can't wait to get into some actual football discussion instead of calling the manager and players a set of cunts.

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He didn't say, "Let's do our best or see what happens"...He said, "Let's win that game"...Referring to Leicester.

 

Yeh, totally noticed. What a refreshing change. The talk of a winner. No relegation experience...because he's a winner. Wants 3 points in every game...because he's a winner.

 

If we lose trying to win, then fair enough. It's the losing while not trying that has been killing me for years. And losing before we even kick-off. Mr P's favourite approach.

 

We have a proven winner leading us! :frantic:

 

He's also zero-bullshit in his interviews, which will make a far refreshing change from the recent incumbents. Note that this is not always a positive, since he's a bit tone-deaf from time to time.

 

Just gets better :lol: Us lot will love that.

 

My overall impression - going from his times at Valencia and Real Madrid - is that he just doesn't give a f*** about all the media circus, manager mind games, spinning stuff... He just cares about being a manager. This makes him a very easy target sometimes (and sometimes he doesn't help himself on that regard), but as said he doesn't give a f***.

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