54 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/newcastle-free-to-dream-big-again-under-benitez-sqplnq0pc?shareToken=c99afc4350ac78ef263920ca9a93d7e4 Tradition tells us to look back and to gaze forward, the calendar prompts us for resolution. As Newcastle United supporters contemplate what they were and who they are, it is worth recalling their club’s long, apathetic slide towards relegation, the arrival of Rafa BenĂtez and the change which has spread from the manager’s office towards every corner of the club. They are stronger now than they have been for years. Second in the Sky Bet Championship and with four defeats in their last eight league matches, this is not a moment for bravado or complacency, but resolution is worthwhile. Resolve. If this is a blip, then it has beauty; six points clear of third in the table, 17 wins behind them, more than any other side, scouting players in the loan market and with a manager whose record places him amongst the elite. If it is a test then it should be welcomed. Newcastle need to be tested, from the stands, to the pitch, to the boardroom, where relationships are still melding and corrosion is still being chipped from the stanchions. If they are to return to the Premier League, better to do so battled-scarred and hardened, having bitten and clawed and fought for every point, rather than via a lofty procession which teaches them little. Newcastle are still learning how to win, still learning what it means to be united. They have the deepest squad in the division, but it is not the most streetwise or experienced. Their previous demotion in 2009 came with a context of no manager, the club aimless and up for sale and from that character and determination were born. Kevin Nolan knew how to win free kicks, to tread on the toes of defenders. They knew the tricks. By contrast, their latest relegation was relatively serene. BenĂtez was already in place and the confirmation of his staying brought momentum. There was money to spend last summer and a profit made, too. The process of reconnection between club and support began in unlikely circumstances and has continued, but the recalibration of an institution is not a matter of pressing a button and resetting. It takes time, work, tests. There can be no guarantees, but what would be the point of football if there were? And yet BenĂtez is the closest to certainty that Newcastle could have, with a garlanded history, an obsession over minute details. His attraction to Tyneside was partly emotional, a feeling of restless potential, the possibility of doing something which, after years of truncated ambition and being told they could not compete, was a form of validation. BenĂtez never said that this would be easy and he was right. There have been episodes when Newcastle have looked far too good for their surroundings but on Boxing Day against Sheffield Wednesday, they were knocked from their rhythm, fouled and mugged and BenĂtez spoke about their game management afterwards. They have missed the suspended Jonjo Shelvey who, with a bit more intelligence, would be by far the best player in the division, but they need resolve, too. A year ago, Steve McClaren was head coach. He had postponed his dismissal with victories over Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, but there would then be a run of six games without a win, including a 1-0 defeat to Watford in the FA Cup. They were 18th. Ask McClaren about the club’s hierarchy, persuading directors to do things differently, and he would squirm and explain that, thanks to him, journalists were now offered tea and biscuits at press conferences. This grand old club in the heart of the city were cold and aloof, defined by their smallness, by their limitations. BenĂtez reverses that. They may not be in the Premier League, but they have been given a rare opportunity to start again, free, by and large, of financial restraint and with no lingering atmosphere of rancour. If they go up, BenĂtez will challenge the club to seek more than safety, but this is what all good managers do. A couple of months ago, a senior figure at St James’ Park said something which would once have been unsayable: that he was glad Newcastle were relegated with BenĂtez in charge. Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half, and this was a heartfelt, footballing response at a club which had morphed into a works team for Sports Direct. Newcastle have already cleared their biggest hurdle. With the important caveat that Mike Ashley’s ownership has never lost its capacity for self-defeating decisions, they have ripped up their rulebook and recognised their own role as a sporting entity. Promotion would bring another one, hard conversations about finance and ambition, but that is how it should be. And is it not better to stand for something and fail, to be a club again and fail, than relive what came before? Four defeats in eight games is a test and one that BenĂtez will pore over; how best to manipulate tactics, personnel, formations, who to bring in, what to do better. Some players may not stay the course. But four defeats in eight games is also a chance for Newcastle - a rejigged Newcastle, a new Newcastle - to show what they are made of. To be stronger, to be tougher and, as far as their stadium is concerned, to be louder. For resolution. By George Caulkin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 A year ago, Steve McClaren was head coach. He had postponed his dismissal with victories over Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, but there would then be a run of six games without a win, including a 1-0 defeat to Watford in the FA Cup. They were 18th. Ask McClaren about the club’s hierarchy, persuading directors to do things differently, and he would squirm and explain that, thanks to him, journalists were now offered tea and biscuits at press conferences.   This grand old club in the heart of the city were cold and aloof, defined by their smallness, by their limitations. BenĂtez reverses that.  perfectly put Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattoon Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin:Â Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Lucas Leiva a huff merchant - he's about 5,000x+ the player that Colback is. Just as Alonso is way better than Shelvey  No s*** man  Then what was the need for your comment? Lucas is a huff merchant in comparison to Xabi Alonso as Colback is a huff merchant in comparison to Shelvey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin: Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half  Haven't read the piece. And while all of that is true... the Championship is x100 worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin: Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half Haven't read the piece. And while all of that is true... the Championship is x100 worse.  The point he is trying to make is that being in the Premier League is not the only way to enjoy football.  I'm loving this season (barring a few bad results over christmas), because you go to a game (which 9 times out of 10 we actually compete in) and enjoy it for the most part. Something that does not happen in the PL, at least not for us in recent years. I would, genuinely, absolutely prefer to stay in the Championship and compete every week if someone tells me we are going to struggle to get out of the bottom 4 or 5 in the PL for the next few years. Life is short. Fill it with fun things. Losing is no fun.  funny that, i was watching the spurs chelsea game last night and it really struck me that we're almost playing a different game to them both in terms of quality like  it's going to be a long slog if we get back up imo, unless we literally go and spend £150m filling the squad up with better players and shipping out the garbage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes.  Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin:Â Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half Haven't read the piece. And while all of that is true... the Championship is x100 worse. Â The point he is trying to make is that being in the Premier League is not the only way to enjoy football. Â I'm loving this season (barring a few bad results over christmas), because you go to a game (which 9 times out of 10 we actually compete in) and enjoy it for the most part. Something that does not happen in the PL, at least not for us in recent years. I would, genuinely, absolutely prefer to stay in the Championship and compete every week if someone tells me we are going to struggle to get out of the bottom 4 or 5 in the PL for the next few years. Life is short. Fill it with fun things. Losing is no fun. Â I get that... but nah. Being 5th/12th in the Championship each season would kill me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happinesstan Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Brilliant article. To Hans, in particular, and everybody who believe other's are over-reacting to our blip, I apologise. I felt you were over-reacting to others over-reactions, but I see your side now. The over reaction of fans can be just as damaging to this club as any run of bad form. We are a powerful voice, which is wonderful when in high spirits, but can turn venomous in bad times. Pardew, Carver, and to a lesser extent McClaren are all lesser men because of our passion, and justifiably so. But that venom directed at Sir Bobby, by a minority, was unforgiveable, and I would hate to see the same thing happen to Rafa. Rafa can turn our form around, no doubt. But can we as fans turn the club back around, if Rafa decides his connection to the club isn't as strong as Bobby's was?   Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altamullan Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin: Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half Haven't read the piece. And while all of that is true... the Championship is x100 worse.  The point he is trying to make is that being in the Premier League is not the only way to enjoy football.  I'm loving this season (barring a few bad results over christmas), because you go to a game (which 9 times out of 10 we actually compete in) and enjoy it for the most part. Something that does not happen in the PL, at least not for us in recent years. I would, genuinely, absolutely prefer to stay in the Championship and compete every week if someone tells me we are going to struggle to get out of the bottom 4 or 5 in the PL for the next few years. Life is short. Fill it with fun things. Losing is no fun.  funny that, i was watching the spurs chelsea game last night and it really struck me that we're almost playing a different game to them both in terms of quality like  it's going to be a long slog if we get back up imo, unless we literally go and spend £150m filling the squad up with better players and shipping out the garbage same. What a game of football. We look a long way off the pace, by comparison. (Did enjoy tanking Spurs last PL game though). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paully Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Superb article that as ever by Caulkin! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
triggs Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup?  We'll be a lot better next season if we go up than the side that probably should have beaten Hull in the cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 An excellent piece by Caulkin, as usual, but this will have the Mackems fewmin: Money is not everything and the Premier League is not worthy of the hyperbole it generates, particularly in the bottom half  Haven't read the piece. And while all of that is true... the Championship is x100 worse.  It's like literally 3 posts above yours. Why not just read it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Brilliant article. To Hans, in particular, and everybody who believe other's are over-reacting to our blip, I apologise. I felt you were over-reacting to others over-reactions, but I see your side now. The over reaction of fans can be just as damaging to this club as any run of bad form. We are a powerful voice, which is wonderful when in high spirits, but can turn venomous in bad times. Pardew, Carver, and to a lesser extent McClaren are all lesser men because of our passion, and justifiably so. But that venom directed at Sir Bobby, by a minority, was unforgiveable, and I would hate to see the same thing happen to Rafa. Rafa can turn our form around, no doubt. But can we as fans turn the club back around, if Rafa decides his connection to the club isn't as strong as Bobby's was?   It happened during the Pardew years too on here, which is why some may react too harshly at times. The need 'to bring balance' to the debate happened a lot back then and negated slightly what should have been utter contempt for the manager. I suppose the opposite is happening now, where we've went from letting nothing slide to letting everything slide - back then knowing that the manager wasn't right but this time knowing he is. Caulkin again smashes it out the park. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I've decided because I gave Pardew too much time I'm duty bound to hound Rafa out now. Cover my bases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I've decided because I gave Pardew too much time I'm duty bound to hound Rafa out now. Cover my bases. Â Â Absolutely fantastic article by Caulkin. Fill you with pride type of stuff - it's surely a test for Rafa to steer us back on course, but if there's anybody out there to do it and set us straight for the rest of the season and beyond, it's our manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well.  we were literally 1 Sels mistake away from winning that match, ffs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well. It would have been a draw anyhow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well.  we were literally 1 Sels mistake away from winning that match, ffs. So Hull weren't organised and didn't limit our chances? They defended well the whole game, we were probably the better side and the conditions helped them I thought, but I don't think we looked comfortably more organised than them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happinesstan Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well.  we were literally 1 Sels mistake away from winning that match, ffs. So Hull weren't organised and didn't limit our chances? They defended well the whole game, we were probably the better side and the conditions helped them I thought, but I don't think we looked comfortably more organised than them.  I would say we matched them for organisation, except after we scored. Naivety cost us, but we did ourselves proud. As a championship team going out in the quarter finals to a Prem club, we shouldn't be disappointed in that performance. The key thing is Rafa didn't do a dance on the touchline when we scored. He knows. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 We are comfortably more organised than Sunderland, Hull and Swansea. Yes we would need to spend,in order to compete any higher than that, but it's a fine margin from 6th to about 16th. Like Rafa said, let's just do things right, other clubs will make mistakes. Comfortably more organised than Hull who we failed to beat in the league cup? Aye, Hull were organised like. We controlled the game but, like Blackburn, they limited our chances well.  we were literally 1 Sels mistake away from winning that match, ffs. So Hull weren't organised and didn't limit our chances? They defended well the whole game, we were probably the better side and the conditions helped them I thought, but I don't think we looked comfortably more organised than them.  Maybe I'm just not remembering it correctly, but I felt in the first half we looked in absolute complete control of the match, and looked the side far better organized and looked the likely winner but not exactly putting in killer ball or taking the chances (ie: our usual issues). But if i'm off the mark, I'm not going to waste space and argue over it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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