Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Guest]

The Carroll money pretty much paid for the team and wages that ended 5th though. That's been Spurs' model for ages. Their net spend has always been low up until recently.

 

You're another one who has been brainwashed by the regime. NUFC turnover huge amounts of money and the money the club generate is more than enough to cover wages and agent fees etc. The Carroll money simply wasn't reinvested.

 

How the hell have I been brainwashed?

 

He put in a loan to help cover the relegation season, bought Tiote, Ben Arfa and that lot within 12 months of promotion (18 if you include Cisse).

 

Those are facts, not being brainwashed man.

 

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/mike-ashley-pays-nufcs-debts-4412824

[The College Dropout]

I thought Coloccini gave us 4 good years plus the year in the Championship. He wasn't a captain but he was a good footballer and at his peak, he was very, very good for us. That was a good transfer IMO.

 

Correct me if I am wrong.  We signed him for a staggering amount at that time, give him our highest wages, and in return he guided us to relegation with uncountable mistakes.  It's when we was in Championship that he started to perform, and when we were back to EPL he gave us 1 year of world class performance.  Then that's it.  After the back home saga "let me go for free" he was never the same, and basically do nothing on and off the pitch.  The only remarkable thing was he give Ba a head kick when Ba transferred to Chelsea and play against us.

I think he gave us 3 decent seasons.  The season in The Championship, the first season back up, and the season we finished 5th.  The rest of his time here he was abysmal and appeared to be a negative influence as captain.

 

Aye. 3 good seasons.

[The College Dropout]

On permanent deals I would've really liked Abraham and Loftus-Cheek.

[Yorkie]

Looking at the impact Rafa's coaching has had on the likes of Lascelles, Clark, Mbemba, Hayden etc. it makes it even more baffling that Ashley won't back him. If the whole 'buy young, increase value, sell high' is still loosely in place then we have the perfect man at the helm to execute that plan (for the record i hope that's not the plan). Lascelles in particular is now being talked about by pundits, other clubs and other managers and his value has soared. Obviously some credit has to go to the player himself but his rise in stock is primarily down to our world class manager.  Merino is probably in the £20m bracket already and he's played what, 4 games?

 

If Ashley had any sense he'd see that Rafa is the key to the club not just being successful on the pitch but also highly profitable in the transfer market.

 

It's more than likely still in place, sprinkled with a few older players at the request of the manager for experience & leadership qualities (this is the big change Rafa has requested over anything else). Ashley is always going to hold value for money a key component when dealing in the transfer market. He'll refuse, like many other teams to be taking for a ride, I think its an ego thing more than anything, so we just have to hope when the right player comes along then we're willing to go that extra bit to get him. Spending daft money on average to good players that may not fit, or don't balance the squad properly (looking at Everton) will just see us causing long term issues for ourselves as unlike Everton we couldn't spend our way out of trouble (they'll be active again in the next window) so all moves need to be calculated.

 

I'd have liked Gibbs for example, but giving him £80kpw is ridiculous, even in today's market, and knowing our luck we do it and he'd get a season ending injury in his debut. Not only do we not have that wage budget to spend elsewhere, we'd also be setting the benchmark for all incoming and players already on the books for their wages as well.

 

Of all the players we 'missed out' on (whether we were in for them or not) Sandro at Everton would on the face of it been a great signing for this team. Whether it pans out for him there or whether we could have afforded what Everton are paying him (or even if we were in for him) in the first place along with him and Begovic I think are two players we should have gone that extra mile for, should Rafa had rated them.

 

I think a record breaking signing in the winter window would be a game changer, for us and Rafa's future. It would be great to confirm we can when the deal is right go for such a player, its still not impossible to think that may happen.

 

It would be great, and, to an extent, alleviate some of the underlying concerns that never seem to go away under Ashley.

 

However, Rafa knows the stupidity of the market. If you look back to the summer, and even in his interviews now, the key things he kept saying were: "the market is crazy," but also, crucially: "hopefully everyone can do their job."

 

His rage this summer wasn't measured by the amount of zeros we didn't spend; what angered him was the breakdown in communication, the dilly-dallying by the deal-makers and the board's general resistence to learning from previous mistakes. People not doing their job, whilst he was doing his.

 

Failing to complete those routine/good-value deals early in the summer infuriated him. Addtionally the one early transfer they did secure got delayed - probably for some unknown tax reason. Merino should've arrived a lot earlier, too, apparently. Then August came around and - after needlessly losing-out on targets - Rafa probably felt like the board owed it to him to enter the crazy mid/late-Summer market. But they refused.

 

But I think a lot was made of the "every penny" line from Ashley. It's not necessarily about the amount of money imo. I even think that, to an extent, Rafa sympathises and understands the frugality. That fucking horrendous interview - which anyone with a brain knows was nothing other than spin - served only to perpetuate the whole money thing, when really that's only part of the issue. Fucking clever use of the media.

 

In order to keep Rafa happy, we don't need to match Man City, or blow X-amount on three players, or even make one 'marquee signing' in January. His demands aren't unreasonable: he, like most of us, just wants the board to do their job.

[Sean]

Great post.

[Wallsendmag]

The Carroll money pretty much paid for the team and wages that ended 5th though. That's been Spurs' model for ages. Their net spend has always been low up until recently.

 

You're another one who has been brainwashed by the regime. NUFC turnover huge amounts of money and the money the club generate is more than enough to cover wages and agent fees etc. The Carroll money simply wasn't reinvested.

 

How the hell have I been brainwashed?

 

He put in a loan to help cover the relegation season, bought Tiote, Ben Arfa and that lot within 12 months of promotion (18 if you include Cisse).

 

Those are facts, not being brainwashed man.

 

A relegation that was brought on by his mismanagement you forgot to mention. We have an average net spend of £4m per season in his time here. Show me another club in the Premier League who have spent less.

 

The Carroll money was never reinvested in the squad however you want to dress things up.

[Guest]

You're seeing it as defending Ashley, I'm not. You're asking where the Carroll money went, they put in the accounts.

 

https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/archive/newcastle-united-accounts

[mrmojorisin75]

Looking at the impact Rafa's coaching has had on the likes of Lascelles, Clark, Mbemba, Hayden etc. it makes it even more baffling that Ashley won't back him. If the whole 'buy young, increase value, sell high' is still loosely in place then we have the perfect man at the helm to execute that plan (for the record i hope that's not the plan). Lascelles in particular is now being talked about by pundits, other clubs and other managers and his value has soared. Obviously some credit has to go to the player himself but his rise in stock is primarily down to our world class manager.  Merino is probably in the £20m bracket already and he's played what, 4 games?

 

If Ashley had any sense he'd see that Rafa is the key to the club not just being successful on the pitch but also highly profitable in the transfer market.

If I'm being honest and looking at it through different eyes it's entirely possible that Ashley wasn't seeing a lot of bang for his buck with Rafa until recently.

 

I mean we went down and he was allowed to retain a large squad with a couple of 'big signings' to get us promoted. It worked but we weren't great last year in many ways, we often didn't function that well as a team etc.

 

Things have started to click now though, big time, and as you say we're seeing individuals look much improved within a better functioning system.

 

I'd really hope Ashley or the cronies that inform him can see this and it changes the relationship going forward.  I doubt it though, he's pure fucking poison.

[Wallsendmag]

You're seeing it as defending Ashley, I'm not. You're asking where the Carroll money went, they put in the accounts.

 

https://www.nufc.co.uk/news/archive/newcastle-united-accounts

 

We have an average net spend of £4m a season for the 10 seasons Ashley has been here. What I am saying is that the money we have received in transfer fees hasn't been reinvested back into the squad.

[Shelveys Hair]

I cant see us signing much in January as Ashley doesnt think it represents value signing players then. Also with the likes of Reina and quite a few others available on a free in the summer it will be minimal investment at best. Every time we've need to push on we have never bought players in the winter window apart from the season when we nearly got relegated.

[NG32]

I cant see us signing much in January as Ashley doesnt think it represents value signing players then. Also with the likes of Reina and quite a few others available on a free in the summer it will be minimal investment at best. Every time we've need to push on we have never bought players in the winter window apart from the season when we nearly got relegated.

 

I'm sure we will sign a one or maybe two if there is real value in it, like a club struggling financially and they need to move on a couple of players to balance the books. That's how Ashley operates.

[The College Dropout]

I'm the last to defend Ashley and it is all his fault. But those 10 years include 2 relegations. Relegation is a massive blow to finances.

[Elma]

The main reason I (now) think we'll stay up this season is Rafa's coaching and organisation. We don't have a vastly different squad now to that which was relegated, but the reason we went down was McClaren and the time it took to replace him. Rafa's main attributes are his organisation and tactical ability, schooling players so they all know what their job is. He isn't likely to throw tea cups around and bully performance out of players. With that in mind, he was arguably the wrong manager to give ten critical games to, although I don't regret that for one moment. The only regret is that the muppets in charge didn't give him at least two more games to at least give him more of a chance. The only possible criticism of Rafa from me would be too much negativity in the way we set up away at Villa.

 

After facing three away games (we had no idea how to handle away games at the time) and one home game in the first four (that was a derby), he then sorted them out and took 12 points from 6 games, scoring 12 and conceding 4, remaining unbeaten. The current team isn't vastly different from that which finished that season, and most of them have now had 18 months playing in Rafa's system. Less games also means more time for preparation this season and hopefully, seeing as our squad isn't too deep in some areas, less injuries. Going out of the league cup may help, especially since we would have been away at Chelsea next round anyway. I just hope we now give the FA Cup a good go as there is no reason not to.

 

I'm not suggesting we're going to average two points a game, but 1.2-1.25 per game would appear within reach, a total that would have brought a top half finish last season.

[Wallsendmag]

I'm the last to defend Ashley and it is all his fault. But those 10 years include 2 relegations. Relegation is a massive blow to finances.

 

Certainly the 2nd relegation was down to his penny pinching and selling our best players without buying adequate replacements though.

[Zero]

No, the second relegation is more down to hiring someone who is totally not up to the job.  McClaren DID get financial backings from the fat cunt.

[DJ_NUFC]

No, the second relegation is more down to hiring someone who is totally not up to the job.  McClaren DID get financial backings from the fat cunt.

 

Yup, people forget this too easily. McClaren's hiring and subsequent backing highlights even more how clueless Ashley is about football.

[loki679]

No, the second relegation is more down to hiring someone who is totally not up to the job.  McClaren DID get financial backings from the fat cunt.

 

Yup, people forget this too easily. McClaren's hiring and subsequent backing highlights even more how clueless Ashley is about football.

 

A Graham Carr pick for manager signing players recommended by Graham Carr. 

[xLiaaamx]

The first relegation was down to lazy cunts like Michael Owen not being arsed to do their job.

[Dan Gleebals]

Unfortunately our best manager in years is paying the price for our terrible management (literally and from above).

 

Assuming we are looking safe and most (if not all) of the deadwood is gone, I can see Rafa being given more money.  They just need to stop pissing him around in the mean time with poor decisions and not getting stuff done.  Stay up and bank the TV money and I think we can start looking at more exciting investment.  If not, without doubt, he is gone (and probably so are we).

[Minhosa]

I remember constantly moaning about how Pardew never ever developed/improved a player.

 

I genuinely can't think of a better manager we've had for improving players technically than Rafa. Sir Bobby and KK were very good at creating a positive environment which many players flourished in but neither were as good as Rafa in polishing very rough diamonds.

 

Love this guy.

[LV]

I remember constantly moaning about how Pardew never ever developed/improved a player.

 

I genuinely can't think of a better manager we've had for improving players technically than Rafa. Sir Bobby and KK were very good at creating a positive environment which many players flourished in but neither were as good as Rafa in polishing very rough diamonds.

 

Love this guy.

 

Pardew actually made them worse players.

[NG32]

I remember constantly moaning about how Pardew never ever developed/improved a player.

 

I genuinely can't think of a better manager we've had for improving players technically than Rafa. Sir Bobby and KK were very good at creating a positive environment which many players flourished in but neither were as good as Rafa in polishing very rough diamonds.

 

Love this guy.

 

Pardew actually made them worse players.

 

Confidence, Pardew sapped confidence pre game and post game.  When we did win a it was all down to him and when we lost a game (many in a row) he would single the weakest member of the team out and blame them, usually a young lad asked to step in for a game or two. 

 

[Sean]

The first relegation was down to lazy cunts like Michael Owen not being arsed to do their job.

 

Also I don't think the atmosphere around the club helped at all. Also, the fat cunt hiring Joe Kinnear as manager. That whole season was destined to end in relegation the moment Keegan was forced out.

 

So yeah it was down to Mike Ashley, surprise surprise.

[Minhosa]

I remember constantly moaning about how Pardew never ever developed/improved a player.

 

I genuinely can't think of a better manager we've had for improving players technically than Rafa. Sir Bobby and KK were very good at creating a positive environment which many players flourished in but neither were as good as Rafa in polishing very rough diamonds.

 

Love this guy.

 

Pardew actually made them worse players.

 

He did. I think there can perhaps be a case for Cabaye being improved but he actually started really well and maintained that, allowing for up's and down's of form, throughout. If you had to give Pardew something then he enabled a good transition into British football though, I guess.

 

That's being generous.

 

What Rafa has done with so many others is marvellous. The difference a genuine coach makes is night and day.

[HawK]

I remember constantly moaning about how Pardew never ever developed/improved a player.

 

I genuinely can't think of a better manager we've had for improving players technically than Rafa. Sir Bobby and KK were very good at creating a positive environment which many players flourished in but neither were as good as Rafa in polishing very rough diamonds.

 

Love this guy.

 

Pardew actually made them worse players.

 

He did. I think there can perhaps be a case for Cabaye being improved but he actually started really well and maintained that, allowing for up's and down's of form, throughout. If you had to give Pardew something then he enabled a good transition into British football though, I guess.

 

That's being generous.

 

What Rafa has done with so many others is marvellous. The difference a genuine coach makes is night and day.

 

The difference is so stark because not only have we had some of the worst managers in PL history recently, but Rafa is also one of the best coaches in the world.