Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Paully]

While Rafa isn’t or shouldn’t be immune to criticism, he should get a free pass this season regardless of what happens. Had he left us after the Spurs game, the club would have imploded and there would have been no promotion, only a lifeless club with Ashley still the owner, existing in the Championship or beyond as just another former PL club like so many.

 

Thanks to Rafa, however, we are now a Premier League club having stayed on to take us back up which he achieved at the first time of asking, as Champions. Here was a CL winner, one of the best coaches in the world, staying at a Championship club that he owed nothing to. A club that was badly broken after a decade of total mismanagement and neglect on and off the pitch.

 

He stayed because he loves the club and us fans, he wanted to help us in the way KK did when he returned from his Spanish exile to help us avoid relegation to the the then 3rd tier of English football.

 

And boy has he helped us...

 

We are now on the verge of being taken over which Rafa has been massively instrumental in helping achieve. And that’s before you get into what he has done behind the scenes in uniting the fans, reconnecting the fans to the players, working with the community and building bridges between the media and the club and City itself from the local council to local businesses, all of who, wanted nowt to do with the club and rightly so because it was toxic to everything and everyone.

 

Yes we are not playing well and yes our run of form isn’t good enough, but he is no Pardew, McClaren or Carver. This isn’t some kind of regular run for him, in fact it’s a first for him. Everything he has done for our club, it’s us who owe him so much and as fans the least we can give him is our 100% support and backing.

 

If we go down, Rafa will have to share some of the blame, but he won’t get any stick from me because if we do go down, it won’t be because he’s a crap manager like Pardew or because he’s negative or dumb when it comes to tactics or anything like that. It will be because once again the owner will have gambled on the one thing he loves more than anything - cheap tat which is basically what our squad is full of.

 

He thought because he had Rafa we would stay up on the cheap and has once again gambled with the club’s fortunes by being a tight b****** just like he had been last January when he failed to back Rafa to really cement our position at the top and guaranteed promotion. Because he thought in his wisdom we were already up.

 

The players Rafa wanted in January were for the PL and the players he wanted in the summer were to help establish us back in the top-flight. He wasn't backed, however, and lo and behold a Championship team is struggling in a league of Premier League teams. Who would have guesssed...

 

If we do gown and I now think it’s a real,possibility even with a takeover and some spending in January (damage done/little too late) I won’t be thinking any less of Rafa as a manager or as NUFC manager. As a man, well, he’s a modern day saint in an industry full of rouges, cowards, charlatans and down right scumbags. We should know, we’ve employed enough of them in the boardroom, dugout and on the pitch...

 

For me, he is the man and my Christmas wish for all of us is that he can keep us up and once the takeover happens, be allowed to rebuild the club as he sees fit because if he is backed fully, there is no limit to what we can achieve with Rafa. His CV alone speaks for that, then add in the kind of man he is and the love and ambition and more important the belief he has for our club and well, that’s a recipe for success in my book.

 

Remember when we were relegated? One man believed in the club enough to put his hard earned and well deserved reputation on the line to help us when no-one else would have, no one. I get the criticism of our football, team lineups, substitutions, player purchases etc. because I’ve been critical, but I will never get any notion of wanting to replace the man even if by March we were rooted to the bottom of the table.

 

He joined a sinking ship and is currently trying to keep that ship afloat with plaster bands while the fat owner pokes more holes into it, if it goes down, we go down with him, not against him.

 

Estamos Unidos!

 

Bang on HTT!

 

No Rafa = no takeover!

[Dave]

A few rows back from the dugout, a supporter leant on concrete and railed. “Rafa, man, sit down,” he shouted. “You’ve been beaten by a Sam Allardyce team. Sit down.” Faces pivoted towards him and voices were raised back. “You sit down,” said one. There was a “support the team” and a “piss off”. There was a push, a stumble and a howl of disapproval before the shouter was ushered away.

 

[Mistle17]

A few rows back from the dugout, a supporter leant on concrete and railed. “Rafa, man, sit down,” he shouted. “You’ve been beaten by a Sam Allardyce team. Sit down.” Faces pivoted towards him and voices were raised back. “You sit down,” said one. There was a “support the team” and a “p*ss off”. There was a push, a stumble and a howl of disapproval before the shouter was ushered away.

 

 

People like him deserve their teeth knocked out. What a total w*****.

[Guest chopey]

There was a lot of groans at any backwards pass on wedensday

[Guest firetotheworks]

Can't criticise our fans though, apparently, despite some of them being quite obviously complete scumbags.

[Guest chopey]

It must have been the same fan that rang Talksport after the game to complain about how Rafa is running the club

[Scoot]

A few rows back from the dugout, a supporter leant on concrete and railed. “Rafa, man, sit down,” he shouted. “You’ve been beaten by a Sam Allardyce team. Sit down.” Faces pivoted towards him and voices were raised back. “You sit down,” said one. There was a “support the team” and a “p*ss off”. There was a push, a stumble and a howl of disapproval before the shouter was ushered away.

 

 

People like him deserve their teeth knocked out. What a total w*****.

 

I completely agree with this.

 

It's a fact like, we have some absolute mongs amongst our support like.

[Guest neesy111]

A few rows back from the dugout, a supporter leant on concrete and railed. “Rafa, man, sit down,” he shouted. “You’ve been beaten by a Sam Allardyce team. Sit down.” Faces pivoted towards him and voices were raised back. “You sit down,” said one. There was a “support the team” and a “piss off”. There was a push, a stumble and a howl of disapproval before the shouter was ushered away.

 

 

Souness was right about the customers thing at SJP tbh.

[TRon]

There was a lot of groans at any backwards pass on wedensday

 

Got fed up with this a long time ago, obviously it makes it harder to build passing moves if fans are constantly urging the team to get the ball forward, which inevitably means hoofing it. Sorry, but a large percentage of match going fans are dinosaurs.

[JP]

Big press conference coming up imo.

 

Rafa attended the transfer meeting with Charnley yesterday, his mood (as always) will be revealed in this lunchtime presser.

 

Was all smiles Tuesday due to the positive movement in takeover progress - we'll see what today brings.

 

[hakka]

While Rafa isn’t or shouldn’t be immune to criticism, he should get a free pass this season regardless of what happens. Had he left us after the Spurs game, the club would have imploded and there would have been no promotion, only a lifeless club with Ashley still the owner, existing in the Championship or beyond as just another former PL club like so many.

 

Thanks to Rafa, however, we are now a Premier League club having stayed on to take us back up which he achieved at the first time of asking, as Champions. Here was a CL winner, one of the best coaches in the world, staying at a Championship club that he owed nothing to. A club that was badly broken after a decade of total mismanagement and neglect on and off the pitch.

 

He stayed because he loves the club and us fans, he wanted to help us in the way KK did when he returned from his Spanish exile to help us avoid relegation to the the then 3rd tier of English football.

 

And boy has he helped us...

 

We are now on the verge of being taken over which Rafa has been massively instrumental in helping achieve. And that’s before you get into what he has done behind the scenes in uniting the fans, reconnecting the fans to the players, working with the community and building bridges between the media and the club and City itself from the local council to local businesses, all of who, wanted nowt to do with the club and rightly so because it was toxic to everything and everyone.

 

Yes we are not playing well and yes our run of form isn’t good enough, but he is no Pardew, McClaren or Carver. This isn’t some kind of regular run for him, in fact it’s a first for him. Everything he has done for our club, it’s us who owe him so much and as fans the least we can give him is our 100% support and backing.

 

If we go down, Rafa will have to share some of the blame, but he won’t get any stick from me because if we do go down, it won’t be because he’s a crap manager like Pardew or because he’s negative or dumb when it comes to tactics or anything like that. It will be because once again the owner will have gambled on the one thing he loves more than anything - cheap tat which is basically what our squad is full of.

 

He thought because he had Rafa we would stay up on the cheap and has once again gambled with the club’s fortunes by being a tight bastard just like he had been last January when he failed to back Rafa to really cement our position at the top and guaranteed promotion. Because he thought in his wisdom we were already up.

 

The players Rafa wanted in January were for the PL and the players he wanted in the summer were to help establish us back in the top-flight. He wasn't backed, however, and lo and behold a Championship team is struggling in a league of Premier League teams. Who would have guesssed...

 

If we do gown and I now think it’s a real,possibility even with a takeover and some spending in January (damage done/little too late) I won’t be thinking any less of Rafa as a manager or as NUFC manager. As a man, well, he’s a modern day saint in an industry full of rouges, cowards, charlatans and down right scumbags. We should know, we’ve employed enough of them in the boardroom, dugout and on the pitch...

 

For me, he is the man and my Christmas wish for all of us is that he can keep us up and once the takeover happens, be allowed to rebuild the club as he sees fit because if he is backed fully, there is no limit to what we can achieve with Rafa. His CV alone speaks for that, then add in the kind of man he is and the love and ambition and more important the belief he has for our club and well, that’s a recipe for success in my book.

 

Remember when we were relegated? One man believed in the club enough to put his hard earned and well deserved reputation on the line to help us when no-one else would have, no one. I get the criticism of our football, team lineups, substitutions, player purchases etc. because I’ve been critical, but I will never get any notion of wanting to replace the man even if by March we were rooted to the bottom of the table.

 

He joined a sinking ship and is currently trying to keep that ship afloat with plaster bands while the fat owner pokes more holes into it, if it goes down, we go down with him, not against him.

 

Estamos Unidos!

 

Spot on this. Love it.

[Wilson]

Get that HTT post shared about to some of the Social Media idiots whinging about Rafa.

 

[Scoot]

Get that HTT post shared about to some of the Social Media idiots whinging about Rafa.

 

 

Exactly. Some of our half head fans could do with reading it.

 

It might be a bit long for them like. No pictures either.

[Interpolic]

It's the same as the summer where he's having to go in blind and see what he ends up with.

[Guest neesy111]

I would had walked out by now if I was in Rafa shoes.  Absolute shambles.

[Away Day Gadgie]

 

What is he supposed to do if he can't even budget for players? I hate the f***ing morons running this club

That sounds like an absolutely pointless meeting if true.  Hopefully it's just Rafa keeping his cards close to his chest.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Budget will probably be linked to points on the board by the time the window opens.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I'm kind of with htt. I'm only still going to the match because Rafa is there, I thought he'd have more strength to work against Asley and I don't think any takeover would be in the offing with a Pardew/Allardyce type mamager in charge.

 

I just find htt's first sentence to be a bit contradictory and even neutral fans are starting to comment on us becoming RBFC in our support, which is a bit creepy.

 

I meant he can be criticised for use of subs, team selections, tactics etc. but for taking us down if we do go down? I think that would be very very harsh. Harsh even on the players who are clearly giving it their all, but the vast majority are simply not good enough. They may of won the Championship, but even that was a struggle at times. I think our full houses, Rafa and his tactics etc. were what ultimately proved the difference last season.

 

Rafa is clearly trying to find a solution to our problems hence the chopping and changing and the use of certain players, but it’s not working and I don’t think any combination of tactics or use of players will answer our problems because it’s blatantly obvious what our problems are - the poor standard of players we have in our squad.

 

Give Rafa better players and we will become a much better team. It seems obvious and an easy answer, but it’s the cold hard truth. Pardew and McClaren and even Carver had more to call on than what Rafa has.

 

It’s a shambles really. You can’t expect a manager of his calibre, pedigree, experience and skill set to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

 

He has an almost impossible job with the players he has and even January reinforcements may not be enough, not if we are buying from the bargain basement.

[Big Geordie]

HTT - I've shared your excellent post around, on FB.

 

And it would seem the fucking Rafa over, by Ashley continues unabaited.

[UncleBingo]

Great post earlier HTT, pretty much sums up how I feel.

 

[Heron]

While Rafa isn’t or shouldn’t be immune to criticism, he should get a free pass this season regardless of what happens. Had he left us after the Spurs game, the club would have imploded and there would have been no promotion, only a lifeless club with Ashley still the owner, existing in the Championship or beyond as just another former PL club like so many.

 

Thanks to Rafa, however, we are now a Premier League club having stayed on to take us back up which he achieved at the first time of asking, as Champions. Here was a CL winner, one of the best coaches in the world, staying at a Championship club that he owed nothing to. A club that was badly broken after a decade of total mismanagement and neglect on and off the pitch.

 

He stayed because he loves the club and us fans, he wanted to help us in the way KK did when he returned from his Spanish exile to help us avoid relegation to the the then 3rd tier of English football.

 

And boy has he helped us...

 

We are now on the verge of being taken over which Rafa has been massively instrumental in helping achieve. And that’s before you get into what he has done behind the scenes in uniting the fans, reconnecting the fans to the players, working with the community and building bridges between the media and the club and City itself from the local council to local businesses, all of who, wanted nowt to do with the club and rightly so because it was toxic to everything and everyone.

 

Yes we are not playing well and yes our run of form isn’t good enough, but he is no Pardew, McClaren or Carver. This isn’t some kind of regular run for him, in fact it’s a first for him. Everything he has done for our club, it’s us who owe him so much and as fans the least we can give him is our 100% support and backing.

 

If we go down, Rafa will have to share some of the blame, but he won’t get any stick from me because if we do go down, it won’t be because he’s a crap manager like Pardew or because he’s negative or dumb when it comes to tactics or anything like that. It will be because once again the owner will have gambled on the one thing he loves more than anything - cheap tat which is basically what our squad is full of.

 

He thought because he had Rafa we would stay up on the cheap and has once again gambled with the club’s fortunes by being a tight b****** just like he had been last January when he failed to back Rafa to really cement our position at the top and guaranteed promotion. Because he thought in his wisdom we were already up.

 

The players Rafa wanted in January were for the PL and the players he wanted in the summer were to help establish us back in the top-flight. He wasn't backed, however, and lo and behold a Championship team is struggling in a league of Premier League teams. Who would have guesssed...

 

If we do gown and I now think it’s a real,possibility even with a takeover and some spending in January (damage done/little too late) I won’t be thinking any less of Rafa as a manager or as NUFC manager. As a man, well, he’s a modern day saint in an industry full of rouges, cowards, charlatans and down right scumbags. We should know, we’ve employed enough of them in the boardroom, dugout and on the pitch...

 

For me, he is the man and my Christmas wish for all of us is that he can keep us up and once the takeover happens, be allowed to rebuild the club as he sees fit because if he is backed fully, there is no limit to what we can achieve with Rafa. His CV alone speaks for that, then add in the kind of man he is and the love and ambition and more important the belief he has for our club and well, that’s a recipe for success in my book.

 

Remember when we were relegated? One man believed in the club enough to put his hard earned and well deserved reputation on the line to help us when no-one else would have, no one. I get the criticism of our football, team lineups, substitutions, player purchases etc. because I’ve been critical, but I will never get any notion of wanting to replace the man even if by March we were rooted to the bottom of the table.

 

He joined a sinking ship and is currently trying to keep that ship afloat with plaster bands while the fat owner pokes more holes into it, if it goes down, we go down with him, not against him.

 

Estamos Unidos!

 

Bang on HTT!

 

No Rafa = no takeover!

fantastic post

[Dave]

He's at it again.

 

But Benitez says he has no idea on how much he has to spend.

 

He said: Rafa on money: “I will not give any figure because I do not have a figure now.”

[hoppaz]

He's at it again.

 

But Benitez says he has no idea on how much he has to spend.

 

He said: Rafa on money: “I will not give any figure because I do not have a figure now.”

 

Nope that is the MD who should run the club in its capacity regardless of MA influence. You are there to do a duty to the football / business side.

[Smal]

Dave said:

 

He's at it again.

 

But Benitez says he has no idea on how much he has to spend.

 

He said: Rafa on money: “I will not give any figure because I do not have a figure now.”

[hoppaz]

Yes he has been given no assurances. Read it again. He SHOULD know by now