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Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)


Greg

Would you have Rafa back?   

463 members have voted

  1. 1. Would you have Rafa back?

    • Yes, as manager, immediately
    • Yes, as manager, but at some point in the future (eg if relegated)
    • Yes, in an advisory or DoF role
    • No, not in any meaningful capacity

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Guest Howaythetoon

While Kevin Keegan, SBR, and Benitez might have different approaches to football, all of them had clear ideas on their approaches to the game and how to execute them. Anyways, forget their footballing nouse which is prodigious.

 

Another couple of things which stands out when you watch the interviews of these three managers is humility and honesty. They never take the fans for fools. None of this front foot football bs.

 

Whether you are at LFC, Newcastle, or Valencia, the fans belong to a tribe and the manager often is viewed as the leader of the tribe. One of the bare minimum we expect out of the manager is that he be a good person, a man of integrity. And  Rafa's, Keegan's, and SBR's integrity oozes out in every interview they provide. Kevin Keegan left us to join Hamburg but he was so honest about the entire transfer and his reasons that he is still considered a legend at LFC. No other great player who left us is afforded this level of respect.

 

Rafa and Keegan had the integrity to walk out of something they loved doing (manager of Newcastle) when they felt things werent being done the right way. Rafa at LFC had the integrity to go after the owners. Both of them could have remained silent and coasted their way through life but they didnt. Fans can sense it when they have a manager who has integrity and respond to it.

 

I am surprised as to why the media never cottoned on to this aspect when they keep on complaining about the support Rafa received compared to Hodgson and Bruce.

 

 

:clap:

 

Beautifully put as always.

 

Spot on post and that’s what separates these managers from the rest regardless of results or trophies, Chris Hughton is the same in that regard and why he will always be remembered and selected by me, even if he didn’t achieve promotion after relegation. He was class, humility, respect, dignity and pride personified.

 

It angers me in ways it shouldn’t knowing we had the likes of Kinnear, Pardew, Big Sam and even Bruce now managing my club, a job Sir Bobby called his civic duty, what Keegan called the one and only ever real job for him, what Rafa called a dream project and what Hughton called a profoundly proud honour to be bestowed with such a monumental responsibility that managing our club meant for him.

 

It angers even more that Ashley has, is and will continue to waste what KK proclaimed as the Crown Jewels of English football, this he firs stated while a player in black in white, the club in the second tier.

 

Rafa saw the same potential KK did and believed in our club in the way only a supporter ever can or a Geordie and that’s what makes him a special as KK in many ways and even more so given he had no prior affiliation with the club, region and isn’t even from these shores.

 

That’s why I’ll always love Rafa because he believed in the kind of club I do or did, the club KK told us not to dream, but dare, if an owner believes in NUFC and gets a manager who does who can then get his players too, there is no limit to what this club of ours can achieve, can be and can grow into. May as Rafa tried, he couldn’t do it alone, but he tried and tried and against forces hell bent on stopping him at every turn.

 

Who wouldn’t walk away from that... mind, maybe a free half season ticket could have tempted him, or a lick of paint!

 

 

 

Hughton feels a bit out of place when mentioned alongside those other names, but I know what you mean. He carried himself brilliantly, and it felt like our team when he was here.

 

Not as a person, but aye of course in terms of achievement/credentials etc. Love the man me!

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Rafa saw the same potential KK did and believed in our club in the way only a supporter ever can or a Geordie and that’s what makes him a special as KK in many ways and even more so given he had no prior affiliation with the club, region and isn’t even from these shores.

 

That’s why I’ll always love Rafa because he believed in the kind of club I do or did, the club KK told us not to dream, but dare, if an owner believes in NUFC and gets a manager who does who can then get his players too, there is no limit to what this club of ours can achieve, can be and can grow into. May as Rafa tried, he couldn’t do it alone, but he tried and tried and against forces hell bent on stopping him at every turn.

 

You got Rafa spot on :thup:

 

Glad the north east media hasn’t poisoned everyone with their vilification of Rafa’s character.

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Guest Howaythetoon

Walking in a la fa fairy according to Chinese people [emoji38]

Close enough.

 

你需要在你的翻译游戏工作,儿子。 也许花更少的时间想想你的家庭成员的乳房...

 

Not a town in China

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Walking in a la fa fairy according to Chinese people [emoji38]

Close enough.

 

你需要在你的翻译游戏工作,儿子。 也许花更少的时间想想你的家庭成员的乳房...

 

WTF is this related to boobs...

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Loved the quick, but classy, slagging of Jogback at the 30 minute mark.

 

What did he say about wor Jack? For us non-subscriber plebs..

 

My best attempt at his response to the question of why he moved from his typical 4-2-3-1 to three at the back - "but when we came here [to Newcastle], we didn't have . . . I remember the first year, the first months, we didn't have a holding midfielder, we didn't have a left fullback. We played Colback one game, we played Anita one game, so we didn't even have the players."

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:aww: His wife telling him to get a job after he was using the glassware to work on tactics.

 

Caulkin

What will Christmas be like in the Benitez household?

 

Rafa

“I’m quite lucky because she(My wife) will be busy with the Christmas parties and I can watch all the games on the TV”

 

Love how much he loves football.

 

He mentioned he might go onto manage in his 70’s like Sir Alex.

I’m all for him coming back to Newcastle late in his career like Sir Bobby Robson :smitten:

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Great to listen to him obviously but I was a bit disappointed with the questions. They only really got out of him stuff we've heard before. Fair enough if he doesn't want to discuss the way he left but do we really need to hear that the Spurs game was his best/most important moment again? He's said it a hundred times. "Paul Dummett is reliable, do you agree?" Howay, man. :lol: Would've been more interesting to know about a few more relationships with individual players we've heard less about, or his vision and why he signed X player and Y player and wanted a certain player he never got, or how he managed to make certain players perform beyond their usual ability like Diame, Hayden and (presumably) Longstaff. Kinda just got the usual stuff.

 

That said, regarding Bruce and the wonderful, wonderful football we're seeing and the unbelievably brilliant position we are in the table; I do enjoy Rafa saying "er, yeah, we built a solid team with a good work ethic and balance, of course they're doing fine." No real credit for the dimwit actually in the dugout. :thup:

 

Bit disappointed with George these days. I feel like if we were doing equally 'well' but had appointed a manager he didn't have some personal affection for, he'd be his usual cutting self. Seems comparatively uncritical these days which is a shame, kinda felt like he was the forum's mole in the press at one point.

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Hiring Bruce was a masterstroke as he has many friends in the media and north east. Even Shearer has held his punches because of his mate.

Mad that Ashley's learning. Doesn't bode well.

 

Bruce will be here for /years/.

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