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In Rafa we trust

Since the disaster that was the 15/16 Premier League season drew to a close for Newcastle United, the subject of discussion on most supporter’s lips has not been one of doom and gloom, not one dissecting what went wrong last season (I could write a thesis on that) or even the prospect of life in the Championship, no, it was whether or not Rafa Benitez will stay in charge of the club. It’s a strange feeling to have, the club I love has (quite rightly) just been relegated but I ended the season full of hope and actually looking forward to next season rather than the misery and sadness you would normally expect with relegation. It is never simple supporting Newcastle United.

Rafa Benitez initially signed for the club with 10 games remaining of the 15/16 season and it was widely reported that he had signed a 3 year deal but with a relegation release clause built in, allowing him to walk away should the club, as was expected, go down.

I wrote a lot at the time about Rafa and always believed that he would stay. I firmly believe that he wants to be at a club where he is loved, he wants a project and right now there is no bigger project in British football than Newcastle United. I say I believed he would stay, that’s a little fib; I had a sneaky suspicion he wanted to but at the back of my mind there was always the Mike Ashley/Lee Charnley factor. Both of these have an utterly fantastic reputation of making dreadful decision after dreadful decision and as much as my heart was saying he would stay, my head was telling me to steady on and prepare myself for an inevitable let down (you’d think I’d have got used to that by now). I actually suspected the decision on whether he stays or goes would have been taken out of his hands completely and in a cost cutting exercise, Ashley would have made the decision for him and appointed another yes man, someone to tow the party line, someone who needs a job, someone who will be forever grateful to Ashley for employing them (see Alan Pardew, Joe Kinnear, and Steve McClaren). Had Rafa been relieved of his duties there once again have been a huge black cloud over St. James’ Park and all hope would have been completely stripped away from the magpie fans.

As it turns out, the heart v head scenario was affecting Rafa too. His heart was telling him to stay; he was very much wanted on Tyneside, the fans had really taken to him and without being too naive, I suspect he will have also on the end of a massive pay check at the end of every month; he could walk away with his head held high, with no regrets. But he didn’t.

I’ve read hundreds of articles on Benitez on various media outlet sites and have also read the comments from other readers that accompany them. The usual go to response for any non-Newcastle United fan is why do we want him? He couldn’t save us. What’s so special about Rafael Benitez? We couldn’t even beat Villa. Typical deluded geordies of the so-called (but never in these parts let me tell you) great geordie nation.

It is hard to explain to a non-Newcastle United fan why we have taken to him so much but I will give it a go. It is quite easy to be cynical about Rafa, afterall, he took over when we were in the bottom 3 but had a fairly good run of games against relegation rivals in which victories would have all but guaranteed survival. Those victories never came and in the end we were relegated before the final game of the season. You could look to the away defeat against Norwich City or the inability to beat Aston Villa as reasons for relegation but all Newcastle fans know that these 2 games are not the reason we were relegated. We were relegated due to the totally inept performances overseen by Steve McClaren since August. We were relegated due to the dreadful recruitment we made during the summer and January transfer windows (with the exception of 1 or 2 players obviously), we were relegated because Lee Charnley failed to sack McClaren when we had a 3 week break from football in February. Rafa Benitez had nothing to do with our relegation.

Under Rafa Benitez’s guidance we have seen some hope. We have witnessed some cracking performances from both the team as a whole and individuals on a consistent basis. Andros Townsend and Jamaal Lascelles have flourished under Rafa, as has Moussa Sissoko; although we have likely seen the last of the latter in a black and white shirt and there won’t be too many tears shed over him. The players appear to be playing as a team, they seem to have some fight, some passion, some desire. They seem to be playing in a system they are comfortable with and they seem to have gained the ability to actually string some passes together; a skill that you’d half expect a professional footballer to have mastered by now.

There is something about Benitez that fits with Newcastle. Whilst the results have sometimes not matched the performances and we have been unlucky on occasions, it is the hope factor that us fans are clinging on to as we have quite simply been starved of hope for so many years. For the best part of a decade we have been served up some of the worst football we have witnessed in our lives and you know what makes it so frustrating? We know what the problems are and yet nothing gets done, season after season.

Shortly after the season ended, there was talk of him taking over the reigns at Everton following the sacking of Roberto Martinez or even returning to Spain to manage his old club Valencia but neither of these moves materialised. It seemed that Rafa did actually want to stay, but only on the right terms. He set a 2 week deadline on negotiations to stay and whilst his heart wanted to commit to the club, he quite rightly had to listen to his brain. This is Newcastle United after all.

Negotiations with Rafa have taken place between Ashley and Charnley on an almost on a daily basis since the season ended and news today has broken that he is on the verge of signing a 3 year deal; his demands have seemingly been met and I can’t explain how much this means to Newcastle United fans.

Yes, Rafa Benitez is certainly a coup; he’s a world class manager and a manager that the fans want but the signing of Benitez, as a manager, not a head coach has signaled a gigantic shift in the way Newcastle United is being run by Mike Ashley. Whilst nothing has been made official yet, you would assume that one of Benitez’s demands was to have full control over transfers; something that no manager (sorry, head coach), under Ashley, has ever had before. It is something so simple, and will sound so utterly ridiculous to fans from other clubs but this is huge for Newcastle United.

With Benitez staying on as Newcastle United manager I would suspect this will be a tick in the right box for a large number of the first team players who are umming and arring about leaving for pastures new following the club’s relegation. Last season was a disgrace and the players have to hold their hands up and shoulder a great deal of the blame but we have seen glimpses of the potential of the team. Yes, some players will leave and some players may be forced to leave in order to raise funds for a transfer kitty but I don’t see to many fans pleading for many of the current lot to stay.

For the first time in a long time though, we have a manager I have 100% complete and utter trust in. I trust Rafa to run this club well and successfully and I trust him in whatever decisions he makes. There may be times I raise an eyebrow at team selection or the players he decides to bring in or move on and I am sure there will be some disappointing results next season in the Championship but I am fully behind Rafa and I am confident he can make this club great again.