[Albion] Is anyone else getting fed up of the Newcastle love in...

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

... oh poor Rafa he only has a Championship squad and he's doing ever so well. F*ck off! I'm sure that for the majority of last season most eagle eyed Championship fans pointed out that Newcastle were a Premier League team playing in the Championship. Now all of a sudden the pundits are saying the exact opposite -- they are a Champioship team (doing ever so well!) in the Premier League.

Well, I'm sorry but the facts are that the majority of the Newcastle squad have Premier League experience and they are absolutely not a Championship Squad.

NEWCASTLE PREMIER LEAGUE APPEARANCES PRIOR TO 2017-18 SEASON

Karl Darlow - (PL 9 apps)
Rob Elliot - (PL 36 apps)

Ciaran Clark (PL apps 129)
Paul Dummett (PL apps 66)
Jesus Gamez (La Liga apps 217)
Massaido Haidara (PL apps 37)
Jamaal Lascelles (PL apps 18)
Javier Manqiullo (PL apps 30)
Chancel Mbemba (PL apps 33)
DeAndre Yeddelin (PL apps 24)

Christian Atsu (PL apps 5)
Mohammed Diame (PL apps 179)
Kenedy (PL apps 16)
Matt Ritchie (PL apps 39)
Jonjo Shelley (PL apps 141)

Dwight Gayle (PL apps 64)
Ayoze Perez (PL apps 70)
Joselu (PL apps 22)
Islam Slimani (PL apps 35)
Aleksander Mitrovic (PL apps 40)

TOTAL 1210 PL apps


And Brighton for comparison - can't be bothered to look up the Huddersfield stats but I am sure that they have only a fraction of players with PL experience.


BRIGHTON PREMIER LEAGUE APPEARANCES PRIOR TO 2017-18 SEASON

Tim Krul (PL apps 157)

Shane Duffy (PL apps 5)
Liam Rosenior (PL apps 138)

Anthony Knockaert (PL apps 9)
Steve Sidwell (PL apps 200)

Leonardo Ulloa (PL apps 86)
Glenn Murray (PL apps 52)

TOTAL 647


Poor old Rafa! Hasn't he done well?

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Mate. I was sick of that lot of bloody moaning knobbers last season.

Why on Earth we decided to let them overhaul us to Champions I will never know.

 

[Whitechapel]

I can honestly say that I do not give one solitary shit about Newcastle or how they’re doing this season, nor have I seen any kind of media love-in that would annoy me enough to start a thread on the subject.

Hope that helps.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Whilst I agree with your general point, your comparison is biased. How can you include the La Liga apps of Gamez, but not those of Bruno, the Bundesliga apps of Groß and Suttner, the Erevdivise apps of Pröpper, etc....

 

[neilbard]

Newcastle? Never heard of them!

 

[Gazwag]

In some ways it's refreshing that the love in has changed from plucky Bournemouth and the realisation that Eddie Howe isn't all that after all

 

[stss30]

To be honest, they have done very well in their last few games and we could have been in the same position as them if we had seen out some of our games earlier in the season. The Everton & Bournemouth home games immediately spring to mind.

I think there is no doubt that their squad was far better than ours in the Championship, and although we have probably spent more than them on new additions this season their squad is still better and more experienced. Although you do have to respect the job Rafa has done to bounce back from their relegation two seasons ago and stabilize them in this division.

 

[Alba Badger]

Who is this Newcastle United that you speak of?

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Would love to see um go back down

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

 

[Alba Badger]

To be fair they are safe with 5 games left to play, well done them. I simply can't hate Newcastle even if I try really hard.

 

[Napier's Knee]

I get really annoyed by their 'oh we love Chrissy Hughton more than you' stuff. I love Newcastle as a city - and even married a Geordie - but my God as football fans they are so condescending

 

[Razzoo]

Fair play to them, at one point they did look terrible. They got Kenedy in and haven't looked back. And Sunderland droppping again has given them a great season.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Really couldn't give a toss about them, and haven't seen any kind of media love-in on them either. Having said that, winning four Premier League games in succession is outstanding and Benitez does deserve credit for keeping them up comfortably

 

[Mackenzie]

Rafa’s miracle.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

I think if CH had made as much fuss about not having Man City levels of player investment he would have been Pilloried.

But Rafa..he can do no wrong the moaning Spanish bell.

 

[Simster]

Really couldn't give a toss about them, and haven't seen any kind of media love-in on them either. Having said that, winning four Premier League games in succession is outstanding and Benitez does deserve credit for keeping them up comfortably

This. Don't really have an issue with them or the media in this case.

The other piece missing in the OPs analysis is that whilst Newcastle went down with a Premier league team, they have since spent two years moreorless without the necessary funds to strengthen. That means that Rafa Benitez has inherited a crap Premier league side that got relegated, got them back up straight away as champions (grrr) and then kept them up very very comfortably, with an average age of two years older than what he inherited.

He's also got the best out of several players. I'd have no issue with one or two of them making the England squad. Couldn't have said that two years ago.

 

[jimhigham]

Rafa seems to be a pretty decent bloke. Good luck to him.

 

[Simster]

And those of you whining about Benitez, I can think of several designer managers who'd have walked away after relegation two years ago, or clear overrated gobshites who'd have stayed on (on the promise of an enormous salary increase) only to then show what a toilet manager he is when faced with a crap squad and other issues (Harry Redknapp springs to mind yet again).

Not Rafa. Rumblings of discontent occasionally for sure, but it seems he rolled his sleeves up and got the job done. And this from a man whose last job was head coach at Real Madrid. He'd have been well within his rights to be long gone. I admire the bloke in all honesty.

 

[A1X]

Classic example of a club arrogantly assuming it was too big to go down, did, whinged about it for a year despite being the biggest and richest club in the Championship then regarded themselves staying up the next season as a massive achievement.

See also: West Ham.

 

[Baldseagull]

This. Don't really have an issue with them or the media in this case.

The other piece missing in the OPs analysis is that whilst Newcastle went down with a Premier league team, they have since spent two years moreorless without the necessary funds to strengthen. That means that Rafa Benitez has inherited a crap Premier league side that got relegated, got them back up straight away as champions (grrr) and then kept them up very very comfortably, with an average age of two years older than what he inherited.

He's also got the best out of several players. I'd have no issue with one or two of them making the England squad. Couldn't have said that two years ago.

I believe it was the most expensive squad ever relegated. I realise expense does not always match up with quality, but they were expected to walk the Championship by all and sundry.