Rafael Benitez stays as Newcastle United manager

[Tooting Gull]

Makes our league absolutely fascinating next season. Newcastle under Rafa will be very short-priced favourites but the pressure they will be under will be immense, and the players this season have shown they can't handle pressure. There will be managers earning a tenth, even a 20th (Burton, Rotherham?) of what he is on. And for that, you expect to be top all season.

 

[Sorrel]

Lots of pressure - rather different from the last day for an already relegated team.

 

[JamesAndTheGiantHead]

I'm glad he's staying. Midway through the season when he gets bored or some European club comes a-knockin' he'll leave, causing wide-spread dissary and swashbuckling mutiny. Possibly.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I hope he doesn't get the physicality of our division too quickly, keeping a couple of feeble centrehalves easily brushed aside by a burly enough striker looking to get his handsome head on one of a number of whipped-in crosses. They'll challenge, certainly.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Newcastle were in a much worse mess the last time they went down. That time, they won 1 of their last 8 matches and dropped like a stone. But they recovered quickly and went straight back up in style, helped by appointing a very good manager after their fate was sealed.

This time round, despite relegation, they do have some momentum having ended the season unbeaten in their last 6 matches. They will lose the players that don't want to be there and will likely bring in players that have played at that level before.

Nothing's guaranteed as I expect there to be some very strong teams to make some progress in the Championship next season, but I would still expect both Newcastle and Brighton to both be major contenders next season.

 

[wellquickwoody]

I fear this means one automatic spot for next season is already wrapped up. Id like to see us play them early on as they may take a little to adjust, but they'll be tough to stop as next season gets going.

I do hate our inferiority complex, I also hate when we get too big for our boots. But the reality is that we are the best team in England based on last seasons stats outside of the Premier League. Bring it on Geordies, Villa and Norwich, up to you to lift your game, can you match ours?

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I don't see how that can be anything other than a good appointment for them. He'll need to reorganise the defence as they are desperately short in that area, but once he does, and I'd suspect he'll do that quickly (he'd already begun in the Prem) then they should be a force to be reckoned with next season. The emphasis on should.

 

[Peter Grummit]

BBC have already promoted Newcastle. The line on BBC News Channel this PM was that Benitez was going to have to drop into the Championship for one season.

Bring it on.

PG

 

[Hampster Gull]

Its theirs to lose. He will have negotiated a silly package for his players

 

[Dolph Ins]

I think I am happier with Benitez than say Pearson in charge.

 

[Perkino]

Bad news for us. This will mean they keep hold of more of their decent players and may attract some other decent players who will be prepared to play for him

 

[SUIYHP]

Benitez is a high class manager and it's fair to make the assumption that they are very viable contenders for an auto, possibly the best chances in the season. I don't mind as long as we're up there too, but I worry that we had some very lucky results last season and it'll be tough to replicate that form in the coming one. What matters is that we can return that momentum we had earlier this year when we were banging in 4-0 results.

 

[NooBHA]

I think they will be hard to beat in the Championship but I don't know if they can win enough to go up but they will be there or there abouts because he will have then organised

 

[GT49er]

Surprised he stayed, to be honest - I didn't see him as a manager to scrap his way out of the second division. However, the fact that he has stayed suggests that he's been promised HUGE amounts of investment in the team, so they probably will be amongst our rivals next season. Although I don't see this division as his natural habitat, nonetheless he is no fool.

 

[Eeyore]

They will piss this league like last time.

Well, this.

It looks like he's been given the resources he needs. There's a team in the league with what would be described as plentiful resources in the top tier. I wouldn't even offer odds on them topping the table.

 

[Kosh]

To be fair, having lived in and around Newcastle all my life I can see nothing else here but a 20 point lead and championship in the bag before the final six or so games. For those who've perhaps not been to St James for a while, well it is huge and I suspect it will be filled with delighted and excited Geordies come the season opener's in the late summer. It will be a fortress I'm sure. He's a savvy man Rafa, he'll whip up the toon army into a frenzy, akin to bunch of chavs standing agog as a lowered 03 plate Clio blazes down Brighton seafront.

Benitez will, or so I'm hearing, have substantive monies, and let's face it they will attract top players with him at the helm.

Bad news, I'm afraid.

Personally I'd already take the PO next season, as replicating our form of this season is going to be a big ask. Not impossible, but improbable.

I just hope Hughton is retained, even if we 'slump' to around 10th. Time will deliver all the answers, as he always does.

Kosh

 

[GOM]

Newcastle are going to be everyone's cup final, teams are going to play out of their skins against them. Could be interesting, can they cope with 40+ cup finals in a season

 

[Biscuit]

Takes the pressure off us.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

10 games, 3 wins, and failing to score against Villa.

Brilliant.

Groan. You may choose to make fatuous comments now but most people will recognise this is not good news for Albion or other Championship clubs hopeful of going up next season. If Benitez had left there was a possibility that Ashley would have bungled another appointment. Not so now. Benitez is a world class manager who could probably take his pick from some of Europe's top clubs and now will be able to attract some big name players, on big wages, to a Championship club. As a result it will be even harder for Albion to go up automatically next season.

 

[Acker79]

Benitez has a good history at top clubs with world class players. I like that he has decided to stay, rather than leaving and going to another top club with top quality players. Sure, he will be working in the championship with better resources (both in money and the quality of players he will be able to attract), so should be able to run away with it, but it will be interesting to see how he will cope with championship level football. We see top players struggle when they get roughed up a little, will Benitez sign players that can cope with Leeds lumping it out of them? We saw Benitez fail to turn newcastle around with the players they had, is that an indication of his ability to manage with lesser quality players?