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Rafa Benitez


Anorthernsoul
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I was just about to post that. Good Saturday read on Rafa the obsessive to detail and his back room staff. As long as he's our manager we have a chance of moving forward, despite the owner. 

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A simple question to all of you.

If Ashley walks away from the club what type of owner do you want to replace him.

It's clear many fans want rid of him. That's fair enough and their choice.

 

So what kind of owner are people hoping for or will accept instead of Ashley.

 

I'll put some up to choose from or come up with your own.

 

1. A money no object owner like  a Sheikh in the Man City type mould.

 

2. Russian oil Billionaires like Abramovich or similar.

 

3. Chinese billionaire.

 

4. A consortium consisting of any or all of the above.

 

5. Someone like Steve Gibson from Middlesbrough who appears up front and honest with the fans and will spend available money?

 

 

Add any more this if you have something better.

I just want to get a mindset of fans as to how they hope or expect the club to be run from their choice of type of owner.

 

 

I have mixed feelings about it all.

On the one hand I'd love Ashley to be totally upfront with managers and give them what is initially promised... but assuming that this isn't entirely the case as it stands as far as Rafa is concerned then assuming Rafa walks and Ashley decides enough is enough and sells off, then my next best bet in terms of keeping the club as a real club, would be a Steve Gibson type, who would appear to be an owner who the fans would see as being a bit more straight to any manager and basically give what is promised, but without the billionaire stigma attached to him.

 

If the billionaire stigma is removed, then the fans would simply know what the club is working from, which would be from within and have an owner that they can trust...right?

 

 

Other than that I would have to ask myself how badly do I want my club to win trophies, no matter what the cost.

Assuming I'm desperate to win trophies, as in the higher bracket trophies, as in the premier league or champions league and sustain that, then I'd have no option but to say bye bye to Newcastle United as the football club I love and to say hello to the club that is in the 1 2 3 4 bracket, because that's the only way we compete against the blank cheque brigade.

 

That option could be exciting for the fans, especially the new breed of fan...ermmm watching group, because it would at least give them a sense of belonging to the elite band of clubs who can challenge on a whim and not worry about immediate restructuring should they fail to hit expected heights.

 

I often wonder what it would be like to sample this kind of owner.

I remember what it felt like when I thought Sir John Hall and co were the blank cheque crew at the time.

Keegan in with a (what appeared) blank cheque and a sense of pride at being able to compete and even better the so called massive clubs in bringing top talent to the club. The entertainers. Everyone's favourite club outside of their own club, it appeared.

 

Home grown owners who put us on the map and made us all happy and proud. Up front owners who had a vision of Newcastle United being on top of the world.

A group of people who had Newcastle United in their hearts and made this club a family club. Unfortunately they did it on a gamble. A massive gamble that backfired in many ways.

Then Shepherd tried to wear his heart on his sleeve and dig the hole a bit deeper in the hope that it would miraculously fill up and all will be well.

 

Their intentions were good and their hearts were in the club as owners and fans. Every panic button was pressed in order to restore the good time for this club, even to the point of trying to get any manager with a name onboard.

The owners tried. They tried because they ran the club like fans. They ran the club like we all wanted it to be run. Basically we wanted the best and we didn't give a tuppeny crap how we did it.

We didn't argue about what was going on behind the scenes and we didn't spend too long arguing about the owners slagging the fans off paying fortunes for penny made football shirts in the sweat shops or that the implication that Newcastle fans are thick or the lasses being slags, etc.

 

A fickle bunch of fans that doesn't just extend to Newcastle fans.

As long as an owner provides what fans want, then all of the badness can be put on the back burner.

 

Ashley was just a passing thought when we were in the championship after spending plenty of money and doing exceptionally well. He didn't merit much of a mention because he was providing what the fans wanted. A way back out of the championship at the first attempt.

 

Now we are back in the premier league and not spending the desired money on players that fans THINK we should be able to entice just because we are Newcastle United with Rafa as manager... then Ashley goes back to being a total bell end and all the rest of the bile.

 

The issue as it stands is, does the club take a massive risk by handing out money for transfers that is hasn't got, in terms of big stakes, or do we do what we are doing right now, even if Rafa isn't entirely happy with the overall set up?

 

Rafa's a top manager and his attention to detail (as has been said) is almost detective like. The squad is very close to being his making whether it's short of high profile signings or not.

He either works with the funds he has or he walks away.

 

If he walks away, most fans will not blame him and the obvious blame will go directly onto Ashley and Charnley...and... Although they may be partially guilty of not catering to everything, it still would not give Rafa an easy route out in terms of excuses, because for him to walk out after buying in players HE wanted, regardless of where they were in terms of pecking order, then that would make him a managerial coward.

 

That's not to say he would do this. I would hope not, anyway.

He took the club on and he wasn't promised the Earth, because he knew who was at the helm and he also knew he was in the north east of England at a club that has spent a few decades just dawdling along.

 

As fans we have to be careful what we wish for, because we have to remember the obstacles we are up against whoever runs this club. The obstacles Are SOUTH from Newcastle.

Those obstacles require us to have an owner(s) with deep pockets and long arms and the ability to never come up empty whenever those pockets are delved into...but once this happens, this is when we lose the football club as a beating heart of the city. Ity becomes an arena of spectacles for casual enjoyment that quickly loses it's soul and takes away the true reason for the love of the club as a family club, which would be nothing more than a crowd filled shell of empty feeling. 

Edited by wolfy
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Benitez could arguably be the best manager in the world and he could rubberstamp that thought by actually doing something at this club that's never been done for a long long time. Win us something and put the club into the dogfight at the top by using his management skills and ability to hone identified players at realistic prices to do the job for him.

 

This is the Newcastle United I would dearly wish for.

Let's make our own superstars and play with the hand we make for ourselves.

 

If Rafa is as meticulous as it appears then he has a better than average chance of being an absolute legend at this club and in a way that most money bag managers would fail to do. Fingers crossed he doesn't walk away from the challenge.

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1 hour ago, trooper said:

Carver stirring the shit

John Carver "Mike Ashley would call me up at the end of each week...if he came to the game I would always lick his ringpiece afterwards."

 

Tidied

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Rafa Benitez on transfers: "We have to wait... working behind scenes... but I don't know which is our position at the moment." #nufc #SSN

Rafa implying he doesnt know whats going on regarding transfers what a shambles 

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Rafa has to take some of the blame. He signed Sels, Clark, Hanley, Gamez, Yedlin, Lazaar, Diame, Hayden, Ritchie, Atsu, and Murphy. Quite a few of those are taking up places in the squad/on the wage bill when they are not needed.

 

Ritchie, Clark and Hayden were good signings. Atsu and Yedlin may prove their worth. Murphy did a job and we got back most of what we paid for him.

 

We can't shift Hanley, and Lazaar. Fuck knows what is going on with Gamez, but Rafa doesn't trust him and I doubt we'll get our money back for him. Sels is a flapper and we won't get our money back.

 

Oh, and Diame is absolutely shite.

 

Of this season, Lejeune looks good. From what I've seen of Murphy, he has potential. Manquillo was at fault for both Spurs goal and couldn't get a game for Sunderland, Joselu couldn't get a game ahead of Walters and Crouch at Stoke. Merino is a completely unknown quantity in what is probably the most important position on the field. I'm not sure if I've missed anyone, but they must be underwhelming if I have.

 

He now appears to want another winger and goalkeeper which are probably the two areas where are strongest.

 

Rafa has done a great job with what he has, and his signings reflect the constraints he is working under, but there are a lot of question marks over his signings.

 

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1 hour ago, LooneyToony said:

Billy, do you really think the likes of Manquillo and Joselu were his first, second, sixth choices?  I don't think so.

No, I don't, but I also don't see the point in signing them. They don't particularly improve the squad, they just make an already bloated squad even more mediocre.

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On ‎19‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 9:22 AM, Dr Gloom said:

 

:lol: aye, I'm leaving that for the fish

 

No chance.

 

If it was HF's opinion, or mine, I'd give it a read.

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