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McClaren Dead Man Walking At Newcastle - Benitez first choice

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Rafa on one side, Ashley and his merry men on the other - there'd be open warfare within weeks. It'll be Moyes if they've got any sense, but that's a big "if" where Newcastle are concerned.
 
Buddha said:
Madness. This could be his first relegation and last job.
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Nah, it won't be his last, for sure. He's been relegated before anyway at Extremadura.

The Newcastle side is actually not too bad, on paper, from midfield up - at least attacking wise. Defensively they've been really sloppy though, so I can see the attraction for wanting Moyes or Benitez, with their track record of building solid defensive sides. The question is whether he (they) can whip that defence into shape in 10 games with the resources available.

It's highly likely to end up as just another stupid career choice by him if he takes this job right now, following the Inter move and leaving Napoli for the Madrid mad house. It'd be a better bet to wait for opportunities to open up in the summer - a newly-promoted club might, for example, decide they want a more experienced manager to keep them in the league. Derby, for example, and they've spent a fair bit to try and get into the Premier League this season. Or just wait for one of the clubs to inevitably change managers in the summer or November.
 
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I very much doubt that Ashley will still own Newcastle when next season starts. I think that he already have a buyer lined up.
 
If Rafa takes the Newcastle job then he will have it written into his contract that he have the last say in every transfer deal and that he will get a big transfer budget IMO. He would never risk a war with the owner after what happened at Real.
 
Arn said:
If Rafa takes the Newcastle job then he will have it written into his contract that he have the last say in every transfer deal and that he will get a big transfer budget IMO. He would never risk a war with the owner after what happened at Real.
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Because he didn't have any problems with Valencia, Liverpool, and Inter owners, right? 5th time's the charm.
 
Its a clever risk for him to take.

Villa are gone. Newcastle are a point off thhe safety zone with a game in hand. They play Norwich and Sunderland soon - the two teams directly above them.

They only really can be sure they'll get beaten by City and Spurs in the last ten games.

I'd take that for the chance to boost my ego as the clubs saviour.
 
Except they never win against Sunderland no matter how shite they've been. Sunderland have won the last 6 games and not lost since 2011.

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They'll have to win 4, maybe 5 of these games.
 
Rafa would be mental to take that job, unless Ashley is about to sell up and the new owners are friends of Rafa. Otherwise it's another match made in hell.

Therefore I fully expect it to happen.
 
Rafa wins trophies, newcastle havent won anything.

Seems like a decent fit, though rafa could do lot better.
 
I think it's a pretty good fit. McLaren got a lot of money in the summer and completely messed it up. They've got a decent squad, he could easy keep them up, then he'd be given a few years and a good budget to sort them out... otherwise he wouldn't be going.

Prob is those fans hounded Allardyce out for getting them mid-table and unattractive footy. Do we expect anything more of Rafa in the first couple of years?
 
Would he be the permo manager or an interim one? This is a bit of a mental move by Rafa if he goes there full time, he's not a good fit at all and he'll fall out with the fans inside the 1st month. They've got a shocking squad, and most can't be arsed to play. He'd have a right job keeping them up, let alone the massive rebuild they need on limited funds.
 
Guesswork but surely the deal would be structured as a short term one with a massive bonus for keeping them up (it's worth 60m in year one alone) with a long term deal that would kick in dependent on that.
 
hmmmmm1 said:
Rafa wins trophies, newcastle havent won anything.

Seems like a decent fit, though rafa could do lot better.
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The fans are still deluded enough to think they have to play a certain way to succeed. Kenny dragged them to their first FA Cup final in ages and they still hated him for not thinking Asprilla was God's gift to football. They're not going to relish Rafa's style of play. They're so up themselves it's a joke.
 
Quite a coup for Newcastle if this happens. Benitez would arguably be the best or at least the most highly regarded manager they've had since Bobby Robson.
 
I think this is a good situation for Benitez actually. He has nothing to lose - Newcastle haven't won anything in decades, so there are no real expectations from him.

If he instills some professional in training, sorts out their defence, and gets them a League Cup win, all of which he is well capable of doing, I'd imagine he'd be seen as a massive success.

And his football is far better than Allardyce's.
 
It's very nice that he and his family still love Liverpool so much, but surely if it wasn't for the fact of where his family is rooted he wouldn't even consider that shithole of a club.
 
Benitez can't afford to think too far ahead. While Newcastle seems to have the best squad of players of the trio flirting with relegation (Villa is already nailed on to go down), nothing is certain. Sunderland has improved since the new year, going 3-4-3 and collecting 13 points in 10 games. Not great, but at least they've stopped their losing habit like Norwich (1-1-8) and Newcastle (2-1-6) have at the moment.

If Sunderland can keep this pace for their last 9 games, it might be just enough to get them over the line (finish with a 3-3-3 record and they'll end up with 36 points). In the past 10 seasons, teams needed 36, 34, 37, 37, 40, 31, 35, 37, 39 and 35 points to finish just above the relegation zone - in other words, if a team finished with 37 points over that period, they'd be safe 80% of the time; 50% if they get 36 points.

The same goes for Newcastle and Norwich of course, but the momentum and form is with Sunderland right now, since they're already in a better run while the other two have yet to shake off their new year wobbles. And they already have a settled manager while Newcastle has a dead man walking at this point in time.

I'd love Newcastle to go down though, regardless who is in charge.
 
I would imagine that Benitez will have a escape-hatch clause in the contract should they go down, plus a very large bonus incentive should they stay up.

Either way, minimises his risk and maximises the opportunity.
 
gkmacca said:
It's very nice that he and his family still love Liverpool so much, but surely if it wasn't for the fact of where his family is rooted he wouldn't even consider that shithole of a club.
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That and the 4 mil a year.

Actually the barcodes are getting a manager they actually want this time, so I'm sure he will be given more latitude than recent managers before they inevitably turn on him
 
manwithnoname said:
I would imagine that Benitez will have a escape-hatch clause in the contract should they go down, plus a very large bonus incentive should they stay up.

Either way, minimises his risk and maximises the opportunity.
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But isn't he going to look a massive cunt if he signs a 3yr deal, takes them down, then walks away after these 10 games?
 
Mors said:
But isn't he going to look a massive cunt if he signs a 3yr deal, takes them down, then walks away after these 10 games?
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Yeah. I just find it hard to imagine Benitez setting up a side for a league game with Bristol City away
 
The only fear I have with Rafa taking over Newcastle is that there is a chance that he might take them to the next level.
They've got a good young squad but are lacking in the defensive department and that's Rafa's expertise.
 
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