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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/article4732973.ece?shareToken=a7f67b79fafd36286263209b24a06620

0-8, 1-7, 1-6, 0-5, 0-4: Reasons for failure are there in black and white

George Caulkin | Northern Sports Correspondent


If you thought Newcastle United were awful, take a look at their under-18s’ woeful results

Games and hope are evaporating for Newcastle United, but Rafa Benítez has not given up, plunging himself into the minutiae of the club, encouraging cohesion among his players with double training sessions, asking questions of all other departments. The more he asks, the more dysfunction he finds. “There are so many things to improve,” an associate of the Spaniard said. Another insider described Newcastle in blunter terms. “It’s broken.”

Benítez will exhort a fatigued support to make St James’ Park a raucous venue for Saturday’s match against Swansea City — a well the club have repeatedly drawn from in recent seasons — but the potential that drew him to Newcastle, as well as the promise of further investment and a decisive say in transfers, is balanced by unwelcome discoveries. Beneath the first-team, they are floundering.

There is a contradiction at the heart of Newcastle, a club stripped back to the bone under Mike Ashley’s ownership, but who last week announced an annual £32.4 million profit after tax and who spent £80 million in the past two transfer windows, a higher net spend than any other English club, barring Manchester City. Self-sufficiency has been the touchstone of their model, but at what cost to the notion of sporting excellence?

At moments such as this — Newcastle are second-bottom of the Barclays Premier League, six points adrift of safety — there is often a call to give the next generation a chance, but defeat is endemic on Tyneside. Benítez’s side have won two games in 2016; the club’s under-21 and under-18 teams have mustered a single victory each.

Peter Beardsley’s under-21 side concluded their league campaign with a 4-1 home defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion, the only team below them in the table, on Monday night. Beneath the headline “No Future”, NUFC.com, the independent Newcastle website, reported that a season that “veered between average and pathetic came to a suitably rotten conclusion”. After the game, Beardsley said that his players needed to “get in the real world”.

The under-18 side have not fared any better, conceding 78 goals in competitive matches, and losing 7-1 to Manchester United last weekend. They have also been beaten 8-0 by Everton, 5-0 by Blackburn Rovers and 4-0 by Derby County. There is a wide disconnect at Newcastle, except in one area, with NUFC.com highlighting the “losing culture that has come to characterise this football club”.

Benítez has always favoured a “holistic approach” and has spoken to Beardsley, Joe Joyce, the academy manager, and Dave Watson, the youth coach. The under-21s have moved out of the Longbenton training centre into an adjacent complex, reducing clutter. “Recruitment — at all levels — is the underlying problem,” Benítez’s confidant said. “Even the greatest coach in the world won’t win with the worst players.”

For two years, Newcastle have put plans to redevelop their training ground on hold because their league position has been precarious and their piecemeal facilities are badly outdated. “In terms of both infrastructure and people, investment has been the minimum required,” a former player said.

As with other areas of the club, Newcastle employ some good people — “Joe Joyce is the best coach at the academy,” the insider said — but they are either over-worked, under-financed or have little football expertise above them. With Ashley taking a hands-off role, decision-making is left to Lee Charnley, the managing director; he, like everybody else, will be subjected to the owner’s annual audit of the club at the end of the season. Part of Newcastle’s failure is due to circumstances. There can be poor years in terms of talent, while the former player insists that the under-21 league is “false. It’s either kids who are not good enough to go on loan or seniors who don’t want to be there.”

If there is a cohesive plan, it is barely discernible. “We wanted to get a particular style that was a Newcastle style,” Joyce said last year, but one long-time watcher cannot see anything “unless conceding goals early and often is a designated style.”

While Middlesbrough’s academy continues to excel — they reached the last 16 of the Uefa Youth League, where they lost to Paris Saint-Germain — Newcastle have been left behind. Paul Dummett and Adam Armstrong, who is on-loan at Coventry City, have emerged in recent seasons, but otherwise the pickings are slender. “I know how much talent is out there,” a coach at another northeast club said. “It’s just not being seen or signed by Newcastle.”

“We used to provide the backbone of Hartlepool and Darlington teams, now we don’t even do it with Gateshead,” the observer said. “Why would young players want to come here?” Newcastle have a policy of recruiting from a 30-mile radius, but deny this is due to cost.

Benítez continues to behave as if he will be implementing change, but written into his three-year contract is a relegation get-out clause . Would he really agree to work in the Sky Bet Championship? “If they stay up, he’ll be asking the board how they can get into the Champions League,” his friend said. “That’s the level he wants to work at.”

For a while, Newcastle’s recruitment model — young players of value, usually from abroad — brought praise, but Benítez’s arrival as manager rather than head coach is recognition that the experiment has failed. Team-building is abysmal. “We’re non-functional at all levels,” the observer said. “Rotten from bottom to top. The statistics don’t lie.”

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Sort of resoundingly answers the old question, often asked when a team is as shite as ours, of "surely there is players in the youth that could do a better job than this rabble", nope, no there is not.

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  • 1 month later...

 

How Benítez went from the Bernabeu to Burton in a year

Spaniard will stay at Newcastle after a charm offensive that included Ant and Dec

George Caulkin | Northern Sports Correspondent

May 26 2016, 12:01am, The Times

 

Benítez joined Real Madrid at the start of last season dreaming of Champions League glory, one year later his only goal is promotion from the Championship

 

It was an unlikely venue for romance, this coldest of clubs, but something profound has happened at Newcastle United, where Rafa Benítez, a manager known for obsession and detail, has confirmed he will stay after their demotion to the Championship.

Powered by unfashionable concepts such as potential and love, the ground has shifted on Tyneside and barricades are crumbling.

 

 

Eleven years to the day after he led Liverpool to their stirring victory over AC Milan in the Champions League final, and four months after he left Real Madrid, Benítez agreed to coach Newcastle at the likes of Burton Albion and Rotherham United, bound to an amended three-year contract that removes any relegation clauses.

An entire institution has changed, with restrictions on the manager lifted and power flowing towards him and, in turn, hope returns to St James’ Park.

There has not been much of it recently, crushed by struggles on the pitch, by skewed priorities and misspending in the transfer market, by the slow death of ambition that could see supporters of a great cup team be told that knockout competitions were “not a priority”. This is not territory that Benítez inhabits; he has won La Liga twice, the Uefa Cup, the European Cup, the Europa League, the FA Cup. His priorities gleam like silver.

 

A “zombie club” in the words of true faith, a Newcastle fanzine, has collided with a man characterised as “cold and hard-faced” by Jerzy Dudek, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, a man who had “an emotionless and distant relationship” with Steven Gerrard, and alchemy has resulted. Not on the pitch — ten games was not quite enough for Benítez to keep the club up last season — but in the heart, a place many fans had forgotten existed.

Benítez always viewed Newcastle as a club of history and passion — according to friends, he has often wondered why they have not called on him before — but the response of supporters to his arrival has moved him. On the final day of a desperate season, their fate already known, they ignored Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley, the architects of a second relegation in seven years, and sang the Spaniard’s name with abandon. “The love I could feel from the fans was a big influence for me in my decision to stay,” Benítez said, while Charnley admitted “he has captured the hearts and minds not just of the fans, but of everyone who has had the pleasure of working with him.” In spite of what some of his former players might say, Benítez has warmth — his connection to Liverpool, where his family still live, is real and deep — but the surprise here is the speed of it.

“Maybe it is because I am getting older that I am more emotional now,” the 56-year-old said. “I was in Liverpool and I said no to Real Madrid at that time because I had given my word to Liverpool, and that was emotional. My relationship with the fans at Liverpool is really good — with the city, with everything — but we were doing really well there and we were winning. Here, even though we were not winning, the fans were still fantastic. I want to repay them, to do my best for them.”

Is this Ashley’s lightbulb moment? The moment he understands that a club is about people — the right people in the right places — and about feeling? In their statement, Newcastle confirmed that Benítez will have “day-to-day responsibility for all football-related manners”, a complete volte-face from the restrictions that hemmed in Alan Pardew and Steve McClaren, from being the best they can be, “pound for pound”. The era of Joe Kinnear, of corrosive belittling, must be over.

The likes of Alan Shearer, Ant and Dec, and the Bishop of Newcastle are among those to have cajoled Benítez, but another sort of love has been at work, too. Agata and Claudia, his daughters, have played their part. “Why would you leave Newcastle?” they have asked him. “It means we get to see you.” He has rejected “some offers, big money, but I am happy here”, he said. “I can see a project and a future, a big club, fantastic fans and my family.”

If hiring Benítez was a coup, albeit a belated one, then keeping him is another and, for that, Charnley and Ashley deserve credit. “The main thing is that I have assurances we will have a strong team and a winning team,” Benítez said. “The fans have to know that I will build a strong team. If I am here it is because I am sure we can do it.”

There is much to do. Recruitment at all levels is flawed and their training ground is creaking, while decisions must be made on players — ins and outs. “The first thing is to get promoted and then we will see if we are stronger or not,” Benítez said. “I will not make the mistake of saying, ‘we are this or that’. We are a Championship team and we are a massive club, but we have to deserve to get there. To do that, we have to work hard — that’s it.” Not quite; Newcastle have their love back.

 

 

Big names who took job outside top flight

 

 

Brian Clough 
Nottingham Forest 1975
Having won the First Division with Derby County, Clough dropped back down to the Second Division to manage Nottingham Forest after 44 days in charge at Leeds. Promotion, the First Division title and back-to-back European Cup titles followed.

 

 

Tony Barton 
Northampton Town 1984
Barton won the 1982 European Cup with Aston Villa before taking over as manager of Northampton Town in the Fourth Division just two

months after leaving Villa Park.

 

 

Ron Atkinson 
West Bromwich Albion 1987 
Following two FA Cup triumphs with Manchester United, Atkinson returned to former club West Brom, who had since been relegated to the Second Division. He escaped relegation in his first season, before leaving for Atletico Madrid.

 

 

Keith Burkinshaw 
Gillingham 1988
Successive FA Cups and a UEFA Cup title with Tottenham Hotspur were followed four years later by a season with Third Division Gillingham. Burkinshaw resigned before the season was out.

 

 

Bobby Gould 
West Bromwich Albion 1991
His 1988 FA Cup triumph with Wimbledon remains one of football’s greatest stories. Less remembered is his spell at West Brom in which they were relegated to the Third Division.

 

 

Kenny Dalglish 
Blackburn Rovers 1991
After three First Division titles and two FA Cups with Liverpool, he joined Blackburn Rovers, guiding them straight to promotion before winning the Premier League in 1995.

 

 

Howard Kendall 
Notts County 1995
A double-winning 1984-85 season was the highlight of his three spells at Everton. Kendall lasted just three months at Notts County.

 

 

Terry Venables 
Crystal Palace 1998
The first former England manager to drop to the second tier in the Premier League era, his return to Palace ended abruptly with the club close to going out of business.

 

 

Joe Royle 
Manchester City 1998
FA Cup-winning manager Royle arrived at Manchester City in February 1999. Within two years he had guided City from the third tier to the Premier League.

 

 

Glenn Hoddle
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2004
After spells at Chelsea, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and of course England, Hoddle went to Molineux, where he failed to win promotion to the Premier League.

 

 

Steve McClaren 
Nottingham Forest 2011
The former England manager resigned after just ten games in charge of the Championship side.

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Benítez handed control and told he does not have to sell

George Caulkin, Northern Sports Correspondent
May 26 2016, 12:01am, The Times

The new manager will not be under pressure to sell the likes of Sissoko

On a day of revolution at St James’ Park, Newcastle United handed complete control to Rafa Benítez over “all football matters” and told their manager that he will not be obliged to sell any of his high-profile players after the club’s relegation.
Benítez signed an amended three-year contract to remain on Tyneside last night, removing the relegation clause that could have been activated by either party, and giving the former Liverpool manager the power to reshape the club as he see fits.


While his budget will, in part, be influenced by sales, the Spaniard will be given about £20 million to strengthen his team and he is hoping to keep the majority of his squad, including players such as Moussa Sissoko, intact in spite of their demotion to the Sky Bet Championship.
“What I have is the assurance that if I don’t want to sell any players I don’t have to,” Benítez said. “We can keep all the players who we want.
“To keep these players, if I want them, is massive because we have a good team. We saw that in the last games.

“I think in the Championship we will be even stronger and if we can keep them it’s a very good message for us.
“I have had conversations with players before and some have told me they are quite happy because they can see the size of the club and can see that next year could be a great year to do things well and get promoted. Then, they could stay a long time in the Premier League.
“If someone comes and approaches me, I will react, but at the moment, we don’t have to do anything because we do not have to sell.”
Since meeting Mike Ashley, the owner, for what proved to be breakthrough talks on the final day of the season, Benítez and his staff have begun identifying transfer targets.
“We can bring players if we need them,” the manager said. “How much we have is for us, but we can bring players and still we can keep all the players that we want.”
There are still some issues to be resolved. Benítez held discussions yesterday with Graham Carr, the 71-year-old chief scout who has enjoyed huge influence under Ashley and still has four years remaining on a lucrative contract. As things stand, Carr remains in his post, although any future role would be reduced.
“I have had different meetings with different people and I am quite happy,” Benítez said when asked about Carr. “I can tell the fans that they don’t need to be worried.”
Unlike his immediate predecessors, who worked with the players Carr sourced and Lee Charnley, the managing director, bought for them, Benítez’s input will be fundamental and assurances are written into his new deal. “Football business, I will have responsibility of,” he said, which includes, but is not limited to, the final decision over the signing and selling of players.

 


The Championship represents a different sort of challenge for a manager who is more familiar with the Champions League. “It is one of the strongest leagues,” Benítez said. “It is difficult because you have good teams and intensity. It is an exciting league and we have to be ready.”
Newcastle’s ambitions may be renewed, but Benítez’s are constant. “I am here because I am convinced we can go up next season, stay there for a long time and even win trophies,” he said. “I would like to get close to what Sir Bobby Robson did. I will start working immediately so we can be big, if we work harder than the others.”

 

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  • 5 months later...

Regeneration game: how Newcastle are bouncing back

 

From Premier League relegation to the perfect reboot: George Caulkin analyses what has changed at St James’ Park George Caulkin

 

October 26 2016, 5:00pm, The Times

 

Nothing has been determined and nothing has been won, important caveats at a football stadium which has often played host to a theatre of the damned, but although it is difficult to crow about a peculiar form of achievement, Newcastle United might just be living through the perfect relegation. If ever there could be a model for going down and rebooting, then it is being showcased at St James’ Park.

 

From the final day of last season - a grey and joyless campaign - when Newcastle supporters put aside their despondency and sang about love, serenading Rafa Benítez, momentum has fuelled this restless club. A manager of calibre, a full ground, a winning team, a sense of purpose; from where they were 12 months ago (losing 3-0 to Sunderland), the transformation is total. If promotion is vital, something less tangible and of greater importance has been rediscovered.

 

This is not Benítez’s first rodeo. The Spaniard knows what he is doing; that is the first thing. He may not have direct experience of the Sky Bet Championship, but he understands how to build and mould a team. His track record - Valencia, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid, the Champions League, the Uefa Cup, the FA Cup, the Europa League, La Liga twice - is substantive and studded with success. All available metrics suggest he is seriously good.

 

That is part of his appeal to Newcastle, but so was his desire to join the club. He is an analytical and thorough coach - he may not have the instinct of Kevin Keegan or the North East heritage of Sir Bobby Robson - but there was something appealingly old-school about his decision to join them. He saw potential. He saw history. He saw stature. Where his immediate predecessors spoke about limitations, about the difficulty of competing, he recognised possibility.

 

The fans are doing their bit

 

In turn, this has galvanised fans. Beyond the city, you would not find much empathy for Newcastle when they were in the Premier League, but this has been a club wrestling with its soul. Under Mike Ashley’s ownership they have been difficult to adore, cold and aloof, with limited communication, corrosive decisions (Sports Direct Arena, Wonga, Joe Kinnear, TWICE!), and a stated policy that cups were not a “priority”.

 

That led to a disconnect between a club wanting to be the best it can be “pound for pound” and those who crave sporting endeavour. It was less about winning something, or a divine right for better, than a belief that Newcastle should at least try. It may be difficult to measure, but without aspiration, without the hope that this, finally, could be your year, then what is the point of any of it? What are players supposed to feel, do? Momentum has returned and it is powerful.

 

Directors not meddling

 

None of this would be relevant if Newcastle’s hierarchy did not buy into Benítez, but the difference here is total. Benítez is the manager, not the head coach. The club acquires the players he wants. Graham Carr, the chief scout, was once described as the most important figure at St James’, but his influence is minimal, while their rigid policy of signing young players of value has been parked, at least for now.

 

Lee Charnley, the managing director, deserved criticism for his longstanding pursuit of Steve McClaren, as well as much else, but appointing Benítez was both bold and transformative. Theoretically, at least, everything has changed. And although their transfer model was partially responsible for them going down, the upside came last summer, when Moussa Sissoko and Georginio Wijnaldum were sold at enormous profit.

 

Other factors

 

There is a myth about the Premier League. It may be bigger and more glamorous and richer, but that does not equate to good. Why is losing to Sunderland and Stoke City and Watford better than beating Brighton & Hove Albion, Derby County and Preston North End? Newcastle learning how to win again has been accompanied by games against different teams and new trips. That reminder is valuable. There is more to football than money and mediocrity.

 

Newcastle have also been cushioned. The financial worth of promotion is huge, but attendances have been remarkable, they remain an attractive destination for away supporters and there is much more of a ‘buzz’ around the city than there has been for years. And because of the way the club has been structured, there was little fat left to trim when relegation was confirmed. Job losses have been minimal.

 

Finally, Newcastle have a team again. Players have been rotated, but Benítez has constructed his squad for the Championship and they have options everywhere. They look solid and committed and organised. They have benefitted from a sympathetic draw, but reaching the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup is a symbol of their renewal. These remain early days and nothing has been achieved, aside from the biggest thing of all. Newcastle have remembered what they stand for.

 

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  • 2 months later...

From what Rafa said after the Blackburn game he didn't see anything wrong with the tactics or personnel, so I don't think you can say with any certainty that he would be poring over it any more than he normally does. I do agree with the sentiment of the article though.

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It;s under pay wall now <_<

I'll paraphrase for you.

 

"Stop being Fannys, booing and moaning about team selection. Make some racket and enjoy the best manager this club has had in years and the most successful manager it's ever attracted."

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That'll do me. 

 

He's right like. People have reverted to hysteria for every little decision and of course 'Thou Shalt Only Play 4-4-2' has reared it's ugly fucking head as if it's the only solution to anything ever. 

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We're 2nd, not 8th

No team has more wins

No team has scored more

We've the best Goal Difference

We remain 5th in the form table despite our little wobble

We have the appeal to attract Premier League players to the 2nd tier

We have the funds to afford those players in January 

We have the right manager to identify and convince those players

We have the best manager in the league

We are still odds-on to win the title, let alone get promoted.

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I also took from that article that Reading are only 3 points behind us if they win their game in hand :lol:

 

Good as we are, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Caulkin makes it clear that we're going to have to scrap for every point.

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I also took from that article that Reading are only 3 points behind us if they win their game in hand :lol:

 

Good as we are, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Caulkin makes it clear that we're going to have to scrap for every point.

Taking nothing for granted, but the collective panicking is ludicrous. We were never going to walk the league, so while every loss is disappointing we shouldn't piss our pants.

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Taking nothing for granted, but the collective panicking is ludicrous. We were never going to walk the league, so while every loss is disappointing we shouldn't piss our pants.

 

All that happened after we lost to Blackburn was that people lamented that we have no backup to Shelvey, questioned why we don't change our system when this happens given the ineffectiveness of what they just saw (and the fact that related issues have seen us suffer in other games), and pleaded for some manner of divine intervention to strike down Colback before the next game. I'm slightly puzzled by how defensive some people got over this.

 

Yes it was more emotionally phrased, but it's not like there were 'Rafa out' comments being bandied about. Everyone is still on board with the project as far as I can see. It's just that Rafa isn't above criticism, you know? No one is. ;)

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The twitter fume was utterly pathetic mind. It was a freak result - both our goals could have easily counted and it's a miracle we didn't score at all. 

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It seems some people go so far overboard defending Rafa if anyone brings up anything they think he's done wrong.  I got dogs abuse on twitter at the beginning of the season for saying that he was wrong to play Anita right midfield (which of course he was).

The man is a human being capable of making mistakes and just because the rest of us don't have his experience, it doesn't mean that we can't call him out on those mistakes.  Just because I think we could have success with playing Mitro with Gayle on some occasions or that we should be changing the way we try to play when we don't have the most pivotal player in the squad available, doesn't mean that I think we have anything but the best manager available and one of the top 3 managers we've had in my lifetime, or that I think we doing anything other than heading the right direction.

As much as there are some moaners who kick off at the slightest set back, I think there's more people who have a ridiculous overreaction to anyone who doesn't see everything as perfect. 

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All that happened after we lost to Blackburn was that people lamented that we have no backup to Shelvey, questioned why we don't change our system when this happens given the ineffectiveness of what they just saw (and the fact that related issues have seen us suffer in other games), and pleaded for some manner of divine intervention to strike down Colback before the next game. I'm slightly puzzled by how defensive some people got over this.

 

Yes it was more emotionally phrased, but it's not like there were 'Rafa out' comments being bandied about. Everyone is still on board with the project as far as I can see. It's just that Rafa isn't above criticism, you know? No one is. ;)

Spot on, if Fish's comment is aimed at numpties on twitter etc then that's fine but I really don't see anyone panicking on here tbh.

 

I'm fully confident we'll be going up and Rafa has my full support but he's not some perfect manager and people are going to have complaints here and there I don't think voicing them on a forum is bed wetting or pants pissing, it's simply discussion. I personally hate watching Vernon Anita play and would far rather watch Yedlin, would we get promoted if we played the full season with Anita starting over Yedlin? Aye I'd be fully confident that we would it's just I'd prefer Yedlin and I always get a bit disappointed when I see Anita start over him. The same way a lot of other people really want to see Mitro get more playing time, can we get promoted without playing him? Aye, but there's people that would still like to watch him play because they find him entertaining to watch which at the end of the day is what this is all about for fans.

 

Edit: Also fully agree with DK's comment above mine.

Edited by Howay
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