Rafa Benitez

[TheGingerQuiff 1,682]

8 hours ago, Chronic the Drug Wasp said:

He's the best manager we've had since Keegan and I hope we can see what he can do given the money to add quality.

 

I subscribe to the school of thinking that we know what we're talking about as well, as a collective. The mackems, even still now, probably don't understand our optimism after 'winning relegation'.

 

He's a far, far superior manager to Keegan.

[adios 686]

Judged by the standards of their day I'd say it's a lot closer.

[Andrew 900]

Closest in pedigree would be Robson in recent(ish) history surely?

 

 

[Ant 332]

Keegan as much as I love him is no rafa when it comes to tactics and coaching, man  management and passion yes. 

 

Robson is the benchmark, if rafa had access to the players/calibre of player  either of those two had it'd be much easier to compare 

[adios 686]

Agree with @Andrew on pedigree.

 

Relative to what other coaches were capable of at the time, Keegan's man-management and coaching (he worked with some very average players) were phenomenal and put him up there imo.

 

Might be rose-tinted glasses.

 

Robson is a much easier comparison because their times at Newcastle/Liverpool just about overlapped iirc. 

[Dr Gloom 3,072]

i fucking love rafa

[adios 686]

Aye.  Defo my favourite Newcastle manager in my brief glory-hunting lifetime.

[Ant 332]

You could argue Rafa at Napoli would be reasonable(ish) comparison to Keegan and his playstyle/squad ability

3rd in the league and a couple of cups

 

[Dr Gloom 3,072]

our love for rafa makes a mockery of the sky cliches about the demanding newcastle fans who only want entertaining football and who would rather we lost 4-3 than drew 0-0.

rafa is pragmatic. the football can be dour to watch at times, and very negative depending on the opposition, but the players buy into his philosophy and work their socks off for him. that's what we want to see. 

[adios 686]

18 minutes ago, Ant said:

You could argue Rafa at Napoli would be reasonable(ish) comparison to Keegan and his playstyle/squad ability

3rd in the league and a couple of cups

 

Aye, I think Rafa pips both of them, I just don't think it's anywhere close to "far, far superior".

[TheGingerQuiff 1,682]

1 minute ago, adios said:

Aye, I think Rafa pips both of them, I just don't think it's anywhere close to "far, far superior".

 

His trophy haul makes him far, far superior to the vast majority of managers. Including those we fondly remember.

[Ayatollah Hermione 3,834]

The only Rafa could surpass what Keegan did for Newcastle United is to win a trophy tbh. And even then, Keegan put us on the path that even made the likes of Rafa and Sir Bob possible.

[Ant 332]

20 minutes ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

 

His trophy haul makes him far, far superior to the vast majority of managers. Including those we fondly remember.

 

Pretty close between him and Sir Bobby like going either way imo. 

 

But he's a quality manager regardless best well have/likely to have for sometime 

[adios 686]

27 minutes ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

 

His trophy haul makes him far, far superior to the vast majority of managers. Including those we fondly remember.

That only holds true if all other things are equal, which they're clearly not.

 

Rafa had a longer time with superior squads to prove his worth.  Keegan took Newcastle straight from the verge of Division 3 to challenging for the Division 1 title.  He was just a black swan in terms of motivation, though that passion may ultimately be the reason he shouldn't be rated as a top manager (stroppy cunt).

 

I don't think it's anywhere near as distant as you're making out but as you've implied, I was a far more naive fan back then, so could be wrong.  It's also worth pointing out, though, that I'm obviously aware of my cognitive bias when it comes to Keegan and am trying to adjust for it.

[TheGingerQuiff 1,682]

46 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

The only Rafa could surpass what Keegan did for Newcastle United is to win a trophy tbh. And even then, Keegan put us on the path that even made the likes of Rafa and Sir Bob possible.

 

Aye. But then I would argue that Benitez has given us more. We gave Keegan his first managers job and it as soon as the going got tough he was gone. Benitez has taken a job that he didn't need, stayed when he didn't need to to pull us from the shit. 

[Billy Whitehurst 224]

I’ve said it before but Keegan is the single best thing to have happened to the club in my entire time supporting the club. I fucking love the man.

[trooper 420]

7 minutes ago, Billy Whitehurst said:

I’ve said it before but Keegan is the single best thing to have happened to the club in my entire time supporting the club. I fucking love the man.

Yeah its Keegan for me as a player & as a manager he was superb 

[Dr Gloom 3,072]

keegan was the best time in my life as a newcastle supporter, so in that sense i agree.

i think rafa has more chance of winning something. all he needs is a little backing and he'll go down in history as the manager to end the trophy drought. whether ashley release the funds he needs remains to be seen. i think rafa knows what it would mean to the the supporters if he were the man to win a trophy. he's already worshipped just for sticking with us and guiding us to 12th, a miracle really given what he's had to work with. 

[Anorthernsoul 861]

I honestly can't see any point in comparing Rafa to any of our previous managers at this stage.

[Howmanheyman 4,652]

2 hours ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

 

Aye. But then I would argue that Benitez has given us more. We gave Keegan his first managers job and it as soon as the going got tough he was gone. Benitez has taken a job that he didn't need, stayed when he didn't need to to pull us from the shit. 

The going wasn't tough in his first season then?  A bunch of talented kids, some journeymen who were over the hill or injured and near the bottom of division two not that hard? Rafa's great but there's no comparison to where Keegan took us from and the heights we achieved.  He also could spot a player and make him better just like Rafa always gets credit for. 

 

 

[TheGingerQuiff 1,682]

11 minutes ago, Howmanheyman said:

The going wasn't tough in his first season then?  A bunch of talented kids, some journeymen who were over the hill or injured and near the bottom of division two not that hard? Rafa's great but there's no comparison to where Keegan took us from and the heights we achieved.  He also could spot a player and make him better just like Rafa always gets credit for. 

 

 

 

His reason for leaving was bs

[Howmanheyman 4,652]

58 minutes ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

 

His reason for leaving was bs

Possibly. I just think he'd had enough and didn't fancy working with the board when they went PLC. It wasn't as if he spoonfed the supporters bullshit before rushing off to join another big club. 

[Kid Dynamite 1,232]

http://www.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2018/04/07/5ac7c69222601dd71d8b464c.html

[Anorthernsoul 861]

Marca 

 

You'd be better off getting more reliable football news reading Razzle.

[rogerbarton 24]

I made the point to someone on Twitter earlier that Real Sociedad spent £16m last summer. They're further away from challenging the Spanish elite than we are - especially with the right owners - challenging the English elite.