Obviously really wanted him to stay and knew he would be a big bonus but look at the influence he is having on the club as a whole and the players we are signing. Both Gayle and Ritchie citing him as a massive draw to coming here: Gayle http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36735640 Ritchie http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/matt-ritchie-reveals-could-not-11582581 And then you have Jesus Gamez - finished third in La Liga last year and I can not think of one reason other than Rafa as to why he would trade in Champions League football for ChampionSHIP football or Spanish weather for British etc etc. Also in the short time he's had since confirming he was staying he has- Invited the youth coaches in to see how he works and give them an idea of what he wants them working towards to help them progress to the first team Getting the local community involved with the new youth competition the other day Revamping the medical department and staff Training ground and equipment has been improved Stamping HIS foot down on the sales of HIS squad. And as I posted earlier look at the squad he is assembling: GK: Krul*, Sels, Elliott, Darlow RB: Janmaat*, Jesus LB: Haidara, Dummett CB: Lascelles, Mbemba, (2) new CB's DM: Tiote*, Saviet, CM: Anita, Colback, Shelvey, Sissoko* AM: De Jong*, Thauvin* RW: , Ritchie, Gouffran*, LW: Wijnaldum*, Aarons, ST: Gayle, Mitrovic, Cisse*, Perez, Riviere* The list seems endless and he's only been here 6 months and confirmed he's staying maybe 3/4 of those months. Not just this season to look forwards to the next 3 years under him could be very exciting.
It's not just the players. It's the community efforts, the youth, the structure. Was he this good at Liverpool? Or is this just 'the norm' and we've been completely hampered from having a mixture of clowns and morons in charge for so long? Just goes to show how bad we have had it, I don't think fans of other clubs have the remotest idea about what being a Toon fan has meant for the past 8 years.
I think all those things happen on a daily basis at most well run Premier League clubs. We have just been badly run for a long time.. ..so it feels like ****ing Christmas every day at the minute... Rafa is the gift that just keeps giving..!!
To be fair Gamez wasn't a regular at Athletico and only player 24 league matches in 2 years, and was surplus to requirements so judging him as a Malaga player is more realistic...but still a great player to have, and a definite coup at getting him to move to the Champ. Slightly concerned about our interest in the Blackburn and Bristol City centre backs though, the 4 signings we've made so far have clearly been above Championship level, so hoping they're either just very good or are squad players (as 2 centre backs have left I guess we need cover for Jam and Chance). But yeah, can't wait for all this to take off at Fulham in August!
