Nope, can't have that. It's hardly 'cherry picking' games. They were your cup finals, your 6 pointer games. Win just one and you would have probably stayed up. He couldn't do it.
Let's give him a break man, things have 'fallen into place' for them. Just happens that the 'place' is the Championship.
Not really, if we'd beaten Norwich and Villa but lost to Spurs and Palace we would still have gone down. Your comments don't stand up to scrutiny.
Steve McClaren relegated us, not Benitez. No one want to be in the Championship, but looking long-term things look good for us if we can keep Rafa. He's one of the world's best managers. As opposed to Sam who is one of the world's most deluded.
I love seeing that line trotted out. Say's who, you? Your cup finals and six pointers were against the teams around you. These are the games that Rafa and your players bottled, the big occasions, the must win games. Rafa was left wanting and that's just the way it is. Anyway, be happy. You won the relegation battle and things are falling into place for you now.
Benitez relegated you. Just like Shearer relegated you. Newcastle were one point from safety when Benitez took over. When relegated, he had you 4 points from safety. At the end of the season, you were 2 points from safety.
By your logic, all we had to do was beat you at SJP and we would have stayed up. It's the lazy mind that reduces a 38 game season to 1 game. You be happy also. You won your "staying up" trophy yet again, the only thing your fans and players care about and the best you will ever see from your club. Amazing how full of it you are for a club that hasn't reached 40 points since 2011. But then again, this is the best you have ever known and the best you will ever know, so it's understandable.
Mate, I rate Rafa but 'one of the worlds best managers'. Behave man. He's failed everywhere since Valencia, he won a CL at Liverpool, yes, but Milan threw him that. He's a very good manager but you lads are going I like he's Fergie or some ****. He isn't. The good thing is with Sam, we are all more than aware he hits a ceiling, and we are comfortable with that. We aren't expecting an 'in name only' manager to suddenly make us ****ing world beaters! When was the last time Rafa didn't get sacked? Valencia? I have to admit he is consistent, he's left his last 3 or 4 clubs in magically worse shape than he found them. Definition of consistent.
We've bashed you 6 times in a row. We are unbeaten in 9 games against you. We have just topped all of that off by being the team to relegate you. We have made your life hell over these last 5 years, I doubt any team has ever had it as bad with their rivals. Your reaction is perfectly understandable. It's admirable you are even showing up for the fight
Cardew let it go man, you're on the Sunderland board, they're not gonna start saying your manager who never saved you from the drop is the bomb. They'd rather have Sam, you'd rather have Rafa, everybody's happy.
He's a good quality manager who has managed some big teams. He gives the supporters and, I expect, the players a big boost which will be essential for next season. Because if he doesn't stay the supporters will be swinging from the Swing Bridge and Ashley & co. will be chased out the town with torches and pitch forks. I think the love that the supporters have given to Benitez, despite relegation, has surprised the Newcastle board and will have certainly given them a selection headache. Ashley must have thought that relegation=new manager on the cheap, instead he is left with relegation and Benitez showing a surprising interest of stopping. He's now gonna need to spend cash and gut out the whole setup from top to bottom, at probably the worst possible time (relegation). This will have caught everybody behind closed doors on the hop, hence the delay. 2 weeks of thinking time will have not only suited Rafa but also the board I guess!
He's a good gaffer pal, no doubt. He certainly isn't a god or a saviour. Well, he didn't save did he...
I don't know about that. Being a Liverpool or Man City fan over the past 15-20 years by and large must have been a little bit soul destroying.
Fair enough, but Real Madrid don't give the job out to trained monkeys. We're going on like he's Fergie because FOR US he is. He's nowhere near as good as Fergie but we aren't Manchester United, we're Newcastle. Rafa is so far out of our league it's untrue. His last clubs, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Napoli and Liverpool. We don't fit in that kind of company.
I was surprised that he got the Real Madrid job to be honest cos although I knew he was good, I didn't think Madrid would have thought he was that good!
