From mail online: By MailOnline: -Rafa Benitez could STAY at Newcastle even if they are relegated to the Championship after 'change of heart. By Craig Hope for MailOnline. -Sportsmail can reveal that the Spaniard has had a change of heart in the past 48 hours having previously accepted that he would part company with the club should they go down. But Benitez has been swayed by the support he has felt from fans and is convinced that, with guarantees over budgets and control, he can eventually take the Magpies back into Europe. However, we(MailOnline) understand he is now seriously considering the possibility of remaining at St James’ Park but will not make a decision either way until their fate is known and further discussions have taken place -MailOnline It's the hope that hurts
I've said before, I'd take relegation now if he stays. (Not that it looks like anything else). Full of admiration for the bloke, I think he could do great things.
Probably a Keith Bishop effort to get the place sold out and cheering for Sky's big "Non-Event Sunday".
Have always thought he would stay especially with the news he is giving the green light to certain things.
I am preparing myself for the fact he is gone. I would love him to stay, but couldn't bear to get my hopes up only to be disappointed. One thing is for sure. We need the crowd to be of one voice on Sunday. No matter what the result, no matter what the performance, we need to show him that we are 100% behind him and the team. It's time to put aside our grievances of others at the club and make it as difficult for him to leave as possible.
The substantial fly in the ointment is that he may consider saying after 'further talks'................. the further talks being with that absolute cretin Charnley. Having played a blinder getting Rafa here in the first place we must presume that he will revert to form and completely **** up negotiations to keep him on. If I was fat man Ashley I would sack the tea boy and Carr and give Rafa free reign. Let him oversee pretty much everything and also take his advice on who to bring in to run the clubs administration, tie up transfer deals etc...................................... but he wont will he.
Agreed. Penfold and the fat man know how much we hate them anyway. Far better to give Rafa a reason to stay than just confirm to those twats what they already know.
This all ****ing day long. Rafa feeds off the crowd and we need to serve the sexy Spanish bastard up a massive platter he will never forget.
Think there might be truth in it. He knows that we like him. It's half the battle when you are liked. Problem is he might want to stay but might not be a me too. We won't pay the wages. Ffp might hinder that. Plus charnley is a complete knob sack and he will most likely **** up the negotiations. But if Ashley is serious about staying till we win something then he should pop a bollock to try keep him.
If this is the reason he goes then this pisses me off massively! Surely he's on a massive bonus to keep us up...maybe a couple of million perhaps. His contract is rumoured to be £4m per year so there's half of his wages for next year already so we've only gotta find another £2m. I'd quite happily sell Sissoko for £4m to solely fund keeping Rafa at the club. Someone on another thread listed some of the outgoings they could see happening and all up I think it generated about £64m which I didn't think was a ridiculous figure to be honest. Money should not be an issue if Ashley wants us back in the big time again at the first time of asking, although he may be wanting to keep some of his hard earned pennies to by some BHS outlets
We get parachute payments too. All fat mike needs to do is 'pay' for advertising... say £4m which is revenue and will cover Rafa's cash.
I think he will go, I cant see him managing in the championship, however there are a few reasons he might stay - Wants to stay in england - He loves to work, he wont walk away with out another job, he had a break recently and will have the summer break, im not sure he will walk away waiting for a job to come up at some point next season! - Lack of jobs available, especially at big clubs and even if a vacancy were about to come free say Man U he may have to compete with Jose M, that also applies to any massive jobs on the continent. - Everton? He tried going to a club where the fans didnt like him and that didnt work out. - The only feasible options of working in the prem are Everton, Swansea & Watford, every other club are more than happy with their manager. For me Swansea is the worry, but perhaps they may keep their manager after the recent upturn in events.
All the rumours of him staying are of the form "XXXXX thinks Rafa will stay", we've had Arry Redknapp say it, now Didi Hamaan's saying it, nothing concrete from Rafa himself though. However this isn't a definite no imo, Rafa isn't some big mouth like Kinnear, and I think if he wants to stay, he'll announce it at the end of the season, rather than blurting it out now. He seems to be enjoying it here, and I'd love to see him build a new team if we down, he's already shown he's not afraid to drop "key" players and has his own vision. Would he drop down a division if he got assurances on say in transfers and assurances that he'd be financially backed? Maybe, remember Sven was tempted to the 4th tier by Notts County under the (false) impression he could build his own team. I still think it's unlikely, but there's vague hope.
