Rafa Benitez to replace Eddie Howe – I have heard it all now | OneFootball

You won’t find a bigger Rafa Benitez fan than me.

Quite why he thought a Newcastle United on their way to the Championship was the right move after getting his early bath from Real Madrid, is something I will never get my head around.

Anyway, as Newcastle United fans we were the winners.

Rafa Benitez masterminded an instant promotion as champions back to the Premier League after agreeing a three year deal in summer 2016.

Then despite Mike Ashley stabbing him in the back and seriously undermining a manager who’d won so many trophies in his career, Rafa Benitez delivered two mid-table finishes as his budget shopping paid dividends and mainly very defensive tactics helped keep us safe for the next two seasons.

Nobody should ever forget and not be thankful for what he did for us as Newcastle United fans.

The Newcastle United fanbase overwhelmingly recognises good managers and especially good characters, that is why we think so highly of the likes of Kevin Keegan, Sir Bobby Robson, Chris Hughton, Rafa Benitez and Eddie Howe.

I will leave it up to you to make up your own list of those who in your opinion in our recent history aren’t good managers and/or good characters…

Anyway, back up to the here and now.

I was catching up on stuff on The Mag from the weekend.

On Sunday night I caught up with the regular post-match piece which appears for instant comment from some Mag regulars, the article was entitled ‘Crystal Palace 1 Newcastle 1 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction.’

Amongst the contributions was this ‘gem’ that stood out for me.

‘Eddie Howe seems a lovely bloke and just the kind of person you want as the public face of your club.

However, he isn’t good enough.

We need a better manager like Rafa Benitez, who understands tactics, that stretch beyond the left wing and just running around a lot.

I haven’t thought Eddie was the right person to take us to the next level since the unforgivable 10 man liVARpool debacle last season and nothing has changed my mind this season.

We’d replace a player with a better one so why not a manager?’

Everybody is entitled to their point of view but really???

You have to laugh at this type of stuff from the lunatic fringe amongst the Newcastle United fanbase.

I have looked back on this GToon’s articles and this is the same daft character who was demanding Nick Pope should be dispensed with because he is useless now apparently. The same with Eddie Howe now.

So his (GToon’s) brilliant plan is to replace Eddie Howe with… Rafa Benitez.

Yes, that will be the magic answer for sure.

Eddie Howe has managed to get from this group of players this season, eight wins, four draws and four defeats. Despite injuries and suspensions and a disastrous summer transfer window, when he was forced to sell two of our best young and most promising stars and not allowed funds to buy any new first team players.

Yet the big problem at our club is Eddie Howe AND Rafa Benitez the magic replacement who will for sure do a better job.

This sums up just how clueless these characters are.

Rafa Benitez his cunning well thought out plan.

It makes as much sense as demanding Kevin Keegan replaces Eddie Howe. Or Chris Hughton.

I love and appreciate them all BUT that was then and this is all.

With characters such as this GToon, it is funny how they don’t go into any great detail on why their brilliant ideas will work.

He declares ‘We need a better manager like Rafa Benitez, who understands tactics, that stretch beyond the left wing and just running around a lot.’

So this is how Eddie Howe masterminded the recent three excellent performances and wins against Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest, telling the players to run around a lot and focus on the left wing?

So Eddie Howe managed to get Newcastle United to concede the least goals (33) they have ever done in a Premier League season (2022/23) by just telling them to run around a lot, then achieved the most ever NUFC PL goals (85) in a season (2o23/24) by doing the same??

IMAGO/NurPhoto

No manager is perfect and Eddie Howe gets things wrong at times, like all of them, however, he gets it right a lot more of the time. Especially impressive when up against the odds, so many other clubs who can afford to spend so much more on transfer fees and wages, on top of a far stronger starting point than Eddie Howe inherited.

Which other club this past summer was forced to sell two of their best young players and not able to bring in any new first team players, just a couple of squad ones?

Getting back to Rafa Benitez…

As I say, I am a massive fan of Rafa Benitez. I always will be.

However, it is simply beyond belief that any Newcastle United fans would see him as someone who should replace Eddie Howe.

Where is the logic?

What has happened with Rafa Benitez since leaving St James’ Park maybe that might, you know, help us decide if he should be the next Newcastle manager.

Rafa made a terrible decision in going to China, joining Dalian Professional in July 2019. The team’s results didn’t improve and his efforts to improve the structure overall, were massively impacted by Covid. It wasn’t all his fault and very unlucky it coincided with the pandemic, but quite clearly this episode did huge damage to his future employment prospects.

It had gone really badly, on and off the pitch, with club and manager agreeing to part ways after 18 months, in January 2021.

Another terrible decision saw Rafa Benitez agree to take the Everton job in June 2021. Their fans didn’t give him a chance and behaved disgracefully, well their lunatic fringe did, with death threats and so on. Even before a single match was played.

He lasted less than seven months at Goodison. An abysmal record saw only five wins in 19 Premier League matches, with four drawn and ten lost. When Rafa Benitez was sacked in, Everton were deep in relegation trouble. In his last 13 PL matches, Rafa Benitez got only one Everton win. I think Frank Lampard is clueless but with the same players, he did better than Rafa Benitez in the second half of that season, Everton picking up 20 points in 18 games, compared to Rafa’s 19 points from 19 (only six points from his last 13). Duncan Ferguson losing his one PL match as caretaker.

The next/last job for Rafa Benitez was La Liga calling him, taking over Celta Vigo on 23 June 2023.

This time lasting less than nine months.

Rafa Benitez winning only five of 28 La Liga matches before he was sacked, losing 14 of them.

Rafa Benitez picked up 19 points in his 28 La Liga matches, Claudio Giraldez took over and picked up 17 points in the final 10 La Liga matches for that Celta Vigo season, saving them from the relegation they were heading for under Rafa Benitez.

If Rafa Benitez would be such a sure thing to sort everything out at Newcastle United and do far better than Eddie Howe, why did he do so woefully at his pst-NUFC jobs these last five and a half years?

In his last two jobs, Rafa Benitez managed just 10 wins in 47 league matches and lost 24. He could/would have relegated both Everton and Celta Vigo based on all the evidence, you know, the facts.

So GToon, I want to keep my fond Rafa Benitez memories, good luck to him in whatever he does next. Reality is though that his time has gone,, I would be amazed to see him now offered any Premier League job, never mind the Newcastle United one.

I also want Newcastle United to have the very best chance of progressing further and for me, that fo sure means sticking with Eddie Howe.

It would be mind-blowing stupidity to not at the very least see how the rest of this season pans out, then in the summer a proper plan is put together to prepare for the 2025/26 season.

If Newcastle United end up having a disastrous season then of course Eddie Howe will find his position under threat.

However, Newcastle United in the quarter-finals of the League Cup and four points off the top four is not a disastrous season so far in my book. Eight wins and four defeats in the opening sixteen matches this season, is that really a disaster?

What would be a disaster is GToon’s brilliant plan, replacing Eddie Howe with Rafa Benitez.