On Sky’s Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher questioned whether Rafa Benitez would ever be given a top manager’s job again due to his style of play.
He used Arsenal’s hiring Unai Emery instead of his fellow Spaniard as an example. When asked about whether he thinks we are a top club, Rafa replied:
“100%. They talk about other managers and if they do this or they do that. I think the fans appreciated that when we (Benitez and his coaching staff) and we decided to stay in the Championship we took a massive risk. We done that because we could the fans, the stadium, the city, the potential and everything about it.”
Fans on Twitter were all very happy with the manager’s response:
@Cbrown28ymailc1 got butterflies reading this
— Shaun Pearce (@shaunpearce89) 28 August 2018
What a guy ❤
— shaun johnston (@shauni46) 28 August 2018
What a top man you are Rafa, please please stay hwtl ⚽⚽⚽
— paddy (@cameron119966) 29 August 2018
GO RAFA, you get em told,
Brilliant ????????????????????— Rob H Wilson (@FETTLERRHW) 29 August 2018
Imagine not loving this man ????
— Dell ???????????????????????????? (@agbnufc) 28 August 2018
Ha ha class what a reply, in rafa we trust????????????
— simon (@nomis_79) 28 August 2018
Announce statue ❤❤❤
— TOON ARMY (@PNufc15) 28 August 2018
Rafa is a top 5 in the world manager for me. Takes a long term job because he understands the fans and the passion of that club. Liverpool and Newcastle are two of the proudest and passionate football clubs in the world. Socially we are the same. Rafa is one of us. ????????
— Scott (@digitalgoonie) 28 August 2018
Other supporters criticised the fact that we may have a top manager for a top club, but not a top owner:
Shame we haven’t a top owner lol
— sarah emmerson (@sarahemmerson5) 29 August 2018
There’s no doubting the potential of this club, but we all know who is holding things back at the moment. In his comments to the Chronicle, Rafa suggests that the club remains a sleeping giant but the situation is that we have to manage what we’ve got at the moment.
When you have one of the best managers in world football, it’s very frustrating to see that he isn’t being given all the tools he needs to do his job properly. It’s a testament to the man that he is still here trying his best for the club when he surely has had many offers from other clubs.