Garry Monk was fired by Swansea last December, when his record was better than Steve McClaren’s at Newcastle, yet Newcastle waited another four months before McClaren was finally sacked and that turned out to be far too late to save us from relegation.
After starting off well and getting 8 points from the first four games Garry Monk then went 11 games with only 6 points and he was duly fired.
That was after he had led Swansea to 8th place and 56 points in the Premier League the season before – the highest position ever for the Swans.
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez – well he looks happy enough
Garry handled himself well as the Swansea manager and it was good to see he got a good job in early June when he became the new manager of Leeds United – once a real powerhouse in English football.
Maybe Garry can lead Leeds United back to where they belong – in the Premier League again.
Garry was asked about Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez on BBC Radio 5 and this is what he has said about the former Valencia, Liverpool and Naples manager:
“They have in Rafa one of the most experienced coaches in Europe.” “He knows the culture of British football.”
“I think he sees this as a project, he sees the challenge of getting Newcastle United back in the Premier League, and being a real force in the Premier League.”
“That’s probably his attitude and focus in what he is trying to do there.”
With the likely announcement today of two more signings in Mo Diame from Hull and Ciaran Clark from Aston Villa, Rafa will have brought in 8 new players this summer and allowed 8 senior players to leave the club as he overhauls the squad.
Let’s just say it needed it and should have been done long before now.
We are hoping we can get promoted immediately back to the Premier League next May, but with the nonsense that has gone on at the club over the last two seasons, we will not take anything for granted.
But certainly Rafa has made a huge difference at Newcastle in the short four months he’s been on Tyneside.
If anybody can do it – then it’s Rafa Benitez.
But we have to respect every single opponent in this coming season and then we have a really good chance of getting straight back to the Premier League.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
2 comments so far
estechco
Aug 3, 2016 at 3:12 PM
Comment #1Clark signing now official
http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20160803/united-complete-clark-capture_2281670_5776745
gonufc (Newcastle United Sports Direct Advertising Club)
Aug 3, 2016 at 3:15 PM
Comment #2Shamelessly reposted from last thread:
This is what I don’t get about McCormack – last year we paid ~£12m for Mitrovic. Presumably they thought he was good enough to score goals in the premier league and was young enough to get better. Why would we prefer to play McCormack than Mitrovic if they paid around the same amount for him in a league above?!?
It makes no sense, I hope it’s just agent fed paper talk. Please can we drop this “Championship s a different sport” rubbish- that you need lower quality players specifically for a lower quality league, it’s absurd. Would you rather have Aguero or McCormack? Some people seem to answer questions with that crazy line “He’s done it in the championship” – personally I’d rather play the better player.
Same stuff went for the manager talk. Some thought that because we were in a lower quality league we had to go for a lower quality manager who “knew the league”. Why the hell would we want Nigel Pearson instead of Rafa?!? It’s ridiculous!
It’s not a different sport! People almost spam this argument to try and give themselves another job if they’ve never progressed to the premier league or failed in the premier league, that they’re “Specialists”, no, they’re just that level and are not expected to improve as you would most managers/ players that you sign at championship level.
Sometimes I can’t believe the stuff I hear on football radio/ forums etc.