Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle. Read that in a tut-tut tone because that’s what it has come down to. For a place that, Geordie Shore aside, seems to be inextricably tied to – indeed known for – it’s football club, the past few years have been forgettable. Following a fifth-placed finish in 2012, each season has been punctuated with a relegation battle or, at best, a mid-table flop. Where now for the Toon? What’s the strong punt?
This season (2015-16) started full of hope for Steve McLaren with a lot of money being spent to reinvigorate a flailing squad. June and July 2015 saw changes to the coaching staff and board of directors, and many new players coming in. In July Georginio Wijnaldum joined from PSV for £14.5m, and was followed by promising Serbian striker Aleksandar Mitrović from Anderlecht. Optimism was growing.
When the season kicked off in August, a draw with Southampton was followed by a loss to Swansea, a draw with Manchester United, and a loss at home to Arsenal. This inconsistency was only to get worse.
Whilst some performances were promising, a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City in October was a sign of things to come. Despite beating Norwich 6-2 the next week, results over the next month included two 0-3 losses and a 5-1 hiding.
Despite the high-profile signings of Jonjo Shelvey and Andros Townsend in the January transfer window, a 3-1 home loss to Bournemouth in March 2016 was the end for McLaren, and the signing of Rafa Benitez followed closely behind. Results didn’t come immediately, however, with a 1-0 loss to leaders Leicester coming three days later.
Following this, Newcastle managed a 1-1 draw with Sunderland which leaves fans asking if Benitez is the saviour they’re looking for. They languish in 19th place, three points adrift of safety with seven games to go.
In Rafa they have a boss they can rally around. This man has pedigree, managing big clubs across Europe. We’ve all heard of the get-out clause in his managing contract, whereby if Newcastle do get relegated he has a choice to leave.
However, between now and the end of the fixture list they need to show enough that if the worst case scenario does occur, they can put a good case together for Benitez to stay. Here, with the Toon army behind him, he has a chance to build a dynasty – the likes of which he was never afforded in Madrid.
With new money coming into the Premier League, and Leicester City showing what can be done, perhaps this appointment is not just what Newcastle needed, but what Benitez has been looking for as well.
Can he save the Toon? He has the experience, the footballing brain, and the managerial nous to get done what needs to get done. However, the question really comes down to whether this current squad can pull through for him.
With Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham all still to come, probably not.
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