Why Rafa Benitez And A Chinese Takeover Would Be A Deadly Combination
Call me mad, but I’ve said before that Newcastle’s time will come as champions of England. Whether I genuinely thought it would happen in my lifetime or not, is another matter!
Newcastle have a huge fan base, a big turnover, a large and an attractive stadium and are a big story in England. Despite having spent time between 2nd in the Premier League to being relegated to the Championship, they are always in the news.
Coaches by and large are underestimated. Rafael Benitez, a Champions League winner among plenty of other things, is not just a top notch human being but is also a world class coach. Truly, world class. His presence on Tyneside raised a few eyebrows at first but overall, it doesn’t seem to be that big a deal with the football world as a whole.
Think about it though. Benitez being in charge at Newcastle is the managerial equivalent of the Toon having signed Luis Suarez. It simply shouldn’t have happened! Given the tools, Benitez is comfortably the sort of man capable of winning titles and so his ambition to take Newcastle to the top of the tree in England is not a frivolous one.
In football, things can change so easily and it tends to happen when there is an injection of money (Leicester are an exception). Although it’s a distant memory now, Roman Abramovich’s cash injection at Chelsea took them from perennial also-rans to title contenders in the blink of an eye. They are still at that level after all these years.
Manchester City had fallen so far that they even spent time in the third tier of English football and now? They are the rich kids and their fans expect to win the title each season. Giving a coach of the quality of Rafa Benitez the sort of money that would make him capable of signing this generation’s Torres’ and Gerrards would put him in pole position to win titles in this country.
A Chinese takeover has been rumoured in recent days and if it happens, it could be absolutely deadly. Benitez knows how to sign the best players, he knows how to coach the best players and he knows how to manage the best players. So long as there is no interference from his potential new employers, a big money takeover could be the best thing to happen to Newcastle United in a very long time.