Just over three weeks ago, there was a palpable though repressed gasp of relief on Tyneside as news began to surface that an investment firm in the Middle East was on the brink of taking over Newcastle United. Just days earlier, a feeling of optimism had coursed through the streets of the city after promising contract discussions between the much-adored manager, Rafa Benítez, and the woeful owner, Mike Ashley.
The masterly and reassuringly calm presence of the Spaniard looked increasingly likely to stay, as his boss – though more often than not, adversary – appeared finally to be on his way out. There was therefore a sense of astonishment that accompanied news on Monday that Benítez, after three and a half years of unrelenting graft and unrewarded loyalty, was to depart the club. A disagreement in vision between Ashley – an owner sculpted in the vision of a footballing Scrooge – and the manager was the cause for the split.
While many fans knew it was always a possibility that Benítez would leave – 12 years of Ashley has desensitised us – few were truly braced for what came, and nor too was Benítez, supposedly. Such is obvious from the utterly deflated atmosphere in the city, the response from the club legends Alan Shearer and Robbie Elliott, and the mood, dare I say it, on social media.
When good things come to an end it seems fitting that you look back on their beginnings. And there is no doubting that Benítez’s arrival on Tyneside was special. Having won trophies including a Champions League, two Uefa Cups/Europa Leagues, two La Liga titles and an FA Cup, you would be forgiven for thinking Newcastle United was an outlier on an otherwise glittering CV.
The truth is – and this is exactly what endeared him to so many – he saw the value in the project, the fans, the unrealised potential of a club that had been cut adrift for too long. The aim was not to compete with clubs such as Manchester City or Chelsea – the ambition Ashley constantly ascribes to the fans – but to return some modicum of pride to a club that had for too long been paralysed by underinvestment and short-sightedness.
For more than three years he battled to realise that ambition, lifting an honest and downtrodden team back from the Championship and, with minimal investment, defying expectations to twice keep them in the Premier League, with an overall net spend of minus £11.2m. His gritty style earned famous victories against Manchester United, Manchester City, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal – arguably no manager has done more with less.
Carrying on the charity work he was known for at Liverpool, Benítez has forged a deep connection with the community in Newcastle. From supporting the NUFC Foodbank and the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, to attending the disabled supporters’ association the day he signed a new deal, the man was a class act on and off the pitch. The city stands to lose so much more than a managerial hero.
