RAFA CAN MAKE TOON FLY AGAIN

TERRY MCDERMOTT was Kevin Keegan’s right-hand man in the days when Newcastle’s blackand-white stripes painted glorious pictures in technicolour. And the former Toon assistant manager says it is “imperative” Rafa Benitez stays at St James’ Park to end the yo-yo syndrome on Geordie shores. Since Keegan (left) and Mcdermott took Newcastle to within a whisker of the title 21 years ago, and Sir Bobby Robson reached the UEFA Cup semifinals in 2004, Benitez (top) is the best thing to have happened to the club. He arrived too late to save them from the drop last year and Mcdermott, who still lives on the outskirts of Tyneside, said: “It would have been a disaster if Newcastle had not kept Rafa last summer after they were relegated. He’s a very, very shrewd man – you don’t win the Champions League at Liverpool, and reach another final two years later, if you don’t know your way round a football pitch. “The Toon Army and Benitez is a match made in heaven. If he had not stuck around, I’m not sure they would have been anywhere near going straight back up this year, certainly not as close as they are now. “He’s a winner and, please god, he stays at Newcastle. That’s absolutely imperative. “And, please god, if they do go up, Rafa will be given the money to establish them in the top half of the Premier League. “For a club of Newcastle’s size and history to have been relegated twice in seven years is astonishing, and it can’t be allowed to happen again.”