Fans really deserve this promotion
TOON HAVE BEEN BACKED ALL SEASON
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Congratulations to everyone associated with Newcastle United - finally, after a long, hard season, the club are back where they belong.
I, like every Newcastle fan out there, am walking around with an added spring in my step.
I’m absolutely thrilled to see Newcastle return to the top flight, because at the end of last season we just didn’t know what was going to happen.
I have to say, it was mixed emotions at the full-time whistle against Preston.
No negative emotions in there, but it was joy mixed with an overriding sense of relief.
Promotion was the target all season, and it’s brilliant that we’ve finally gone and done it.
In typical Newcastle fashion, the players gave us a nervous wait with a dodgy 25-minute spell in the first half when they allowed Preston to equalise - and almost go ahead.
Rob Elliot produced a great save, and then that goal before half-time really helped release the pressure valve.
That allowed the second half to become almost like a procession.
Every single player and staff member deserves credit for what they have achieved this season.
In my opinion, the Championship is up there with the most difficult leagues in the world to get out of but, masterminded by Rafa Benitez, we have found a way to get back up at the first time of asking.
We haven’t gone backwards like Aston Villa and Norwich.
But, it’s you the fans who really deserve this promotion.
You watch Champions League and Premier League matches where there are thousands of empty seats - yet Newcastle fans have packed out St James’ Park all season.
The commitment is second to none, and it is you who believed in Rafa, who believed in this group of players, who believed in this football club.
Look, I still think that we are the best team in this division and I want us to go out and give it everything to try and win that title.
We have a free swing against Cardiff on Friday - so let’s go down there, get another three points on the board, and really put the pressure back on to Brighton.
But, even if they don’t pick up the title, Newcastle United deserve huge credit.
This football club is back where it belongs, and hopefully it’s there to stay.
Well done NUFC!
Even when the players have perhaps allowed the pressure to get to them at different times, Rafa has remained the coolest customer around.
He just never panics. He is methodical, driven, passionate and shrewd.
The way he has rebuilt the team, and also put in the base foundations for what I hope will be long-term success, has been excellent.
He is a world-class manager and he gave this club a massive boost by committing to stay last season.
He then created a unity within the club - just look at the photos of Rafa celebrating with his staff after the win over Preston – and also unified the fans.
Rafa has allowed fans to believe and dream once again. We haven’t been able to say that much during the Mike Ashley regime.
It is now essential that Rafa is backed.
He will have endless offers from clubs at home and abroad this summer, but I know his heart is currently with Newcastle.
But he will now allow Ashley to mess him about.
Rafa is not interested in just scrapping for survival year in, year out, in the Premier League.
In the medium term he wants to be challenging for European football - and trying to lift trophies. I have no doubts about Rafa’s ambitions, but I do have deep concerns about whether the club will match them.
Newcastle need to invest £70million-plus this summer as a minimum - I mean they already have £30m profit left over from player sales last summer, so Rafa needs to be backed.
If he is, then we really could have exciting times ahead.
But that future depends on Rafa staying - the club must throw the kitchen sink at him to get him to stay.
He really is that important to this football club.