Rafa’s crucial if Toon dream of Euro return to be realised
LIVERPOOL’S fantastic run in the Champions League will inevitably bring back memories of European jaunts for both Newcastle United fans and their manager Rafa Benitez.
The Toon Army used to love their trips abroad, while Benitez guided Liverpool to their fifth European Cup back in 2005 in an unforgettable showpiece in Istanbul against AC Milan.
You would have to trawl back to 1969 to find a night which even comes close to that sort of success for Newcastle, but even then the Magpies have a rich European history with 122 games to their name in continental competition.
Trips to Antwerp, Milan, Monaco, Rotterdam and Barcelona bring back fond memories for travelling Geordies in the 1990s and even more recently in 2012/13 the Magpies enjoyed games in places like Moscow, Kharkiv, Brugge, Athens, and Lisbon in the Europa League.
United’s historian Paul Joannou once penned a wonderful book documenting some of those earlier days entitled The Grand Tour and it would be fantastic to see that updated at some stage.
The run to the quarter-finals in 2013 is Newcastle’s only foray into European competition during the Mike Ashley era at a club that frequently qualified for UEFA tournaments until he took charge. Half a decade on from that last-eight appearance under Alan Pardew, the Magpies now find themselves on the coat-tails of the European places again.
They find themselves in a position to kick on next season and in Benitez they could not have a better man to guide them back into Europe.
I always remember chatting with Glenn Roeder after he had taken the Magpies into Europe back in 2006 after scraping into the old Intertoto Cup.
At that time expectations on Tyneside were different to now and Roeder said: “Let’s be honest, getting these fans to Europe is surely the least they deserve?”
Roeder’s assessment was accurate but the moment the Europa League’s heavy schedule started to threaten Newcastle’s Premier League place years later it suddenly seemed to be a bad thing in the eyes of Pardew, who blamed it on their poor form rather than Ashley’s lack of investment in the summer of 2012.
Fast forward six years and Benitez knows Newcastle are close to achieving a European place with the right investment.
In their first season back in the Premier League they are just a few places behind Burnley and, with a few quality additions, Benitez will be confident of following them.
Those close to Benitez know he is far from daunted by the Europa League – in fact, he sees the tournament as an opportunity, not least as the winners now get a Champions League place.
Benitez’s parting shot to Chelsea was to present them with the trophy five years ago.
He would dearly love to do something similar with Newcastle.
That, however, now depends on the ambition of cub owner Mike Ashley.
Benitez stated last week it was now a test of whether United matched his vision to bring silverware to St James’ Park.
If Newcastle do not manage to tie him down, those dreams of returning to Europe will feel further away than ever.