Tuxedo princes are Rafa’s future vision
BENITEZ HAS CHANGED UNITED FOR BETTER... AND NOW WANTS MORE
RAFA Benitez arrived at the start of the same season in which Newcastle United players were turning up for home games wearing tuxedos.
At the time a bemused Alan Shearer spoke about Florian Thauvin’s decision to keep up the tradition amid poor results and said: “It was funny the first time but this a serious business.”
Shearer feared the problems were deeply rooted and some of the same issues he encountered as manager back in 2009 were still in the background.
In fact, the tuxedo farce came about because Newcastle players had not been issued with their official suits in time for the new season and so, like a pub team, they were told to bring their own for a big game.
It was from there Steve McClaren’s side plummeted into a relegation dogfight.
McClaren arrived after being recommended by influential chief scout Graham Carr and thought he could win a few battles behind the scenes to put Newcastle into good shape.
However, with deals like Chancel Mbemba and Aleksandar Mitrovic already sanctioned before his arrival, he soon realised he would struggle to get what he wanted.
By the time he did win arguments to sign Andros Townsend and Jonjo Shelvey, the club was staring the Sky Bet Championship in the face.
Not for the first time, Newcastle reacted too slowly to realise Carr and McClaren – like Alan Pardew before him – could not see eye to eye on transfer targets. Was Carr right every time? Mike Ashley certainly thought so.
However, when United decided to bring in Benitez eight months later he was left with just 10 games to save the club from relegation. Newcastle were still shelling out thousands for players who were not motivated and who had struggled in the Premier League. Players such as Gabriel Obertan, Sylvain Marveaux and Seydou Doumbia were all in the squad while Fabricio Coloccini had fallen out of love with life at the club and wanted to return to Argentina.
Benitez quickly told Obertan and Marveaux they were not going to Florian Thauvin arrives at St James’ wearing a tuxedo be needed and let them leave the club early as he looked to clear a congested training ground.
Benitez could not believe the club had taken Doumbia on loan that January from AS Roma and quickly tried to establish whose decision it was.
It turned out Doumbia had been another recommendation from Carr - but the striker was soon made surplus to requirements.
Benitez could not believe how congested the training ground was.
An instant decision was made to move the under-23 squad and Peter Beardsley and his back-room team back to the Academy.
Benitez felt it was too noisy in the staff canteen and that much more focus would be required if he was to stay.
Newcastle did go down in 2016 but, while some managers would be hounded out after relegation, there was a public clamour for Benitez to stay.
United knew there would be anarchy if they let the Spaniard go.
In the early days, there were no debates in the boardroom in terms of recruitment despite Carr’s presence.
Carr took a step back and went back to Europe to find players while Benitez drafted a shortlist and got most of them over the line – including Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie, Matz Sels, Achraf Lazaar, Grant Hanley and Daryl Murphy.
Some were more successful than others but Newcastle got the job done and won the title.
However, uncertainty had already started behind the scenes when it came to transfers as Carr returned to the scene with Ashley at the FA Cup game with Birmingham City.
With Benitez hoping for more funds in January to have Newcastle ready for the Premier League, questions had suddenly arisen about signings such as Lazaar, Sels and Hanley.
Ashley flipped the club’s blueprint back to signing young players but, while Carr had his own ideas on players his position was now less effective.
Indeed, while Benitez did not have total control over the purse strings he did – unlike any previous