Sport
Crunch time for Rafa Benitez as he bids for Premier League return
Rafa Benitez is an oxymoron. To him, football is meticulous; it is a plan, an aim and a problem to be solved.
He never gets lost in the moment and when a goal goes in, he’s straight in there with an instruction to the nearest member of his playing staff. When the full time whistle blows and his team has won, he tucks his glasses into the top pocket of his suit jacket without so much of a fist pump. It is a job well done and onto the next but not before he gives out his last few bits of constructive criticism.
On the surface, there is nothing emotional about Benitez’s managerial methodology; he is always calm, always focussed, always thinking and never panicking. But simultaneously, his best work is done at the clubs where he creates a connection; not just to his colleagues and players, but to the fans and communities at large, too. That connection is incredibly emotional, born out of the working class obsession with football and a desire to feel represented by people who understand and appreciate local values and that is what the clubs where Rafa Benitez has done his best work — Valencia, Liverpool, Napoli and Newcastle United — all have in common.
Success can be measured in different ways. To Rafa Benitez himself, it invariably equates to trophies and titles. At St James’ Park, he walked away because that simply wasn’t possible and, arguably, what his superiors wanted, but he still brought together a fraught city and a fraught club; he showed them what hope was and what hope meant.
He gave them something to grasp in the seemingly endless, bitter war against their owner, Mike Ashley, a man who embodies every aspect of not knowing or caring about emotional ties. His approach is also cold and functional, but unlike Rafa Benitez it is geared towards profit rather than winning. The 14th anniversary of his takeover of the club has just passed; in that time, he has not taking kindly to being challenged; that is exactly what Benitez did, and in the end it forced a separation.
In almost every other aspect, Newcastle and Rafa Benitez were a perfect match. He was realistic about their prospects, often aiming for the top eight and challenging for a trophy, with the possibility of pushing for Europe down the line. The project was what mattered. Typically, he would repeat the same words and phrases in press conferences, using his time in front of journalists to expertly use the narrative to his advantage. But, like a seasoned politician, he would never be dragged into public mud-slinging.
His departure gave his critics and Ashley’s supporters the opportunity to add their own slant to the discourse. They say Rafa Benitez was problematic; he moaned a lot and his replacement Steve Bruce has achieved the same level of midtable security, or mediocrity depending on your point of view, in a more harmonious manner. But aside from the fact that Bruce has more heavily backed in the transfer market, in part because of his less combative style of negotiation with the owner, the bullish talk of progression, taking steps forward in a clear and ambitious way exited along with Benitez in 2019.
It has been replaced by talk of managing expectations, trying and hoping for better and bemoaning how difficult the job actually is. Bruce talks about Newcastle and the supporters like an outsider at times, like one of their most vehement attackers, and immediately bites hard in the face of criticism. An impressive flourish towards the end of last season brought Newcastle back from the brink of relegation, but performances on the pitch only make up for part of his perception.
Rafa Benitez is in the past and everybody knows that but when people ask what Bruce needs to do to earn his level of respect, they do so without taking the time or care to analyse the answer to their own question.
And so, Benitez left and instantly put his real aim on hold. As a resident of The Wirral on Merseyside, where he has been based since taking the Liverpool job in 2004, he didn’t hide his desire to keep working in the Premier League but, with nothing forthcoming, he took a job at Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League. It offered those desperate to paint a picture the chance to add “money grabber” to his negative character arc.
It didn’t work out for a number of reasons and, two years on, Rafa Benitez is back on the hunt. English football remains his priority, with an eye on Serie A and, depending on the way it is perceived, this summer could be his dream scenario, or make or break.
Those clubs with similar ambitions to what Benitez had for Newcastle are looking for a new manager. Wolverhampton Wanderers parted company with Nuno Espírito Santo a few weeks ago but only recently hired Bruno Lage as his replacement. Everton are suddenly scrambling for an alternative to Carlo Ancelotti after his shock return to Real Madrid and Crystal Palace have a vacancy following Roy Hodgson’s departure.
Like all managers, Rafa Benitez has been pigeonholed stylistically; he is defensive-minded and so doesn’t play the right way for the top clubs. Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, whom he’s worked with successfully but unhappily nine years ago, Manchester City and Arsenal all want a intense, high-pressing approach and will often turn to younger, fresher faces than the 61-year-old to make that a reality. It is for that reason that Spurs have barely glanced in his direction, either. Benitez’s final six months at Newcastle showed that he could build a balanced, but expansive team, despite the hurdles he faced.
Certain ships may have sailed for him but Everton, for club-size, financial clout and locality, seems a good fit. His Liverpool past seems a greater problem for their fans than him, but Goodison Park remains an outside bet for that reason. Crystal Palace may view him as too expensive; he was earning £6million-per-year at Newcastle and double that in China. Spurs look set to look elsewhere, with Paulo Fonseca in advanced talks.
Everton’s reported interest in bringing David Moyes back from West Ham could have opened up the vacancy at the London Stadium before he signed a new deal. Rafa Benitez almost took that job in 2015 and remains on good terms with the ownership after they graciously stepped aside for him to take the Real Madrid job that summer. Finally going there, or the possibility of Newcastle should a positive outcome in their long-running takeover saga, remain options that would capture Benitez’s imagination.
With Rafa Benitez in charge, any club is likely to improve. He is constantly working to improve his environment and his CV speaks for itself. But after making it clear that he wants to work in the Premier League again and himself ready for a return, nothing is in the pipeline yet. For so many jobs in the part of the table he targeted before to become available at the same time is a rarity, so there is a sense that it could be crunch time in his bid to return to the dugout in the English top flight.
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