Newcastle United went down from the Premier League for the second time in the last eight years as Sunderland narrowly edged past them to survive despite the Magpies beating Tottenham 5-1 in their last game. The future of Newcastle United looked bleak at that moment but there have been some developments, which have been very promising, the nerves have been eased. Let’s now take a look at the reasonsNewcastleastle can be back in the top tier as early as next year:
Rafa Benitez staying as the manager
Rafa Benitez was appointed as the manager of Newcastle on March when the club seemed doomed already. Under Benitez, things improved and despite ending the season on a six match unbeaten streak, Newcastle were relegated as the other clubs around them continued to pick up points consistently. Benitez had a clause in his contract when he signed the initial three year deal which allowed him to leave if the Magpies were relegated, but after some serious discussions with Mike Ashley, Rafa decided to stay at the club and guide them in the Championship. This decision is one of the biggest reasons why Newcastle are huge favourites to bounce right back as the Spanish manager’s tactical nous will be more than enough to handle what the second tier of English football has to offer.
Shrewd Transfers
Newcastle’s transfer business in the summer has also been very sensible so far. Pursuing talents like Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie and Issac Hayden and convincing them to sign for a club a level down from where they currently were was a remarkable job to be honest. Newcastle United and Benitez has done that and have also acquired players like Jesus Gamez and Matz Sels from the leagues in other countries. While the incoming transfers would not only add the quality needed, signing players who previously have played in the division and have a good experience of the Championship would supplement the team in the tough situations of the marathon league campaign. A team which is based on a core of young but experienced players would thus have a very good chance of securing an automatic promotion spot at the end of the campaign thus, one which Rafa aims to turn Newcastle into at the moment.
Been There Done That
As mentioned earlier the Magpies were relegated in the 2008-09 season and they bounced back in emphatic fashion in the 2009-10 season under then Manager Chris Hutton securing a whopping 102 points at the end of the season. At that time some established players like Kevin Nolan, Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini stayed with the team and helped them win promotion. The current team has none of the above lot with the squad currently but they have the manager, a British core and some talented players like Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic to do the same and the very fact that they have done it before would serve as the extra motivation as the fans would also get behind their team hoping that the club turns things around for the second time.
