Rafa Benítez (unemployed)

Rafa is awesome and we won't get a better manager than him. We are so lucky to have him, I wonder why he is here but it's because he knows he can achieve a lot here and he is loved. Is he human? Yes. Will he make mistakes? Yes. We have had a ridiculous start to the season and no way to build momentum. We will be fine and we will not get relegated. We will finish between 8th and 12th.

 

If this squad finishes 8th ill eat hay with a donkey

What about eat hay once eaten by a donkey?

Rafa is awesome and we won't get a better manager than him. We are so lucky to have him, I wonder why he is here but it's because he knows he can achieve a lot here and he is loved. Is he human? Yes. Will he make mistakes? Yes. We have had a ridiculous start to the season and no way to build momentum. We will be fine and we will not get relegated. We will finish between 8th and 12th.

 

If this squad finishes 8th ill eat hay with a donkey

We would have said the same last September or December and it nearly happened

"Rafa is always right" is different from "Rafa makes mistakes but he is absolutely blameless".  What I see is some posters simply point out what Rafa did wrong and then immediately get rinsed for "how dare you criticise Rafa".

He always got my support doesn't I mean I can agree with starting Hayden for the last game. I could never understand nor agree with this decision.

Rafa is awesome and we won't get a better manager than him. We are so lucky to have him, I wonder why he is here but it's because he knows he can achieve a lot here and he is loved. Is he human? Yes. Will he make mistakes? Yes. We have had a ridiculous start to the season and no way to build momentum. We will be fine and we will not get relegated. We will finish between 8th and 12th.

 

If this squad finishes 8th ill eat hay with a donkey

 

We would have said the same last September or December and it nearly happened

Aye but virtually every other team has massively improved whereas Rafa has spent about 12 pence!

My concern right now is that after we added Dubravka and Kennedy last season and the more Lascelles and Lejune become a partnership at the back, we started to look a good team in general.

Nothing special, but able to defend and slack up pressure and nick a draw or a win or able to get at teams and do enough to go on and win. Lejune is a big miss at the back of course, but other than the basics and some huff and puff, there isn’t any real selmblance of a team at the moment in either area of the pitch, on and off the ball.

I think for the players despondency has set in following what can only be described as a really poor transfer window. Had we just added 2 or 3 really quality players and early enough to be fit and he’ll we would be much better off, but we have either replaced like for like or bought players of no pedigree who will need time to sell and adapt and even then they aren’t improving the team by much, if at all.

Then there is Rafa’s situation, the players are still playing for him and he is still giving his all and they and he will continue to do that, but it’s harder to keep what we had going last season and then try to build on that if the manager and his staff might not be here next season.

We all know Rafa takes each game at a time and the days or week or weeks leading up to a game is all about that game specifically, in terms of developing the players through coaching, however, it’s always about tomorrow and not today as Rafa tries to create a long-term style that can evolve and change as happened towards the end of last season where we become more progressive in attack and more confident on the ball having laid down the defensive foundations.

Obviously being restricted in the transfer market doesn’t help in that sense as we have seen how in Dubravka and Kennedy alone last season just by adding their quality and extra attributes can speed up the evolution of the team or enable it to grow.

We seem to have regressed, yes we have had a tough start in terms of fixtures, but we have looked desperately short all over the park, in defence, midfield and mostly in attack.

There is not one thing you can say we are good at, do well or can work on and only get better at. Not at current.

Last season there was a sense of trying to put right a wrong of relegation, for players to prove themselves and hope for a brighter future. I would t even call this a second season syndrome, I’d call this an eniveability of what happens when you don’t build on things to kick on.

Rafa is a great manager but he can’t be expected to churn out a top 10 finish with if not the same players a team that bears the same lack of quality all the same and keep such a team fighting to do what is extremely hard to keep doing, improving, not when that improvement last year was a form of overachievement and not a natural progression.

Last season is over, it’s gone, Rafa needs to find a new solution and soon because you can’t keep doing the same things over and over again we did last season that only barely just worked.

He’s not daft though, if anyone can find a way, it’s him. It won’t be pretty though and now it’s all about just staying up and all the way from now and until the end of the season.

Sadly it neednt have been that way and shouldn’t be not with 53k fans and Rafa in the dugout and all that TV money.

This is gonna be another season in many which will be a page if the in the annals of the club’s history, like most of Pardew’s where everything just seems a bit pointless which is what we as a club are right now.

What’s the point in having 53k fans?

What’s the point in all that TV money?

What’s the point in having a world class manager?

What’s the point if even being a PL club?

There are clubs like Wolves and Fulham who have tried to become a PL club for many a year and will do their best to not just stay one, but to become a PL club of note that want to write new chapters, make new history and compete as best as they can and as high as they can.

It’s kind of not fair that we went up just to make up the numbers when there are many clubs who didn’t and may never will would love a crack at the PL so they can become a club worthy of the top-flight. We are not worthy. Rafa is, as fans we are worthy and some of our players are.

Ashley though, he doesn’t deserve to own such a club and have such a manager in the dugout.

Fans dont deserve Ashley either, but if we don’t do something, anything, we don’t deserve Rafa, a great team and a top club. Rafa has fought from day one for that and will right up until the day he leaves, be it under Ashley or someone else.

A lot of fans have fought too and will keep fighting, but if the majority don’t join the fight it’s always going to be a losing battle and a landslide victory for Ashley.

A lifetime of Ashley, really? Because that’s where it’s all heading. Imagine a decade of Rafa being backed and supported financially and what he could achieve, what we as a club could do. Imagine that kind of chapter in our history books...

The last 10 have been relegations, relegation battles, greats humiliated and took to court, our better players sold constantly, outspent by championship clubs, our stadium decaying, fans fighting, media laughing, our history and status eroded and worst of all our club becoming synonymous with Sports Direct where now we are a vehicle for that and it’s majority shareholder, owner and all his cronies, and nothing else.

Sports Direct United.

Every HTT post needs an abstract.

Basically for the hard of reading...

Rafa = doing a great job

Rafa = cannot really do much more

Rafa = expecting him to is expecting too much

Ashley = blame him, it’s never going to change while he’s around

Rafa = 

Every HTT post needs an abstract.

If George R.R. Martin was as prolific a writer as HTT, he would have finished the series in the 2nd quarter of 2001.

If George R.R. Martin was as prolific a writer as HTT, he would have finished the series in the 2nd quarter of 2001.

You say that, but I probably have one of the lowest post counts on here given my length of time on here, again, I post to gather my own thoughts and enjoy it. Takes me a few minutes which helps of course

If George R.R. Martin was as prolific a writer as HTT, he would have finished the series in the 2nd quarter of 2001.

 

You say that, but I probably have one of the lowest post counts on here given my length of time on here, again, I post to gather my own thoughts and enjoy it. Takes me a few minutes which helps of course

but probably the highest word count by about 15-25 million words.

This thread is going to be like a loved one has died come the end of the season when he walks away

I go for quality over quantity...

This thread is going to be like a loved one has died come the end of the season when he walks away

I think he will stay...

This thread is going to be like a loved one has died come the end of the season when he walks away

 

I think he will stay...

id like to think so but I really cant see it, nothing is going to change and theres a huge possibility we could be a championship club again come what may

I go for quality over quantity...

indeed

My concern right now is that after we added Dubravka and Kennedy last season and the more Lascelles and Lejune become a partnership at the back, we started to look a good team in general.

 

Nothing special, but able to defend and slack up pressure and nick a draw or a win or able to get at teams and do enough to go on and win. Lejune is a big miss at the back of course, but other than the basics and some huff and puff, there isn’t any real selmblance of a team at the moment in either area of the pitch, on and off the ball.

 

I think for the players despondency has set in following what can only be described as a really poor transfer window. Had we just added 2 or 3 really quality players and early enough to be fit and he’ll we would be much better off, but we have either replaced like for like or bought players of no pedigree who will need time to sell and adapt and even then they aren’t improving the team by much, if at all.

 

Then there is Rafa’s situation, the players are still playing for him and he is still giving his all and they and he will continue to do that, but it’s harder to keep what we had going last season and then try to build on that if the manager and his staff might not be here next season.

 

We all know Rafa takes each game at a time and the days or week or weeks leading up to a game is all about that game specifically, in terms of developing the players through coaching, however, it’s always about tomorrow and not today as Rafa tries to create a long-term style that can evolve and change as happened towards the end of last season where we become more progressive in attack and more confident on the ball having laid down the defensive foundations.

 

Obviously being restricted in the transfer market doesn’t help in that sense as we have seen how in Dubravka and Kennedy alone last season just by adding their quality and extra attributes can speed up the evolution of the team or enable it to grow.

 

We seem to have regressed, yes we have had a tough start in terms of fixtures, but we have looked desperately short all over the park, in defence, midfield and mostly in attack.

 

There is not one thing you can say we are good at, do well or can work on and only get better at. Not at current.

 

Last season there was a sense of trying to put right a wrong of relegation, for players to prove themselves and hope for a brighter future. I would t even call this a second season syndrome, I’d call this an eniveability of what happens when you don’t build on things to kick on.

 

Rafa is a great manager but he can’t be expected to churn out a top 10 finish with if not the same players a team that bears the same lack of quality all the same and keep such a team fighting to do what is extremely hard to keep doing, improving, not when that improvement last year was a form of overachievement and not a natural progression.

 

Last season is over, it’s gone, Rafa needs to find a new solution and soon because you can’t keep doing the same things over and over again we did last season that only barely just worked.

 

He’s not daft though, if anyone can find a way, it’s him. It won’t be pretty though and now it’s all about just staying up and all the way from now and until the end of the season.

 

Sadly it neednt have been that way and shouldn’t be not with 53k fans and Rafa in the dugout and all that TV money.

 

This is gonna be another season in many which will be a page if the in the annals of the club’s history, like most of Pardew’s where everything just seems a bit pointless which is what we as a club are right now.

 

What’s the point in having 53k fans?

What’s the point in all that TV money?

What’s the point in having a world class manager?

What’s the point if even being a PL club?

 

There are clubs like Wolves and Fulham who have tried to become a PL club for many a year and will do their best to not just stay one, but to become a PL club of note that want to write new chapters, make new history and compete as best as they can and as high as they can.

 

It’s kind of not fair that we went up just to make up the numbers when there are many clubs who didn’t and may never will would love a crack at the PL so they can become a club worthy of the top-flight. We are not worthy. Rafa is, as fans we are worthy and some of our players are.

 

Ashley though, he doesn’t deserve to own such a club and have such a manager in the dugout.

 

Fans dont deserve Ashley either, but if we don’t do something, anything, we don’t deserve Rafa, a great team and a top club. Rafa has fought from day one for that and will right up until the day he leaves, be it under Ashley or someone else.

 

A lot of fans have fought too and will keep fighting, but if the majority don’t join the fight it’s always going to be a losing battle and a landslide victory for Ashley.

 

A lifetime of Ashley, really? Because that’s where it’s all heading. Imagine a decade of Rafa being backed and supported financially and what he could achieve, what we as a club could do. Imagine that kind of chapter in our history books...

 

The last 10 have been relegations, relegation battles, greats humiliated and took to court, our better players sold constantly, outspent by championship clubs, our stadium decaying, fans fighting, media laughing, our history and status eroded and worst of all our club becoming synonymous with Sports Direct where now we are a vehicle for that and it’s majority shareholder, owner and all his cronies, and nothing else.

 

Sports Direct United.

but at least your quality is generally high as well

Thank you sir!

Never change HTT.

This thread is going to be like a loved one has died come the end of the season when he walks away

 

I think he will stay...

 

id like to think so but I really cant see it, nothing is going to change and theres a huge possibility we could be a championship club again come what may

That could be a possibility even if Rafa were to sign a new deal tomorrow thanks to the summer and while there is still January to make ammends, or try to, the phrase too little too late springs to mind.

I can see Ashley offering Rafa just enough money to improve facilities and just enough money to look at 3rd choice targets and not 5th or 6th choices which could well keep him happy enough because I genuinely believe right now, he isn’t focused on trophies or proving himself against the best.

It’s about coaching, building something that he can have full control of and that he doesn’t need mega money to make happen. That and he’s happy here and and values this more than any silverware or big club badge prestige on his blazer.

Of course if someone took over and said here is 200m, we want a trophy and CL footy he isn’t going to say no to that...

My concern right now is that after we added Dubravka and Kennedy last season and the more Lascelles and Lejune become a partnership at the back, we started to look a good team in general.

 

Nothing special, but able to defend and slack up pressure and nick a draw or a win or able to get at teams and do enough to go on and win. Lejune is a big miss at the back of course, but other than the basics and some huff and puff, there isn’t any real selmblance of a team at the moment in either area of the pitch, on and off the ball.

 

I think for the players despondency has set in following what can only be described as a really poor transfer window. Had we just added 2 or 3 really quality players and early enough to be fit and he’ll we would be much better off, but we have either replaced like for like or bought players of no pedigree who will need time to sell and adapt and even then they aren’t improving the team by much, if at all.

 

Then there is Rafa’s situation, the players are still playing for him and he is still giving his all and they and he will continue to do that, but it’s harder to keep what we had going last season and then try to build on that if the manager and his staff might not be here next season.

 

We all know Rafa takes each game at a time and the days or week or weeks leading up to a game is all about that game specifically, in terms of developing the players through coaching, however, it’s always about tomorrow and not today as Rafa tries to create a long-term style that can evolve and change as happened towards the end of last season where we become more progressive in attack and more confident on the ball having laid down the defensive foundations.

 

Obviously being restricted in the transfer market doesn’t help in that sense as we have seen how in Dubravka and Kennedy alone last season just by adding their quality and extra attributes can speed up the evolution of the team or enable it to grow.

 

We seem to have regressed, yes we have had a tough start in terms of fixtures, but we have looked desperately short all over the park, in defence, midfield and mostly in attack.

 

There is not one thing you can say we are good at, do well or can work on and only get better at. Not at current.

 

Last season there was a sense of trying to put right a wrong of relegation, for players to prove themselves and hope for a brighter future. I would t even call this a second season syndrome, I’d call this an eniveability of what happens when you don’t build on things to kick on.

 

Rafa is a great manager but he can’t be expected to churn out a top 10 finish with if not the same players a team that bears the same lack of quality all the same and keep such a team fighting to do what is extremely hard to keep doing, improving, not when that improvement last year was a form of overachievement and not a natural progression.

 

Last season is over, it’s gone, Rafa needs to find a new solution and soon because you can’t keep doing the same things over and over again we did last season that only barely just worked.

 

He’s not daft though, if anyone can find a way, it’s him. It won’t be pretty though and now it’s all about just staying up and all the way from now and until the end of the season.

 

Sadly it neednt have been that way and shouldn’t be not with 53k fans and Rafa in the dugout and all that TV money.

 

This is gonna be another season in many which will be a page if the in the annals of the club’s history, like most of Pardew’s where everything just seems a bit pointless which is what we as a club are right now.

 

What’s the point in having 53k fans?

What’s the point in all that TV money?

What’s the point in having a world class manager?

What’s the point if even being a PL club?

 

There are clubs like Wolves and Fulham who have tried to become a PL club for many a year and will do their best to not just stay one, but to become a PL club of note that want to write new chapters, make new history and compete as best as they can and as high as they can.

 

It’s kind of not fair that we went up just to make up the numbers when there are many clubs who didn’t and may never will would love a crack at the PL so they can become a club worthy of the top-flight. We are not worthy. Rafa is, as fans we are worthy and some of our players are.

 

Ashley though, he doesn’t deserve to own such a club and have such a manager in the dugout.

 

Fans dont deserve Ashley either, but if we don’t do something, anything, we don’t deserve Rafa, a great team and a top club. Rafa has fought from day one for that and will right up until the day he leaves, be it under Ashley or someone else.

 

A lot of fans have fought too and will keep fighting, but if the majority don’t join the fight it’s always going to be a losing battle and a landslide victory for Ashley.

 

A lifetime of Ashley, really? Because that’s where it’s all heading. Imagine a decade of Rafa being backed and supported financially and what he could achieve, what we as a club could do. Imagine that kind of chapter in our history books...

 

The last 10 have been relegations, relegation battles, greats humiliated and took to court, our better players sold constantly, outspent by championship clubs, our stadium decaying, fans fighting, media laughing, our history and status eroded and worst of all our club becoming synonymous with Sports Direct where now we are a vehicle for that and it’s majority shareholder, owner and all his cronies, and nothing else.

 

Sports Direct United.

I'm not totally sure, I think it was touch and go for ages, we were as much in the shit for most of the season than anyone else around us, any of 10 sides were as crap as each other, then between March & April we went on a four game winning streak pulling us right out of the shit and those 12 points were what made the difference as Swansea took a turn for the worse, I felt with them it was like us with McLaren, they messed around with Paul Clement for far to long.

But in terms of us last season and this season, it's as you say down to the start being difficult,and injuries and players current form, Kenedy was in superb form when he first signed, Dubravka equally, and also the Lejeune/Lascelles partnership as you said is notable thus far this season.

The lack of threat at goal worries me more this season. I just hope Rondon has it in him to get his first double figures in the prem, because under 10 goals in a relegation threatend side is a worry.

Basically for the hard of reading...

 

Rafa = doing a great job

Rafa = cannot really do much more

Rafa = expecting him to is expecting too much

Ashley = blame him, it’s never going to change while he’s around

Rafa = 

So all those words—80+ lines, with thoughtful paragraph breaks, approaching one thousand words—express one idea? Well, plus the Ashley statement: something so often repeated it barely registers.

Can we please stop chasing HTT around the forum for daring to write more than four sentences. It’s getting quite pathetic, borderline bullying really, its not constructive at all and shows who the real idiots are.

This forum is to give people a voice, HTT loves to write, its his voice, his opinion, that’s great. By all means say if you disagree but otherwise if you don’t want to read it don’t read it and scroll through and shut up.

We need to stand together. Let’s embrace all fan’s voices, not try to silence them!

Can we please stop chasing HTT around the forum for daring to write more than four sentences. It’s getting quite pathetic, borderline bullying really, its not constructive at all and shows who the real idiots are.

 

This forum is to give people a voice, HTT loves to write, its his voice, his opinion, that’s great. By all means say if you disagree but otherwise if you don’t want to read it don’t read it and scroll through and shut up.

 

We need to stand together. Let’s embrace all fan’s voices, not try to silence them!

Shut it, tit.

Can we please stop chasing HTT around the forum for daring to write more than four sentences. It’s getting quite pathetic, borderline bullying really, its not constructive at all and shows who the real idiots are.

 

This forum is to give people a voice, HTT loves to write, its his voice, his opinion, that’s great. By all means say if you disagree but otherwise if you don’t want to read it don’t read it and scroll through and shut up.

 

We need to stand together. Let’s embrace all fan’s voices, not try to silence them!

 

Shut it, tit.

This thread is going to be like a loved one has died come the end of the season when he walks away

 

I think he will stay...

 

id like to think so but I really cant see it, nothing is going to change and theres a huge possibility we could be a championship club again come what may

If he does stay on under Ashley that means he is happy to pick up 6m just to keep us up. Would be no different or any more ambition than any other managers under Ashley in that case