The manager’s office at Darsley Park is bright and airy, as the sun creeps in between blinds hung from patio doors that look out onto the training pitches. Rafa Benítez sits at his desk, on which a laptop is open alongside a monitor with bottled water, stationery and a letter tray neatly arranged in front of him.
Behind the mastermind of Newcastle United’s promotion campaign, a giant photograph of a resplendent, full St. James’ Park is plastered, covering the whole wall. It is a feature that Rafa Benítez had installed himself.
“We changed the colours,” says the Magpies boss, explaining the thinking behind the renovations he initiated at United’s training base last summer. “In general, there’s more light, with more colours, and more space if we can for people who normally work here.
“We had to give another impression when the players came back from relegation, for them to see something different, more relaxed, with more space, and they would appreciate that it is new and fresher. It was to change the mood, starting with the colours and little things like that.
“We changed the synthetic pitch in the indoor tent, the showers, the dressing room for the staff, some offices. We had to give them, the players, space if they wanted to stay and play ping pong or with the PlayStation. It’s something they will appreciate is different and a little bit better.”
Work began on the refurbishments in Benton shortly after the Spaniard agreed to remain at the club following relegation from the Premier League. The changes made at Benítez’s behest were the first acts of a busy summer, as the Rafalution began in earnest.
“We had a lot of things to do. We’d just arrived earlier that year, and we had to try to do our best to stay up. We couldn’t do it but little by little, we were analysing things,” he recalls, his hands clasped in front of him.
“This season was more about fixing things and doing things the way we wanted to do it. We had so many things – academy, scouting department, players coming, players leaving, the facilities we were trying to improve – and I think we did well. Thanks to all the people in charge in each department, we were progressing and improving, and I’m quite happy with what we did.”
The foundations for what could yet be a title-winning campaign were being laid as the ink was still drying on the initial three-year contract he penned almost a year ago.
With the training ground being taken care of, the next stage of the preparations centred on recruitment. Twelve players arrived, many of whom – the likes of Matt Ritchie, Dwight Gayle, Daryl Murphy and Mohamed Diamé – boasted prior experience in the second tier. Benítez selflessly insists it was his charges who forged the spirit that has carried them back up.
“It’s not difficult when you have good players and good professionals,” he says. “The relationship between them was quite good, and because the team was working well and hard, the relationship with the staff was also quite good. Little by little, the bond was improving. When the team is winning and you have nice people – people who are hungry and want to improve – then it’s easier.
“You try to choose the right players, and after, try to talk with them and tell them what you are expecting from each one and from the group. I will give credit to the players in this case, because you can try the same with different players, and maybe it doesn’t work.”
Throughout an engaging half-hour interview, a smile is never far from Benítez’s face. The affable, modest man behind the desk – a man who already holds hero status in the city, just over a year into his tenure – is clearly proud of his promotion-winning team, and the atmosphere they’ve created together at the club.
“We have a way to do things. Our methodology is working with the ball all the time, so they enjoy that, and changing the exercises but keeping the same objective – things that we have done for so many years. For some players, they are new things,” he says.
“We have the analysis department, and then we have clips for every single player, for the team. We try to give them some feedback in terms of what they do. They appreciate that, and are keen to learn and improve, so that, in the end, is what creates a very good atmosphere.”
In the corner of the room, on top of a cabinet, stand some of the awards won by Benítez over the course of the season. They include a pair of glass Performance of the Week trophies and the Manager of the Month award for November 2016.
Upon winning the latter, he insisted on his backroom staff being present in the photo as their decorated boss collected the gong. The graft put in by those around him never goes unnoticed.
“As a manager, you have ideas, but you need people helping you because if not, you don’t have time to do everything,” Benítez offers. “If you have an expert in a specific part of the job then you have to use them. Everyone has their job and everyone is helping me to save some time by doing something specific.
“Everybody has their role in the team, and here they can feel that they are part of the success. I think it’s important to realise that a lot of things you have achieved is because of them. People say ‘well this is just the manager’, but you have a lot of people working very hard every day, and thanks to them, things are going well. Everyone has to do their job, and they have to feel that their job is appreciated.”
With just one Championship game remaining for Newcastle and Benítez, the former Liverpool boss is able to reflect on the season as a whole with greater clarity.
The 91 points picked up thus far in an unpredictable and gruelling division is indicative of a team with strength of character. Indeed, he says that even before a ball was kicked, he could sense something stirring within the squad.
“Normally, you realise in pre-season,” he explains. “When you start training with players you can see how they react and how keen they are to spend more time practising, or learning and listening to you. We could see from the beginning that this group was a good group.”
Even during the trying periods where games were lost, his faith never wavered. “I had confidence in the team, and I was always talking about April as a crucial month. I thought that we could start April even worse (than we did) and after we could react, but we started really well and after we made a couple of mistakes, so it was the opposite.
“Still, I had confidence – it would be hard, it would be difficult, but we would do it.”
In doing ‘it’ – winning promotion at the first time of asking – the Magpies became just the second team since Chris Hughton’s Newcastle team and West Bromwich Albion in 2010 to go straight back up automatically the year after relegation to the Championship. To get out of a division littered with clubs of top flight pedigree is something of a feat in itself.
“We changed half of the squad, sold players, and then we had to rebuild everything,” he reflects. “To go up, I think it is a real achievement. But I always say, we have to give credit to these players.
“It’s important to be proud of what we have done in the end. Players, staff and all the people here have been together with the fans behind us. We have had a whole city behind the team, and that is so good and the feeling is so good that it’s something we have to build from.”
It is a feeling that hasn’t been lost on Benítez. He is well aware of the strength of the affection the people of Newcastle have for him; the constant reminders he receives of that seem to move him.
“Every time that I go to a restaurant or something around the city, you have someone telling you how they appreciate what we are doing. We can feel it every day. You can see that, you can feel that,” he says.
“It’s always important to feel that the people appreciate what you have done. A lot of times in my career, if (fans) talk about one of my trophies, they say ‘you gave me the best day of my life’. I say it’s a pleasure for me, because it’s something I wanted to do and I enjoy that.
“I like to do my job properly and I like to win. Sometimes I’m really, really upset when we cannot. But at least now, experience has given (me) this calm; that you know sometimes you cannot, but still you have to try the next time.
“When I was younger, I was always upset because we were losing or I was very happy because we were winning. Now, you can manage the emotions a little bit more.”
There are few places in the English game where the fervour matches that that is exhibited on a matchday at St. James’ Park. What is it that equips a manager, even one of Benítez’s standing, to handle the myriad feelings that football can generate?
“Age!” he quips, before explaining that experience is behind his cool exterior. “I started my career as a coach in the Real Madrid academy, and we were winning maybe 80 per cent of the games. You didn’t used to lose too much, but then when you leave and you realise that the other teams are quite strong and you can lose, that’s when you start learning. It’s quite difficult, but that is the way.
“You have to lose some games to realise how important it is to do things well – the little details, the small things that can change a game.
“You have to have balance. If you lose a game, you are disappointed, but at the same time, what the people – your players especially, and your staff – expect from you is a reaction, a positive reaction, a solution. You have to be calm, keep your composure and then analyse what is going on to give a solution or an idea at least, and they can follow this idea.”
There has always been a certain coolness about Benítez’s presence on the touchline. From there, where he dispenses instructions, he can hear United fans sing his name, and always feels compelled to acknowledge it.
“I wave to them, and I say thank you very much,” he explains. “It is my responsibility to stay focussed on my job, but I can be very happy because they are singing my name. I’m really pleased, but at the same time, it’s more responsibility for me too, because I want to do well for them.
“As a professional, I have always done the same. I was trying to do my best in every single team I was managing. But when you have the love of the fans, then you try even harder, because I think that they deserve that.”
Benítez watched on with pride as the celebrations began following the last home game against Preston. There were joyous scenes in the dressing room, as corks were popped and players doused each other in champagne. “They were trying to catch me – they caught me a little bit, but not as much as they wanted!” he smiles, having managed to avoid the need for a trip to the dry cleaners.
Instead, immediately after securing promotion, Benítez rounded up his backroom staff for a celebratory photo in the tunnel.
“I have sometimes the feeling that I did my job, and I’m really proud for that, but I am not very emotional externally… I don’t get carried away with the emotions too much,” he explains. “But inside, I am really proud of what we have achieved, so then I try to stay with my staff or my family and friends and enjoy it with them. I’m not someone who will be jumping around the streets or whatever, but I will try to enjoy it with my people.
“I think it was a mix of emotions, because everybody was a little bit anxious with the results before and a little bit nervous about what can happen. So there was a little bit of relief, but at the same time, pride, because it was a great achievement. Everybody was…” He exhales. “You could see, playing against Cardiff, the team was playing with more freedom. You could see the real team.”
From a season of so many highs – and, allowing for potentially one more – Benítez offers up the dramatic 4-3 comeback win over Norwich City and the 6-0 humbling of Queens Park Rangers as memorable matches, though reserves a mention for the first win of a memorable term on the road at Bristol City and the crucial victory at Huddersfield, examples of his players’ tactical adaptability and sheer resilience, as two of his own most satisfying afternoons.
But now, there’s a new challenge on the horizon. Preparation has already begun for life back in the Premier League, and there is a genuine sense of excitement at the prospect.
“In terms of the preparation, it’s more or less the same. What you have to be sure now is that you choose the right players and you do the right things, because you have to change things and try to improve. That is my responsibility,” he says.
“I think as a manager, when you achieve something and then you start preparing for the next challenge, you have to be excited. I’m thinking about every single detail that I can improve, and then seeing my staff, everyone, and trying to get feedback from them and seeing if we can make less mistakes.
“It’s important for me to be excited and it’s important for my staff and the people around us to be excited too. It’s a challenge for everyone.
“We know that it will not be easy, but at the same time we know we have the ability to change things around and to try to do good things.”
By quarter to two this afternoon, the Magpies will know whether or not they will be returning to the Premier League as champions of the Championship.
Whatever happens, though, Benítez believes there are more than enough reasons to be cheerful as they look to finish off the job in style. It is a sentiment that is as welcome as it is heartening, from a man who has helped Newcastle United supporters to dream again.
“After the Preston game, I said ‘OK, we have achieved what we wanted’,” he says.
“I didn’t expect Brighton to lose the other game. Now, we have another opportunity. We were really pleased (after Cardiff), because we won and it’s the record (for away wins in a season), but at the same time now we have a chance to fight for the title, and we’ll try to do it.
“I will not see anything this weekend as a negative – it’s just positive, or very, very positive.”
