It’s easy to understand why Rafa Benitez took the Newcastle United job: keep them up and become an instant hero, take them down and everybody will blame the previous manager.

It’s the ultimate win-win situation for a man who has been around the block enough times to know how these things work. The sensible Spaniard even has a get-out clause in his contract allowing him to walk away from his three-year deal if the club goes down.

And, at this point, that is what everyone expects him to do if worst comes to worst.

But my question is this: if he loses the battle to keep them in the top flight, should he really abandon ship?

Yes, it would be hard for a manager of his experience to deal with trips to places like Rotherham and Burton Albion next season. But sticking with Newcastle through what is likely to be a single season in the Championship could also give him a very unique opportunity – the chance to create something entirely of his own.

It has been rumoured that as part of his deal with Newcastle he has been given full control of transfers. Owner Mike Ashley has finally realised that his managers probably know more about football than his accountants.

The club, which has been making profit for a while now, has plenty of money to spend both for an assault on promotion and a proper crack at the top flight on their return.

What would be more fulfilling – guiding a team with dozens of major honours behind it to yet another cup to stuff in their bulging trophy room, or being the man to finally wake one of football’s most infamous sleeping giants?

I fully understand that a season in English football’s second tier would be a comedown for a man who was managing Real Madrid just a few months ago. A big comedown.

But Newcastle supporters are among the most passionate in the world, the club has a massive fan base and there is incredible potential for the right man to create something special at St James’ Park.

What would be more fulfilling – guiding a team with dozens of major honours behind it to yet another cup to stuff in their bulging trophy room, or being the man to finally wake one of football’s most infamous sleeping giants?

If you are looking for a proper legacy, a real way of ensuring your name goes down in football folklore, then you aren’t going to get that by taking over a top club and continuing their success, you are going to get it by building your own top team.

Of course, to do that, Benitez would need to have total belief in himself and his abilities. And he would need to be confident that his management style would work in the lower leagues.

But self-confidence is not something that has even seemed in short supply from the former Valencia boss. And good managers should be able to ply their trade at any level of the game.

Sadly, when push comes to shove, if Newcastle do succumb to the big drop, I suspect Benitez will be out of the door the second the final whistle of the final game has blown.

He will, like so many before him, believe he is too good to be plying his trade outside the top flight.

Just once I would like to see a good manager put his reputation on the line, stick two fingers up at convention and take on a real challenge. Put their money where their managerial mouth is.

If the rest of this season continues the way it has been for Newcastle, then Benitez will have the opportunity to do just that. Unfortunately, I suspect the chances of him taking that opportunity are about as high as Alan Shearer taking over as manager of Sunderland…

Why you should never give up

It’s confession time: on Thursday night I turned off the TV when Borussia Dortmund’s third goal went in…

To be honest that’s very unlike me. As a glutton for punishment, I normally watch English teams’ failure right through to the bitter, tear-stained, end.

But for some reason this time I decided enough was enough and that I didn’t fancy enduring another valiant, but ultimately fruitless, attempt by an English team to achieve something in Europe.

So you can imagine my horror when the final score flashed through on my phone. Especially as there is nothing I enjoy more in football than a good old-fashioned, against-the-odds comeback.

I have since caught up on the half an hour of frantic football that I missed, and maximum credit to Liverpool in general and Jürgen Klopp in particular. It was the perfect display of what can be achieved by a team and a manager that don’t know when they are beaten.

However, there is one thing I would like to point out to those Liverpool fans who have suggested this was an even better performance than their infamous Champions League final comeback – it wasn’t.

There are many reasons why that night in Istanbul was more impressive, not least of which being that it was in Istanbul and not at Anfield. That it was a final, not a quarter-final is also significant in terms of pressure and expectation.

And then there is the small matter that the Milan comeback came in the Champions League, not the Europa League. Let’s face it, Europe’s second-tier competition has taken on a significance it doesn’t deserve just because Manchester United and Liverpool both ended up in it this season.

Still, none of that takes away from last Thursday’s match. Borussia Dortmund are an excellent team and, by beating them is such dramatic fashion, Liverpool showed they do indeed have a very bright future under their new German coach.

Mental note to self: even if Liverpool are 5-0 down in the semi-final, keep your hand away from the remote…

Told you Barca were beatable

Back when Arsenal played (in a loose sense) Barcelona I said at the time that the Spanish team, while excellent, was beatable. Many of you scoffed at the very suggestion.

Yet here we are and Barcelona, despite having probably the greatest attacking line-up in the game’s history, have been eliminated from the Champions League in the very next round.

Yes, Atletico Madrid may have had a tiny bit of help from the referee in last Wednesday night’s match. But overall they deserved their victory and their place in the semi-finals.

Just shows what football clubs can do when they don’t give their opponents too much respect, doesn’t it, Mr Wenger?

Meanwhile congratulations to Manchester City for making it through to the semi-finals for the first time in their history. Although out of all England’s entrants they are the ones I have least interest in, there are a couple of reasons I welcomed their victory over PSG.

Firstly, it is good for English football. The further City go, the harder it will be for the Premier League to lose their fourth Champions League slot in the future.

More importantly, however, is that if City were to somehow win the trophy this season, it would mean Pep Guardiola will need to perform miracles at the Etihad to maintain his title of management messiah.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade