Two straight defeats at the start of the season and Rafa Benitez must have been thinking he had made a career-defining mistake sticking with Newcastle United.

Losing 1-0 at Fulham on the opening day of the season could possibly be written off as a relegation hangover, but when that was followed by a 2-1 home defeat to Huddersfield Town, Benitez may have started tiptoeing quietly towards the back door.

No doubt when the Champions League-winning Spaniard decided his future lay in the northeast of England, it was a decision he took on the basis that his sabbatical from top-flight management would only be for a single season.

I’m pretty sure two defeats in the first two games of the season was never part of the master plan.

But fast-forward a few weeks and the picture is so much prettier. Newcastle have found their Championship feet in spectacular style, winning five league games in a row and even finding time to squeeze in a quick League Cup victory as well.

They are, for want of a better expression, on a roll, and the quality of their performances is matching the results – culminating in last Tuesday night’s 6-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

They had 29 attempts on goal in that game, evidence that they aren’t fluking results or squeezing past opponents. They are hammering them. Even Jonjo Shelvey is scoring screamers.

Going into this weekend’s fixtures, Newcastle were up to second in the table and could well be top as you read this. If not, it is surely only a matter of time before they reach the summit and I wouldn’t bet against them staying there all the way through to May.

Benitez is in a unique position in managerial terms. He knows, in his heart of hearts, with his experience and ability and the squad he has assembled, promotion is all but assured for his team.

He would never be naïve enough to say so publically and, to emphasise the point, he spouted out all the usual ‘we can play better’ soundbites even after watching his team put half a dozen past QPR.

But he knows Newcastle are going to get promoted. He wouldn’t have stuck around if he wasn’t 100 per cent convinced of it. And that is what now makes his position unique – he has almost an entire season to prepare for life back in the Premier League.

He doesn’t need to make contingency plans for another year in the second flight – mostly because it won’t be necessary but also because there is no way he would stick around for another second-tier season anyway. Instead, he can concentrate on making sure his current team continues to tick over nicely while preparing his plans for next season.

He will already be identifying the players he wants for his return to the Premier League. You watch, the second the summer transfer window opens he will be all over new signings like a rash.

You watch, the second the summer transfer window opens he will be all over new signings like a rash

I said when he failed to save Newcastle last season he should stick around because combining a manager of his talent and experience, Mike Ashley’s vast financial resources and a huge, passionate fan base could produce something special.

I don’t want to jinx it but I think we are now seeing the first signs that that could be starting to happen.

But the real test of how special it actually is will come next season, not this.

Keeping Michel’s seat warm, are we?

Uefa have a nice, shiny new leader in charge to replace the disgraced Michel Platini.

Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin comfortably won the vote at last week’s meeting of European football’s governing body in Athens and will now finish off the remainder of Platini’s term in office, which runs to 2019.

At first I wondered why they didn’t just give him a full term in office, instead of messing about with a gap-filling, abridged two-and-a-half years.

But then I realised how naïve I was being.

Platini was originally banned from football for eight years right? That was then reduced by Fifa, on appeal, to six years. A further appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport saw the ban reduced to four years.

Out of those four years he has already served what, nearly a year. So we are now talking about a difference of a few months between Platini’s ban ending and Ceferin’s term in office coming to a close.

So what are the odds that Fifa grants Platini a nice little pardon in time for him to take part in Uefa’s next election? Maybe with a bit of time off for good behaviour? Or as a reward for completing his tax returns properly?

There is a chance I am just looking for conspiracies where they don’t exist. But having followed the shenanigans of Uefa and Fifa for the past few years, you do start to adopt their twisted mindset.

And the fact that Platini, granted special dispensation by Fifa to address the Athens meeting, was given a very warm ovation by the delegates, shows he is still loved by the organisation’s members. If he were to stand, I am pretty sure he would win.

I admit it would be one of the most incredible examples of bouncebackability we have ever seen were the Frenchman to return to the top of the sport, but stranger things have happened recently in the corrupt higher echelons of football administration.

As for Ceferin, he is relatively unknown, and I suspect he is not the sort of person who will spend the next 29 months rocking the boat. He will probably just get on with the job quietly and without fuss, especially if he feels he is merely keeping Mr Platini’s seat warm.

After all, he knows that he has some big boots to fill. Not as big as the pockets that went with them, but big nevertheless.

First England, now Europe

As Champions League debuts go, they don’t get much better than Leicester City’s. Winning 3-0 away from home in your first ever match in the competition is pretty close to perfect.

As I have said repeatedly over the past few weeks, last year’s Premier League champions are going to struggle domestically. There are already signs that teams are prepared for their style and approach.

But maybe, just maybe, Claudio Ranieri and his band of merry men can take Europe by surprise. They certainly took Club Brugge by surprise last Wednesday night.

I was almost tempted to have a little bet on them to win the thing. Then I remembered Barcelona’s performance from the previous night.

I think I’ll hang on to that fiver…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade