Rafael Benítez has hinted that he could be persuaded to stay on at Newcastle United in the event of the club being relegated to the Championship.
A break clause in his contract facilitates a potential early exit should Benítez fail to keep the team in the Premier League but, for the first time, on Friday there was a sense that, if the worst happens, its activation may not be a foregone conclusion.
Asked about reports linking him with the Spain job next season, the former Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid coach said: “I am the Newcastle manager and I want to be the Newcastle manager next year. I am really pleased here. I want to stay here for a while. I think I will be here for a while. I’m really pleased to have this challenge.”
Benítez, though, stopped short of committing himself to St James’ Park irrespective of Newcastle’s status next season. Asked if he would be prepared to manage in the second tier, the reply was opaque. “I have confidence we will stay in the Premier League,” he said. “So I don’t think about the other options.”
The Spaniard acknowledges he is playing catchup on Tyneside after collecting one point from three games since succeeding Steve McClaren. It has left Newcastle second from bottom and six points adrift of 17th-placed Norwich – who beat them 3-2 at Carrow Road last Saturday – before Saturday’s tricky trip to Southampton.
Nonetheless Benítez – whose team have a game in hand on Norwich – maintains that survival remains a realistic prospect. Despite accepting that he had expected to win at least one of his three opening games, against Leicester, Sunderland and Norwich, he dismissed suggestions that all hope was effectively lost.
“Seven games, 21 points is enough to do well,” he said. “Normally you’re expecting to win one of the first three games and you couldn’t, so everything’s more difficult. But you still have to believe and you still have to keep going. We have four games at home and it will be easier with the fans behind us.
“I can see the problem but I can also see the solutions. You have to be both realistic and optimistic but the main thing is you have to work hard. It’s difficult and, with each game, it could be more difficult but, at the same time, I know we can do it. We will continue to fight until the end. We won’t give up until the last minute.
“Everybody will say: ‘Oh Newcastle will be relegated’ – but that’s normal when you see the table. At the same time, I can see the players changing in training. My concern would be if I saw the players giving up and I don’t see that. I can see a lot of players working so hard in training, so I still believe we can change the situation. I’m very competitive.”
Benítez is also struggling with a number of injuries to key personnel that has left him without a specialist left-back – although Paul Dummett should be back on the bench at Southampton. Then there is the squad’s pronounced psychological fragility, which confounded not only McClaren but John Carver and Alan Pardew, too. “We’ve had a problem with injuries but the quality, I think, is there,” said Benítez, who will, once again, be without Fabricio Coloccini, his key centre-half, on the south coast. “The main thing for me is the mentality. We have to stop the mental block they have. The players are a little bit blocked and we need to change things.”
