Newcastle players have more to prove than new manager

The new Premier League season kicks off in one month and Newcastle United are still searching for a new manager.

It is crunch time for Newcastle United, well it has been for quite some time now, as the club is struggling to fill the managerial vacancy left behind by Rafa Benitez in June. The Magpies were interested in three managers – Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard and Roberto Martinez – but all three managers shot down any advances made by Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley.  As a result, the Toon are back at square one and time is not on their side.

The team is scheduled to depart for China this Friday to compete in the Premier League Asia Tournament against  Wolverhampton, and the winner or loser between West Ham and Manchester City. This tournament will be a decent test for Newcastle United players, especially the returning loanees who are aiming to revive their careers on Tyneside. That being said, however, regardless of who the new manager is, the players should use the doubt being cast on them as motivation to perform at an elite level next season.

In other words, fans and pundits alike claim that Newcastle United only survived because they had Rafa Benitez on the sidelines. Benitez is undoubtedly a notable manager and brilliant tactician, and his style of play kept the Toon competitive in the Top Flight, but the players deserve credit, too. All we hear is that the Magpies’ roster consists of Championship players and relegation is the only outcome for the squad this coming season.

In a poll we posted yesterday on Twitter, over 90% of fans have no faith that this roster is capable of avoiding the drop. This pessimism should serve as a major warning to the club’s hierarchy and it should serve as motivation for our players to prove everyone wrong. In my opinion, there will be more pressure on the players than there will be on Benitez’s replacement.

While I agree that the departures of Rafa Benitez, Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon have severely weakened the roster, I am also convinced that several players will hold themselves to higher standards and will step up their game to help the team. A lot can change over the next week or two, especially if Mike Ashley finally realizes that he needs to spill the cash to fill the voids of Rondon and Perez, but we as fans should give this roster a chance.