Graeme Souness is backing Rafa Benitez to keep Newcastle in the Premier League – and believes the achievement will sit proudly on an honours-laden CV.
Souness fears there are some tough months ahead for the club he once managed, but believes Benitez — who has won the Champions League, Europa League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup and league titles in Spain and Italy — will keep the North-East club up.
“I think Newcastle will be all right,” said Souness. “And that’s only because in Rafa Benitez they have a top manager.
“He will have them organised and solid at the back — and that will be the basis for them to pick up enough points to guarantee safety.
“There will be some difficult moments. Scoring goals is obviously going to be a problem because at the moment the centre-half Jamaal Lascelles is their top goalscorer, and they aren’t going to be able to rely on him to score goals for the next nine months.
“Goalscorers cost fortunes and the club have not given Rafa the money to recruit one.
“But it was a big statement when he said he was staying with the club.
“Rafa is a proven winner. This is a different kind of challenge. But if he succeeds it will be a good one to add to the CV.”