It is almost 20 years since Rafa Benitez went into a new season bracing himself for a relegation battle.
And on that occasion, he failed to keep the minnows of Extremadura in La Liga.
Now the Spaniard faces a similar fight to beat the odds at Newcastle United .
Benitez is one of only three current Premier League managers to have won the Champions League — but that’s where the comparisons with Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho end.
While the two Manchester clubs have invested heavily in a bid to win the title, promoted Newcastle’s net spend so far this window is less than £22million.
Benitez knows the score.
But he committed himself to the Tyneside cause by sticking with the Geordies in the Championship last season and is not about to wave the white flag.
“The name of the manager doesn’t matter — it’s about the team,” he said. “If you have the right tools, you can compete. When you have a very strong team it doesn’t matter if the manager isn’t good enough, because you can still win.
“The reality is that the best managers in the Premier League have been there a while and have been able to spend money on top-class players, so they have a better squad than we have.
“Football is special because in one game, anything can happen. But over a full season, the strongest team is at the top of the table.
"We have to be happy because we are back in the Premier League, but the only way we can have good aspirations is to improve the squad.
“Last year, we were much better than the other team in 70 per cent of the games. This is a totally different challenge.
"It could be the total opposite — so we have to make sure we are mentally strong when we are losing.
“We want to be ambitious, but every game will have a different approach.”
Benitez’s reputation began to blossom when he took Extremadura into La Liga for only the second time in their history in 1998.
On the opening day of the 1998-99 campaign, the tiny club from the town of Almendraljo were pitted against mighty Barcelona — in the Nou Camp.
Unsurprisingly they lost, but just 1-0 (Rivaldo scoring the winner with a shot that Benitez still insists went in off the Brazilian’s shin). Eventually, they were relegated after an end-of-season play-off.
While Benitez moved on to manage Tenerife, Valencia, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Napoli and Real Madrid, the club he left behind went bust in 2006.
But the 57-year-old believes that experience of trying to beat the drop will be vital over the next 10 months.
He said: “The last time it was like this was with Extremadura, so it’s a long time ago.
“After we won promotion, I was happy in the village so I stayed with the club. I said that we could only do our best. I had the same idea that I have now with Newcastle.
“So I have been at teams before where it was difficult to win. You have to manage in a different way. The main thing is to be sure that you have a strong mentality in the team.”
Benitez added: “I have seen a lot of managers win only because their players are so good.
“People outside the game think that the one who wins is a great manager, but sometimes it is only because of the team. You can also be a good manager but lose games because you’re team is not good enough.
“For me, the main thing in football is to approach every game with the feeling that you can win. You know that there will be some games that are very difficult, but you can still win.
“We have seen some teams win the Champions League by just putting 11 players behind the ball. As a manager you have to be sure that you have a gameplan and that the players follow that gameplan.”