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How Rafa Benitez built a band of brothers: Checks, balance and detoxifying the dressing room
Newcastle United's dressing room is a very different place from 2015, when they struggled to survive
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BYMARK DOUGLAS
19:30, 19 SEP 2017
Igor Gluscevic will never forget the phone call from Rafa Benitez.
An underrated striker who carved out a career in Holland, Spain and – crucially – under Benitez at Spanish second tier side Extremadura, Gluscevic’s retirement at the age of 34 saw him offered the chance to reunite with his former boss at Anfield.
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He could not turn it down. Gluscevic was the man who first alerted Benitez to Dirk Kuyt – a favour that the Spaniard rewarded with a full-time scouting role with the remit of unearthing rough diamonds from the Balkans to aid the Spaniard’s Anfield overhaul.
He became a trusted recruitment lieutenant, absorbed into the Benitez inner circle. But it was a role that required some patience. “Benitez called me one time, it was about a certain player he wanted some information on,” he explained to ESPN last year.
“He called me and said: ‘Igor, I don’t understand the look of the player when he missed a chance. Is he angry? Is he disappointed? Does it matter for him?’ He was going into this detail and I was laughing and said: ‘Rafa, come on. You are going into so much detail.’
“It was not easy to work with him, he was asking, asking and asking for many different types of information. But at the end of the day, I preferred this a lot and these details are very important in certain players when you have to spend millions.”
To understand how Newcastle’s manager built the black and white band of brothers who have reversed the negative narrative at St James’ Park, you need look no further than this story. It is typical of the kind of approach that has detoxified the dressing room at St James’ Park over the last 15 months.
Benitez’s attention to detail may be presented as an amusing anecdote but these questions are key to comprehending the way the Spaniard manages. He sweats the small stuff and that means trying to get a handle not just on the player – anyone can make a judgement on that – but also the person. Analysing that look might be the final piece of the jigsaw Benitez pieces together on a player’s personality.
When Jamaal Lascelles said United have “different players” with a “different mentality” from the one that set them on the path to Premier League relegation in 2015, he is not wrong. But it is not a happy coincidence or a slice of good fortune that the collective character has improved: it is one of the central principles of successive Benitez recruitment drives.
Newcastle United pre-season training at Carton House, Ireland, Rafa Benitez (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)CLEARING THE DECKS
There has been a ruthlessness about Benitez’s team building – he has sold 11 of the club’s longest-serving players in an effort to rip out the prevailing culture of negativity and that he inherited.
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It was a squad that had talent but also problems. It was too quiet. It was renowned in football as an easy touch – Crystal Palace coach John Salako said that pre-game instructions to his team were “Knock the spirit out of them and they will go”. There were too many kingdoms being preserved in there: long-serving players who were more interested in their own careers than Newcastle’s. There was a mini-mutiny in there when Alan Pardew threatened to fine Yohan Cabaye for a wildcat strike before the first game of the 2013/14 season against Manchester City,
Benitez was disturbed by the statistic that United had conceded three or more goals seven times already that season. A sweep of the footage of their games that season revealed many of those heavy defeats as a case of United not being able – or not being motivated – to prevent heavy reversals.
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In the short-term, he worked with what he had. Moussa Sissoko was promoted to captain. Benitez liked him as a player: he was strong, versatile and influential. But he typified a dressing room that saw the club as a platform and not a destination. Most believed they had outgrown Newcastle .
So Benitez began to cut. He wanted a dressing room that would support each other: that would challenge team-mates if they were in the wrong. Tough characters did not necessarily mean difficult characters – he intended to challenge the players and would not push back if they challenged him or asked him why he was telling them to do certain things.
It says a lot that Benitez never forgets former colleagues. He has a wide network of people he has worked with and remains on friendly terms with them: many former players have gone on to be scouts, agents or administrators at other clubs. Gluscevic made the move from scout to agent: his advice on Stevan Jovetic was ringing in Benitez’s ears when he encouraged Newcastle’s administrators to make a move this summer.
What he believes he can get from these former colleagues is honesty. He wants to know everything about players he is scouting and he’s not afraid to move away from talented ones if he feels that they would not fit into the prevailing culture at Newcastle – which is one of self-improvement.
Training is important. A winning culture, he feels, starts with approaching every session with the mentality that you should be doing your absolute utmost. Bad trainers need not apply at Newcastle: Benitez does not think allowances can be made for anyone.
Isaac Hayden tells a story of being awake in the hours after that dispiriting defeat to Ipswich last Easter, ruminating over what he could have done better. He sought out Benitez to ask what could be done. The pair were locked in his office for hours, Benitez out of his seat pointing out positions, movements and ways of seeing the game.
This is a culture which relies on those arriving to sign up to it. He wanted Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina because he has seen at first hand how he inspires change and improvement in those around him. It is, he feels, the key to creating a positive atmosphere.
THE BACKGROUND CHECKS
Benitez meets everyone who arrives – and those who don’t too. But before they sit down over a coffee, there will have been a minimum of two or three referees for that player. “When I pick players, I need to be sure I am choosing players who really want it and are not always making excuses when they make mistakes,” he explained.
These background checks have formed a crucial part of Benitez’s work assembling this squad. There is a neat narrative running through this squad of Newcastle bringing in players who have had to fight back from some sort of adversity.
Matt Ritchie was playing in the fourth division a few years before he arrived at Newcastle; Dwight Gayle had to combine a carpentry job with non-league football – and actually took a pay cut to sign for Bishop’s Stortford. This summer, Florian Lejeune – who rebuilt his career in the Spanish second tier – was signed along with Mikel Merino, who had hunger after failing to make an impact at Borussia Dortmund.
Benitez likes those who have had to work for what they have. He urged Tammy Abraham to remove himself from his comfort zone in the south to come and play for Newcastle. It was a convincing sales pitch that won over the Chelsea striker, which explains the anger that Newcastle did not complete the deal.
He has a model for a player. In my book Inside the Rafalution I quoted Mauro Pederzoli, another former Benitez scout, who worked with him in 2007.
“There are simple but unbreakable rules that Benitez passes on to his scouts,” he said, when interviewed a decade ago.
“Benitez doesn’t want headline-hogging players but discipline. He avoids small players and ‘fancy dans’. He looks for ‘fair and strong’ players. Put together those players and you get a Benitez team. His Liverpool team was a side that topped the fair play league. In one season they had no player sent off in the league.”
By the same token, he is not afraid to turn down players who he feels would not fit into Newcastle’s dressing room culture. There were two this summer who might have excited fans if Newcastle’s manager had followed up interest, but Benitez felt they would not work at his club.
Indeed he sought in-depth references on Joe Hart, who was being offered at a reasonable loan rate. He was told that he had not impressed on-the-field at Torino.
READ MOREEverything is Black and White podcast: Can Newcastle make it four in a row?MAKING SURE THE SQUAD HAS THE BALANCE
It is not just about the first XI. The hardest part of building a squad is maintaining the hunger and edge of those on the fringes.
“Some players will be more important than the others,” Benitez has said. “But they are all part of our movement. If we do well, they are all important.”
The first part of this is making sure that he brings in the right characters and explains their role with clarity and honesty. Again, some players were offered on loan this summer but with the caveat that they must play or there would be financial penalties. They were not assurances Newcastle’s manager was prepared to offer.
Having players prepared to work hard even when they’re not in the team is not easy. Focus is easy to preach about but in practice, it is difficult to maintain if your opportunities are limited. Daryl Murphy was a perfect example of retaining his edge when called upon last season. This year, Benitez believes he has maintained a core of professionals who will react the same way.
Again, there’s a ruthlessness about this. Jack Colback has no way back and neither did Tim Krul. There have to be consequences if he feels players either won’t fit into the culture or aren’t applying themselves right. The decision to send under-23 players back to the Academy headquarters – made early in his time at Newcastle – was a clear attempt to focus on a squad of players who had to be ready to be called upon.
The players know that they will get opportunities and that they are masters of their own destiny. Play well when you’re called upon and you will stay in the side. The continued exile of Jonjo Shelvey – Newcastle’s best player – is evidence of that. There are no special cases at Benitez’s Newcastle – and it’s very healthy.
