Quote Originally Posted by ghostrider View Post
Nobody thinks it's all Rafa's fault but equally he's not innocent either.
That's why I chose my words carefully - I used the phrase 'as though' because I don't think anybody here is so silly as to think the situation comes down to a single person's decisions. But they often present their opinion as though they think it is. Like, for example, when you say you "guarantee" that if (e.g.) Eddie Howe was in charge we'd be clamouring for his head under the same set of performances and results (I assume that's what you mean, apologies if I've misread it but I've had a few!) I think that's an odd claim for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I don't understand where you think Rafa gets this mythical status from amongst Newcastle fans. I don't remember ever - not even once - having a conversation with a Newcastle fan about how good a manager Rafa was before he joined Newcastle (at least, not more than anyone else who has been successful elsewhere). Rafa was just yet another manager who's won trophies/done a good job elsewhere before he joined the club. People warmed to him here specifically because he talked about things we hadn't heard recent managers talking about in the years before him - getting us back to where we were prior to the Ashley era, making the club reconnect with the fans and the community etc. And he has actually delivered on some of that stuff. We've had other managers here with big profiles who we never liked (e.g. Kenny Dalglish) so I just don't get the idea that we're somehow besotted by his past successes and can't see past his present failures.

Secondly, I think Newcastle fans on the whole have a decent enough understanding of the game to know that Eddie Howe is a top class manager who, if he was having similar results, would be struggling for largely the same reason - the squad can't deliver on his style of football. It would, of course, be worse for Eddie Howe, because our squad is even less qualified to deliver on his style than it is Rafa's. But it's incapable of delivering on either approach because both sides need someone who can put the ball in the net more often to actually win games. I think we'd feel equally privileged to have Eddie Howe I think, and we'd be getting behind him in the same way, and moaning about the fact that we don't have anyone who can put the ball in the back of the net etc.

Thirdly, the idea that Rafa resorts to 'extreme park the bus tactics' is exactly what I was getting at as an example of the extreme view you're saying nobody has. He's done that in literally one game. We've been defensive in others, but in other games we've pressed from the front, tried to get forward in numbers as often as possible, and so on. For Rafa, it's horses for courses. I totally get why you aren't impressed by Rafa, but it looks to me like you're genuinely struggling to look at the situation impartially, or that what you're really annoyed by is people always defending Rafa's approach, rather than Rafa's approach itself. And I think that if that's happening, it's only happening because of the abrasive style of the anti-Rafa views presented, in particular, by pboro, who clearly winds people on here up. Sorry if you think that's overstepping, but I just don't get where this idea of us as a delusional fanbase comes from, because I guess I don't hang out with people like that. I also never wanted Rafa, so perhaps it's easier for me to see both sides of things - I'm neither disillusioned nor am I overly impressed. I think he's simply doing a decent job with the squad he's got. Could be doing better, could be worse. But he's only two wins from the top 10 and two defeats from bottom, so that stands up. I'd like to see him given a chance to build a Premier League side because, as you point out, he has actually shown he can get us to perform in spells. Perhaps, with a decent striker to put away the chances we create, he could get us winning more often. If he did, we'd be in the top 8, which is mental!