#1 Rafael Benitez
Premier League strugglers often have to dispense of their manager if the club gets off to a bad start – it’s some sort of survival instinct kicking in, basically. If a club isn’t really expected to survive though, the manager is often kept on a much longer leash. So I fully expect Chris Hughton and David Wagner – of smaller promoted sides Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town respectively – to be safe. The same cannot be said for Rafael Benitez at Newcastle United.
Nobody could deny that the legendary Spaniard did an exceptional job last season. He got Newcastle promoted at the first attempt – no mean feat – and Newcastle played pretty football for most of the season, scoring a massive 85 goals along the way to winning 29 of their 46 games. But at St. James’s Park, the pressure is almost as suffocating as any of the Premier League’s bigger clubs.
Owner Mike Ashley is notoriously unpredictable and is prone to thoroughly bizarre decisions at times – witness the wild days of his early reign that saw Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer and Joe Kinnear handed the reins – and while things are more settled now, this is the same chairman that unceremoniously fired Alan Pardew just two seasons after he delivered European football.
Benitez has talked a good game this summer – claiming Newcastle are the dark horses for the title – but he’s already missed out on some transfer targets including striker Tammy Abraham, and so with Ashley’s ruthless ways and a tough season ahead, he can never feel truly safe in his job.
