Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has called on the people of the city and his own squad to stick together as they prepare for a testing second half of the season.
Benitez knows he has one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in English football at Newcastle and he is looking for that unity between the club and the people to help them over the coming months.
“I’m not [downbeaten] at the moment. It’s a big city and a big club. But when we stick together and are united we are better,” Benitez told the press ahead of his sides trip to Chelsea this weekend.
“The reality is that we have to stick together until the end. We have to carry on fighting, we will have problems, but we will do it.”
As pragmatic as ever, Benitez acknowledged that he has to find better ways of working with the players he has, as it is not likely that Mike Ashley will be pumping any more funds into the club.
“We have what we have and we are where we are. We cannot analyse individual substitutions, decisions and everything all the time. If we do not have enough, we’ll try to do something more,” added Benitez.
“No, it’s not an ideal situation but the majority of fans understand the situation.”