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Rob Backs Rafa To Get Magpies "Back On Track"
Written by Newcastle Utd
Rob Elliot believes Rafa Benitez can get Newcastle "back on track" and return them to the Premier League
By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Managing Editor
Rob Elliot believes manager Rafa Benitez can get Newcastle United "back on track" and return them to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Despite the Magpies' relegation earlier this month, Wednesday saw Benitez agree to stay on Tyneside, putting pen to paper on a new initial three-year deal.
And goalkeeper Elliot - delighted by the news - is confident that a sea of change will sweep through St. James' Park, with the Spaniard restoring the Club to its former glories.
"The most important thing now is getting the Club back on track with Rafa at the helm," Elliot told nufc.co.uk.
"When you get relegated - and have gone close the year before - you have to hold your hands up and say that things aren't right. And by that I am taking about the players and the Club.
"Hopefully we make as many changes as we can to get us back to where we want to be and where we deserve to be.
"We need to move this Club forward and hopefully we can look back and see that this was one step back to go two forward. That may be necessary and hopefully it is only good for the Club.
"Rafa wants to change the Club in the way that he sees is right. He's done that at many different places and has experience of managing in England, too.
"It is a win-win for everyone and hopefully we can look forward to a lot of success."
Despite missing the final eight games of the 2015/16 campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, Elliot saw enough of Benitez both inside the dressing room and around the Magpies' Benton-based Training Centre to know that he is one of the best in the business.
"You can tell the experience he's got from the top level, and I don't think I realised just how good he would be until I worked under him," said the stopper, of the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea and Napoli supremo.
"You can see the difference in team over the final few weeks of the season, even if it didn't end the way we wanted it to.
"Everything was done on merit, there were no predetermined actions and he doesn't miss a trick.
"As players, you know that nothing is going unnoticed. If you don't put the work in and you don't do what you're asked then you are going to get pulled up for it, and that can only be a good thing.
"Hopefully he can help us push on as a Club and we can have some really good times here."