The Magpies are riding high on league and cup optimism all thanks to the Spaniard's unexpected decision to stay.
Rafa Benitez faced an extremely difficult decision at the end of last season. He'd signed a three-year contract at Newcastle United with 10 games left in 2015-16, but a break clause allowed him to leave in the summer if he didn't fancy the job full time.
When Newcastle's fate was sealed (by arch-rival Sunderland, to pour salt on the relegation wound), nobody expected Benitez to stay at St James' Park. Here was a Champions League winner – a man who six months earlier had been head coach of soon-to-be European champion Real Madrid – being asked to slum it out in the second tier of English football.