Rafael Benitez exclusive interview: Newcastle boss on new Championship season

Ahead of the new Sky Bet EFL season, Sky Sports sat down with Rafael Benitez to get his take on the challenge he faces at Newcastle.

The former Liverpool boss will get his first taste of Championship football on Friday night when he takes his new-look side to face Fulham, live on Sky Sports 1.

Benitez has his sights firmly set on an immediate return to the Premier League and exclusively spoke to Sky Sports about his relationship with the fans, comparisons with Liverpool, his summer transfer business and who will wear the famous number nine shirt at St James' Park this season…

Benitez on his decision to stay at Newcastle

To be fair, it was the fans. The last day [of last season] was amazing. They were pushing me in the last two or three weeks and trying to convince me to stay, but the last day was the key; to see the passion of the fans, the commitment and how they feel the club. My conversation with the owner was positive and there's the city, the stature of the club and my family was in England. You put everything together, but the main thing was the fans.

Benitez on his relationship with the fans

I am a professional that likes to concentrate on my job during the games. It's not easy because you have to give them a wave! You feel the love in the city everywhere and it's important. I have to give them something back. I will always try to do my best, but when you have this feeling it's even more important to try to do well.

Benitez on how Newcastle compares with Liverpool

The passion of the fans is obviously very similar. It's a working city, so the people are very similar to the people in Liverpool. I would say the Geordie accent and the scouse accent are similar in terms of I don't understand anything! They have the passion, they love the club, they support the team and they are expecting the best from players. They push you in a very positive way.

Because you can see they are similar in a lot of ways you can see you can improve little things and build something that will be really important. You say in England 'sleeping giant' and you can see the possibilities here. It's not the fans behind the team, it's the city behind the team.

Benitez on the challenge of the Sky Bet Championship

People think I don't have experience in the second division, but we were promoted with Tenerife and Extremadura and I was the coach of the reserve team with Real Madrid in the second division. I know what it means to go from this level to another level. I realise how difficult it is. With Tenerife we had to fight in the most difficult second division in Spain with Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Real Betis and we were promoted. I know you have to fight until the last day. We were promoted in the last game. It's a tough division with tough competition but I have experience and I'm learning a lot.

Benitez on Newcastle's summer transfer business

You have to react quickly and I was really pleased in terms of the players we were bringing in and the way we were doing business because almost nobody knew we were signing the players. The relationship with Lee Charnley [Newcastle managing director] and the way we are doing business is quite good. We did well and I am happy with that.

The prices now are a bit high and the market is a bit crazy. It's important to keep the communication with [Lee Charnley] and go for the right players at the right time. Sometimes you have to pay a little bit more, but we don't pay too much. We are building a good squad; a mix of players with experience in the Championship and young players that can grow.

Benitez on Dwight Gayle getting the Newcastle number 9 shirt

I would like to see my number 9 score as many goals as Alan Shearer, but I think that's impossible. He was a great and it will be almost impossible to be close to him. Hopefully he can score a lot of goals and hopefully can make the difference for us and help the team to be promoted.

Live EFL

Benitez on his ambitions for this season

Obviously to be promoted is the objective, but the way that we can go there is not just 'we have to win games and that's it'. That is the most important thing, but also we can build something. We can improve things and prepare the team and the club to be stronger for the future. That will be important too.

I like to win in almost everything. My wife tells me I don't even allow my daughters to win when we play cards or something. I like to win in the right way if it's possible, so I will try to be sure I am ready and to enjoy it. It will be difficult, but sometimes because it's difficult when you win it's much better.

For more from Sky Sports' exclusive chat with Rafael Benitez, tune in to Live EFL: Fulham v Newcastle from 7pm, Friday, Sky Sports 1.