Newcastle or Celtic? Assessing where Rafael Benitez should go next

When Rafael Benitez announced he would be leaving his post with Chinese outfit Dalian Yifang earlier this month, few could argue with his motives given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Spaniard cited his and his family's health as the reason behind him curtailing his stay in China - perfectly understandable - and yet, as far as we're aware, COVID-19 has been a bit of an 'issue' for a while now...

But we're not going to suggest there was an ulterior motive behind his departure. Just out of interest, what's the current manager satisfaction rating among the fans at Benitez's previous employers Newcastle? Hmmmmmm.

Steve Bruce is on the verge of doing something we never thought possible - he's about to replace Mike Ashley as the most hated man on Tyneside.

The former Sunderland boss' time at the helm of his boyhood club looks destined to come to an end in the near future, with crafty cockney owner Ashley beginning to calculate just how many ridiculously sized Slazenger tennis balls he needs to sell in order to pay Bruce off.

It'll probably come as no surprise then that Benitez's name is already the talk of the town (though in truth it's difficult to forget about a man whose face is plastered over the bedroom walls of most of the city's residents), but Newcastle aren't the only club in need of a lifeline.

Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are at a similar stage in the timeline of their current boss as Newcastle, with Neil Lennon destined for the Celtic Park exit door.

Looks like Rafa's got his pick then - but where should he go?

In many ways Newcastle and Celtic are quite similar - both have a huge fan base, both heap pressure on their respective managers and crucially both are limited in the amount of success they can enjoy.

However, there's a difference between success at Newcastle and success at Celtic, and this is the important part.

Magpies fans can dream of new ownership all they like, but the fact of the matter is Ashley is going nowhere - he doesn't want to leave, and why would he when he can use St. James' Park as a vessel for Sports Direct advertising? It's no coincidence that all these 'takeovers' keep falling apart.

With him controlling the purse strings, Newcastle are never going to challenge for a European spot - and for those thinking they finished fifth under his stewardship in 2012, the Premier League is financially a very different league to what it was eight years ago.

The best Benitez could muster at Newcastle in terms of 'success' is keeping them in the division, and while that would be an achievement, it wouldn't catch the eye of Europe's biggest clubs should he look to one day move on from Tyneside.

Success at Celtic is defined very differently to how it's defined at Newcastle.

Not winning the league is failure for Celtic, and while that of course means there's an added pressure on the manager, it offers Benitez perfect opportunity to bolster his CV. After all, for all his years managing elite level clubs, the former Liverpool boss hasn't lifted a top flight league title since 2004.

Real success at Celtic is reaching the group stages of the Champions League, and even though the Bhoys are limited in the fact they're never going to reach the latter rounds of the competition, there's plenty of domestic silverware to be won.

At 60 years of age it may well be that Benitez doesn't have many managerial appointments left in him, and you can bet that a man with teams like Liverpool, Inter, Valencia, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Napoli doesn't intend on ending his career at a lowly Premier League side.

A move to Celtic Park would not only provide a challenge given Steve Gerrard and Rangers' current dominance, but it would offer the chance to add winner's medals to Benitez's mantlepiece before moving onto bigger and better things.