A regional daily football writer has published a book on how one of the world’s top managers turned round a “divided club going nowhere.”

Rafa Benitez took charge of Newcastle United at the end of the 2015/16 season in which the club was relegated from the Premier League to the Championship.

But Newcastle daily the Chronicle launched a campaign to persuade him to stay with the St James’ Park club, which has now regained its place in football’s elite.

Chronicle sports writer Mark Douglas has now put together the story of what he terms the ‘Rafalution’ and how Benitez “inspired a city to fall in love with its club again.”

Mark, who has been the Chronicle’s football writer for the past three years, had unique access to Benitez throughout the 2016/17 season which saw the Magpies promoted back to the Premier League.

He told HTFP: “I first thought there might a be a good longer read in the story of the season when I landed interviews with all of Rafa’s backroom staff in the autumn and was struck by the culture that they were beginning to create. It wasn’t just the fact that they were winning games, it was the minute attention to detail that was going into turning everything around.

“Benitez is a born problem solver – he loves to analyse and he has a microscopic eye for detail. He doesn’t just manage the corners and the free-kicks, he manages expectations, the club’s culture and the way it presents itself. There were so many little tales I was being told about the changes at Newcastle that it just felt like they belonged in a book.

“The book is really about what Newcastle was before Rafa – a divided club going nowhere – and what he turned it into. I was able to tell a few tales that people probably didn’t know – from before the days of Rafa and from his successful season.”

Mark admitted there were a couple of moments where it looked like they may have to rewrite the book amid rumours that Benitez could quit in the wake of a frustrating January transfer window.

He said: “Rafa deciding to leave would obviously have turned a very positive story into something entirely different! Luckily I started to get word from my sources in the early part of the year that he would stay and continue the job so it became a case of ploughing through my notes, hitting the phones to contacts and a lot of writing to turn it from an idea into a book that people might actually buy.

“I have to say it was a pleasure to write: Benitez certainly recognises the value of the press and he is an honest, open and engaging character who has ushered in a new era at a club that was more likely to put up the shutters than extend a hand of friendship until recently.”

The book, published by Trinity Mirror Sport Media, is available on Amazon, through sportmediashop.com and can be ordered for click & collect at Waterstones. RRP £9.99.