RAFAEL BENITEZ returns to the scene of his darkest day as Newcastle United manager today, but even while he was watching his side effectively relegated at Villa Park, he was always confident he was capable of turning things around.

While Newcastle’s demotion was not officially confirmed until Sunderland beat Everton in the final week of last season, their fate was all but sealed when they could only manage a goalless draw at Aston Villa in their penultimate game of the campaign.

The situation bore stark parallels to 2009, when the Magpies were relegated as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at Villa, and Benitez looked a dejected man as he discussed his future in a corridor behind the press room in the immediate aftermath of May’s stalemate.

Publicly, the Spaniard was insisting he did not know whether he would be remaining beyond the end of the season, but privately, he had already seen enough at St James’ Park to convince him that it was worth staying on to try to mount a promotion push in the Championship.

The emotional scenes that accompanied the 5-1 win over Spurs on the final day of last season made him even more determined to remain in his post, and as he prepares to return to Villa Park for today’s tea-time kick-off, the Magpies manager is certain he made the right move.

“I have always seen the potential at this club, and I always had the feeling that we could build something,” said Benitez, who will be hoping to guide his side back to winning ways in the league after last weekend’s surprise home defeat to Wolves. “I always knew we could do something.

“Little by little, with the fans supporting the team and supporting us, it was even clearer how things could be.

“The last game of last season was crucial in terms of the atmosphere, the team and everything. I could see the potential of the team, the potential of the club, and the fans supporting the team. I knew all of that would be a big, big factor in my decision.

“Little by little, I was feeling that we could do something important and that I would stay. I had come in just for two months, but that was enough to see the potential.”

Nevertheless, having opted to stay despite Newcastle crashing into the Championship, Benitez was adamant major changes were needed if the club was to successfully stabilise in the second tier.

At Villa, Roberto Di Matteo is still trying to get his recently-relegated club back onto an even keel, having only been appointed at the start of the summer, but Benitez had the advantage of having worked with his players for the final two months of last season.

He knew who he wanted to move on in the summer, and what areas of the squad he particularly wanted to strengthen, so while there was a large amount of upheaval with 12 new players arriving and even more leaving Tyneside, things have settled down relatively quickly with Newcastle sitting in third position in the table and looking forward to a fourth-round tie with Preston in the EFL Cup.

“When you are first here, you are just focused on trying to save the team, you don’t analyse every single thing,” said Benitez. “After, you start talking with people, checking things, assessing how everyone’s feeling and getting a little more feedback. After that, you could see that things could be done in a different way.

“Sometimes, when things aren’t working, you only have to change one thing or one person and then everything start to work a bit better. If certain things are already in place, you just have to fix little things and then it starts working.”

Benitez’s changes certainly appeared to have had a positive effect when Newcastle scored six goals without reply in their last away game at QPR.

Their subsequent loss to Wolves in the league was a major surprise, but with opposition teams turning up at St James’ Park with a packed defence and plenty of deep-lying midfielders, the Magpies could find it easier to play on their travels this season.

“Sometimes it is like that,” said Benitez. “Especially when you are a top side in the division. Normally, teams will play a certain way when they come here (to St James’).

“You could see that with Wolves the other day, their game plan was to wait and play on the counter-attack. We made mistakes and that was fine for them. They didn’t do anything different in the second game (in the EFL Cup), but we changed something and were much better.

“Normally, at home, the other teams will defend and know that you have to take responsibility. But when you are playing away, they have to attack you more and then you have a little bit more space.”

Matz Sels, Jamaal Lascelles, Chancel Mbemba, Paul Dummett and Dwight Gayle are all set to return to today’s starting line-up, having sat out Tuesday’s League Cup win. With Vurnon Anita serving the second game of his ban, DeAndre Yedlin will continue at right-back.

“He (Anita) will be a miss because he is a good player and he has a very good relationship with the rest of the team, but in terms of football, hopefully not,” said Benitez. “I like to train with all the players doing exactly the same things. Each player is different, but they know what is required of them, so hopefully we will not see a big difference in terms of what Anita was doing well.”