Rafa Benitez cancels Newcastle players' day off hours after taking over as manager
Saturday 12 March 2016 16:31, UK
Rafa Benitez's first move as Newcastle manager was to cancel the players' day off and call them in for training.
Benitez signed a three-year deal at St James' Park on Friday afternoon - just three hours after the sacking of Steve McClaren.
The players had originally been told to take the day off but were abruptly ordered into Newcastle's Darsley Park training ground for an afternoon session with their new manager - barely an hour after he took over as boss
Unlike earlier in the week when McClaren had taken training, hoardings have been raised around the practice pitches and the assembled media were unable to film the session.
Newcastle ran a Periscope feed of part of the session via the club's Twitter account showing Benitez, in shorts and training top, putting the players through their paces.
It is thought Benitez will take further training sessions on both Saturday and Sunday and could be in the dugout for Newcastle's Monday Night Football clash at Premier League leaders Leicester City.
