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Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez is the ‘closest’ thing the club has had to Sir Bobby Robson, according to Steven Taylor .

As a film documenting Sir Bobby’s career and life is released, former Newcastle defender Taylor, who played under both Robson and Benitez, has hailed the impact the Spaniard has had on United.

Speaking at the premier of the documentary titled Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager, Taylor compared the two and revealed how much alike they are.

“Keeping big players happy is a gift,” he told NUFC TV. “Sir Bobby certainly had that and Rafa’s got that too.

“There were a lot of players in the squad when I was coming through who would be very angry after training or games at not playing. They would be in the phone to their agents. Then they’d go into Bobby Robson’s office and when they came out, they would have their arm around him giving him a cuddle!

“That’s the kind of guy that he was. You can have as many badges as you want but you need that man-management, and the ability to deal with different personalities of the squad.

“I think that’s the biggest thing for managers - dealing with individual players. Everybody’s different, everybody needs a bit of loving, and it’s how you go about doing that. We had some special nights under Sir Bobby, and the closest thing to him is Rafa now.

“I think it’s the way he goes about his business, the way he is around the whole area and the feel-good factor around the city now. Everybody loves Rafa and when you see what he’s done this year, it’s been amazing.”

Taylor played under Robson between 2003 and August 2004 and under Benitez for three months before leaving in June 2016 having spent 13 years at the club.