Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has been inducted into the LMA 1000 Club Hall of Fame after reaching a century of games as a manager.
In receiving the honour, Benitez becomes the 24th manager to be inducted and joins a host of prestigious names including Arsene Wenger and Sir Matt Busby.
LMA President and current England boss Gareth Southgate attended the ceremony, which also saw Carlo Ancelotti, Claudio Ranieri, Sven-Goran Eriksson and John Toshack inducted.
The award was presented by former managerial rival Sir Alex Ferguson, who said: “Congratulations to Carlo, Rafa, Sven, Tony, Claudio and John on surpassing this extraordinary milestone in football management. They join a select group of 24 managers, some of the most decorated and experienced individuals in the game, in a very special club.
“It takes decades of sacrifice, resilience and talent to build such marvellous careers in the game and each of these managers has experienced every emotion and every challenge that comes with the job, and achieved a great deal.
“I’m delighted to welcome them into the LMA 1000 Club and wish them all further success in their managerial careers.”
The Toon army are delight that their main man has been honoured, and have taken to Twitter to share their congrats …
Wonderful way to finish an amazing but tiring two days. #Pulis, #Ancelotti, #Raneri, #Benitez, #Sven & #Toshack all inducted into the @LMA_Managers hall of fame for managing 1000 games. pic.twitter.com/iDFJfEPADZ
— Michael Johnson (@jonsarno) December 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/LA_TaxisLtd/status/939077265928966144
YNWA pic.twitter.com/ayggOdGICC
— Pa (@papengwn) December 8, 2017
The man is just pure class, now give him a some money in Jan
— Brady (@Brady1892) December 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/venetian2000/status/939057327495434241
Well done Rafa
— PabloGingeroHurstez⚫⚪NUFC (@GingeroHurstez) December 8, 2017
Congrats to @rafabenitezweb , just hope the fat mans gone soon and you get the respect you have earned from new owners.
— Ross Miller (@RossMiller86) December 8, 2017
