Rafa Benitez has been appointed as Newcastle manager on a three-year deal, saying he has committed to a legendary English club. Benitez, who arrived on Tyneside early on Friday afternoon, was announced just three hours after Steve McClarens sacking on Friday morning.After a brief meeting at St James Park, Benitez left for Newcastles Darsley Park training ground to meet with club staff and took his first training session with the players. It is thought Benitez will take training on both Saturday and Sunday and could be in the dugout for Newcastles Monday Night Football clash at Premier League leaders Leicester City.Sky Sports News HQ understands Benitez, who has been without a club since being sacked by Real Madrid in January, has an opt-out clause in his contract if the club is relegated.I have the pleasure to confirm I have committed to a legendary English club, said Benitez in a club statement. With the massive challenge of remaining part of the Premier League.It will be a challenge not just for me and my staff but for the players, the club and the fans. Five games which cost McClaren Newcastle sack Steve McClaren: Five games which cost him his job All of us must push together in the same direction and with the same target in mind. This is the reason why Im going to ask for your total support to successfully complete this task.Personally, it means my return to the Premier League, closer to my home and my family. I cant be happier. Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink says Rafa Benitez will bring experience to Newcastle Cmon Toon Army! The club and I need your total involvement!The former Liverpool and Chelsea boss will be joined by Fabio Pecchia, Francisco de Míguel Moreno and Antonio Gómez Pérez, who will join existing coaches Ian Cathro and Simon Smith to form Benitezs coaching team. The relegation run-in Premier League relegation battle: Newcastle, Sunderland, Norwich and Aston Villas run-ins analysed Paul Simpson, Alessandro Schoenmaker and Steve Black have all left club with immediate effect. Steve McClaren was sacked on Friday morning Managing Director Lee Charnley added: I am very pleased to welcome Rafa Benitez to the club. In Rafa we have, without doubt, secured the services of one of Europes top managers.He has managed some of the most successful teams at the very highest level of the game and we are proud to now have him as our manager. Rafas ups and downs Rafael Benitez to Newcastle? Ups and downs of the Spanish manager Our sole focus now is to give our full support to Rafa, his coaching team and the players in order to secure our status in the Premier League. Whats wrong at Newcastle? Whats going wrong at Newcastle? The problems which cost Steve McClaren I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to Paul Simpson, Alessandro Schoenmaker and Steve Black for their service to the Club.McClaren was sacked by Newcastle after just nine months at the club which saw him win just six games in 28 Premier League outings and leave the club 19th in the table, one point adrift of safety. Paul Merson says the way Newcastle United have sacked Steve McClaren is poor and disrespectful Benitez becomes Newcastles eighth permanent manager in 12 years and their second foreign coach in the Premier League following Ruud Gullits spell in charge in 1998-99.The Spaniard has won 12 trophies, including two La Liga titles with Valencia and the Champions League with Liverpool during a distinguished career. Keith Downie gets reaction from fans as Rafa Benitez takes over at Newcastle Also See: Five games which cost McClaren McClaren in quotes Whats wrong at Newcastle? Rafas ups and downs NHL Jerseys From China . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Wholesale Jerseys China . How great will be revealed in the next couple of days at the board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. http://www.wholesalejerseysnhl.com/ . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. Adidas NHL Jerseys Outlet . Aduriz headed home Markel Susaetas cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at San Mames Stadium. He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat. Discount Hockey Jerseys . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. OKLAHOMA CITY -- Indiana coach Nate McMillan wrote an instruction on the white board in the Pacers locker room Sunday: Scrap.Jeff Teague did just that, scoring eight of his 30 points in overtime, harassing Russell Westbrook defensively all night and lifting the short-handed Pacers to a 115-111 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.It was Indianas first road victory of the season and it came without star forward Paul George, who missed his second straight game with a sore left ankle.Youve got to fight for everything, McMillan said. I thought the guys tonight, we did that. We were without a couple of players, but the guys in uniform came out and played the game the right way. They played hard and we got our first road win.Oklahoma Citys Russell Westbrook had his fifth triple-double of the season -- as many as the rest of the NBA combined -- with 31 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, but went 13 of 34 from the field. Westbrook calmly used an expletive to describe the way he played.We just wasnt ready, he said. Just wasnt ready tonight, starting with myself. ... I could have did a lot of things better, man. Got to come out and be ready to play. Tonight I felt like I let my guys down all around. Ive got to be better.Teague matched his season scoring high and added nine assists and six steals. He hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left in regulation to put the Pacers up three.Westbrook hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to tie it for the Thunder and Glenn Robinson III missed a well-guarded 10-footer at the buzzer, forcing overtime.Teagues 3-pointer in the opening minute of overtime put the Pacers ahead for good. With 1:09 left, he converted a three-point play to make it 113-107, and he hit two free throws with 19.1 seconds left to put Indiana up 115-111. He said the Pacers werent flustered after Westbrooks tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and that McMillan told his team just to go win the game.We had nothing to lose there, Teague said. We knew they were going to make some plays, so we just have to go out and win the game.Six Pacers scored in double figures and two of them had double-doubles -- Robinson with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Thaddeus Young with 20 points and 11 rebounds.dddddddddddd Myles Turner just missed another with 15 points and nine rebounds.Enes Kanter added 16 points for the Thunder.Oklahoma City rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime but wasnt able to recover from a dismal third quarter in which it missed 12 of its first 13 shots and went 4 of 17 from the field.TIP-INS:Pacers: Robinson III made his first start of the season in place of George (ankle) and C.J. Miles (knee), who also sat out due to injury. ... Another forward, Kevin Seraphin, also missed the game with a sore left knee ... Teague matched his career high with six steals.Thunder: Oklahoma City saw its Northwest Division lead shrink to a half-game over Portland. ... The Thunder ended a stretch during which they played eight out of nine games at home. ... The overtime was the second of the season for Oklahoma City, which beat Phoenix on Oct. 28 after an extra period.GEORGE, MILES OUT:George missed his third game, and his second in a row, since spraining his left ankle against Philadelphia on Nov. 11, while the player whos started in his place, Miles, sat out with a sore left knee that he hurt on Friday in a loss to Phoenix.Both players underwent MRIs on Saturday and while the results were negative for structural damage, McMillan said George and Miles would also be out for Mondays home game against Golden State, and then will be reassessed to determine their availability for Wednesdays game against Atlanta.QUOTABLE:I have been waiting on my opportunity, just working hard the whole offseason. This guy (Seraphin) told me a couple of days ago, literally, `Be ready. You never know. Then I walk in the gym and (George) is out, C.J. is hurt and I got to step up. I am just proud of this whole team for sticking together and fighting even though we are a couple of men down. -- Robinson on his performance.UP NEXT:Pacers: Host Golden State on the second night of a back-to-back featuring last seasons Western Conference finalists.Thunder: At the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night to start a three-game trip. ' ' '