Rafael Benítez woke this morning to find an unwelcome slogan stamped on his face following the most Championship defeat possible.

The Spaniard saw his Newcastle side slump to a 1-0 defeat at a hard-up club recently relegated from the Premier League.

Naturally, the goal came just before half-time with a towering header from an agricultural lower-league target man.

Although consoled by the hilariously to-the-letter nature of defeat, Benítez was less amused when he looked in the mirror this morning.

He said: “A lot of people said ‘welcome to the Championship’ to me on my way out the ground last night.

“Stewards, match day staff, even one or two Fulham players – but I didn’t think much of it at the time.

“Needless to say, I was horrified to find the words literally stamped on my face in big, red lettering.

“Who would do that? Did someone break into my house? Am I now doomed to sign Everton cast-offs and lose 1-4 at home to Norwich?

“I’m not sure why, but I have the feeling I need to transfer these words onto another manager’s face before the month’s out.

“Otherwise I’ll face an eternity of collapsed playoff challenges and insane-yet-under-the-radar owners.”