Rafa - "I'm Going Nowhere"

[Mumsafan]

Mmmm ... Never seen him but I've seen you.

Stalker.

[IrishPaul]

Oh calm down

[lfc4ever]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premiership/liverpool/article1555886.ece

March 23, 2007

Benítez ‘completely committed’ to Liverpool future

Oliver Kay

Rafael Benítez has indicated that he will reject Real Madrid’s latest attempts to lure him from Liverpool, having reassured the club’s supporters that he is “going nowhere”.

Real were encouraged to learn that the Spaniard has endured one of his occasional bouts of disillusionment over the past fortnight amid concerns over the plans of George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, the club’s new owners, but the Liverpool manager insists that he will resist an impending offer from Real.

“I think it’s important the fans know I am completely committed to Liverpool and I’m going nowhere,” BenÍtez said yesterday. “I know there’s been a lot of speculation in the Spanish media linking me with Real Madrid. Any manager would be honoured to be associated with such a famous club, especially as Madrid is my home city and also my former club. However, I want to make it clear I am very happy at Anfield and very happy in England and I’m genuinely excited by what the future holds for Liverpool.

Benítez should discover a little more about that a week on Sunday, with Gillett and Hicks planning to sit down with him to discuss their plans after taking in Liverpool’s Barclays Premiership match at home to Arsenal the previous day.

He had been irked by a perceived lack of communication after their initial visit to Merseyside in early February, but, having exchanged e-mails with the Americans over the past week and having had a lengthy telephone conversation with Gillett, he appears to have been placated.

“I’ll have my whole family over and George is going to have his family there,” Hicks said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday. “We’re all going to celebrate our first match together as the official owners. We’ve set aside half a day the next day to visit with Rafa. It is now the time to do that.”

Hicks said that Benítez is “absolutely” the man he and Gillett wish to take the team forward, but he reiterated that their plans for Liverpool would not include spending of anything like the magnitude of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s billionaire owner. “I’ve been in this business [sport] for 13 years and I know that doesn’t work,” Hicks said. “Our job as owners is to strike a balance between creating as much revenue as possible and spending as much on players as we have to spend to create a business that can go forward as a business.”