D-DAY FOR RAFA
Make-or-break Sunday: Two days to the big games Liverpool v Man Utd, kick-off 1.30pm
By David Maddock 14/12/2007
Rafa Benitez is prepared to again risk the wrath of Liverpool's American owners today.
The Anfield boss faces a tense meeting with Tom Hicks and George Gillett that will decide his future at the club.
Benitez has made the right noises in recent weeks in an attempt to calm the crisis that has gripped Anfield since he critisised the American pair who, in turn, told him to concentrate on team affairs. But he is still in unrepentant mood when it comes to his negotiations with the owners. Many people had expected the Spanish coach to be conciliatory, after angering his employers with his demands to be in complete control of player recruitment.
His tone since a major bust-up with Gillett and Hicks has been one of harmony, and he went as far yesterday to suggest: "I think I will be on their Christmas card list, and they will be on mine."
Yet the key issue at the centre of the dispute has yet to be resolved, and it is clear Benitez will still pursue an aggressive line when he meets in the next 48 hours.
He wants to have the ultimate say on who is bought and sold at the club, and wants to be involved in those deals, while the Americans prefer to leave that responsibility to chief executive Rick Parry. The question of funding is also key to the discussions, as the manager promotes his right to identify the players he needs, and demand the money to sign them.
Yesterday he made it clear he is prepared to risk another backlash when he insisted that he wants to be more than just a coach.
"If you ask if I am a coach or a manager, then I am a manager, and the question for this meeting is, 'how do I manage?'," he said.
"We have had a misunderstanding, and we need to clarify the situation. The relationship was good when we signed Fernando Torres in the summer, and in the future I want the relationship to be good so we can sign more players."
"It is a question of trying to find solutions, because I believe we want the same things - I want to win and they want to win."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...9520-20248882/
Make-or-break Sunday: Two days to the big games Liverpool v Man Utd, kick-off 1.30pm
By David Maddock 14/12/2007
Rafa Benitez is prepared to again risk the wrath of Liverpool's American owners today.
The Anfield boss faces a tense meeting with Tom Hicks and George Gillett that will decide his future at the club.
Benitez has made the right noises in recent weeks in an attempt to calm the crisis that has gripped Anfield since he critisised the American pair who, in turn, told him to concentrate on team affairs. But he is still in unrepentant mood when it comes to his negotiations with the owners. Many people had expected the Spanish coach to be conciliatory, after angering his employers with his demands to be in complete control of player recruitment.
His tone since a major bust-up with Gillett and Hicks has been one of harmony, and he went as far yesterday to suggest: "I think I will be on their Christmas card list, and they will be on mine."
Yet the key issue at the centre of the dispute has yet to be resolved, and it is clear Benitez will still pursue an aggressive line when he meets in the next 48 hours.
He wants to have the ultimate say on who is bought and sold at the club, and wants to be involved in those deals, while the Americans prefer to leave that responsibility to chief executive Rick Parry. The question of funding is also key to the discussions, as the manager promotes his right to identify the players he needs, and demand the money to sign them.
Yesterday he made it clear he is prepared to risk another backlash when he insisted that he wants to be more than just a coach.
"If you ask if I am a coach or a manager, then I am a manager, and the question for this meeting is, 'how do I manage?'," he said.
"We have had a misunderstanding, and we need to clarify the situation. The relationship was good when we signed Fernando Torres in the summer, and in the future I want the relationship to be good so we can sign more players."
"It is a question of trying to find solutions, because I believe we want the same things - I want to win and they want to win."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...9520-20248882/
, it will be a sad, sad day which in effect will set the club back years IMO, Rafa has done some fantastic thinga since his arrival at our Club and turned us around from a Club who were going nowhere (as far as the premership was concerned) to being on the brink of acheiving our ultimate goal (premership), now if GG and TH can't see this and realise that we have one of the best Managers out there well, Rafa will have the right to walk out.
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