Oliver Kay on Rafa

[brightred]

Excellent article in the Times today about Rafa's contract. I read it in the Irish Indo but unfortunately lack the technical know how to put in on here!

Maybe someone out there can post it.

In my mind the most interesting part of the article was that Gillett is desperate to sell and he has been an ally of Parrys. Apparently Hicks is no fan of our Rick!

What does Rick rhyme with??

[kop-al-74]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle5533018.ece

[Parm]

Rafael Benítez has question to ponder after new contract bombshell
Oliver Kay
The question for Rafael Benítez, after he went public yesterday on his latest power struggle with the Liverpool hierarchy, is a simple one. Does he really want to be the manager of a circus of a club who, beneath the prestige and the history, are beset by political upheaval, where the position of manager is treated with disdain? Or does he want to stay where he is?

Not for the first time in the past two years, a power struggle is threatening to undermine Liverpool’s ambitions, in this case winning a first league title since 1990, with Benítez causing alarm among the supporters by announcing yesterday that he has rejected the club’s offer of a new contract.

Benítez has been angered by the club’s refusal to accept his demands for more control over transfer policy and youth development, and has made it known that he could walk away at the end of the season if no agreement is reached. But where would he go? Real Madrid? Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

If Benítez thinks that things are bad at Anfield, where he feels hampered by the dysfunctional relationship with Rick Parry, the chief executive, and by the continuing unrest at boardroom level, with George Gillett Jr, the co-owner, coming under renewed pressure to sell his 50 per cent stake in the club, he should cast a glance at the latest developments at Real.

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Ramón Calderón, the Real president, resigned yesterday amid allegations of vote-rigging at the club’s assembly last month. Calderón, whose departure will not be mourned, was often accused of ignoring the views of the first-team coach, preferring to sign players of his own choice, but his likely replacement, Florentino Pérez, is hardly renowned as a man with the greatest respect for coaches. As the architect of the famous “galácticos” policy, under which Real signed the likes of Zinédine Zidane and Luís Figo, he arguably did more than Calderón to reduce the position of Real coach to that of a patsy. The incumbent, Juande Ramos, the former Seville and Tottenham Hotspur manager, is on a six-month contract. Enough said.

In general, Benítez knows that he is on to a good thing at Liverpool, with his family settled in their home on The Wirral and with no thought of returning to Spain except, it seems, when things get a little rough at Anfield. His dissatisfaction with events at boardroom level over the past two years is understandable, but, having sought an unholy alliance with Tom Hicks, that seems to be less of a concern these days. The threat he has perceived to his authority at Anfield is from Parry, from whom he wishes to wrestle control of the transfer budget, and, by extension, Gillett, who tends to back Parry. Compared with the situation at Real, he is king of all he surveys.

Nevertheless, as Benitez dropped another Friday bombshell, following up his tirade a week earlier against Sir Alex Ferguson, whom he accused of trying to influence the authorities in complaining of an institutional bias against United, by announcing that he had rejected the club’s offer of a new contract, it was possible to share some of his grievances.

“I have a lot of experience in football at different clubs and, if you do not have a technical director and you are the manager, you have to have control of the football decisions — but always within the confines of a budget which is controlled by the owners and the club,” he said. “The only person who can decide the value of a player to his squad is the manager, because he knows what elements are needed to improve the squad.”

Specifically, Benítez believes he is hampered by a structure that leaves him reliant on Parry when it comes to transfer matters. Parry is highly regarded within the industry, but get Benítez on a good day and he will reel off the names of a dozen players that he missed out on, having felt that deals were in the bag. They range from Nemanja Vidic and Gareth Barry, perhaps the two most famous examples, to the Arsenal duo of Denilson and Abou Diaby and assorted South American teenagers you have never heard of and, in all probability, never will.

Benítez believes that he should be given complete autonomy over his transfer budget and that he should never again be left in a position like that in July last year, when, just as his three-month pursuit of Barry was approaching a successful conclusion, Parry and the owners vetoed a proposed £18 million deal to sign the midfield player from Aston Villa.

Benítez believes that the boards at United and Arsenal would never have treated Ferguson or Arsène Wenger in this way and that, at very least, he should be able to request the appointment of someone who would work alongside him, to a pre-determined budget, focusing exclusively on transfer and contract negotiations while leaving Parry free to concentrate on the broader responsibilities of a chief executive. The response from the boardroom is that Ferguson and Wenger are subjected to just the same restraints and corporate governance structures as Benítez and that it is unrealistic to ask for more.

Gillett is known to have been disappointed by Benítez’s decision to go public with what was regarded as a private matter, but Hicks said yesterday that he was supportive of the manager and would take it as a personal responsibility to secure his future beyond his existing contract, which expires at the end of next season. “We understand Rafa’s frustration and we’re committed to working with him and his advisers to find a solution here,” Hicks said.

If Tom Hicks is the answer, however, Liverpool’s supporters might be forgiven for wondering what is the question. The question, of course, goes back to Benítez. He has without doubt been undermined at times by the Liverpool hierarchy, but it could be worse. He could be at Real Madrid.

Real in disarray

Real Madrid, who are Liverpool's opponents in the Champions League first knockout round next month, were thrown into turmoil yesterday when Ramón Calderón, the club president, announced his resignation after a vote-rigging scandal. The 57-year-old lawyer, who was elected in 2006, stepped down after allegations that he had manipulated a general assembly vote - effectively a vote of confidence - last month. Calderón choked up as he read a statement. “I leave with my hands clean,” he said, claiming that he had offered to resign despite the board asking him to stay. Vicente Boluda, the vice-president, will take over until the next election, in the summer.

[kop-al-74]

Parm beat me to!

[kingfunk]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/rafa-determined-to-ride-out-new-red-storm-1605456.html

Saturday January 17 2009

A POWER struggle threatens to undermine Liverpool's bid for a first league title since 1990, but Rafael Benitez is determined to ride out the latest political storm after it emerged last night that George Gillett Jr, the co-owner, is under renewed pressure to sell his 50pc stake in the club.

Benitez caused alarm among Liverpool supporters yesterday when he announced that he has rejected the offer of a new contract after the club refused to give him more control over transfer policy and the academy. As ever, the spectre of Real Madrid, long-time admirers of the Spaniard, looms in the background, but Benitez firmly intends to stay at Anfield for the long haul provided that his position is strengthened, something that may be facilitated by the expected departure of Gillett.

While Tom Hicks, who spoke out in support of Benitez yesterday, has been regarded as the more hostile of Liverpool's co-owners, much of the resistance to the manager's contract demands has come from Gillett. But Gillett's influence at Anfield is receding, with the difficult financial climate forcing him to invite offers for his 50pc stake in the club.

That would also raise doubts about the future of Rick Parry, the chief executive, with whom Benitez and Hicks have a dysfunctional relationship.

Hicks expressed sympathy yesterday over some of Benitez's frustrations and is confident a deal will be agreed.

He plans to address some of the manager's concerns when he makes a visit to Merseyside at the end of the month.

Although the situation at the club is clouded by uncertainty regarding who will buy Gillett's stake, Benitez has been reassured that Hicks is committed to resolving his future.

[dww]

Civil war

In his search for autonomy, Benitez has turned down a new deal ? but at what cost to Pool's title charge?

By Oliver Kay

Saturday January 17 2009

IT is first and foremost as a strategist, rather than as a motivator or even as a coach, that Rafael Benitez has earned his reputation as one of the great minds in football.

Show the Liverpool manager an opponent with no apparent weakness and he will show you how to exploit the chink in their armour. On a one-off basis, pitting his wits against any other manager, he will always back himself to come up with a strategy to flummox and confound the opposition.

However, it is not only with a chalkboard in front of him that Benitez fancies himself as an arch-strategist. Whether it is antagonising Alex Ferguson or showing an ever-more prominent Machiavellian streak by creating conflicts in the vipers' nest that is the modern-day Anfield boardroom, the Spaniard always likes to approach his battles with a clear, winning approach in mind. Often, as with his recent spat with Ferguson, he will be told that it is a battle he cannot and will not win, but, armed with a battle plan and with total clarity of thought, he believes that it is others who are underestimating him rather than the other way around.

Nevertheless, as Benitez dropped another Friday bombshell yesterday, following up his tirade against Ferguson by announcing that he had rejected the club's offer of a new contract, the strategy was not easy to decipher.

If the immediate reaction was to sympathise with some of the Liverpool manager's frustrations over transfer policy, the secondary response was to wonder what on earth he was doing. If ever there was a time to keep such developments in-house, it is now, with his team being hotly pursued by Manchester United at the top of the Premier League and with two Merseyside derby matches against Everton at Anfield to come over the next eight days; Monday's league meeting being followed by the FA Cup fourth-round tie a week tomorrow.

On Wednesday night, as United reduced Liverpool's lead at the top of the table to two points with a 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic, the Stretford End sang, mockingly, that "Rafa's cracking up". Benitez, who is just about as far removed from the Kevin Keegan "I'd love it" model as is imaginable, is doing nothing of the sort -- he is as calm and as assured of his position as ever -- but his timing is less than ideal.

Seven days earlier he had finished, having said what he wished to say, by talking of the need to concentrate on "the very important game coming up", but it is not always as simple as that when the focus of media, supporters and, most important of all, his players is suddenly on another issue.

As with the comments about Ferguson, whom he accused of trying to influence the authorities in complaining of an institutional bias against United, the contract impasse is something that Benitez feels strongly about.

He has believed for some time that he is hampered by a structure that leaves him reliant on Rick Parry, the chief executive, in transfer matters. Get him in the right mood and he will reel off a dozen players that he missed out on, having felt that deals were in the bag.

These range from Nemanja Vidic and Gareth Barry, perhaps the two most famous examples, to Denilson and Abou Diaby, the young Arsenal players, and assorted South American teenagers you have never heard of and, in all probability, never will.

OTHERBYLINE 00, Irish Independent

- Oliver Kay

[Parm]

You cant blame Rafa for wanting arry nowhere near the transfer dealings

[Parm]

Parm beat me to!

you snooze you lose! maybe a lesson Parry could learn eh?

[brightred]

Wow

That was impressive!

[Parm]

I aim to please

[kop-al-74]

you snooze you lose! maybe a lesson Parry could learn eh?

I got the link though:bird:

[brightred]

It really does look like Rafa wants to get rid of Parry.

If so I'd have to agree. All Parry seems to do is f**k things up. I still can't believe he went for the yanks when DCI were interested.

Asshole

[Rashid]

What right has Rafa to get rid of anyone? He should concentrate on his job... he has tried to get rid of the CEO and also hates the Director of the Academy. Why can't people see that this kind of dictatorship on the back of fan affection is what Houllier did and its a bloody snide way to go about things?

[Pablo]

What right has Rafa to get rid of anyone? He should concentrate on his job... he has tried to get rid of the CEO and also hates the Director of the Academy. Why can't people see that this kind of dictatorship on the back of fan affection is what Houllier did and its a bloody snide way to go about things?

First three posts after your "sabbatical" are relentless abuse of our manager Cant say I missed you.

[Skillz]

What right has Rafa to get rid of anyone? He should concentrate on his job... he has tried to get rid of the CEO and also hates the Director of the Academy. Why can't people see that this kind of dictatorship on the back of fan affection is what Houllier did and its a bloody snide way to go about things?

He doesn't want rid of Parry though and is on record saying it. He just wants the right to choose who is the number one priority, ergo control of the budget given to him. Why should Parry be able to say Barry isn't worth 18M but Keane is worth 20M.