Do you want Rafa back?

[spanky]

next few weeks will be interesting

happy xmas to you and your family

[magicalbarnes]

There's a petition online now to bring him back

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bringbackrafa/

Iv just signed it.

The petition is going well considering its only been going 3 days, and already has 600 names!

[Woobus]

Agreed. Especially that Porto side he won the champions league with.

Ah thats right they won that and also got done for match fixing that season, oh how I would love to see that cheating **** at our club.

[Kenneth]

Either we get Rafa in or write of this season and don't care what happens. That is more or less the only options.

Who hasn't written off this season? apart from you obviously.

[Mattshark]

Who hasn't written off this season? apart from you obviously.

[Rich]

Who hasn't written off this season? apart from you obviously.

Yeah total write off.

It's all about trying to keep hold of Reina (Torres has gone ) with a fresh manager, quality young players and building towards a golden future.

[Kenneth]

Yeah total write off.

It's all about trying to keep hold of Reina (Torres has gone ) with a fresh manager, quality young players and building towards a golden future.

The only thing that will influence that is who we appoint as manager in the summer and who we buy, as it seems clear Roy will be here until then. I just pray nesv appoint a new manager very soon after our final game.

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

I'm in the middle of reading this : http://www.kopsource.com/2010/12/why...-rafa-benitez/

Aldridge left twitter?

[G]

Dont know if he did but he was thinking about it.EDIT:- he hasnt left,just not tweeting much

he made his feelings known about Rafa many times during his reign with many scathing articles in his Irish newspaper column so his tweet was no surprise to me when I read it.He was always clever enough to tone it down when speaking the the English press though so think he was surprised at the reaction he got when he tweeted what he did.Think he thought the fanbase was more against Rafa than the actually are.

His tweet-Rafa to come back?youre having a laugh.its bad enough at the minute.

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

I for some reason thought that he liked Rafa. I'm sure there aren't any ex-players who back Rafa.

[MrMichael]

Relatively balanced piece imo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2010/12/where_next_for_benitez.html

As Rafael Benitez celebrates Christmas at home on the Wirral peninsula following his exit from Inter Milan, an unlikely theory is formulating in the minds of some Liverpool supporters.

It is a theory that may even formulate in the mind of Benitez himself - namely that a departure laced with acrimony after only six months at the San Siro might actually be a road that leads him back to Anfield.

For all the turmoil and mediocrity of Benitez's final season at Liverpool, there is no question one of the game's most complex and divisive characters still holds a section, however small, of the club's support in his thrall.

However, if Benitez and his admirers retain some distant hope that the Spaniard could some day reclaim his old job, it might be best if they think again.

Benitez's availability will alert clubs around Europe despite damage done to his reputation in the last 18 months, encompassing his decline at Liverpool and a swift demise at Inter.

And given he has retained his home across the Mersey from Liverpool, where he sought refuge as his reign at the San Siro reached its contentious conclusion, there may well be suitors in the Premier League should he linger on the market long enough.

Yet, while he retains a special affection for Liverpool's fans, even giving them a namecheck after Inter won the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi in what turned out to be his final game in charge of the Serie A club, it is unlikely his flight from Italy to England will attract more than a passing glance in Anfield's boardroom.

Firstly, Liverpool have a manager in Roy Hodgson, admittedly one who is struggling to impose himself but nevertheless one who still retains the support of new owner John W Henry and his NESV cohorts from Boston.

Liverpool also have a director of football strategy in Damien Comolli, appointed by Henry. In Benitez's managerial world - and he is not alone here - there can be only one director of football strategy. And that is Benitez himself.

Finally, and rather significantly, a large part of the Liverpool executive team who lived through the final turbulent months of the Benitez regime have fresh memories.

There is also still a feeling inside Anfield, voiced by Hodgson although aggressively challenged by his predecessor, that Liverpool had been left with an environment overpopulated by poor players and expensive Benitez failures.

Benitez, who left Anfield with a reported £6m pay-off, has demonstrated acumen that will still make him an attractive commodity on the market - if only he could keep his distance from the compulsive politicking that has characterised his career.

For someone many regard as a warm and engaging personality, he also appears to have an insatiable desire for conflict, a love of creating chaos out of calm. Such a track record will be studied as closely as his footballing pedigree by potential employers.

A man of contradictions, Benitez was perceived as ruthless and only too willing to freeze out those who did not buy into his methods yet generous enough to donate £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group after leaving Liverpool.

He craves absolute control and yet too often wants to deflect the blame in the direction of others when matters veer off course. He demands full responsibility and yet appears reluctant to take it when times get tough.

Those contradictions also apply to opinions as to his standing as a coach. Very few are neutrals on the subject of Rafael Benitez.

He did an outstanding job at Valencia in succession to Hector Cuper, bringing two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup to the Mestalla before leaving for Liverpool. Benitez, in what was to become his trademark, fell out with Valencia director of sport Jesus Garcia Pitarch, famously complaining about lack of control over transfers with the words: "I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade."

At Liverpool, he will deservedly have a special place in the club's history for the miracle of Istanbul and the Champions League final win against AC Milan in 2005. However it became apparent there were fractured relationships with the club's hierarchy, notably former chief executive Rick Parry, former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, plus ex-managing director Christian Purslow.

Even against this backdrop, Benitez won the FA Cup against West Ham in 2006 and reached another Champions League final, this time losing to AC Milan, the following year.

But he has stumbled badly since steering Liverpool to a second-place finish in the 2008/09 Premier League, only four points behind champions Manchester United.

In this campaign, Benitez produced a side that could play blistering, high-speed attacking football of a calibre that saw off Real Madrid on a magical Anfield night in the Champions League and also brought a stunning 4-1 win at Old Trafford inside four days.

In amongst the criticism of Benitez's behaviour, the bickering with owners and the pointless and ultimately self-defeating attack on Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson when Liverpool sat top of the table in early 2009, there must also be credit for much of the work the Spaniard did before his reign slid to a miserable conclusion.

Such was my own conviction that Benitez had got things right at Liverpool that I felt confident enough to predict a title triumph last season - only to err by the margin of seven places and the small matter of 23 points.

Benitez's penchant for confrontation was repeated at Inter, when his invitation to Massimo Moratti to "back me or sack me" after beating Congolese side TP Mazembe to win the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi was accepted with alacrity - and not in Benitez's favour - by the all-powerful Inter president.

No table. No lampshade. Just a door and how to make his way through it.

This challenge to authority was made from a position of weakness as Benitez has struggled badly to match the feats of old adversary and Inter predecessor Jose Mourinho, who won Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League last season.

It was almost as if he walked into a booby trap of Mourinho's making. How could Benitez improve on the feats of "The Special One"? He was sipping from a poisoned chalice.

Benitez hoped to do this with a more attractive style but was not helped by injuries to key players and a reluctance on Moratti's part to loosen the purse strings. Then, for someone seemingly only too willing to pick a fight, Benitez chose one he could not win.

When linked with Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt earlier this season, he said: "I am the coach and I cannot sign players. That is for the technical director and the chairman. I am fine like this. I can focus on my work on the pitch and that is all. I am the coach not the manager."

It seems logical to presume that, from Benitez's desire to maintain roots on Merseyside, he is only too happy to work once again in the Premier League.

Geographically, Blackburn Rovers might suit his purposes but it is hard to see any other way in which they would be a comfortable fit for Benitez. Steve Kean has been told he is in charge until the end of the season and Benitez, in any event, may not regard them as illustrious enough to satisfy his ambitions.

Also, the abrupt manner in which the club's new Indian owners dispensed with manager Sam Allardyce shortly after taking over suggests the two parties might not be a perfect match either.

West Ham? Like Liverpool, they have a manager in place in Avram Grant. Not only that, a relegation fight in the capital would not appear to be Benitez's natural territory.

A return to La Liga is a possibility, where his achievement in breaking up the cartel of Real Madrid and Barcelona with Valencia ensures his stock remains high. However, he may have to move down some rungs on the ladder to resume that fight once more.

Wherever Benitez turns up next, those same contradictions and confrontations seem sure to follow him, ensuring he remains one of football's most intriguing figures.

[Arn]

Relatively balanced piece imo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2010/12/where_next_for_benitez.html

As Rafael Benitez celebrates Christmas at home on the Wirral peninsula following his exit from Inter Milan, an unlikely theory is formulating in the minds of some Liverpool supporters.

It is a theory that may even formulate in the mind of Benitez himself - namely that a departure laced with acrimony after only six months at the San Siro might actually be a road that leads him back to Anfield.

For all the turmoil and mediocrity of Benitez's final season at Liverpool,
there is no question one of the game's most complex and divisive characters still holds a section, however small, of the club's support in his thrall.

Small eh, maybe you should have a look at all the polls in the biggest Liverpool FC forums on the net, small eh.....

However, if Benitez and his admirers retain some distant hope that the Spaniard could some day reclaim his old job, it might be best if they think again.

Benitez's availability will alert clubs around Europe despite damage done to his reputation in the last 18 months, encompassing his decline at Liverpool and a swift demise at Inter.

And given he has retained his home across the Mersey from Liverpool, where he sought refuge as his reign at the San Siro reached its contentious conclusion, there may well be suitors in the Premier League should he linger on the market long enough.

Yet, while he retains a special affection for Liverpool's fans, even giving them a namecheck after Inter won the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi in what turned out to be his final game in charge of the Serie A club, it is unlikely his flight from Italy to England will attract more than a passing glance in Anfield's boardroom.

Firstly, Liverpool have a manager in Roy Hodgson, admittedly one who is struggling to impose himself but nevertheless one who still retains the support of new owner John W Henry and his NESV cohorts from Boston.

They didn't exactly support him in the phone in. The support was more or less, turn it around now or your out, support eh

Liverpool also have a director of football strategy in Damien Comolli, appointed by Henry. In Benitez's managerial world - and he is not alone here - there can be only one director of football strategy. And that is Benitez himself.

He had no problem to work with one at Valencia until the director of football decided not give a **** about discussing signings with Rafa.

Finally, and rather significantly, a large part of the Liverpool executive team who lived through the final turbulent months of the Benitez regime have fresh memories.


There is only one there that had a problem with Rafa and that is Purslow.


There is also still a feeling inside Anfield, voiced by Hodgson although aggressively challenged by his predecessor, that Liverpool had been left with an environment overpopulated by poor players and expensive Benitez failures.


Poulsen, Konchesky, Jones and Cole in......Insua and Aquilani out.....


Benitez, who left Anfield with a reported £6m pay-off, has demonstrated acumen that will still make him an attractive commodity on the market - if only he could keep his distance from the compulsive politicking that has characterised his career.

Maybe you should at least try and find out the reasons behind his politicking but why do that when you can act like a lazy cow.


For someone many regard as a warm and engaging personality, he also appears to have an insatiable desire for conflict, a love of creating chaos out of calm. Such a track record will be studied as closely as his footballing pedigree by potential employers.

There isn't any problem at all until the employers lie to him and create chaos in the club. A man like Parry or Purslow who only thought about themselves isn't easy to work with. A CEO like Parry who didn't give a **** who Rafa wanted to sign so he made it a personal choice to spend all the money on Keane or Purslow that promised him money, money that then disappeared. Then try to work with owners like G&H that didn't give a **** about the club and instead fought with each other.

A man of contradictions, Benitez was perceived as ruthless and only too willing to freeze out those who did not buy into his methods yet generous enough to donate £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group after leaving Liverpool.

He craves absolute control and yet too often wants to deflect the blame in the direction of others when matters veer off course. He demands full responsibility and yet appears reluctant to take it when times get tough.

Totally laughable. He said himself that he made many mistakes. He almost never blamed a player. He instead protected them in the same way that Wenger, Fergie or Mourinho. In a way that make the manager look like idiots just to protect the players.

Those contradictions also apply to opinions as to his standing as a coach. Very few are neutrals on the subject of Rafael Benitez.

He did an outstanding job at Valencia in succession to Hector Cuper, bringing two La Liga titles and the Uefa Cup to the Mestalla before leaving for Liverpool. Benitez, in what was to become his trademark, fell out with Valencia director of sport Jesus Garcia Pitarch, famously complaining about lack of control over transfers with the words: "I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade."

So what was the earlier thing about then in the article. The control thing? Now you yourself admit that Pitarch made Rafa look like an idiot.

At Liverpool, he will deservedly have a special place in the club's history for the miracle of Istanbul and the Champions League final win against AC Milan in 2005. However it became apparent there were fractured relationships with the club's hierarchy, notably former chief executive Rick Parry, former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, plus ex-managing director Christian Purslow.

What the ****. You simply don't care at all that all the above People Gillett, Hicks Parry and Purslow almost destroyed the club and the club almost went out of business but why care about that eh, not that important.....It is all Rafas fault......

Even against this backdrop, Benitez won the FA Cup against West Ham in 2006 and reached another Champions League final, this time losing to AC Milan, the following year.

But he has stumbled badly since steering Liverpool to a second-place finish in the 2008/09 Premier League, only four points behind champions Manchester United.

I know, record points and most goals scored in the league and then you yourself admit that we played fantastic football, are you drunk or not when it looks like you don't know what you're writing?

In this campaign, Benitez produced a side that could play blistering, high-speed attacking football of a calibre that saw off Real Madrid on a magical Anfield night in the Champions League and also brought a stunning 4-1 win at Old Trafford inside four days.

In amongst the criticism of Benitez's behaviour, the bickering with owners and the pointless and ultimately self-defeating attack on Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson when Liverpool sat top of the table in early 2009, there must also be credit for much of the work the Spaniard did before his reign slid to a miserable conclusion.

Spaniard eh, the usual thing you call him....why did have a go at the above things earlier in the article then when you now later in the same article admit that he did a good job. Drunk or just bad memory?

Such was my own conviction that Benitez had got things right at Liverpool that I felt confident enough to predict a title triumph last season - only to err by the margin of seven places and the small matter of 23 points.

Benitez's penchant for confrontation was repeated at Inter, when his invitation to Massimo Moratti to "back me or sack me" after beating Congolese side TP Mazembe to win the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi was accepted with alacrity - and not in Benitez's favour - by the all-powerful Inter president.

No table. No lampshade. Just a door and how to make his way through it.

This challenge to authority was made from a position of weakness as Benitez has struggled badly to match the feats of old adversary and Inter predecessor Jose Mourinho, who won Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League last season.

It was almost as if he walked into a booby trap of Mourinho's making. How could Benitez improve on the feats of "The Special One"? He was sipping from a poisoned chalice.

Benitez hoped to do this with a more attractive style but was not helped by injuries to key players and a reluctance on Moratti's part to loosen the purse strings. Then, for someone seemingly only too willing to pick a fight, Benitez chose one he could not win.


He should just have sat there doing nothing eh and accepted what was going on and take all the blame himself. A team need to invest every season or else it will go backwards. Rafa is clever enough to know that. Moratti clearly isn't.
When linked with Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt earlier this season, he said: "I am the coach and I cannot sign players. That is for the technical director and the chairman. I am fine like this. I can focus on my work on the pitch and that is all. I am the coach not the manager."

It seems logical to presume that, from Benitez's desire to maintain roots on Merseyside, he is only too happy to work once again in the Premier League.

Geographically, Blackburn Rovers might suit his purposes but it is hard to see any other way in which they would be a comfortable fit for Benitez. Steve Kean has been told he is in charge until the end of the season and Benitez, in any event, may not regard them as illustrious enough to satisfy his ambitions.

Also, the abrupt manner in which the club's new Indian owners dispensed with manager Sam Allardyce shortly after taking over suggests the two parties might not be a perfect match either.

West Ham? Like Liverpool, they have a manager in place in Avram Grant. Not only that, a relegation fight in the capital would not appear to be Benitez's natural territory.

A return to La Liga is a possibility, where his achievement in breaking up the cartel of Real Madrid and Barcelona with Valencia ensures his stock remains high. However, he may have to move down some rungs on the ladder to resume that fight once more.

Wherever Benitez turns up next, those same contradictions and confrontations seem sure to follow him, ensuring he remains one of football's most intriguing figures.

Balanced piece my arse

[Arn]

I'm sorry MrM but that article isn't balanced at all. As I pointed out it looks like it is written by someone with a very short memory or to drunk to see what he himself writes.

He first blames Rafa and then later in the article mention that he did a good job.

It would have been balanced if he had admitted how **** owners Gillett and Hicks was and how **** CEO's Parry and Purslow was. If you also admitted that Moratti made a mistake when he didn't strengthen the team or when Valencias sporting director made his own decisions without discussing them with Rafa.

Rafa make many mistakes but the conditions he worked under the last seven years was conditions that was almost impossible to work in.

Rafa make many mistakes but so did the clubs he worked at. That is balanced and fair.

[MrMichael]

There is only one there that had a problem with Rafa and that is Purslow.

You don't know that. Tbh it seems to me like Rafa put quite a few backs up around Anfield, rightly or wrongly.

There is also still a feeling inside Anfield, voiced by Hodgson although aggressively challenged by his predecessor, that Liverpool had been left with an environment overpopulated by poor players and expensive Benitez failures.


Poulsen, Konchesky, Jones and Cole in......Insua and Aquilani out.....

Transfers made while H&G were still in charge it should be noted. Aquilani was, basically, an expensive failure, and Insua was constantly getting slagged off by everyone on here all last season. The writer said there is a perception, and he's not entirely wrong about that.

Maybe you should at least try and find out the reasons behind his politicking but why do that when you can act like a lazy cow.

Oh come on Arn, how long an article do you want the guy to write? Fact is Rafa does play politcal games at his clubs, that doesn't have to be a criticism, a lot of managers do, but Rafa is pretty big on it.

However it became apparent there were fractured relationships with the club's hierarchy, notably former chief executive Rick Parry, former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, plus ex-managing director Christian Purslow.

What the ****. You simply don't care at all that all the above People Gillett, Hicks Parry and Purslow almost destroyed the club and the club almost went out of business but why care about that eh, not that important.....It is all Rafas fault......

You see, this is a prime example of massive over-sensitivity to a pretty innocent point. The guy's not having a go with that, he's stating a fact, Rafa had a fractured relationship with those guys. Whether it was justified or not to is another question, but he DID have a fractured relationship which he took into the public domain in a way that was not always entirely comfortable.

But he has stumbled badly since steering Liverpool to a second-place finish in the 2008/09 Premier League, only four points behind champions Manchester United.

I know, record points and most goals scored in the league and then you yourself admit that we played fantastic football, are you drunk or not when it looks like you don't know what you're writing?

Dude, seriously. Didn't we stumble badly last year?

Look, the guy who wrote that sees Benitez, as I personally also do, as a man of contradictions. He admits and accepts his positives but also is willing to discuss his negaitives as he sees them. The fact that you can go through that article arguing with almost every point does not mean its not balanced, it means you can't accept any criticism of the man, which is frankly, as bit silly in my view. Its perfectly reasonable to both blame Rafa and admit he did a good job. And it is not reasonable to expect him to flesh out every short point made with endless amounts of background qualification.

Oh, and as for this....

Rafa make many mistakes but the conditions he worked under the last seven years was conditions that was almost impossible to work in.

7 years of almost impossibility? Good god man. Imagine he was managing Newcastle, or West Ham, or Everton, or Leeds or Northampton Town or most other flipping clubs in existence for that period? Yeah, sure, for a couple of years under H&G he was in a ****ty position, and its not been perfect at other times, but "impossible"? That's way WAY too strong, very few managers in the world, infact almost none, get to work in conditions that are completely how they desire, for most of his Liverpool career he had a good amount of control and a reaosnable budget, he did well sometimes and not so well others, and that is, in my view atleast, perfectly fair, as is discussing Rafa's flaws without making excuses for him ALL the time.

[Glenn Hysen]

You don't know that. Tbh it seems to me like Rafa put quite a few backs up around Anfield, rightly or wrongly.



Transfers made while H&G were still in charge it should be noted. Aquilani was, basically, an expensive failure, and Insua was constantly getting slagged off by everyone on here all last season. The writer said there is a perception, and he's not entirely wrong about that.



Oh come on Arn, how long an article do you want the guy to write? Fact is Rafa does play politcal games at his clubs, that doesn't have to be a criticism, a lot of managers do, but Rafa is pretty big on it.



You see, this is a prime example of massive over-sensitivity to a pretty innocent point. The guy's not having a go with that, he's stating a fact, Rafa had a fractured relationship with those guys. Whether it was justified or not to is another question, but he DID have a fractured relationship which he took into the public domain in a way that was not always entirely comfortable.



Dude, seriously. Didn't we stumble badly last year?

Look, the guy who wrote that sees Benitez, as I personally also do, as a man of contradictions. He admits and accepts his positives but also is willing to discuss his negaitives as he sees them. The fact that you can go through that article arguing with almost every point does not mean its not balanced, it means you can't accept any criticism of the man, which is frankly, as bit silly in my view. Its perfectly reasonable to both blame Rafa and admit he did a good job. And it is not reasonable to expect him to flesh out every short point made with endless amounts of background qualification.

Oh, and as for this....

7 years of almost impossibility? Good god man. Imagine he was managing Newcastle, or West Ham, or Everton, or Leeds or Northampton Town or most other flipping clubs in existence for that period? Yeah, sure, for a couple of years under H&G he was in a ****ty position, and its not been perfect at other times, but "impossible"? That's way WAY too strong, very few managers in the world, infact almost none, get to work in conditions that are completely how they desire, for most of his Liverpool career he had a good amount of control and a reaosnable budget, he did well sometimes and not so well others, and that is, in my view atleast, perfectly fair, as is discussing Rafa's flaws without making excuses for him ALL the time.

MrMichael, I agree.
Arn and others, you have no idea what happens at boardmeetings and overall behind the scenes. It sounds silly really when you give that impression.