Rafa Benitez - the kingmaker

[Eric Swindler]

No, but once the negativity spilt over into matches and the crowd were audibly turning on Rafa it made it much easier for G&H to get rid. They would have sacked him long before if they could.

As far as I can see, that is a myth. The crowd never vocally turned on Rafa. I never experienced it, and never heard of any particular group at the match say anything even remotely bad, apart from the usual individual stuff you'd hear at any match anywhere.

[g.red]

Great minds think alike, Bozo!

You see...it's that damn internet again. Grrr

[CJ]

he wasnt sacked becasue we didnt get into the CL that season

however that is what allowed them to sack him.

[RedReet]

It's hilarious the way some folk suggest that the opinions of a few fans on internet forums had anything to do with the sacking of Rafa Benitez.

I.e. you didn't oppose his sacking on an internet forum, therefore you are responsible for it. It's ridiculous really

No, but once the negativity spilt over into matches and the crowd were audibly turning on Rafa it made it much easier for G&H to get rid. They would have sacked him long before if they could.

[Eric Swindler]

It's hilarious the way some folk suggest that the opinions of a few fans on internet forums had anything to do with the sacking of Rafa Benitez.

I.e. you didn't oppose his sacking on an internet forum, therefore you are responsible for it. It's ridiculous really

[The Birdman]

those who genuinely wanted rafa gone - and some said some pretty disrespectful things - were / are bellends. simple as that. many others should have gone before him. Owners, board, leading players if rumours are true.

far too many couldnt see the wood for the trees and allow him any slack for the difficult circumstances he had to work under

the treatment of rafa by some fans exposed the myth that we have the best fans in the world. Maybe we did in the 70s, 80s & 90s but certainly not any more.

This
You Barnesy need to post more often.

[BG1973]

Probably the most vocal

he wasn't to be fair.. plenty more louder pricks than him.


where is he btw?

[Maxiedge]

I'd just like to point out the tail end of the 2005-2006 season where we played the best football I have ever seen a Liverpool team play. Always looked like winning with a mixture of creativity and flair in attack and just immense closing down and pressure as a team, when we didn't have the ball. We played as a unit and everyone's movement was connected as if there was an invisible rope. It wasn't about individuals but the team (as you can see below with the mixture of scorers). Anyway we won 11 out of 12 games as such:

28.10 Liverpool-West Ham
2-0
Alonso (18), Zenden (82)

05.11 Aston Villa-Liverpool
0-2
Gerrard (84 pen), Alonso (89)

19.11 Liverpool-Portsmouth
3-0
Zenden (23), Cisse (38), Morientes (79)

26.11 Manchester City-Liverpool
0-1
Riise (60)

30.11 Sunderland-Liverpool
0-2
Garcia (30), Gerrard (45)

03.12 Liverpool-Wigan
3-0
Crouch (19 & 42), Garcia (70)

10.12 Liverpool-Middlesbrough
2-0
Morientes (71, 77)

26.12 Liverpool-Newcastle
2-0
Gerrard (14), Crouch (43)

28.12 Everton-Liverpool
1-3
Crouch (11), Gerrard (18), Cisse (47)

31.12 Liverpool-West Bromwich
1-0
Crouch (52)

02.01 Bolton-Liverpool
2-2
Gerrard (67 pen), Garcia (82)

14.01 Liverpool-Tottenham
1-0
Kewell (58)

Thanks Rafa

[the rev leeroy brown]

those who genuinely wanted rafa gone - and some said some pretty disrespectful things - were / are bellends. simple as that. many others should have gone before him. Owners, board, leading players if rumours are true.

far too many couldnt see the wood for the trees and allow him any slack for the difficult circumstances he had to work under

the treatment of rafa by some fans exposed the myth that we have the best fans in the world. Maybe we did in the 70s, 80s & 90s but certainly not any more.

the above is a bellend thing to say.

rafas time had come to an end as liverpool manager and he was rightly let go. The infighting, the constant bickering, the huge chasms between the powerbrokers had turned this club into a wreck.

rafa was a key protagonist in all that so it was right at that time to let him go. but there's no doubt that he is a genius of a manager and when kenny left i wanted him to come back. he made us into the most feared team in europe and you dont do that without massive ability.

we need to get behind rodgers but if it didnt work out for whatever reason, then rafa should be brought back.

the above here though is spot on.

[el matador]

rafas time had come to an end as liverpool manager and he was rightly let go. The infighting, the constant bickering, the huge chasms between the powerbrokers had turned this club into a wreck.

rafa was a key protagonist in all that so it was right at that time to let him go. but there's no doubt that he is a genius of a manager and when kenny left i wanted him to come back. he made us into the most feared team in europe and you dont do that without massive ability.

we need to get behind rodgers but if it didnt work out for whatever reason, then rafa should be brought back.

[refugee]

What's 'the Kingmaker' in the title about?

I presumed it was because someone thick had heard Rafa played chess a lot and confused chess with draughts.

[Vermilion]

What's 'the Kingmaker' in the title about?

Made lfc Kings of europe ?

It's not the title of the book anyway.

© Rafa Benítez 2012
Extracted from Champions League Dreams by Rafa Benítez with Rory Smith, published by Headline Books on September 13 at £20.

I can't see the original artice through the link either, as it's subscription, so if it explained the title, well...bugger.

[RedReet]

What's 'the Kingmaker' in the title about?

[kingfunk]

I can judge Benitez over 6 years, I'm not going to judge BR over 3 months. The right package is in place but it will take 3 season to be where we want to be. Get out of yer ex girlfriends beds ye whorebags.

[JudgeRed]

IMHO The previous owners AND Rafa HAD to go when they did, both became toxic to the club. Therefore BR has my full support. Fans are fickle and forget Rafa's bad side, imaging the war RB would have played out transfer deadline day in the press? More negativity, more upset players. No thanks.

It wouldn't have happened tho because Rafa wouldnt have blown all that money on ****e in the first place and the owners would ve probably been happy to back him again.

Al managers have their 'bad' side, at the moment we re still giving BR the benefit of the doubt given the circumstances, enjoying his spiel etc. Perhaps more of us should appreciate what Rafa did under different circumstances. I hope one day we are all moaning about BRs early season tactics costing us the league etc, but all that seems a long way off as things stand.