Rafa Watch

[CJ]

Aye, behind every great man there is a nagging woman driving him on, making work a pleasure.

But seriously, they are a great team, and she has been totally behind her man all the way, and she has in her own right become a well liked figure on merseyside from what i've heard, really taken the community to heart and worked on it's behalf, and it's obvious she very much loves Liverpool the club as well as the city.

Yes but nigey is older than me and where is arn?

[Fernandinho]

[peekay]

People who are anti Rafa should read Brian Reade's account of the two cowboys. With the added pressure of being a LFC manager, he had to deal with those idiots shenanigans and a disappearing transfer budget

I am dazed that he has not given up on football management. When all the dust settles, it looks like he will be one of the very few who will come out of it with his dignity intact.

[little dave hedgehog]

arn saw him crying and exploded.

[Helios Creed]

People who are anti Rafa should read Brian Reade's account of the two cowboys. With the added pressure of being a LFC manager, he had to deal with those idiots shenanigans and a disappearing transfer budget

I am dazed that he has not given up on football management. When all the dust settles, it looks like he will be one of the very few who will come out of it with his dignity intact.

and standing up to them and trying to let people know what was going on cost him the job that he loved - they didn't sack him because of our league position, they took advantage of it to get rid of someone who had been standing up to them, slagging them off in the press and generally been a thorn in their side. Wish he'd managed to hang on until they'd gone, but I think the board had to go along with their demand to sack him, otherwise they may have become suspicious and it would have jeopardised the coup that got rid of them. Also I think Purslow fell out with Rafa because he was on the owners side until the end when he did the right thing.

[danperkins]

arn saw him crying and exploded.

[Craig_H]

arn saw him crying and exploded.

[Neil Young]

and standing up to them and trying to let people know what was going on cost him the job that he loved - they didn't sack him because of our league position, they took advantage of it to get rid of someone who had been standing up to them, slagging them off in the press and generally been a thorn in their side. Wish he'd managed to hang on until they'd gone, but I think the board had to go along with their demand to sack him, otherwise they may have become suspicious and it would have jeopardised the coup that got rid of them. Also I think Purslow fell out with Rafa because he was on the owners side until the end when he did the right thing.

And the fans who wanted him sacked because of the league position played right into the owners' (and Purslow's) hands.

[Kenneth]

The advantage to the owners and the fans just happened to align with Rafa. We've been through a lot this year off the field but things are currently far more positive than they were towards the end of last season in all areas imo. Hodgson's tenure was just an unpleasant blip that will be quickly ignored.

[Neil Young]

Spectacularly missing the point. The reason the team became less successful under Benitez was primarily, if not entirely, down to the owners.

Our interest as fans was best served by getting rid of them, not Benitez.

[Kenneth]

Spectacularly missing the point. The reason the team became less successful under Benitez was primarily, if not entirely, down to the owners.

Our interest as fans was best served by getting rid of them, not Benitez.

Not a matter of missing the point. Our interests as fans was a) off the pitch, getting rid of the owners and b) replacing the manger. IMO. of course Rafa wasn't responsible for much of the downturn, but I don't think he would now have delivered enough of an up turn. Too many issues, too much baggage. Fresh start all round was for the best, although there was a false start with Roy.

Maybe not a popular opinion around these parts, but hey ho. Still have a lot of affection for the man though.

[red g]

Not a matter of missing the point. Our interests as fans was a) off the pitch, getting rid of the owners and b) replacing the manger. IMO. of course Rafa wasn't responsible for much of the downturn, but I don't think he would now have delivered enough of an up turn. Too many issues, too much baggage. Fresh start all round was for the best, although there was a false start with Roy.

Maybe not a popular opinion around these parts, but hey ho. Still have a lot of affection for the man though.

Nail on head, kenneth. Like SHaggys Idea of Rafa coming back after Kenny has finished the job though......

[Stanbull]

An extract from Brian Reads new book An Epic Swindle 44 months with a pair of cowboys released on 5th of May gives an insight to what Raffa had to put up with


...Six months later, on a cold December night, I met Benitez in the house of a mutual friend.

Within minutes of staring at his pale, drawn features and listening to him bare his soul, it was clear he was feeling besieged and betrayed.

“The truth is, they’re killing me,” he said, sitting on a couch, a leather briefcase between us, from which he would pull flow-charts and dossiers to back up his arguments.

“I deal in facts. Only facts. I know they’ve talked to Jose Mourinho, Fabio Capello and Jurgen Klinsmann about my job, but what can I do?

“These people need to remember that in a European sense we were the same as Atletico Madrid before we won the Champions League. Without that win we’d be nothing in Europe, nothing.”

He talked of his frustrations working with chief executive Rick Parry:

“I wanted Florent Malouda last summer but Parry wouldn’t pay the signing-on fee, so he went to Chelsea. He brought in Ryan Babel and paid £2million more than we wanted to. He paid too much for Jermaine Pennant and Yossi Benayoun and made a big mistake with Javier Mascherano’s contract because he allowed him a get-out clause, which ended up costing the club more money.”

His frustration was tangible, his paranoia rampant.

He was worried the fans might believe the poison that was being spread about him and lose the faith:

“Some may believe it without knowing the facts. Here is the truth: I am driving an old BMW while Ferguson and Mourinho are driving Ferraris. I have to swerve and cheat to beat them. I can do that, but I need the money and the back-up to beat the Ferraris.”

Meanwhile, all he seemed to be getting from the Americans was flattery, which he saw through instantly:

“I don’t like people telling me: ‘You are brilliant, you are great’. I hate that. I know where I come from. I know my limitations. I wasn’t a great footballer but I worked hard on the technical side. I am proud of what I have done but I know myself. I hate these sweet words. I like actions.”

When asked why he didn’t just walk away from Liverpool if it was so much hassle, and take up one of the regular offers from Real Madrid, he replied: “I love the club too much and my wife loves living here. This is my home.

“Also, if I go, Reina, Arbeloa, Mascherano and Torres would all leave too. Xabi Alonso will go anyway, because he wants to go back to Spain.”

I asked why some of his players said he didn’t show them enough love and he said that most players don’t need it, but some, like Steven Gerrard, did.

He added that throughout his managerial career he played bad cop while his assistant, Paco Ayesteran, was the good cop. It kept them on their toes.

But Paco had gone. Why?

“He needed to go. He betrayed me.”

Benitez’s words simply backed up everything I was seeing, hearing and fearing less than a year into the Americans’ reign…

Anfield was riddled with empire-building, poisonous briefings, distrust, disloyalty and back-stabbing.

It had become a nest of vipers.

[McDermotX]

Nice

Will make a good film some day

[Angryred]

Nice

Will make a good film some day

Mike Jefferies, take note!