Rafa Watch

[Arn]

Rafa would never work in the function of sporting director, he is much to controlling a man to ever be satisfied with that.

He got control over the Academy and gave it away as soon as he could to the right people, Segura and Borrell.

He like to have control yes but not in a way that would hurt the club.

[Glenn Hysen]

What for? Managing to string together an argument with a degree of coherence beyond what you would have managed?


I wasn't saying what you wanted, I was saying what you did. People who called for Benitez to be sacked aided Purslow and H&G. They then appointed Hodgson not Dalglish. So yeah, you contributed. Well done.

Please let me know if you need me to explain it to you in even simpler terms.

Impossible to discuss with you when you use that tone and state everything you think as a fact. Go on bitching of what could have been with Rafa and I will continue enjoying the presence with KK and promising youngsters and an exciting transfer window ahead.

[Darkon]

I more meant towards working with a manager rather than having youth coaches. I just don't see him work well together with a manager in terms of buying players and just leaving the on pitch action to another guy. Rafa is much to involved a person, he want's to be involved in everything for good and worse. Just look at Valencia to see how he works in such a relationship.

[badpiggy]

Flimsy? Well if my speculation is flimsy your version of events is positively ethereal.
That simply isn't what happened. It wasn't 'after. It wasn't a question of new owners coming in and replacing the manager. It was interference by the then MD and the old owners too. Blaming Rafa for finishing seventh allowed them to appoint Hodgson before NESV came in.

Maybe your suppositions hold true for a regular job but it isn't a regular organisation. The difference? Us. If the fans had been united in supporting the manager then maybe it would have given some players a kick up the arse and made them choose sides. It certainly would have made it harder to sack him.

Well if my specualtion is ethereal, yours is celestial

You seem to think that those of us who thought Rafa's time was up, wanted him gone to make way for the Dauphin Hodgson. This is a straw man argument as you, or more likely Mattshark, would say. Regardless of the boardroom battle, Rafa still had days before every match to communicate with the players, to prepare them and to plot the downfall of Stoke etc. He failed to do this in a way that lead people to believe the players didn't believe in him anymore. It was also just as much his job to get the players onside and to present a united front to the owners, fans and press once he decided - rightly - to battle H&G.

[Roboklopp]

I dont think it's so easy to divorce the different parts of his job to be honest.

[Craig_H]

I dont think it's so easy to divorce the different parts of his job to be honest.

Especially not when there's kids involved

[Roboklopp]

*Insert "controversial" Wenger joke here.*

[Craig_H]

[Roboklopp]

Haha.

[Glenn Hysen]

Especially not when there's kids involved

[Neil Young]

Well if my specualtion is ethereal, yours is celestial

You seem to think that those of us who thought Rafa's time was up, wanted him gone to make way for the Dauphin Hodgson. This is a straw man argument as you, or more likely Mattshark, would say. Regardless of the boardroom battle, Rafa still had days before every match to communicate with the players, to prepare them and to plot the downfall of Stoke etc. He failed to do this in a way that lead people to believe the players didn't believe in him anymore. It was also just as much his job to get the players onside and to present a united front to the owners, fans and press once he decided - rightly - to battle H&G.

It's not about what anyone wanted, it's what happened. Getting rid of Benitez was always going to lead some useless piece of crap coming in - I and others predicted this before Hodgson was appointed, quite possibly before Benitez was even sacked.

So the agitation to get rid of Benitez played into the hands of Hicks, Gillett and Purslow. The only speculation is whether a unified fan base would have stopped them sacking him and might have galvanised the players.

I'd certainly agree there were problems in the attitude of some players, and I think Gerrard's recent comments about "your mum and dad fighting and you just want them to stop" entirely corroborate this. But again the fans could have influenced this.

I'm not saying the fans who called for his head are entirely to blame but you have to take some responsibility for allowing them to replace a Champions League winning manager with Captain Smint.

[Neil Young]

Impossible to discuss with you when you use that tone and state everything you think as a fact. Go on bitching of what could have been with Rafa and I will continue enjoying the presence with KK and promising youngsters and an exciting transfer window ahead.

Good news. Perhaps you could **** off out of this thread then.

By the way, it's not fact, it's logic. You should give it a go sometime.

[Vermilion]

What for? Managing to string together an argument with a degree of coherence beyond what you would have managed?


I wasn't saying what you wanted, I was saying what you did. People who called for Benitez to be sacked aided Purslow and H&G. They then appointed Hodgson not Dalglish. So yeah, you contributed. Well done.

Please let me know if you need me to explain it to you in even simpler terms.

Just lucky for us that the Bodge did'nt get a few more results, because if he had, he'd still ****in be here.

Wonder if those that wanted Rafa gone would be so vociferous in defence of the choices they made then! No of course they would'nt, it was silence from them while the Bodge was here.

It's pure luck that we now have Kenny, mainly due to having to appoint him on the back of Hodgsons poor form and management, and certainly not due to any great planning, or the making of the correct decisions before hand.

The players demeaner had **** all to do with Rafa, or needing a change, they had their change and that worked did'nt it!

It was IMO, to do with the cloud hanging over this club for too long, far too long, and the back stabbing and **** stirring being done by Purslow, i'm only surprised we managed 2nd the season before, all things considered.

No1 Club in Europe for how many seasons under Rafa, but hey...he was a rubbish manager with **** tactics and weird zonal marking, who rotated far too much, apparently. (except, when you check out other successful managers many of them...impossible as it may seem....do the same.)

Where Rafa was concerned, and still now tbh with many, it's a case of pick a stick to beat him with..any one will do!

Also, i don't believe for one moment that any other manager would have won more major trophies with us in the time Rafa was here, again...taking everything into consideration, competion, budget, owners ****ing up the latter half of his time here. etc.

[Arn]

To sack a manager that made use the most feared club in Europe, yes the most feared, after one bad season will always be a disgrace. Will the same rules apply to KK? I wonder if the ones that wanted Rafa gone thinks that? One bad season and he must go. No second chances.

Add that we was hours, not days, hours away from bankruptcy.Try and do a good work with bosses that hate you and want you gone. Try and do a good work with bosses that piss on the work you try to do to. Try and work with bosses that won't miss an opportunity to stab you in back.Try and do that.

That was the thing Rafa had to deal with every day of the year. Scout a player and do the hard work and then the CEO could laugh you in the face and lie to you.

You can also add that according to Barrett Gillett and Hicks had two PR companies working for them. Why? To feed the world with lies about Rafa and make them look as good as possible. The club of course paid for them.

Try and do a good work in those circumstances.

[Arn]

Good news. Perhaps you could **** off out of this thread then.

By the way, it's not fact, it's logic. You should give it a go sometime.