Rafa Watch

[Fosterbloke]

Yep, and lets not forget how good Gerrard was. Rafa had him at his peak and he almost single handedly got us (and Rafa) out of some big holes.

You make Rafa out to be a **** manager with a golden player.

Roy Evans had plenty of peak players and got ****.

[Tee]

You make Rafa out to be a **** manager with a golden player.

Roy Evans had plenty of peak players and got ****.

Bollocks do I. How about we had a very good Manager and one amazing player.

[Muddled]

So we need Paul Sturrock to replace Kenny?

[Fosterbloke]

Bollocks do I. How about we had a very good Manager and one amazing player.

Sounds better but it wasn't all Gerrard you know!

[Muddled]

First number is rank by “divisional wage” method, the second, by “total wage” method. Sorry for the editing, I can't seem to paste the picture of the table from the Financial Times.

The Special Ones

Bob Paisley

1

1

Alex Ferguson

3

2


Bobby Robson

2

6

Arsène Wenger

4

4

Kenny Dalglish

6

3

Rafael Benítez

11

5

Dave Mackay

8

9

Howard Kendall

9

11

Steve Tilson

10

1

John Beck

7

21

Ronnie Moore

12

17

George Graham

16

13

David Moyes

5

25

Martin Allen

17

14

Paul Simpson

28

16

Steve Parkin

38

8

Paul Sturrock

14

35

Dave Stringer

19

33

David O’Leary

33

34

The full article that the Independent lifted it from (I think) and the same lame Sturrock 'pun', is here: Est1892 Thread via Financial Times

[Chris]

You make Rafa out to be a **** manager with a golden player.

I dunno how you got that from what he wrote mate! This place is crazy sometimes, I called him an excellent manager the other day though disagreed with someone saying our only bad performances were because we rested players and got accused of belittling him. It's nuts.

TLW is the opposite where you cant praise him or criticise Carra without being hounded bad! It's like some crazy religious cult on both sides. How the hell did it come to this?!

[Dhav]

The biggest mistake we made was getting rid of Rafa when we did. At a time when the club was going through a sale process and a lot of upheavel and instability, we chose to disrupt and unsettle the playing side of the club by getting rid of the manager when what we really should have been looking to do was maintain stability and continuity on the footballing side in the hope that it would bring some much needed calm to the board room. No doubt Purslow thought if he could bring in a puppet and a yes man like Hodgson who would not rock the boat, he would make the club more attractive to prospective purchasers. However he ****ed it up royally by getting rid of a Champions League winning manager and replacing him with someone incompetent like Hodgson, and as a result the board room unrest began tranmitting itself to the dressing room and the pitch, and we were under a very real threat of being dragged into a relegation dogfight. Time has shown what an outstanding job Rafa did on a shoestring budget, and why there is such a negative perception of him in the media and by fans of other clubs I do not know. Well I do know actually - its because he didnt play the press, media and Sky's game, so they turned on him.

It's a crying shame to see such a talented and dedicated man having to tout himself for a job and having to defend his reputation and CV when the reality is the top clubs should be beating a path to his door to offer him work.

One day I hope he comes home.

[Lee]

I called him an excellent manager the other day though disagreed with someone saying our only bad performances were because we rested players and got accused of belittling him. It's nuts.

If you're talking about my post, then I've no idea how you came to the conclusion that I said you were belittling him.

[Shaggy]

Yep, and lets not forget how good Gerrard was. Rafa had him at his peak and he almost single handedly got us (and Rafa) out of some big holes.

Yes he did but I would strongly contend that Rafa knew how to get the best out of him, more than anyone else throughout his career. Had Gerrard had his way he'd have been playing in a deeper CM role - Rafa knew better and turned him into a goal machine. Something he'd never been before and hasn't been since.

[Shaggy]

The biggest mistake we made was getting rid of Rafa when we did. At a time when the club was going through a sale process and a lot of upheavel and instability, we chose to disrupt and unsettle the playing side of the club by getting rid of the manager when what we really should have been looking to do was maintain stability and continuity on the footballing side in the hope that it would bring some much needed calm to the board room. No doubt Purslow thought if he could bring in a puppet and a yes man like Hodgson who would not rock the boat, he would make the club more attractive to prospective purchasers. However he ****ed it up royally by getting rid of a Champions League winning manager and replacing him with someone incompetent like Hodgson, and as a result the board room unrest began tranmitting itself to the dressing room and the pitch, and we were under a very real threat of being dragged into a relegation dogfight. Time has shown what an outstanding job Rafa did on a shoestring budget, and why there is such a negative perception of him in the media and by fans of other clubs I do not know. Well I do know actually - its because he didnt play the press, media and Sky's game, so they turned on him.

It's a crying shame to see such a talented and dedicated man having to tout himself for a job and having to defend his reputation and CV when the reality is the top clubs should be beating a path to his door to offer him work.

One day I hope he comes home.

It was glaringly obvious at the time, and even more so now IMO. It's been downhill ever since.

[colin85]

Rafa brought Kenny back to the club, Kenny could do with some help and he should return the favour. Give Rafa a job.

[Alex]

Rafa brought Kenny back to the club, Kenny could do with some help and he should return the favour. Give Rafa a job.

Dont think Rafa could come back and play second fiddle. Id love too see it though.

[Chris]

If you're talking about my post, then I've no idea how you came to the conclusion that I said you were belittling him.

It was quite obviously aimed at me.

I say "he was an excellent manager for us but this constant re-writing of history baffles me" and you reply to me with

"Nobody is re-writing history.

Perhaps you should remind yourself of the times we constantly qualified for the CL and the good runs we had in that competition. We're miles away from that now.

We had Reina, Arbeloa, Alonso, Mascherano and the best striker in the world at the time. Our midfield today was Henderson, Adam and Spearing ffs.

The constant belittling of Rafa's achievements baffles me."

How on earth am I meant to take that as aimed at anyone else? You had the tantrum at the start of it with the "you should remind yourself we were always in the CL" bit then the dig at the end of it. All because I dared to disagree with someone saying the bad performances under Rafa only usually come where we were resting players.

Why write that in a post to me if its not partly or fully aimed at me?

[CJ]

It was quite obviously aimed at me.

I say "he was an excellent manager for us but this constant re-writing of history baffles me" and you reply to me with

"Nobody is re-writing history.

Perhaps you should remind yourself of the times we constantly qualified for the CL and the good runs we had in that competition. We're miles away from that now.

We had Reina, Arbeloa, Alonso, Mascherano and the best striker in the world at the time. Our midfield today was Henderson, Adam and Spearing ffs.

The constant belittling of Rafa's achievements baffles me."

How on earth am I meant to take that as aimed at anyone else? You had the tantrum at the start of it with the "you should remind yourself we were always in the CL" bit then the dig at the end of it. All because I dared to disagree with someone saying the bad performances under Rafa only usually come where we were resting players.

Why write that in a post to me if its not partly or fully aimed at me?

can you help me. where does he say that its not aimed at you?

[dww]

The biggest mistake we made was getting rid of Rafa when we did. At a time when the club was going through a sale process and a lot of upheavel and instability, we chose to disrupt and unsettle the playing side of the club by getting rid of the manager when what we really should have been looking to do was maintain stability and continuity on the footballing side in the hope that it would bring some much needed calm to the board room. No doubt Purslow thought if he could bring in a puppet and a yes man like Hodgson who would not rock the boat, he would make the club more attractive to prospective purchasers. However he ****ed it up royally by getting rid of a Champions League winning manager and replacing him with someone incompetent like Hodgson, and as a result the board room unrest began tranmitting itself to the dressing room and the pitch, and we were under a very real threat of being dragged into a relegation dogfight. Time has shown what an outstanding job Rafa did on a shoestring budget, and why there is such a negative perception of him in the media and by fans of other clubs I do not know. Well I do know actually - its because he didnt play the press, media and Sky's game, so they turned on him.

It's a crying shame to see such a talented and dedicated man having to tout himself for a job and having to defend his reputation and CV when the reality is the top clubs should be beating a path to his door to offer him work.

One day I hope he comes home.

It was glaringly obvious at the time, and even more so now IMO. It's been downhill ever since.

Everything about that summer was such a nightmare. Never thought that this season could come close in terms of being as gruelling/depressing.

I think there are times when the counter factual arguments about what Rafa might have gone are taken far too far. However, he was a manager who I believed in and who seemed capable of bringing in the right staff around him aswell. It is a real shame we never got to see what he could do with a freer hand in the transfer market (or at least an honest budget and no one within the club trying to stab him in the back).