Posted on Monday, 3rd May 2010 by David Tully
A great quote from Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has been doing the rounds in the papers this week. After leaving Valencia, Rafa was quoted as saying: “I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade,” in reference to the type of player the Spanish club were signing. It has resurfaced again because of what Rafa has been saying in recent days:
“I decided to sign an extension at Liverpool because the squad was good and the money could be there. But things have changed. It’s not a question of money in my contract. I said no to massive offers. I decided to stay under some conditions. I left Valencia because the conditions changed. Now they have changed at Liverpool.”
The conditions changed at Valencia when Rafa fell out with then sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch over control of transfers and the failure to reinforce the squad. The reference appears to suggest that the same thing is now happening at Liverpool and with Benitez stating he needs four or five new players to make the team competitive, a dispute with the board looks to be on the cards. There are very similar parallels with the situation back in 2004 at the Mestalla when Benitez eventually left Valencia because of the dispute. The stubborn man that he is, I have no doubt that Rafa will not settle for a “lampshade” this time either.
Back in 2004, Benitez was on the verge of leaving Valencia for Liverpool when a meeting took place between Valencia president Jaime Orti, director Manuel Llorente, Benitez himself and his agent Manuel Garcia Quillon. Llorente had offered a two year extension to Rafa’s contract but the terms were far less lucrative than what Liverpool were offering. What Benitez really wanted though was control over transfers and the removal of sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch from his post. Orti did consider the proposal but Rafa eventually left for Liverpool in the summer anyhow.
A very familiar situation developed at Liverpool over transfers. Before he signed his contract extension last season, Benitez wanted greater control over the club, and especially the signing of players. Benitez got his way and he got a lucrative contract along with the sacking of Rick Parry at the end of last season. With the lack of transfer funds this season though, Benitez once again finds himself in a difficult situation. Interest from Juventus, who have apparently offered him a big contract with sizeable transfer funds of £80million, means he once again has a bargaining chip to play with, like he did with Liverpool at Valencia in 2004.
Speculation over his future has grown and grown, and Rafa has allowed it to, so he is in the best position to negotiate with the board. He has said that he will meet with new chairman Martin Broughton in the next few days, and after the match against Hull City next Sunday, we will know whether Rafa has been successful in getting his “table.”
Related posts:
Tags: Hull City, Jaime Orti, Jesus Garcia Pitarch, Juventus, Liverpool, Manuel Garcia Quillon, Manuel Llorente, Martin Broughton, Mestalla, Rafa Benitez, Rick Parry, Valencia
Posted in View from the Kop | Comments (26)
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May 3rd, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Rafa is unbelievable. We needed a table and he has bought us a lampshade (Aquilani). And then blames the owners.
While I have nothing against the player and think he is talented enough to be a very good addition, it surely would have been wiser to move Gerrard back to his position (central midfield), play Benayoun in the hole and buy a decent back up striker. No, that’s not hindsight, I said that at the beginning of the season, too.
I don’t think that the power games Rafa plays are the Liverpool way. Those still defending the man should consider this for half a second or so. He tries do proof his point no matter what, even if it means that we lose where we would win would he use the players at his disposal to their strengths. 2007 CL Final springs to mind. That was when he convinced me that it is not about the club winning stuff but for him getting his way.
I hope we don’t give him what he wants now because he would surely waste a lot of money. Get someone in who isn’t to big for his boots and has the best for the club at his heart, no matter what.
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May 3rd, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Yep. Been saying this for a long time, about 3 years or so he is too stubborn for his own good. A coward like most people, stand up and be accountable for the mistakes. Rafa cant. No honor. OUT with all the management at the club. They disgust me. And i saw his net spend its around 18 million a year. Hes had money, just not a wise buyer. OUT NOW!
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May 3rd, 2010 at 8:46 pm
I agree with the comments; and don’t forget, Rafa isn’t the best man manager in the world. From what I understand, his motivational skills in the dressing room leave a lot to be desired. There is even speculation that he has lost the trust of a few of the senior players; that seems to fit when you look at how Gerrard has performed this season, his body language on the pitch has spoken volumes in that he isn’t happy, and his usual dynamic bursts into the box have been something of a rarity this term. We need a manager who can not only spend money wisely, but one who has the capability to motivate and inspire the players, a manager who will not play people out of position, a manager who will select players based on their current form, a manager who will not be defense minded even when playing at home! I really think Rafa has had his chance, yes… the owners must shelve a great deal of the blame for the state the club now finds itself, that said, Rafa has had some funding available to him and has wasted it on some utter dross – he therefore must recognise that he is also partly to blame for the current mess! Let’s all hope a new buyer is found sooner rather than later; let’s all hope a decent and well respected manager takes the reigns and steers us to more glory days!! Walk on…
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May 3rd, 2010 at 8:52 pm
i’ll attempt to dispell a few common myths which a few are somewhat brainwashed in to
give yourselves a minute and study this
2004/05
£2m – Josemi: peanuts and was moved on in a swap for Kromkamp 18 months later
£1.5m – Antonio Nunez: part of the Michael Owen deal and filled a gap for a while. Peanuts.
£10.7m – Xabi Alonso: Massive success and sold for £30m+ in the summer when he wanted to leave
£6m – Luis Garcia: Massive success and sold to Athletico Madrid for £4m
Free – Pelligrino: Stop gap that allowed us to rest Sami for league games, benefitting us massively in Istanbul. Now on the coaching staff.
£6.3m – Fernando Morientes: Pretty much everyone made up when we signed him, top class, but never settled. Sold for £3m to Valencia.
£1m – Scott Carson: One the most highly rated young keepers around. Lost out through injury and signing of Reina when Dudek left the club. Sold for £3.25m.
Total bought: £27.5m
Free – Marcus Babbel: Released to Stuttgart at the end of his career.
£2.5m – Danny Murphy: Xabi Alonso signed to fill the role Murphy had in the side
£8.5m – Michael Owen: Wouldn’t sign a new contract and sold before he left on a free. He’s done nothing since that is a masterstroke with hindsight.
Free – Stephane Henchoz: Released to Celtic at the end of his career
Total sold: £11m
A total of £16.5m net spend in his first year at the club, with the vast majority of that being spent on Xabi Alonso.
2004/05 net spend: £16.5m
2005/06
£240,000 – Antonio Barragan: Kid for the future. Sold for £675,000 to Deportivo a year later.
Free – Boudewijn Zenden: Signed for nothing and released for nothing. Did a job for us.
£6m – Pepe Reina: In the top 3 or 4 keepers in the world now and still young. One of Rafa’s best signings.
£5.6m – Momo Sissoko: Brilliant for a few years, had that eye injury and sold to Juventus when his form dipped for £8.2m. Replaced by Mascherano.
£7m – Peter Crouch: One signing I did question but proved to be a great bit of business. Turned him from a laughing stock into an international. Sold for £11m.
Unkown – Miki Roque: Kid bought for peanuts. Sold again for an unknown amount.
£150,000 – Jack Hobbs: Highly rated 16yr old signed from Lincoln. Didn’t progress as hoped and sold to Leicester for a reported £1.5m, although figure not confirmed.
£190,000 Besian Idrizaj: No idea who he is
£1.5m – Mark Gonzales: Cheap player to provide back up for the left wing. Sold for £3.5m to Real Betis.
Exchange – Paul Anderson: Swapped for John Welsh. Sold for £250,000.
Exchange – Jan Kromkamp: Swapped for Josemi. Later sold for £1.75m
£5.8m – Daniel Agger: Blighted by injuries but potentially top class and great signing for the money.
£250,000 – David Martin: Young reserve keeper
Free – Robbie Fowler: Pay as you play deal and no risk involved. Scored a few goals. Released in the summer.
Total bought: £26.73
Free – Vladimir Smicer: Out of contract and released. Played a small part in Istanbul.
£3.5m – El Hadji Diouf: The best £3.5m Rafa has ever recieved.
Free – Pellegrino: Filled the gap in the last 5 months of the previous season, not good enough and released.
£2m – Alou Diarra: Sold for £2m. One of Houllier’s buys.
£2m – Antonio Nunez: Bought for £1.5m and now sold for £2m when didn’t work out.
£6.5m – Milan Baros: A Houllier signing sold at a profit. He’s done nothing since.
Exchange – John Welsh: Swapped for Paul Anderson
Exchange – Josemi: Swapped for Kronkamp.
Total sold: £14m
2005/06 net spend: £12.73m
2006/07
£6m – Craig Bellamy: Good signing and later sold for £7.5m to fund Torres deal.
£2m – Gabriel Palletta: Played a few league cup games, not good enough and sold for £1.2m
Free – Fabio Aurelio: Very injury prone but a good player when fit. Great signing for nothing.
£6.7m – Jermaine Pennant: Second choice after missing out on Alves. Ran his contract down and released. Attitude stank.
£9m – Dirk Kuyt: Has his critics, but has been brilliant for the money. 15 goals last season from wide and vital to the way we play. Ultimate pro. Great signing.
£200,000 – Nabil El Zhar: Few cameos last season and improving. Injured now. Promising still. Peanuts.
£750,000 – Astrit Ajdarevic: No idea who he is, and released on a free to Leicester.
Loan – Daniele Padelli: Reserve keeper, made one appearance and never seen again.
Undisclosed – Jordy Brouwer: Young reserve.
£2.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Bargain signing, great service for a few years and sold for £3.5m when running his contract down.
Loan – Javier Mascherano: Rescued from West Ham, now one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and will probably be sold to Barca this summer for a massive profit. Paid £18.6m for him a year later at end of loan deal.
Total bought: £27.15m
£200,000 – Zak Whitbread: Youngster
Undisclosed – Bruno Cheyrou: Houllier flopped, sold for a reported £1.5m.
£3m – Fernando Morientes: Didn’t work out. Cut his losses.
Free – Didi Hamann: Great servant, released at the end of his career
£675,000 – Antonio Barragan: Paid £240,000 for him.
£2m – Djimi Traore: Houllier signing and daylight robbery getting £2m for him
£500,000 – Neil Mellor: Signed as a kid and did a job for a while. Not good enough and released.
£1.75m – Jan Kromkamp: Nunez bought for £2m, swapped for him, who then sold for £1.75m. Stop gaps at minimal expense.
£525,000 – Darren Potter: Acadamy lad, not good enough and robbery getting that much for him.
£1.5m – Steven Warnock: Probably sold to cheap and looks a mistake with hindsight. Good squad player.
Free – Salif Diao: The clearout of Houllier’s flops continues.
Total sold: £10.15m
2006/07 net spend: £17m
2007/08
£5m – Lucas Leiva: Brazilian player of the year when signed. Could still go either way but a lot to prove.
Undisclosed – Krisztian Nemeth: Promising youngster currently out on loan in Athens.
£270,000 – Mikel San Jose Dominguez: Youngester plays in the reserves.
£1.8m – Sebastian Leto: Left winger signing but refused a work permit. Sold for £3m.
£20.2m – Fernando Torres: Bargain of the century
Free – Andriy Voronin: Free transfer to strengthen the squad. Plays well in Germany, garbage over here.
£5m – Yossi Benayoun: Took a while to settle but now a key player. Superb signing and an absolute bargain.
£11.5m – Ryan Babel: Highly rated dutch international. Absolute waste of space. Bad signing on reflection, but nobody knew how he’d turn out. Still got potential but he can’t be arsed.
Undisclosed – Charles Itandje: Back up keeper signed for peanuts. Now released.
£1.3m – Emiliano Insua: Youngster who is now a full Argentinian international and massive potential. Bargain.
£6.5m – Martin Skrtel: Been off form this season so far, but brilliant last year and a good signing for the money.
£18.6m – Javier Mascherano: Completion of loan deal
Total bought: £70.7m
£2.7m – Florent Simana-Pongolle: Houllier youngster sold wanting first team football.
£100,000 – Daniel O’Donnell: Kid sold
Free – Jerzy Dudek: Released at end of contract
Free – Zenden: Released at end of contract
Free – Robbie Fowler: Released at end of contract
£4m – Luis Garcia: Wanted to return to Spain. Great service.
£6m – Djibril Cisse: Houllier signing sold to part fund Torres deal.
£7.5m – Craig Bellamy: Sold at profit to part fund Torres deal
£3.5m – Mark Gonzales: Signed for £1.5m and sold when didn’t work out.
£1.2m – Gabriel Palletta: Bought for £2m but never worked out. Young defender.
£3.5m – Chris Kirkland: Houllier signing. Injury prone and wanted first team football.
£8.2m – Momo Sissoko: Great signing, good service, sold when lost his form at a profit.
Total sold: £36.7m
2007/08 net spend: £34m
2008/09
Free – Philip Degen: Garbage, but free.
£7m – Andrea Dossena: Italian international left back. Hasn’t settled. Bad signing.
£3.5m – Diego Cavalieri: Reserve keeper. Only played league cup games so far.
£1.5m – David N’gog: Young French striker. Promising.
£19m – Robbie Keane: Everyone made up when we signed him. Didn’t work out and sold back to Spurs for £16m.
£8m – Albert Riera: Spanish international. Started well but jury still out.
Total bought: £39m
£4m – John Arne Riise: Good servant but form tailed off. Snapped their hands off at £4m.
Free – Harry Kewell: Harry who?
Undisclosed – Anthony Le Tallec: Houllier youngster finally released. Fee not known.
£11m – Peter Crouch: Laughing stock bought for £7m. Great signing. Wanted first team football.
£2.25m – Danny Guthrie: Youngster from Acadamy thought not good enough.
£3.25m – Scott Carson: Injury prone and Reina now first choice. Sold at profit.
Undisclosed – Steve Finnan: Sold for a fee believed to be £1m
£16m – Robbie Keane: Didn’t work out.
Undisclosed – Jack Hobbs: Young defender that didn’t progress. Sold for believed to £1.5m.
Total sold: £36.5m
2008/09 net spend: £2.5m
2009/10
£17.5m – Glen Johnson: Big fee, but has been brilliant so far.
£17.1m – Alberto Aquilani: Injured so far but meant to be a class act. Highly rated in Italy.
£2m – Sotirios Kyrgiakos: Last minute signing to fill Hyypia’s shoes. Only money we had to spend.
£160,000 – Daniel Ayala: Young defender, played a few times this season and looked promising.
Total bought: £36.76m
£250,000 – Paul Anderson: Youngster that didn’t progess.
Free – Jermaine Pennant: Out of contract. Poor signing.
Free – Miki Roque: No idea who he is. Bought for peanuts.
£3m – Sebastian Leto: Signed for £1.8m but didn’t get a work permit. Had to sell.
£3.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Wanted to leave and out of contract in the summer.
£30m – Xabi Alonso: Wanted to leave. Bought for £10.7m. Great signing.
Total sold: £36.75m
2009/10 net spend: £10,000
Total Players Bought: £228,976,000
Total Players Sold: £145,100,000
Total Net Spend: £83,876,000
So, that’s a total spend of just over £83m in 5 years at the club. An average of £16.6m a year.
The vast majority of his signings have been sold at profit, or if still at the club, are worth a lot more than we paid for them. Exceptions being Babel and Dossena, but we’ll still get decent fees for them when sold as they’re full internationals.
A lot of the signings above have been stepping stones in rebuilding the squad, gradually improving it by replacing players with better ones. Our league positions over the past 5 years and the improvement in our league positions and points totals show the progression.
2004/05: Finished 5th – 58 pts
2005/06: Finished 3rd – 82 pts
2006/07: Finished 3rd – 68 pts
2007/08: Finished 4th – 76 pts
2008/09: Finished 2nd – 86 pts
Is it any coincidence that the progression seems to have stopped this summer? Look at the transfer activity above for this year and it might explain why.
Look at our net spend over the past 2 years!
We have a wage bill that is the 5th highest in the league. We can’t afford to pay players £70,000 to be sat on the bench like United and Chelsea can.
Rafa Benitez’ record with signings at the top end of the market is nothing short of brilliant. Robbie Keane being the only flop, but he was sold 6 months later and only a small financial hit taken on that mistake. Rick Parry agreed the fee for buying him in the first place, and common knowledge Rafa wasn’t happy with it; feeling it was far too high.
Where has this myth come from that he’s wasted money on shite players? Have a look through the lists above and try to point them out. There isn’t many.
The ones that haven’t worked out he’s moved on, and not very often has he made a financial loss on them.
The squad is now worth a hell of a lot more than the one he inherited, and that £83m net spend over 5 years is easily offset by the increased value of the squad. He’d recoup nearly all of that through the sale of Torres alone!
He’s worked absolute wonders with the money he’s had to spend. Then take into account the massive amounts of money he’s self generated by reaching the latter stages of the CL every season. Two final appearances, one win. That £83m he’s spent he’s earned the right to spend.
And when comparing it to what United have spent in the same period is flawed, as they already had a title winning squad and all the foundations in place. They weren’t rebuilding from scratch like we were. It also doesn’t take into account their massive wage bill.
When comparing to Chelsea, they spent all their money before Rafa came to the club and just topping up an already established squad.
Man City have spent more than double in the past 12 months than Rafa Benitez has in his 5 year reign.
Do some people still want to get rid of him? If so, you’ve been listening to Andy Gray and Richard Keys for too much and unable to look at the facts yourself to form an opinion.
Every manager makes tactical mistakes. Every manager makes mistakes in the transfer market. Despite what the press seem to think; Rafael Benitez appears to make less mistakes than most.
We’re expected to win the league and European Cup on a budget and wage bill that is entitled to finish 4th or 5th in the league. We’ve been overachieving under Rafael Benitez, not underachieving.
I’m not even going to mention the environment he’s working in under them two clowns.
You’ll only miss him when he’s gone….
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May 3rd, 2010 at 9:29 pm
roy beno, you’ve posted that under the other article already, so I, too, will repeat myself:
Total spent: £228,976,000 divided by six is: £ 38,162,666.67, average, per year.
Result: Seventh!
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May 3rd, 2010 at 9:31 pm
@roy beno, you’re flogging a dead horse mate. The media has spun it so much now that everyone thinks Rafa has spent half a billion on 267 players during his time here.
We haven’t won the league in 20 years and are now being out muscled in the transfer market by the likes of Villa and Spurs yet every man and his dog thinks we’ll be title contenders every year.
Who could blame the man if he does go, only his pride has kept him here this long.
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May 3rd, 2010 at 9:32 pm
look where valencia are now
teams wanting rafa as much or more history than lfc
who will replace him
patience needed, otherwise we could be making a very big mistake
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May 3rd, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I think it would be mistake to let Rafa go now, what we need is not a new manager but new owners who can give Rafa more of a level playing field off the pitch so we can compete ON the pitch! Moores and Parry can never be forgiven for pulling the DIC deal and going with the Americans all for the sake of a few dollars more!
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May 3rd, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Any new manager who would come would want money to invest, and so does Rafa, and so did Rafa a year ago.
Liverpool last year sold Xabi for 35 mil. Arbeloa 3.5 mil and some others, earning in total 40 mil.
Rafa bought Johnson, 18 mil., Aquilani 20 mil.-still repaing.
It is clear that Rafa spent in total of 0.0 of any currrancy for transfers.
If we add 15 mil. Rafa got back for Keane in previus transfer window, a mistake, but not as costly as people make it aut to be; we can see that Liverpool wasn’t really spending any money on transfers, exept maybe for one or 2 5 – 8 mil. worth players.
You can bring Mourinho, but he to would need founds.
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May 3rd, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Anteater…. your math is really off. You must subtract what has been sold before you divide. If you remove the players we sold from the team sheet you must do the same with the money. So £228,976,000 minus £145,100,000 equals £83,876,000 Total net spent. Then divide that with six seasons. Other wise your just an idiot.
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May 4th, 2010 at 1:03 am
Roy Beno, good post (4). The fans who have been brainwashed by the media really have no idea and it is them who are pushing Rafa to the door as much as the American leeches.
It’s no coincidence that we’ve spent little and fallen off the pace this year. You can’t compete if other teams are spending and you’re not.
For all the fans who still only look at gross spend, take a basic math course and you might finally understand it. I’m sick of explaining how this works.
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May 4th, 2010 at 1:08 am
My friend likes beer. He buys 20 litres of beer for £20, then sells 10 litres of beer to me for £10.
We each have 10 litres of beer.
How much have we spent though?
Net spend, we’ve both spent £10 and both have 10 litres.
Gross spend, I’ve spent £10 and have 10 litres while my friend has spent £20 and has 10 litres.
If you read this and still can’t see why looking at gross spend is the wrong thing to look at, then god help you (and I’m an atheist!)
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May 4th, 2010 at 8:28 am
red4life, I don’t think that I am an idiot and I don’t see why you need to abuse people on here. Bad manners maybe.
If someone spends any amount on players he’s spent that. Rafa has spent, as you pointed out, £228,976,000. What is wrong with that? Why do you refer to net spent all of the time? You want to show how little of their own money the owners have put into the club. Yes, it is all right to use net spent for that purpose, but to show how much Rafa has spent to assemble our current crop of players the total amount spent is the right figure to use.
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May 4th, 2010 at 8:54 am
anyone got a spare abacus? im finding it too hard to work out
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May 4th, 2010 at 9:01 am
quote: “Yes, it is all right to use net spent for that purpose, but to show how much Rafa has spent to assemble our current crop of players the total amount spent is the right figure to use.”
idiot… did you go to a special school??
was the teacher abusing you instead of teaching maths?
are you a bitter?
over and over again people explain the basic math behind the figures, and over and over again fickle idiots have not got a clue about what is presented in front of them!
Rafa – YNWA
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May 4th, 2010 at 9:04 am
and yes i have bad manners too, but sometimes im polite.
so bad manners – polite sometimes = always bad manners??? lol
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May 4th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
right here goes.
this is the last time i will post this and please if you do not want to know this then wake up and suport another club.
if rafa is so bad why is it that i know for a fact that tevez didnt join us just becasue of his utd days and he meet rafa and got on really well that he nearly changed his mind before signing on that very day for man city. i know this , why because my brother is a football agent for a huge player and knows this for a fact, so deal with it.
mascherano is going if rafa goes, so will torres and even though reina has signed his deal, he did it for him but i do know with fact that he will seek a move next year if players are not brought into the club,
lucus has come out and said he wants rafa to stay, agger too, and yossi, so i ask you is rafa that bad or is it that same old english media enjoying the problems at this great club, take a look a whats going on, take it from me there is more going on at lfc then you even dream off.
sammy lee wants to go if rafa is off, that is fact, gerrard wants out if players are not on the way,
joe cole is not even on the list for players why, because we have not got 120 k for a player that has not played more then 5 games since last year.
silva was a target and meet with rafa and was on his way, but yes the yanks put pay to that, mata wants to join liverpool as rafa worked with him and his family before, valencia want him gone and they have to sell vill and silva, silva will probably go real or barca or inter and villa wants barca move hence why torres will not be going to barca, mata is rafa’s first choice and valencia do not all 3 players staying in spain, so rafa has began talks with his family, but can not act as no one knows what going on for the next 3 -4 weeks. this is all true, email me if you have got half a eye on whats going, or just carry on reading shite in the mail or watch con men sky sports or even just side with the con men who have brought liverpool fc to its knees.. wake up liverpool fans the only problem with lfc is the owners, if you can not see that, your blind.
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May 4th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
stand up anti rafa fahs, you want your club to managed by oneil and anyone else, you see what happens, mark my words and remember them.
you dont know half of it, what rafas had to put up with, what makes you think a manager would touch the liverpool job, with the lies and the rubbish that he has to put up with, show me a club where its all the managers fault, er,,, you can not, because there is not one, rafa s had enough and i do not blame him, can any one tell me what we did in europe before he came, for year we where nothing, now he has pput us back there, apart from this year, one bad season makes for a bad manager does it! what a load of s***e
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May 4th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
martin oniels liverpool will play for top 6 , never win the champions league, win the odd f, a cup once every 4 years, buy the odd ok english player. this is that what you want…?
oh dear…… oh well at least the real liverpool fans know whats going on,,, get out fake lfc fans please or back rafa over the con men fraud board that is killing this great club.
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May 4th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
all the rafa bashers have gone very low,,, t thought so,,,, fact does tend to keep you down,, fake liverpool fans out real lfc fans make a stand and get out dross that currently sit aorund me that i have to listen to me week in week out,
stand up real lfc fans…………..
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May 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
On balance I can’t see rafa staying a good thing. Yes he has had a tough time of it. No he hasn’t spent very much money, or had it to spend in the first place; but it’s the way he spends it which is the problem.
You can name Rick Parry as the flaw in our buying tactics and to an extent I would agree. but Rafa still apporved every single buy. He still prioritised quantity over quality every year. If he spent, on average, 18mil a year say, then well done for operating under such constraints. However, it is my belief that if he only bought 1 18 mil player a year, instead of 3 or 4 5mil players we would be a lot better off.
In addition to this he has misused and mistreated the players he does have to such an extent that there has hardly been a season go by recently without some kind of player unrest. He pissed of Xabi Alonso, Ryan Babel has seemingly always been upset, Albert Riera has been running his mouth and Arbeloa called him robotic! You can blame unruly players but he was at least partly, or totally responsible for their recruiment. If he were a good man manager then these would be non issues, or not happening at all.
Anyway, I could go on but I would be at it all day, about playing players out of position and playing politics with signings, but there really is no need. Yes he has achieved good, even great things, but 5 years is a long time in football and he has done very little to inspire me since 2006.
When I try to look at the situation dispassionately, which may be counterintuitive as a fan, all I see is a man who blames everyone but himself, with a pig headedness and lack of regard for his colleagues that has seen players and staff alike move away. The courage of your convictions is admirable. A rigid adherence to flawed strategy and tactics is just a hallmark of bad management.
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May 4th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
kopites love doing sums ie how much u spent how much you got back but at the end of the day the only thing that adds up is that your CRAP
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May 4th, 2010 at 7:24 pm
The worrying point about who Rafa has bought and sold is the amount of players he has sold. The reason that Liverpool have no squad depth is because of all the ‘players sold on at a profit’. The shear number of players in and out of the club over that time is incredible, it only points to bad purchases or bad player management there is no other factor involved. Certainly Benitez has had both of those traits labeled at him recently so it can’t be all lies. If you look at the big 3 1st team sheets almost all of them have played their positions for years and the squad has remained the same bar 1 or 2 quality players, this is strengthening the team. Arsenal have made a profit in that same time through transfers and maintained Champions League football, so in comparison Benitez is not very good at all in the market. My conclusion is this, every Liverpool fan would rather have a happy Xabi Alonso than £30m, money from sales doesn’t mean anything, if you take away the value of that player to the team Liverpool are very much worse off this season.
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May 5th, 2010 at 11:54 am
you mug mike,,, he has had to wheel and deal, one in one out, that will catch up with after a while, look at chelsea, they dont fancy a player, oh well stick him on the bench.
lfc have never been allowed to do that, we had to sell bellamt and crouch to fund other deals. but if you really can not see that we just havent invested in first choice targets and at the right time, and in a quick way then liverpool have had to go after 3/ 4th chioce players and at the last mninute, tell me why pennants deal was allowed to run down, when we could have got cash for that, oh and your going to tell me this was again rafas fault,,, what a load of shite, yo do not get the real picture, tony barrett has come out and said its 99% owners fault, DO YOU NOT SEE IT, oh and villa has soent more money than us in over 3 years too,,,, how do you ,like those facts, wake up you media driven mug you
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May 5th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Good article and even better comment Roy Beno.
You’ll never be able to convince the sheep with logic. You have one guy asking why we havent spent 18M on just one player instead of 3.5M-5M on a few players answer is: from Holliers squad the current players are Gerrard and charra add your £18M x5 would give us a squad of seven players. I mean my 3yr old wouldn’t make such a daft comment.
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May 6th, 2010 at 10:32 am
this is where we’re at folks
LFC chairman must deal with those causing the damage
Posted on May 6th, 2010 by Anfield Road
By Tom Wilson and Jim Boardman
On Saturday a senior Liverpool official made it perfectly clear that there was absolutely nothing to read from the fact that Reds boss Rafa Benítez was yet to meet new chairman Martin Broughton. He claimed it was all part of some plot to paint a false picture of disharmony at Anfield. He got on great with Rafa and Rafa was happy.
Even now it’s difficult to work out how he thought anyone would fall for that. Or why he seems to tell different stories to different people. People compare notes, compare what he’s told them, then shake their heads.
On Saturday the senior official said that there had been one meeting planned. It would have been ahead of the first-leg of the Europa League semi against Atlético Madrid, but volcanic ash put paid to that idea. When the call came out for the squad to meet up at Runcorn station, the meeting was unsurprisingly called off.
Obviously the new chairman is quite different to the last man to have the job all to himself. David Moores used to travel on the team bus with the squad; Martin Broughton doesn’t come across as someone who would feel comfortable slumming it across Europe in first class with the players.
According to the senior Liverpool official on Saturday, no other meeting had been scheduled so far. The first opportunity following the journey to Madrid would probably have been tied in with the return leg a week later, but with Rafa unavailable until after midnight it was decided, the senior official said, that there was no time for the chairman to meet the manager. Presumably the chairman – who of course has other responsibilities away from Liverpool FC – was unable to pop round to Melwood the following morning.
That following morning, the Friday, had been the day before the senior official was explaining why there hadn’t yet been a meeting. And at almost the exact time as the senior Liverpool official was explaining why there hadn’t been a meeting so far, the club’s official site was making it clear that the next opportunity for a meeting was also going to be missed.
Liverpool’s last home game of the season was the following day, the Sunday, against the team Martin Broughton has supported all his life, Chelsea. Broughton had presumably set off home early on Friday morning after watching the Atlético game, and he told the official site he wouldn’t be coming back up for that Chelsea match. He wasn’t even going to be in the city for the game, he didn’t want to be seen to celebrate any Chelsea goals. “The only sensible thing is for me to stay at home and watch it on the television,” he said.
So he wasn’t exactly making himself available for a meeting with Rafa, which in itself isn’t really a major issue. He’d cleared off before Rafa was available on the Thursday night, he didn’t stick around on Friday to meet then and he didn’t come back up on Saturday in preparation for the Sunday match, so no chance of squeezing a meeting in there.
Rafa did want to talk to him, but there clearly hadn’t been time. It was frustrating but understandable. Surely a meeting would be held before the week was out, with no game for Liverpool Rafa would have more room in his own diary to match up with Broughton’s no-doubt hectic schedule.
But then came the story on the BBC website, and other BBC outlets, soon to spread like wildfire around the rest of the media.
“Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has cancelled two scheduled face-to-face meetings with the club’s new chairman, Martin Broughton,” wrote David Bond, the BBC’s replacement for Mihir Bose as Sports Editor.
Bond had the same title at the Telegraph before joining the BBC, but will be best remembered by Liverpool fans from his time as the paper’s Chief Sports Reporter. From knowing full details of Gillett and Hick’s refinancing deal with RBS before it was announced, to publishing emails DIC and Amanda Staveley had been sent by Hicks, Bond was clearly getting information from people inside and outside the club during that very turbulent period.
So who would be talking to him now? Whoever it was wanted to add more weight to the campaign to see Rafa hounded out of the club. “It is understood that he [Benítez] pulled out of talks with Broughton last week and another the week before,” wrote Bond.
As has just been explained, Rafa did not cancel any meetings with Broughton, and whatever any fan thinks of Benítez, or where his future should be, the fact that someone from Liverpool is trying to smear the manager should set alarm bells ringing loud and clear.
This is about far more than Rafael Benítez. This is just the latest in a long line of examples of the press being briefed about Rafa in a way that certainly wasn’t designed to be supportive of the manager. What other lies are being peddled?
Even Bond seemed to be unsure of exactly what the story was, writing: “It is not clear why Benitez cancelled the meetings with Broughton, although the last two weeks have been affected by preparations for Liverpool’s Europa League semi-final meetings with Atletico Madrid. The first week in particular was heavily disrupted as Benitez’s team were forced to make the long journey to the Spanish capital by road and rail after flights were grounded by ash from the Icelandic volcano.”
Benítez didn’t cancel the meetings, but if he had it was probably slightly more important he got on that train at Runcorn than staying back to meet Broughton. Even Rafa can’t be blamed for the volcanic ash. So why would someone at Anfield feed the BBC this “story”?
There aren’t too many candidates for the source of this latest leak. Bond said it came from a Liverpool board member: “There is some surprise inside the Anfield boardroom at the timing of Benitez’s call on Tuesday for an urgent meeting with Broughton to discuss the future.”
Bond was one of the first reporters to interview Martin Broughton after his appointment, so perhaps he is a candidate for this story being fed to the press. But Broughton wasn’t at the club when the earliest briefings against Rafa began, to other members of the press. Of course it’s always possible that somebody else told Broughton that Rafa had cancelled the meetings. Someone wary of Rafa actually getting to meet the chairman, and telling the chairman exactly what has been going on.
One subtle hint that somebody was talking out of turn came in one of the infamous Henry Winter columns. In November he wrote: “The impressive managing director, Christian Purslow, is not the type for knee-jerk reactions. But it is known around Anfield that Purslow has talked to Benítez about his style of management, notably his cold detachment from the players.”
So back in November someone from the club was telling Henry Winter that Benítez had been given a dressing-down by Purslow, that Benítez was being told how to manage his players, essentially being told how to do his job. And it’s as obvious as it looks exactly who it was that impressed this information on Winter.
That wasn’t all that Winter learned from his new source: “Liverpool can afford to sack Benítez,” wrote Winter. “Compensation would be less than £5 million under the ‘mitigating the loss’ principle if he found employment.” Which perhaps should now have Winter scratching his head as to why impressive people would be on the phone to him angrily criticising the manager instead of just sacking him.
And it’s not as if Winter wasn’t afforded the opportunity to ask that question. No prizes for guessing which senior Liverpool official spent a good part of the bank holiday weekend frantically phoning around trying to get his side, or one of his sides, of the story over. It was almost as if he was frightened that the truth might come out. And Winter had a chance to challenge this particular Liverpool board member on where his stories didn’t really add up. But some reporters would rather just take the information they’re fed and repeat it, hoping there’s plenty more where that came from, than question what they are being told.
Having managed to get so many column inches out of the politicking of a certain LFC board member, Winter completely missed the irony of his opening paragraph: “If Rafael Benítez truly respects Liverpool Football Club he’ll leave Anfield today. The players have lost the faith, the boardroom is unimpressed with the politicking and the supporters are suffering, albeit in silence.”
When the truth does come out about a certain LFC board member and his efforts to keep the truth from the supporters, perhaps that silence will be broken. And maybe that silence needs to be broken. Maybe the efforts to keep the attention on Benítez to take it away from the failings of the Managing Director and the owners he worked for need to be emphasised a little more. And that might just be a bit messy – but what’s new? That’s how it’s been at Anfield for some time. “If he stays, the inevitable long goodbye becomes indescribably messy, distressing for all concerned and demeaning to a club of Liverpool’s great history. This is not a warning for Benítez, this is a fact,” wrote Winter. The same fact applies, but much more strongly, to the club’s temporary MD.
Bill Shankly was the man who made Liverpool great, the man who brought so much of that “great history” to the club. Nobody knows what he would have made of Benitez; chances are he would have seen good and bad in him and he could well have been saying Rafa’s time was up by now. But it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to work out what he would have thought of the club’s owners. And it takes even less imagination to work out what he would have thought of Christian Purslow. And less still what he would have thought of the tactics employed by the club’s current custodian to force Rafa out.
Shanks would also have torn a strip off Henry Winter had he ever been unfortunate enough to cross his path. Winter wrote of Rafa: “He’s got a centre-back at left-back and a holding midfielder at right-back.” With the only two left-backs at the club injured, what else was Rafa meant to do? One thing Rafa tried was putting the right-back at left-back, which was why the holding midfielder played at right-back on the Thursday. By the Sunday the right-back was injured too, which is why the centre-back went to left-back, and the holding midfielder stayed at right-back. This isn’t a string of excuses; it’s just some simple facts. Liverpool have to make do and mend.
Christian Purlsow’s arrival coincided with spending on transfers that, going off the fees available in public, went from being “net spend” to “net profit”. Liverpool brought more in than went out last year. That’s the calendar year 2009.
When Winter used the phrase “How embarrassing,” in his article it surely should have been to describe his own willingness to stick up so transparently for his source in the Liverpool boardroom. And really his article didn’t deserve much more time than that, as went into some kind of rant out of sympathy to his new friend on the board at Anfield.
That new friend should have the balls to stand up in public and say what he’s saying privately to the press, if he truly believes it and feels it would stand up to scrutiny. But he knows that, despite claims to the contrary, most Liverpool fans either want Benítez to stay or only want him to leave because they feel he’s been worn down by the unnecessary pressures of the past few years. The vast majority of fans will always consider Benítez a hero, whatever happens.
And that is what frightens the board member. He knows that sooner or later the manager will blow him up for what he’s done. He knows that more and more people are starting to see through him. And he knows that if he sacks the manager he’ll never be forgiven.
Liverpool’s new chairman was appointed in a non-executive role. The senior Liverpool official constantly points out that the new chairman was appointed in that way, and that he has no control over the actual running of the club, that he’s merely there to sell the club.
But the senior Liverpool official fails to mention something very important about the role of a non-executive director. According to the government-commissioned Higgs report, non-executive directors “are responsible for… where necessary removing, senior management.”
Surely a senior Liverpool official briefing the press against the club’s manager, over such a sustained period, is grounds for his removal. His decision to bad-mouth the club’s owners, however accurate it might be, is hardly the best way to attract £100m of investment. And that was his major objective when appointed. Perhaps he wanted to delay the partial sale to prolong his own career as Mr Liverpool, to help build up that empire. Is this not also grounds for removal? To discuss transfer targets – even if they are his own, not the manager’s – with the press is also grounds for removal. The list goes on.
And that, Martin Broughton, is where you come in. You need to get to the bottom of this mess and you need to get to the bottom of it fast.
It’s not just your reputation that depends on it
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