No one can doubt that Rafa Benitez has done a great deal for Liverpool Football Club. Since arriving in 2004, Rafa has won four trophies and been to two Champions League finals during that time. Although he is well behind Chelsea and Manchester United in regards to trophies, he believes he has done well compared to his other rivals. He explained to Guillem Balague in the Daily Mirror:
“There is this legend that Liverpool hasn’t won many trophies, that we have failed in that aspect. Well, Chelsea and Manchester United have won 10 trophies in the six years I’ve been in Liverpool; Arsenal, Spurs and Portsmouth one. Liverpool? Four trophies and we have played in three finals. Liverpool have been competitive.”
This is certainly a fair assessment but I believe we should be focusing on more recent times rather than Benitez’s entire time as manager. For me this is no time to be reflecting on past glories but rather looking at the present situation. Of course, after such a poor season, Rafa must defend his record against his critics and I think many Liverpool fans are tired with the media’s campaign to get rid of him but with everything there are two sides to the story. Benitez says that despite the money problems Liverpool are going through the media especially still expects the team to be competing for the title:
“Does Liverpool have to win the league, as everybody demands, every year?”
No Rafa, they don’t expect you to win every year but I think you can expect criticism if you fall from 2nd and competing for the title, to 7th place, outside of the Champions League and 25 points behind eventual winners Chelsea. Certainly, one bad season doesn’t make Rafa a bad manager, far from it, but I think it is justifiable for any fan to question a season of such poor performances. Mitigating circumstances should of course be considered and Rafa has blamed three things for the lack of progress, the lack of a good chief executive who could have purchased some crucial targets, the lack of a budget to spend on transfers and wages, meaning important players have not been signed and players such as Peter Crouch have been allowed to leave, as well as the poor condition of the youth academy.
All three reasons certainly have merit to some extent, especially 1 and 3, but Rafa goes a bit far for me when he states these statistics:
“Some people say I have spent £280m. But we have spent £220m on players and generated £160m in player sales. That is the equivalent of a £60m net spend over six years: in other words, £10m spent per year. Deduct from that figure the £120m revenue from the Champions League success and qualification over that period, and we have in fact generated an additional £60m benefits for the club.”
To say he has brought in £60m rather than lost any money during his time at the club is to put the glossiest of sheen on his time at the club. Without quarrelling with the figures too much, if we study those he has sold and bought, the figures stand to work out that he has spent over £20m per year rather than £10m. In any respect though to add the Champions League money to the stats is to massage the figures for the same could be said of any Top Four club. The Top Four has a somewhat reinforcing nature about it in the sense that each year you get into it, the more likely you will be in it the year after because of th financial wealth the Champions League provides. Rafa was left with the legacy of Gerard Houllier finishing fourth, and despite nearly falling short in his first season, finishing fifth, he has stayed in that top four elite since. That was until this season and before anyone exclaims that Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have spent a great deal, you cannot deny it takes tremendous financial power to break the Top Four. Rafa’s claim that it has raised £120m demonstrates this point and although not all of it went into Benitez’s transfer kitty, it does level out some of the investment made by teams by Tottenham and Manchester City who started off with significantly worse teams than Rafa did in 2004. Remember Rafa won the Champions League final with the majority of Houllier’s team while Harry took over at Spurs with a team, although talented, had taken 2 points from 8 games. The figure for me is irrelevant then because in the end, that £120m was not brought in literally by Rafa himself but the players performing to their expected levels on the pitch.
In the end though, this is no time for those with bruised egos to be defending a past, which is just that, in the past. The focus must be on the present and what has to be done moving forward. Rafa can dispute his record with his critics if he wants but the focus must be on what comes next. Without a sizable transfer budget, there won’t be any massive overhaul of the squad, and perhaps there won’t need to be, but there are questions over some of the big name players’ futures and there are parts of the team that need dramatic changes. The ownership situation most likely will not change soon so it is up to the manager and the board to get knuckled down to business and get the players the club needs. A wheeler-dealing approach will have to be employed and some players will no doubt be leaving to finance transfers, but at the end of it, we need an improved team, no matter past issues, for next season is a crucial one in the club’s history on the pitch and to reclaim a top position must be the highest priority. Liverpool fans, as with the manager, must for the time being not look back accusatory at those who have put us in this mess, and look towards something more important, the future of the club next season.
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terry venables in the middle of the page with sponsered by the s*n underneath. what a joke.
i am embarrassed for this man if he lists the super cup and community shield among his successes! 2 “trophies” that mean absolutely sod all! and i don’t care how he interprets the figures, the bottom line is he has shelled out £220m on players HE deemed good enough for Lfc, the vast majority of which weren’t even good enough for the PL! just go, NOW!
Good article. I am not a Benitez fan. I feel he doesn’t play the football we need at a club like Liverpool and he is too negative. Also he clearly isn’t a great judge of talent and never seems to learn from transfer mistakes. He made a huge error with an Italian like Dossena and what does he do the very next summer? Buy another Italian, who also made no impact. Stupid decision. Going into the season with Ngog and Voronin as subs for Torres was also a crime against LFC. He wasted money on Aquilani that could have bought a striker. It was solely the manager to blame.
Benitez falls out with so many people inside and outside the club it’s incredible. But after all that I think after the embarrassment of last season I would give him one last chance. Only because we can’t get Mourinho, of course. And I don’t rate O’Neill or Hodgson as being fit for much more than top 4.
Benitez is, at the moment, the best of a bad bunch on offer to us.
so are you calling rafa a liar, and what do you base your figures on?
who’s your question for dj?
Where were all of you when we were thrashing the elite of Europe and whopping man utd 4-1 at Old trafford!????
It is ridiculous to just see gross spend and not net spend. 60-100 mill in 6 years aint gonna win the league…fact!
Fair article and I do believe Rafa deserves 1 year to put it right. If he cant then I think we will have to change manager.
Please rememeber Rafa is regarded as one of the worlds best and the fact that teams such as Inter, Ac milam and Real Madrid would persue him not to mention God forbid Man City!
Do u think Reina, Mach or Torres would be at LFC without Rafa?
some of you are saying give him one more season to put things right so what is a sucsessful season finishing 4th then he keeps his job sorry 4th anit good enough time to go rafa
4th 3rd 2nd is nowhere
I don’t think Liverpool”s transfer dealings over the past six years are as important to the current situation as our transfers over the last two years. Despite having that Champions’League money coming in that Rafa talks about, the club’s made a profit on transfers over that period. By comparison, over that two year period, Spurs and City have splashed out heaps of cash on new players (to be fair Spurs did have money from Berbatov, but it was about what we got for Alonso. The difference is that they’re a well-run club and don’t have to give most of their income to the banks.)
Rafa has become a joke – he no longer makes any sense when he speaks, he’s unable to motivate and inspire, some of the senior players have openly questioned his tactical decisions, yes he’s brought in a couple of good players but on average over the years he’s purchased some utter cr@p! He; stoo negative in the way he sets up the team and he is far too stuborn to listen to anyone except himself. Do I believe what I am reading in the press (with a pinch of salt) he’s apparently looking at Raul (32yrs) and Manchester City left-back Sylvinho (36yrs)??? great players in their day but please don’t let this be true!! Bring in an attack-minded manager who is able to motivate the players to perform to the best of their ability, bring in a manager who actually plays players in their correct positions!! bring in a manager who will bring us the premier league title!!
Rafa will deliver!!!
No other manager can deliver unless we get new owners delivered!
So rafa will deliver 😀
He’s the best!!!!!!!!!
Ithink most of the “supporters” are a joke. Everyone is an accountant and can judge the accounts by simply adding whatever is declared in the papers; everone knows how many players were injured, but still played; and everyone’s an expert football manager! If, and only if, these are Liverpool supporters, please be informed that you have lost your way. We should be grateful for what we got with all the restrictions. End of.
Why all this talk about giving him another chance? It doesn’t matter if Liverpool start next season with five consecutive losses – they can’t sack him! They haven’t got the money to do it. He’s got a the job until 2014 – the results are irrelevant. And make no mistake about it – if you thought last season was bad then wait for the next one. He will go on pocketing his obscene salary and accomplishing absolutely nothing for another four years.
This question is for the author of the article. So are you calling Rafa a liar, and what do you base your figures on?
DJ, I am not calling Rafa a liar, but with anyone trying to defend their position, they will inevitably exaggerate some things. The point of the article was not really to dispute the figures of the past, but look at what should be done going forward, but if you want to know where I got 20m a year from, here’s the link to a times article back in October.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article6888955.ece
Martin badger, what manager or in fact what players don’t get paid obscene salaries? What world class manager do you suggest would make a difference under current conditions? When do players have to take responsibility for their own performances, like our captain who has been poor all season?
Rafa’s net spend is important because he has always had to sell before he could buy. He has never been able to compliment the squad with the players we needed without selling first. If targets where identified, Rafa was unable to buy them because of funds not being available. More often than not we lost those players to other teams where they went on to be stars.
I always try to take account of what goes on behind the scenes, rather than read any of the daily toilet rags that do have an agenda against Rafa. If you read the same vitriol enough you can start to believe it. I am prepared to be patient, and I believe things will improve under Rafa.
Thanks for your response David. I have just looked at the link and the first name I see is Cisse, and Liverpool fans knows he was a Houllier signing already committed to join before Rafa joined us. I think we should be very careful what sources we use. I would not believe the Times online or any of their sister organisations even if they paid me. LFC fans should beware what they read.
Some other figures, still questionable, and from the Telegraph
2004/05:
IN: £2m Josemi; £1.5m Nunez; £10.7m Alonso; £6m Luis Garcia; £6.3m Morientes; £1m Carson; Free Pelligrino. Total: £27.5m.
OUT: £2.5m Murphy; £8.5m Owen; Free Babbel, Henchoz. Total: £11m.
NET SPEND: £16.5m.
WON: Champions League.
PREMIER LEAGUE: 5th
—————————–
2005/06:
IN: £240,000 Barragan; £6m Reina; £5.6m Sissoko; £7m Crouch; £150,000 Hobbs; £190,000 Idriza; £1.5m Gonzalez; £5.8m Agger; £250,000 Martin; Free Zenden, Fowler; Exchange Anderson for Welsh, Kromkamp for Josemi; Unknown Miki Roque. Total: £26.73m.
OUT: £3.5m Diouf; £2m Alou Diarra; £2m Nunez; £6.5m Baros; Free Smicer, Pellegrino; Exchange Welsh for Anderson, Josemi for Kromkamp. Total: £14m.
NET SPEND: £12.73m.
WON: FA Cup
PREMIER LEAGUE: 3rd
—————————–
2006/07:
IN: £6m Bellamy; £2m Palletta; £6.7m Pennant; £9m Kuyt; £200,000 El Zhar; £750,000 Ajdarevic; £2.5m Arbeloa; Free Fabio Aurelio; Loan Mascherano, Padelli; Undisclosed Brouwer. Total: £27.15m.
OUT: £200,000 Whitbread; £3m Morientes; £675,000 Barragan; £2m Traore; £500,000 Mellor; £1.75m Kromkamp; £525,000 Potter; £1.5m Warnock; Free Hamann, Diao; Undisclosed Cheyrou. Total: £10.15m.
NET SPEND: £17m.
PREMIER LEAGUE: 3rd and reached Champions League final.
—————————–
2007/08:
IN: £5m Lucas; £270,000 Jose Dominguez; £1.8m Leto; £20.2m Torres; £5m Benayoun; £11.5m Babel; £1.3m Insua; £6.5m Skrtel; £18.6m Mascherano; Free Voronin; Undisclosed Nemeth, Itandje. Total: £70.7m.
OUT: £2.7m Sinama-Pongolle; £100,000 O’Donnell; £4m Luis Garcia; £6m Cisse; £7.5m Bellamy; £3.5m Gonzalez; £1.2m Palletta; £3.5m Kirkland; £8.2m Sissoko; Free Dudek, Fowler. Total: £36.7m.
NET SPEND: £34m.
PREMIER LEAGUE: 4th
—————————–
2008/09:
IN: £7m Dossena; £3.5m Cavalieri; £1.5m N’gog; £19m Keane; £8m Riera; Free Degen. Total: £39m.
OUT: £4m Riise; £11m Crouch; £2.25m Guthrie; £3.25m Carson; £16m Keane; Free Kewell; Undisclosed Le Tallec, Finnan, Hobbs. Total: £36.5m.
NET SPEND: £2.5m.
PREMIER LEAGUE: 2nd
—————————–
2009/10:
IN: £17.5m Johnson; £17.1m Aquilani; £2m Kyrgiakos; £160,000 Ayala; £1.5m Maxi Rodriguez. Total: £38.26m.
OUT: £250,000 Anderson; £3m Leto; £3.5m Arbeloa; £30m Alonso; £4.4m Dossena; £1.5m Voronin; Free Pennant, Miki Roque. Total: £42.65m.
NET SPEND: -£4.25m.
—————————–
TOTAL BOUGHT: £230,476,000.
TOTAL SOLD: £151,000,000.
TOTAL NET SPEND: £79,476,000.
Thanks DJ, good info, as I said before though, no matter what has gone on in the past, we need to focus on the future of the club now. Whether that is with Rafa or not. As I said in the article, the media really slant their articles against Rafa but Rafa replying to them with such answers to defend his record is not what he should be focusing on. He needs to get on with running the club and looking for potential transfer targets.
Thanks David, but I will stand by Rafa while there is an unbalanced approach to analyzing what he has done for LFC.
Like you, I and others have our own opinions, and, I for one am supporting Rafa because I believe in him. Now, you can think what you like, but I hope he stays and turns this club around. I have watched other clubs change managers, and it’s not always for the better.
Rafa is a good coach, that’s why top teams in Europe would covet him. Rafa has put a structure in place for the reserves that will pay dividends if we are patient. Jose Segura the academy technical manager was responsible for developing Messi, Iniesta and Xavi at Barcelona. I believe with new owners and a little luck things can turn around rapidly. We all get frustrated with this team and Rafa at times.