With the news of the sacking of Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez , there will no doubt be a mixed reaction among Reds fans. Many will react angrily to the Liverpool board’s decision and will staunchly defend Benitez’s record, others will be glad that the Spanish manager has gone, while they will be some like me who are left bemused and confused by the whole situation.
Some papers are saying that it was player power that drove the board to sack Benitez basing their claims on the uncertainty of the futures of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. A rumour that belies the facts if we go by Guillem Balague’s report that Rafa held a 20 minute conversation with Gerrard on his birthday last Sunday. There is however, a far more straightforward explanation for it all. The transfer budget.
Straight after the last game of the season against Hull, Rafa came out and said he would stay at the club if conditions were right. The conditions were no doubt predicated on the Liverpool board guaranteeing that funds would be made available to rebuild the squad during the summer, either through player sales or extra funding. Meetings have been held in recent weeks about this issue and it was obvious that progress was not being made when stories were being leaked to the press about Rafa’s future and his conduct as manager at the club.
On many occasions, papers used the words “sources close to the Liverpool Board” or the “Anfield hierarchy” when reporting stories about Rafa’s future. Obviously tensions were mounting between the two sides over the issue of transfer funding and it seems almost certain that Martin Broughton told Benitez he could not guarantee the manager any funding, and that this has led to the great instability behind the scenes which has culminated in Benitez’s sacking.
The fundamental problem is though; any new manager will have the same issues with the Anfield board as Benitez. The team needs some investment and without funding no right minded individual would take the job when there is no real possibility of reshaping a team in their own image. The next few weeks should have been spent looking at new signings but now it will be spent looking for a new manager. John Aldridge was right when he said yesterday it would beggar belief if they haven’t got someone else to come in within the next week.
If they don’t have somebody lined up, then Purslow, Ayre, Nash, Hicks and Gillett have just shot themselves in the foot. We are now a club stuck in limbo in a time of crisis on and off the field. It may take weeks or even months to find a new manager as the situation the new coach will be coming into will be seriously unstable. While the team will be full of Benitez’s players, he will have no money to spend and rebuild the squad as his own. There is also the prospect of new ownership within the next year and they may not even want the new boss as their manager, while if he does come, he may only have a few weeks before a new season starts.
With Benitez gone, Kenny Dalglish maybe the only real candidate willing to take on the role in the short team although the club’s official statement has stated he will be helping Christian Purslow in finding a new manager. Even if he himself was offered it, he may turn down the position for fear that he cannot improve the club’s fortunes with the current owners in charge. It doesn’t matter if you like or dislike Benitez, the timing of his sacking is well and truly awful. For me, if it was to be done at all, it should have been done quickly after the last day of the season rather than now. Any new coach will truly have the biggest baptism of fire in Liverpool’s history.
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DAVID , when most of the lfc fans wake up, they will be sad at the managers passing but like me, and yes i love rafa, the club is much more improtant than anyone….
where do we start, new sponsor no top quality players to wear it, the new kit ?
no new players, no money, no new ground, what type of manager are we gettinhg while we are owned by two con men and yes they are con men and i could kill em both….
im glad this website has been posting up articles in support of rafa.
i will personally fly to liverpool and punch the owners if they even dare to utter the name jurgen klinsman.
i fully agree with David’s article: whilst i didnt think one bad season warranted a sacking due to extenuating circumstances throughout the season with injuries and BEACHBALLS.
if he were to have been sacked, i think give him one more season and wait til they find new owners.
but goodness, i dont trust the stupid hicks and gillet one sodding bit
you watch rafa at inter, and if he gets his way he will keep all inters best players, go and pinch jaun mata silva and others ad watch how hard they are to beat,,, just watch this space if king rafa ends up at inter,,, this club is making me sick,, these fucking yanks have to go,,,,
Yep, lfc are about as attractive as my right boot. Having rafa is beta than no manager but i never liked him if honest but him leaving just makes things a whole lot worse. Players will be lost, club has lost the little direction it had and where does it leave the paying fans? Just more dreams. Lfc are in danger of either being taken off the football map or becoming a west ham or worse. I suppose hicks and co dont really care, they hhave made plenty money out of lfc and if they were to be taken back by the banks what have they lost? Nothing, all borrowed money while they placed all their expenses on the club. Good bit of business on their part. Shame on parry and moores
Disaster. Bl**dy disaster.
i know one thing, thats reina will be very very unhappy and mascherano will be, i seem to read once and do have it in quotes” that i will play anywhere for rafa if he wants me to” that was javier back in jan 2010! do not be so stupid anyone as to think just because rafa has gone that all the so called star players are to stay…
very stupid to think that,,, and i almost bet this, that unless we get new blood new owners and new players,
mascherano is going, so is yossi, so is reira, so will reina.
U r truly right in saying” the timing of Rafa’s sacking”. I am really sorry fr Rafa he shld hve been given a Chance.
Well Written David.
Our club is debt ridden, new stadium is nowhere in sight, waited over 20 years for BPL and now with new manager, new changes will happen.
Moores (recently admitted his guilt)sold the club to two idiots . Hiring a Chelsea Supporter as a Chairman which in the end did the unthinkable. We are moving backwards and into the drain.
Do we need to wait for another 20 years for our long awaited BPL title.
Wrong, wrong decision! I always tell my friends to do the maths, how long did it take for Sir Sulking Ferguson to taste success. Check out the facts in the wonderful world of internet.
Thanks for the wonderful 6 season, Senor Rafael. wherever you may go, do remember that “YNWA”
I agree with all your comments lads,what i cant work out is, if it is `player power` what will happen if these players dont agree on who the new manager is??why did Gerrard say he was happy to play ANYWHERE for England but moaned when Rafa asked him to do the same(and gave him the confidence and ability by the way) no i just dont get it and i am GUTTED for Rafa and disgusted at the back stabbing of those concerned at LFC,board and players.
Lol @ boris ‘flying to liverpool’ ha ha. Sparky next, not many top managers out there at the moment boys!
You know what! Its going to be very easy for them same fans happy to see Benitez go to do the same again in 12 month to the next man in the hot seat!
We have become Tottenham!!!
You all should be embarrassed!
Yeah yeah in Souness we trust.
Purslow is a stone cold bank agent while Broughton is clearly a Chelsea trojan horse. God help us all. YNWA
Who are we going to get?
Dalglish, did well in the eighties (over 20 years ago with Liverpool), did well with a lot of money at Blackburn and did well with Celtic in a two club league. But that was a long time ago, is he really the right man for the job now?
Klinsman, disaster at Bayern.
O’Neil and Hodgson, both managers that have experience with small budgets.
I think it is a bit of a joke when people say they are not big enough for Liverpool, unfortunately we are a standing on a precipice and if we are not careful and sort things out we could go the way of other clubs and become a midtable team.
rafa had his money, he bought voronin an lucas but people dont blame him just the players. he never tried to improve how we play same tactics for 6 years! why sell alonso?? why let aurielo walk out of the club knowin we only have insua? why didnt they just offer a year extension to his contract??
SIMPLE RAFA WAS STUBOURN!!! he should have been sacked for throwin the title away 2 seasons ago!