Why Rafa Benitez Leaves Liverpool Football Club a Legend
On Thursday 3rd June 2010 the six year reign of Rafa Benitez came to a very swift end.
There had as we all know been many battles between himself and several members of the Liverpool Football Club board and owners, but Mirror Columnist Brian Reade on Saturday published a wonderful article about why he believes Rafa has left Liverpool as a Legend.
I have reproduced this below - it is worthy of being read many times over and has spread over the internet like wildfire.
Right to the end the professional pundits failed to understand why so many Liverpudlians stayed loyal to Rafa Benitez.
As 500 fans marched on Anfield after his departure, chanting the Spaniard's name, heads shook at a footballing sub-species bracketed somewhere between romantic die-hards and mawkish morons.
To the "expert" eye, these deluded fools had been conned by Benitez's cunning and blinded to his failings by the glory of Istanbul and the criminal incompetence of the American owners.
Liverpool fans they said, once among the most knowledgeable in the world, had clearly lost touch with the modern reality, and were now a sad throwback to the days when sideburned men kicked orange balls.
Well, I'd argue one of the saddest aspects of modern football is too many pundits, including ex-players, have not paid to watch a game since those orange ball days. And they've lost touch with the fan.
I'm not saying Benitez had to stay. The results and the football last year were shocking, he's been a major player in Anfield's destructive civil war, and the number of fans disillusioned with his style and methods was growing.
But to paint his six-year reign as an unmitigated disaster, sustained only by the over-sentimentalising of Istanbul, is analysis at its most skewed and cringeful. By 2004 Liverpool had been relegated to the status of European also-rans. Benitez made the club a genuine world force again.
It wasn't just that 2005 Champions League win (which is shamelessly downplayed as a fluke despite beating Fabio Capello's Juventus, Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti's AC Milan). Or reaching the 2007 Champions League final and the 2008 semi-final. It wasn't even UEFA elevating Liverpool to Europe's top-seeded club due to results under Benitez.
It was beating Real Madrid and Inter Milan at the Bernabeu and San Siro (which the Reds had never before done) and Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Magical victories at the very top of world football, which restored long-overdue respect to Liverpudlian hearts.
Ah say the experts, but he didn't win the league. True. But he got closer than any Liverpool boss in the past 20 years. A season ago he was a whisker away, taking the highest number of points by a runner-up in a 38-game season and the club's best points haul since 1988.
And he did so despite having the 5th highest wage bill in the league, the 5th costliest squad, the 5th biggest stadium capacity and a net annual transfer spend of £15million. Which should have made experts ask why Liverpool were ever considered a nailed-on top four side under Benitez, especially when the boardroom was mired in anarchy.
Ah, they say, but he'd long lost the players and the board. So why have Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt and Pepe Reina signed new long-term contracts within the past year? Why last August did managing director Christian Purslow do interviews purring over Benitez and how he was integral to the club's future?
Ah, the experts say, but that was before he let Xabi Alonso go, which everyone could see was a calamity. These would be the same experts who, for the previous couple of seasons, claimed Liverpool were a two-man team. With Alonso (on whom Benitez turned a £20million profit) never being mentioned as one of those two.
Ah, they say, but Torres apart, he only signed sub-standard dross and ended up with a shockingly-weak squad. Really?
Liverpool are sending 12 players (13 if you count Milan Jovanovic whose Bosman signing is going through) to the World Cup. Or an entire team: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Johnson, Babel, Gerrard, Mascherano, Rodriguez, Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Kyrgiakos, Jovanovic.
Eleven Chelsea players flew out to South Africa, the same number as Arsenal, and Manchester United sent eight. Does that look like he's left Anfield bare of talent?
The truth is Benitez leaves a squad worth many times more than the one he inherited, despite spending less in the past three transfer windows than he's brought in.
I don't seek to rewrite history or airbrush Benitez's failings. I saw last year's football and it stank. I felt the growing anger among players and fans at his bloody-mindedness and knew something had to give.
Which is why it may be best for all concerned that he walks on. But now he has, let's do him the honour of getting his legacy right.
Rafa Benitez was many things at Liverpool but unlike every manager since Kenny Dalglish, he was not a failure. Indeed a majority of Liverpudlians will remember him as a legend.
Because like Bill Shankly, on more days and nights than those expert pundits ever care to recall, he made the people happy.
This Article was written by Life Long Liverpool supporter Brian Reade and published in the Mirror on Saturday 5th June 2010
I have used this article because I think it covers everything that Liverpool Supporters where ever in the world they are must be feeling and thinking at the moment,.
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« Liverpool ECHO - Jovanovic deal still on, Torres & Gerrard need to see ambition, Kenny looking for new Reds king, Reds fans views on Benitez exit | Liverpool FC rumour mill: Gerrard set to snub Mourinho again, Eriksson & Pellegrini admit interest but Hiddink move unlikely, Mascherano hints at following Benitez to Inter »
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Can't agree more. Hard to accept he has to, and rightly so under the circumstance, leave. But we are so much better than 5 years ago. Really sad to read selfish comments from people like Souness who blame RB for leaving us a mess. It is bad taste and evil intention.
So we have a choice between Hodgson and Eriksson. Hodgson’s best achievements are in taking Inter to the final of the mickey mouse cup and managing two bit teams. He may replace the man who actually won that cup, won the ’slightly’ more prestigious Champions League and went to TWO finals in the CL. Eriksson I don’t even want to discuss. As foretold by many fans, the likes of Hiddink and Rijkard will not touch LFC with a barge-pole in its present condition. I just saw the highlights of us beating Real Madrid 4-0. Come the middle of next season games like that and the drubbing of Man u 4-1 on their patch will seem like they happened in some parallel universe.
Totally and utterly disagree.
The term 'legend' is dished out far too easily nowadays and it should be reserved for the likes of Dalglish, Shankley, Paisley and Fagan.
Benitez only won the CL with Houllier's players and then flopped thereafter.
I would put Benitez on a par with the likes of Sounness and Houllier.
Definitely not a legend - but one or two up from a failure.
Hi Lee,
I don't particularly agree with some of the comments in Brian's article. I personally think that Benitez will go down as a legend more because of the way be decimated a good team and played such boring football. He also had no interest whatsoever in the premier league which is why we are where we are today.
Brian was also referring , maybe in a tongue and cheek way of how the rest of the sports fraternity within the media have spent months trying to undermine the club. The London press have particularly been very guilty in this respect - a couple of reporters on the Mirror have made mistakes whilst reporting about Liverpool , but once made aware have apologised.
I would not say he was a total failure, he simply ran out of ideas and could not rescue the situation, he had created.
As matter of fact Benitez did incredibly well considering the resources and circumstances. Last season was poor but what can you expect after several transfer windows balancing the books through player sales and a negative transfer budget. The first XI of last season was still as good as any in the Prem but when the injuries hit us, the squad was paper thin.
For Fowler's sake, read the article you've just posted.
Hey Matthew I wouldn't bother mate. There will be some sections of the fans who have such a simplistic view of things. Just look at some of the comments. Apparently Rafa is on a par with Souness and Houllier. Houllier when he managed to achieve a CL place could only at best make the quarters. Rafa won the competition, went to the final and the semis. He got Liverpool ranked No1 in Europe smashing the likes of Real Madrid 4-0, beating Barca and Inter away. There is no comparison. As for comparing him to Souness, I cannot think of anything more derogatary. Rafa achieved this with little or no money. Sometimes you have no choice but to feel embarrased with some of our fans.
Good evening Jack. If would be a boring world if we all agreed on the same things particularly where sport is concerned. Rafa was a person in his own right. Souness and Houiller were again totally different people. Yes Houiller did only make the quarters in the champions League but he understand that the premiership was more important. Rafa unfortunately did not realize how important it is to Liverpool to regain their standing at the top of the league. One thing you have to also remember is that Rafa won the Champions League with a squad mainly made up of players that were bought into the club by Houiller. If he had stayed on he may well have got that win.
Souness was in a league of his own and unfortunately in the managerial stakes failed completely but that sometimes happens. Rafa has had to work with little or no money but then as a good manager he should have been able to get the players to do as he wanted - it was not happening and he lost his way - it happens.
As I said at the beginning of this comment, each of us is entitled to our own opinion and rightly so - it makes a good debate if nothing else.
You have played your own part in the undermining of LFC over the past few months,and you still do.You've shown yourself to be nothing more than a gossiping little mouthpiece in Purslow's dirty tricks campaign.There is one positive coming from the sacking of Rafa,and only one; that is that you,and the likes of you--scoundrels one and all--will hopefully leave our club alone now that the road to mediocrity has been embarked on.The irony is--and I know you don't do irony,because it is based on contradiction,which requires intelligence to grasp--Liverpool FC has now begun to tread the same sorry road as Newcastle and Leeds.You raised your fears some time back about mediocrity setting in and the risk of relegation under Benitez;well let me tell you something,you will see over the coming months and years that it was ONLY Benitez keeping us from that.The bankers representatives and the cowboys are in charge now--the same ones who were touting Klinsmann as manager at one point--and whose favoured target right now is Roy Hodgson.Meanwhile the 'inept' Benitez is being lined up to take over the European champions.Obviously you need to have a word with Massimo Moratti and put him straight on Benitez,he rates him as a world class manager,what a fool!It would be comical if it wasn't so tragic.Shame on you Faith Fulcher for your despicable articles over the past few months;and may you get the manager and the football team that your lousy and disloyal support deserves.
Hi Faith,
The reason why Houllier didn't win the UCL was that he was tactically inept, not that he prioritized the Prem which as I recall he didn't win either.
The other myth is winning the UCL with Houllier's players. While most players were homegrown or bought by Houllier I for one would argue Houllier could never have done what Rafa did. Stevie G. was probably the most important player on the road to Istanbul but there was also this little fellow called Luis Garcia who scored the winning goal against both Juventus and Chelsea.
A year ago Liverpool finished second. The champions lost Christiano Ronaldo who dived a substantial amount of points for the ManUre and Carlos Tevez, a quality forward. LFC should have invested heavily on a replacement for Alonso, a winger and another striker in case Torres got injured. Anything would have been possible. Rafa wasn't even allowed to spend the money he made from player sales and the rest is history.
There is a cancer in our club that needs to be operated asap. My fear is Rafa was the only person who was keeping the whole circus together and they got rid of him. Desperate times. Things will probably get a lot worse before they get better and who says they will get better. Hicks and Gillett have killed LFC.
Good evening Ted rogers - my you do live in a dream world dont you. I have not undermined Liverpool Football Club whatsover and I am certainly not a gossiping little mouthpiece for Christian Purslow and the way he works.
The day I die will be the day that I leave Liverpool Football Club alone, you see I happen to care about what happens both behind the scenes and on the pitch. Yes, sometimes I am nosey, but that is because as a supporter who has parted with an awful lot of cash over the years as well as lack of sleep, I ensure I know exactly what is going on, and to be honest it would be a much better idea if some of you youngsters did exactly the same.
I warned months ago that Liverpool would be going down the same road as Leeds and Newcastle unless something was done and unless the likes of SOS disappear or do things in a better manner, then there will be no new buyer and the administrators will finally come clean and say they have been managing the club for months.
As for telling the Chairman of Inter Milan about Rafa Benitez - that will not happen - Rafa has already been interviewed twice by them in the last couple of weeks. He will in all probability be announced as their manager within the next 48 hours.
Please do us all a favour, go home read up on your LFC history, have a good think and come August, whoever the manager is support him in a proper manner. If you are afraid of reading or putting up with someone else's opinions though I suggest you stay away from the Terraces - the last thing the clubs administration need at the moment are supporters like yourself, who are giving the wrong impressions to whoever shows an interest in the club.
Quoting Faith:
The administrators will finally come clean and say they have been managing the club for months.
Now this was interesting, thank you. I've heard similar rumours but until now they've just been educated guesses. You seem to know something more about this, don't you.
Hi Matthew - It was educated guess several weeks ago as soon as Martin Broughton was appointed by Barclays Capital. Once I knew what the new structure at the club was and that Tom Hicks and George Gillett have been left with only 1 share each, I began to have a nose around. I also work in the financial sector in London, so have been making discreet enquiries.
I may of course be wrong but everything that is happening at the moment certainly points in that direction.
Jack/Matthew.
You are both so wrong but then again it's not surprising to hear the same old excuses come out about Rafa's lack of money.
Absolute cobblers and sick of hearing it. In a nutshell in had money but wasted it on rubbish foreign imports like Kuyt, Babel, Josemi, Gonzales etc. He hacked off our better players, the ones who were loyal to the club, i.e. Alonso, Crouch and Keane and to cap it all off he brought in an injured Italian footballer for 20million when he was supposedly short of cash and needed reinforcments up front.
No different to Houllier in my book. Promised a lot but failed to grasp the english lead and eventually lost the plot.
Quit making excuses for him and accepting mediocrity and get with the programme FFS.
Rafa was no legend..end of
Hi Matthew - I will agree with you that in the end yes Houiller was tactically inept. He did not win the premiership but I thought he had a better understanding of it than Rafa. Nobody unfortunately will ever know if given one more season Houiller, may well have got the Champions League with the players he had.
Stevie G has always been the most important player in the team, he has his heart where it should - although it has been pulled from pillar to post over the last 12 months. Luis Garcia I will admit was a fantastic player and I was sad when he was sold on - in fact I think I threatened to crown the manager several times.
Unfortunately Rafa not investing on a player to replace Alonso is what triggered his downful - I know a lot of people say the lack of of funds was the main reason , but as I have said many times - a good manager should be able to manage with what he has.
I have often thought about who was keeping the whole sorry mess together and I honestly don't believe it was Rafa, for the simple reason, if it was, he would not have made the comments he was making. You simply do not do that. There was no way he was going to get any funds from anywhere after making some of those comments.
I know Tom Hicks and George Gillett must take 99 % of the blame for the impending catastrophe the club is facing at the moment. Believe I have sent many emails to Tom Hicks trying to make him see reason, but he is determined to bring the club down, that unfortunately is how he has made his money over the years. All we as supporters can do, is try our hardest to ensure that if things do start happening with possible investors, any demonstrations and requests for meetings with them, must be put aside, because until they do, Liverpool FC faces years in the wilderness, We must also get behind the new manager whoever he may be, because if things start to improve on the pitch, then a prospective buyer will see that the club is worth saving.
In all probability it is going to take a long time, to get rid of Tom Hicks and George Gilett. We must all be patient because it will happen and when it does, Liverpool will rise from the ashes and become great again.
My God, I'm still reeling from what you said regarding Houllier probably winning the CL if he stayed on. Which planet are you on? The man's BEST achievement was the quarters. Did he show anything that gave indication that LFC were near the top of Europe or they could get to the final let alone win it. Rafa's brilliance in Europe meant he won that competition with the likes of Biscan, Jimi TOure, Milan Barros. He proved his mastery by getting us to the finals again, the semis and getting us ranked No 1. With Rafa we beat Real Madrid home and away ( including 4-0), Juventus, Barcelona away, Inter Milan (home and away), AC Milan, Chelsea. These are the aristrocrats of European football. Please give me one elite team that Houllier beat. As for the PL, how about getting our best points in the last 20 years and improving year upon year bar only last season. This man managed all this during the period which has been the most controversial in our history when it came to the board.
I have no problems with genuine supporters holding conflicting opinions to mine--my best mate has been saying for months that he feels Benitez should go.What I do have problems with is someone using a Liverpool FC website to spout garbage and lead a campaign to hound out our manager based on the results of one bad season.You tell me to support the next manager in the 'proper manner,' you mean like you have done this season just gone?Calling for the manager to be sacked week in and week out and writing hearsay and gossip from sources hostile to LFC.Yeah that's model support that.It's you who has no grasp on reality. The ironic point I made about Inter's chairman completely passed you by also.The point I was making is that Moratti knows Benitez is world class,you don't, because you haven't got a clue.Why does Moratti want Benitez if he is so 'inept'? But whats the point in me commenting when you are so smug and content in your own ignorance.Very interesting the comment you make on the clubs 'administration.' When were you appointed to police fans on their behalf? Interesting also your comments calling for SOS to 'disappear' and suggesting that I keep my mouth shut and stay off the terraces,lest my type of support puts off potential buyers.Quite stiking remarks for someone who professes that all opinions should be tolerated don't you think? Reading inbetween the lines of everything you write something stinks to high heaven.And so I stand by my original points.
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So Benitez "decimated a good team and played such boring football"
Must be why Inter Milan - the European champions - want him to succeed Mourinho.
Massive fail Faith
Faith how can you quote Brian Reade's column, you have been crying out for Rafa to leave all season and now you reference someone else stating him to be legend material. Make your mind up. Stop messing around looking for gossip "behind the scenes" and use your position of influence to motivate fans to SUPPORT our club. Shankly hated politicians and board members, he fought them daily to get his way at Anfield and build the Bastion that became Liverpool football club, if you had been writing columns then you would have called out for him to go too, he had bad seasons, far far worse than last year but he is highly regarded by all, Rafa is a legend and he will continue to be a success whilst we rot away and all columnists, pundits and ex-pros need to admit that they have helped to oust a true great. Don't dare changing your tunes now, in a years time when Rafa is holding silverware aloft in Italy and we are regressing further remember YOU wanted this. Stick to your financial career Faith, leave the true supporting to us real fans, Liverpool Football Club, supporting our manager since 1892.