Rafael Benitez.

[Kevin D]

That's optimistic. I think the Rafa denialists will still be pretending.If managing Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia and Inter Milan didn't stop the Rafa denialists, then I don't see why managing Real Madrid will.

[Pureblood]

That's optimistic. I think the Rafa denialists will still be pretending.

 

If managing Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia and Inter Milan didn't stop the Rafa denialists, then I don't see why managing Real Madrid will.

 

Won trophies at every club.  But he's a shit mentalist who plays boring football, right?

 

If he was English the hype about his tactical acumen would go full squirrel.  

[RoboRiise]

That's optimistic. I think the Rafa denialists will still be pretending.

 

If managing Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia and Inter Milan didn't stop the Rafa denialists, then I don't see why managing Real Madrid will.

 

Reasons why I never come in this forum #873 - this thread.

 

Know the one thing I genuinely hate about Rafa?  The way that otherwise sensible posters turn into raving schoolgirls either for or against him when talking about him.  All you have to do is mention his name and it goes full #milifandom.

 

Being a 'good manager' and being the right manager for us, at the time, are not mutually exclusive options.  Mourinho, the cunt, is by any realistic standard a good manager but I don't believe he could ever be a good manager for us.  Partly because the transfer policy we have would not suit the way he builds his teams and partly because he's a massive cunt.

 

At the point Rafa left, he was not the best manager for us.  He was incapable of stepping back from his game of brinkmanship with the owners (who we all knew were cunts) by his own admission could not deliver success working within their constraints and the support was being torn apart by those issues.

 

The fact that we replaced him with a gutless shitbag also doesn't change the fact that he wasn't the right man for the club at that time.

[RobbieOR]

Reasons why I never come in this forum #873 - this thread.

 

Know the one thing I genuinely hate about Rafa?  The way that otherwise sensible posters turn into raving schoolgirls either for or against him when talking about him.  All you have to do is mention his name and it goes full #milifandom.

 

Being a 'good manager' and being the right manager for us, at the time, are not mutually exclusive options.  Mourinho, the cunt, is by any realistic standard a good manager but I don't believe he could ever be a good manager for us.  Partly because the transfer policy we have would not suit the way he builds his teams and partly because he's a massive cunt.

 

At the point Rafa left, he was not the best manager for us.  He was incapable of stepping back from his game of brinkmanship with the owners (who we all knew were cunts) by his own admission could not deliver success working within their constraints and the support was being torn apart by those issues.

 

The fact that we replaced him with a gutless shitbag also doesn't change the fact that he wasn't the right man for the club at that time.

 

This is spot on. Being a good manager doesn't equate to it being right for him to come back and replace Rodgers either.

[Jairzinho]

 

 

The fact that we replaced him with a gutless shitbag also doesn't change the fact that he wasn't the right man for the club at that time.

 

You're obviously perfectly entitled to that opinion, but it's complete bollocks to try and separate the two issues.

[Kevin D]

You're obviously perfectly entitled to that opinion, but it's complete bollocks to try and separate the two issues.

Any excuse, really:

 

[KMD7]

Any excuse, really:

 

 

Long Live Paddy Berger. 

[King Emlyn]

That's optimistic. I think the Rafa denialists will still be pretending.If managing Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia and Inter Milan didn't stop the Rafa denialists, then I don't see why managing Real Madrid will.

I don't think Benitez has done anything significant for a very long time to be honest, he was clearly brilliant at Valencia, won the CL and FA cup with us but since that FA cup win I don't think he's been that brilliant, winning the EL with Chelsea is no great shakes if you're to be honest and he's not set the world alight at the other clubs he's been at. I don't have any problem at all with Benitez I think he's a very good coach and he seems like a thoroughly decent fella but I don't think he's brilliant enough to still be at the heart of such debates and to incur so much emotion so long after he last managed us, all in all I find the ongoing arguments strange and your comment about wanting to "rub it in" I don't begin to understand.

[RoboRiise]

You're obviously perfectly entitled to that opinion, but it's complete bollocks to try and separate the two issues.

 

Which two issues, whether Rafa was the right man for the job and whether he should have been replaced by the Hodge?

 

I don't see it mate, sorry.  He wasn't the right man for the job but he shouldn't have been replaced by the Hodge.  At the time he went, I thought it was the right thing.  The separate issue is that after that had happened, he should have been replaced with someone much more suited to the club than the owl.  Doesn't change the fact I thought his time was up.

 

I was a long long way from a Rafa hater, the forum split about him ages before he went and up until close to the end of that last season I wasn't one of the ones calling for his head.  Over time though, I came round to the opinion that I stil have  - that there was just too much posion at the club for it to be good that he stayed.  It certainly wasn't all down to the man himself, the cunts who employed him had a lot to do with it as well, but the whole relationship seemed to have become dysfunctional in the extreme.

 

The owners we have now, whatever our opinions of their transfer and wages policies etc are incomparably better than twit and twat.  I don't see us threatened with loans being called in and bankruptcy under FSG for a start.

 

Looking at this season in particular though, their transfer set-up seems to include so many of the elements that caused Rafa to start his fight with G&H, in particular the suggestion that the manager isn't getting to pick the players we sign and the refusal to pay the going rate in terms of wages for the top class players.  If he were to come back, I can only see history repeating itself.

 

So how is it 'bollocks'?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

It's better than the no league cup and dogshit football we would have watched if he had stayed.

 

I've just read that you nearly 40 TK.  You should stop getting so angry at other people's views, you're getting too old for that shit.  I think Rafa is an overated manager.  Had he not had Gerrard he wouldn't have lasted past his first season.  As soon as Gerrard stopped being able to be Gerrard his tactics fell to pieces.  The club has struggled since then.  Gerrard has even said it himself.  He wishes he would have met Rodgers earlier because he would have won a few league titles.  I've got no doubts to what period of his career he is saying that about.

Why?

 

In the ten years before he met Rodgers, Gerrard played for 4 different Liverpool managers.  Why do have no doubts that he's only talking about one of them?  Is it because you are a close confidante of Stevie? Or is it because you're a blinkered cunt?

[Jairzinho]

Which two issues, whether Rafa was the right man for the job and whether he should have been replaced by the Hodge?

 

I don't see it mate, sorry.  He wasn't the right man for the job but he shouldn't have been replaced by the Hodge.  At the time he went, I thought it was the right thing.  The separate issue is that after that had happened, he should have been replaced with someone much more suited to the club than the owl.  Doesn't change the fact I thought his time was up.

 

I was a long long way from a Rafa hater, the forum split about him ages before he went and up until close to the end of that last season I wasn't one of the ones calling for his head.  Over time though, I came round to the opinion that I stil have  - that there was just too much posion at the club for it to be good that he stayed.  It certainly wasn't all down to the man himself, the cunts who employed him had a lot to do with it as well, but the whole relationship seemed to have become dysfunctional in the extreme.

 

The owners we have now, whatever our opinions of their transfer and wages policies etc are incomparably better than twit and twat.  I don't see us threatened with loans being called in and bankruptcy under FSG for a start.

 

Looking at this season in particular though, their transfer set-up seems to include so many of the elements that caused Rafa to start his fight with G&H, in particular the suggestion that the manager isn't getting to pick the players we sign and the refusal to pay the going rate in terms of wages for the top class players.  If he were to come back, I can only see history repeating itself.

 

So how is it 'bollocks'?

 

Because his replacement was likely to be a worse manager than him, and so it turned out. 

 

 there was just too much poison at the club for it to be good that he stayed. 

 

 

Between who? Rafa and Broughton? Rafa and Purslow? Rafa and fucking Hicks and Gillett?

 

I'd have been more fucked off if he was perfectly fine with what was going on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that his motives were angelic, he was obviously looking out for himself as well. Bottom line though, we had a gang of thunder cunts and retards running the club, and we binned the guy that won the club a European Cup.

 

I'm not calling for him to come back, it's simply a non starter under these owners. They want someone who's greatest achievement is getting the job, same with the chief exec. Would I prefer he was our manager than Rodgers though? Yes, clearly. As he's a much better manager.

 

Genuinely apathetic about who our manager is though really whilst we're owned by people that have no desire to make us winners. Owners, chief exec, manager, rest of the committee, and players, mainly all losers. All people that really aren't good enough, but as expectations are continually managed they soon will be.

[RoboRiise]

Because his replacement was likely to be a worse manager than him, and so it turned out.

 

That's exactly why I phrased my answer the way I did though.  I agree completely that's how it turned out, it was the worst I can remember us being but I didn't imagine that his replacement would be as bad as Hodgson was.

 

Between who? Rafa and Broughton? Rafa and Purslow? Rafa and fucking Hicks and Gillett?

 

Umm, everybody really.

 

I'd have been more fucked off if he was perfectly fine with what was going on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that his motives were angelic, he was obviously looking out for himself as well. Bottom line though, we had a gang of thunder cunts and retards running the club, and we binned the guy that won the club a European Cup.

 

The fact that I didn't think he was the guy that won us the European Cup anymore by the end is a big part of why I thought it was the right time to go.  He looked worn down by all the shit that was going on by the end of it; come to that so did the team and they're usually a good reflection of the manager.

 

I don't have any problem at all with the fact that he wasn't fine with what was going on, and I wouldn't expect anybody in his position not to also have an eye on their own situation.  It's not about 'evil Rafa' or anything I just thought both he and the team looked looked fucked, out of ideas and unlikely to improve with those two cunts in charge.

 

Your final paragraph, whilst despondent, is worryingly accurate.

[BCM]

I don't think Benitez has done anything significant for a very long time to be honest, he was clearly brilliant at Valencia, won the CL and FA cup with us but since that FA cup win I don't think he's been that brilliant, winning the EL with Chelsea is no great shakes if you're to be honest and he's not set the world alight at the other clubs he's been at. I don't have any problem at all with Benitez I think he's a very good coach and he seems like a thoroughly decent fella but I don't think he's brilliant enough to still be at the heart of such debates and to incur so much emotion so long after he last managed us, all in all I find the ongoing arguments strange and your comment about wanting to "rub it in" I don't begin to understand.

 

It was the only realistic chance of a trophy they had to win in that season. Seiing as Di Matteo had overseen them getting knocked out of the champions league.

Thats with most of the fanbase giving him shit.

[TheHowieLama]

Well - is he?

[Ezekiel 25:17]

That's optimistic. I think the Rafa denialists will still be pretending.

 

If managing Liverpool, Chelsea, Valencia and Inter Milan didn't stop the Rafa denialists, then I don't see why managing Real Madrid will.

 

 

Inter, you say ??

[janmolby]

The Benitez path has been well and truly trodden, I often think had he outseen the previous owners and still been manager that our squad would have been in much stronger shape. Perhaps minus 2nd place last year but much better equipped at a top 4 finish and a sustained run in Europe.

 

One thing I would add though, is that as a fan I have never felt the same about the club since he was removed.

 

The fallout from Hicks and Gillette, the manner in which they ousted him, and the apparent support from certain sections of our fanbase left a bitter taste. For me it really did feel like the end of an era.

 

I've been the match less and less these last ten years and I don't see that changing. I've felt apathy to each manager which has been here since, even Dalglish's return was met with a 'meh' by myself because I knew exactly how it would end. And when I see Rodgers being interviewed I actually find myself laughing at the TV.

 

Ironic that Benitez looks set to take over at Real, arguably the biggest club in the World and we're stuck here in this predicament after that clusterfuck of a season.

[The Dude Abides]

Am i the only one not that impressed by Rafa's CV since leaving? Hasn't come close to winning a league title.

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Am i the only one not that impressed by Rafa's CV since leaving? Hasn't come close to winning a league title.

That would be a no.

[BCM]

Am i the only one not that impressed by Rafa's CV since leaving? Hasn't come close to winning a league title.

 

Won 5 trophies with 3 different clubs since he left us...................................... We have won 1

[Pureblood]

Sadly it's better than our CV.  

[aws]

Napoli have as much chance of winning the title as Newcastle.

[King Emlyn]

Napoli have as much chance of winning the title as Newcastle.

Nah, they were runners up the season before Benitez took over.

[Jairzinho]

Napoli have as much chance of winning the title as Newcastle.

 

Yep, Juventus' grip on the league is similar to Bayern's in Germany. 

[aws]

Nah, they were runners up the season before Benitez took over.

Newcastle were runners up twice running under Keegan. Doesn't make them a giant of the English game with realistic expectations of success any time soon.

[King Emlyn]

Newcastle were runners up twice running under Keegan. Doesn't make them a giant of the English game with realistic expectations of success any time soon.

 

That was years and years ago, it would take just one side to hit the skids for Napoli to be in with a great shout of winning their eague, that is far from the case with Newcastle, your statement just isn't true.