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Rafael Benitez.


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  • 3 months later...

When Reds talk about Rafa it tends to be based upon his time here. I think his three jobs subsequently are just as significant.

 

He left us heady with the power of popular support, but with a distorted sense that he was smarter than football owners. While his football judgement was a match for anyone, his boardroom judgement was poor. Broughton memorably said that Rafa’s departure was the most blatant example of employee constructive dismissal he had ever encountered. If he had been able to learn the lessons of Inter and Chelsea first, and simply done his job, he, and the club, would have been spared the pain of the Hodgson/KK false starts.

 

Taking on the Inter Milan job run by Moratti, a man who hired and fired managers as rapidly as Sterling dumps girlfriends, was always going to be a culture shock after LFC. Succeeding the most successful European manager of modern times who had just delivered long awaited silverware to the San Siro Boardroom ramped up the challenge still further. It was a foolish choice, a disaster waiting to happen. And it didn’t take long for Rafa to discover that the slack extended by absentee owners was not there from a streetwise, knowledgeable, and hands on owner. I think that shock to the system was just what he needed.

 

If he had not learned his lesson, Chelsea would have been a repeat performance of Inter. But he had. His only job was to coach and manage the football team, ironically exactly the advice he had been given by Tom Hicks. It worked. Despite a hostile fan base he became only the second manager ever to have won the UEFA/Europa competition with two teams, and he enjoyed domestic semi final success and a top four finish. Crucially, he also wisely decided not to pick a fight with Roman Abrahamovic. The result? A restored and enhanced personal and footballing reputation.

 

Napoli has been good to him. A fanatical home support that will have reminded him of Anfield. A domestic cup, and decent EL performances, despite modest financial support. When his contract expires he will certainly be a wiser, and more valuable, manager.

 

Some want him back at Anfield. But it is difficult to see how he would fit into the FSG mould. His time under H&G was a paradox. They were our worst owners, but because they had no idea what they were doing he was left to his own devices. Would he have succeeded under tighter management then? The Moratti experience suggests no. Post Abrahamovic the answer is probably yes. But FSG are no Moratti/ Abrahamovic/Aurelio De Laurentiis, and I suspect that Rafa would be disheartened by the football-lite regime now in place.

 

Both of the potential PL destinations, Man City and West Ham look reasonable fits for different reasons. Rafa will be around, and it will be good to see him performing in the PL again.

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When Reds talk about Rafa it tends to be based upon his time here. I think his three jobs subsequently are just as significant.

 

He left us heady with the power of popular support, but with a distorted sense that he was smarter than football owners. While his football judgement was a match for anyone, his boardroom judgement was poor. Broughton memorably said that Rafa’s departure was the most blatant example of employee constructive dismissal he had ever encountered. If he had been able to learn the lessons of Inter and Chelsea first, and simply done his job, he, and the club, would have been spared the pain of the Hodgson/KK false starts.

 

Taking on the Inter Milan job run by Moratti, a man who hired and fired managers as rapidly as Sterling dumps girlfriends, was always going to be a culture shock after LFC. Succeeding the most successful European manager of modern times who had just delivered long awaited silverware to the San Siro Boardroom ramped up the challenge still further. It was a foolish choice, a disaster waiting to happen. And it didn’t take long for Rafa to discover that the slack extended by absentee owners was not there from a streetwise, knowledgeable, and hands on owner. I think that shock to the system was just what he needed.

 

If he had not learned his lesson, Chelsea would have been a repeat performance of Inter. But he had. His only job was to coach and manage the football team, ironically exactly the advice he had been given by Tom Hicks. It worked. Despite a hostile fan base he became only the second manager ever to have won the UEFA/Europa competition with two teams, and he enjoyed domestic semi final success and a top four finish. Crucially, he also wisely decided not to pick a fight with Roman Abrahamovic. The result? A restored and enhanced personal and footballing reputation.

 

Napoli has been good to him. A fanatical home support that will have reminded him of Anfield. A domestic cup, and decent EL performances, despite modest financial support. When his contract expires he will certainly be a wiser, and more valuable, manager.

 

Some want him back at Anfield. But it is difficult to see how he would fit into the FSG mould. His time under H&G was a paradox. They were our worst owners, but because they had no idea what they were doing he was left to his own devices. Would he have succeeded under tighter management then? The Moratti experience suggests no. Post Abrahamovic the answer is probably yes. But FSG are no Moratti/ Abrahamovic/Aurelio De Laurentiis, and I suspect that Rafa would be disheartened by the football-lite regime now in place.

 

Both of the potential PL destinations, Man City and West Ham look reasonable fits for different reasons. Rafa will be around, and it will be good to see him performing in the PL again.

A heck of a good post in full.

Another Europa League anybody?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Never seen this before: 

 

Dietmar Hamann, former Liverpool midfielder- 

 

'Sometimes talking to Rafa was like when your car windscreen's iced up on a winter's morning. You can't see anything, but when you switch on the de-icer gradually you start to see through the impenetrable barrier of ice – a hazy picture emerges and within two minutes you have a full technicolor image.'

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