Would you have Rafa back?

[Guest the boy]

Vociferous is good. Passion is good.

 

Slyarse is not.

 

"You'd never get Rafa lowering expectations like that orrible odgson" - oh do fuck off.

 

In the spirit of being reasonable - can you imagine Benitez referring to a victory over Bolton as a 'famous victory'; or Rafa suggesting Liverpool as a 'top half of the table team'. That victory over Everton at Goodish would be 'utopia'. To refer to Trabzonspor as a side 'notoriously difficult to beat'. Various other ridiculous remarks, related to lessening the club on and off the pitch, scattered throughout the season.

 

If you can't recognise the difference in attitude between Rafa and Roy then you're as bad, in a different way, as those you decry.

[Spartacus]

Vociferous is good. Passion is good.

 

Slyarse is not.

 

"You'd never get Rafa lowering expectations like that orrible odgson" - oh do fuck off.

Ha ha. 'Orrible 'Odgson. Sounds like a Viz character.

[sh#t waffle]

Vociferous is good. Passion is good.

 

Slyarse is not.

 

"You'd never get Rafa lowering expectations like that orrible odgson" - oh do fuck off.

 

Why so black and white? Rafa had to go, in my opinion. Hodgson has been far, far worse than I expected him to be (and I had low expectations to begin with), and both on and off the pitch I believe him to have proved a catastrophic downgrade. This includes an almost systematic lowering of expectations which grates against my (not infallible) memories of the quotes Rafa came out with in his first year. Is that slyarse?

[Juan Galonso]

Equally you could say that about the other-side of the argument Paul.

 

Not fair. It isn't as if anyone from "the other side" has called the manager "a piss-stained arl cunt" now is it?

[Ted]

Wow. I honestly did not expect this thread to get past two pages. Truly surprising.

[Guest the boy]

'Fat Spanish cunt'; 'Piss-stained ar'l cunt'. You're all an equally buffoonish minority, albeit sitting on different sides of the fence

[goatboy59]

What you forget in your satirical bravado is that nobody suggested, match-going or otherwise, that 2008/2009 was remotely acceptable. There are those that considered it a blip, and considered Benitez as a man proven capable of rectifying it. There remain those who perceive a manager with his resume as being of a greater chance for success than Owen Coyle of Burnley and Bolton. There are those who were able to put that season into some sort of context, considering the state of the club and those seasons that came before. Those who cry perfection for Rafa are as few as you so vociferously shout call him a cunt etc. There's a difference.

 

09/10, but I know what you mean.

 

I'd have thought retaining Rafa a dubious call, but would have understood.

 

After all my own criteria for success involves plenty of Expectation Management of my own.

 

You just get me to April thinking we can win something and I'll take that whether we win something or not. So even last year's blip had something, unless 50,000 Reds want to convince us they wouldn't have descended on Hamburg. The alternative birthplace of the Beatles, how fucking ace would that have been?

 

The Rafa era's also had a profound effect on me regarding the status of past managers. Maybe because of his under/hang dog demeanour I always plumped for Paisley, but now I think Shankly. Not so many trophies, but just look at the competition; Revie, Clough, Busby, Catterick, Nicholson, Mercer & Allison, Mee & Howe. Before my time (just) but it must have been like having a World Heavyweight bout every Saturday.

 

By the time Bob's in charge almost all of that has gone. Clough came back and gave us trouble, Kendall got Everton going again and Graham at Arsenal. Then the cunt at OT, with Souness here, and the rest......

 

So to Rafa; against Ferguson, against Wenger, against Mourinho and Abramovich. It ain't the 60's but it's getting there. Add Moores and Parry, add the vermin, Purslow...

 

But do you ever watch these jugglers and they add one ball too many and then the whole lot ends up on the floor? That was Rafa last season. Did he even have the will or stomach to start it all over again? We and he knew he was never going to be given the tools, compo comes and Inter come and that's that.

 

Now? People can be blindly optimistic if they wish; he'll be fine with Brukner, he'll be fine with Comolli, he'll be fine with Henry, he'll be fine with the players that were glad to see the back of him (estimates vary) and he'll be fine with his new revised realistic transfer budget.

 

Yeeeeeeah, everything's gonna be just great!

 

Sorry, but some of us just can't go along with that.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

Wow. I honestly did not expect this thread to get past two pages. Truly surprising.

 

Probably extended by those BONEHEADS with their banners and Benitez appearing on his steps having a cuppa with Sky Sports News.

[Trumo]

Step forth he who added the "with me bag of sensi" tag. Brilliant!

[The Golden Eel]

Definitely not.

 

I'd rather him than Hodgson obviously, but I wouldn't him to be re-appointed, the main qualm being his refusal to accpet resposnsibility for anything ever. Surely he can't always be a victim?

[Guest the boy]

But do you ever watch these jugglers and they add one ball too many and then the whole lot ends up on the floor? That was Rafa last season. Did he even have the will or stomach to start it all over again? We and he knew he was never going to be given the tools, compo comes and Inter come and that's that.

 

Now? People can be blindly optimistic if they wish; he'll be fine with Brukner, he'll be fine with Comolli, he'll be fine with Henry, he'll be fine with the players that were glad to see the back of him (estimates vary) and he'll be fine with his new revised realistic transfer budget.

 

That's the question that none of us can answer. None of us know precisely what NESV hope to achieve about the club, besides a so-far vague rhetoric about challenging for the title within 5 years. And none of us know precisely the state of mind Rafa was in when he left, and of what he thinks now. Possibly he doesn't want a job anywhere, and intends to make use of his time off.

 

But a fresh Rafael Benitez is as an accomplished manager as we'll find anywhere else in the world, and it would be foolish for NESV or the club to rule him out of contention on the basis of the short tenure at Inter and the 09/10 season.

[RobbieOR]

Goatboy doesnt half rumble on, but I have to say, I enjoy reading your posts.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

Benitez needs a year out of the game to clear his head.

[goatboy59]

Goatboy doesnt half rumble on, but I have to say, I enjoy reading your posts.

 

Thanks (I think!)

 

All true of course. It's not just him that I find fascinating, it's the kind of fan King Emlyn was referring to, it's very cultish and strange but I've got to admit to an element of jealousy.

 

I've never believed that much in anyone or anything. Knee-kerk instinct is to mock it, considered response is to try and understand it.

 

If anyone had started on Kenny in 1990 I'd have been the same most likely.

[Pony Princess]

"Would you have Rafa back?"

 

Surely, 'would you be happy to see Rafa back?', since its not our choice whether he comes back or not.

 

Hodg is shite but hope we're not going to turn to militant marching on Anfield and St John's Hall everytime the board do something we question. Unless the board proves otherwise, they should be trusted to bring in the right man for the job asap and if thats Rafa, so be it.

[VladimirIlyich]

It would be a major gamble to re employ a manager who divides the fans as the current manager is actually uniting the fans through almost everybody wanting him out!

[DPW]

Genuinely surprised at the results.

[grazywalker]

Genuinely surprised at the results.

Me too

[DPW]

Me too

 

I personally dont want Rafa anywhere near the managers job again. Trying to look beyond the whys and why nots I thought that would have been the majority view, especially on these boards.

 

I find the love in for him embarrassing and those banners just cringeworthy beyond belief. However I always felt that was the view held by the odd random nutjobs, but it appears not!

[109_ultra]

Must admit I certainly didn't expect 60/40 in favour of bringing him back on what is the most vehemently anti-Benitez LFC site.

 

Completely agree with that, the stark realisation that the vast majority of our support want him back will have surprised a few.

 

Even more of a surprise when you think that Shanks and Kenny respectively stepped down and were never asked back, even though they both since admitted they'd have loved the opportunity to come around.

 

Rafa may well be handed the chance 2 of our greatest men never had the honour of being bestowed...to manage Britain's greatest club for a second time round. Does he deserve it? Time will tell....

[TommyW]

Do I want him back? not particularly, would rather a clean slate with an ambitious young manager who plays good football, but have to say it would be interesting to say the least

 

and it goes without saying he's a million times better than Roy

 

hopefully there's another option though

[coop]

I would have Rafa back instead of Hodgson but i wanted Rafa replaced at the end of last season and nothing has changed to my mind that he is not the person long term for the club.

[sh#t waffle]

I would have Rafa back instead of Hodgson but i wanted Rafa replaced at the end of last season and nothing has changed to my mind that he is not the person long term for the club.

 

Totally agree.

[TheHowieLama]

Rafa is a genius, he got paid 5 times over in the last twelve months, very tactical. Have him back? We won't need him as now it is nailed on that Mourinho will take the job. We'll spend big in the summer transfer and will win the league next year with Jose trumping Benitez again then fucking off to Portugal after a year to coach the national team. (Who then go out and beat Benitez' Spanish side in 2014 WC - at which point Rafa will still have a years payoff coming to him)

[Code]

hahaha. right. this forum is as generally least representative of match going fans and season ticket holders as there is. we'll see what the reaction is at Wolves if he remains out of a job, I suppose.

 

How is that?