Carra

[Guest TK-421]

It was the correct decision.

 

No it wasn't.

 

We're completely fucked and showing no signs of recovery. We're locked out of the top four and the squad is aging and plummeting in value.

 

It was a disastrous decision.

[zigackly]

[stringvest]

You mean when Rafa was trying to do the best for the club whilst Hicks, Gillette and Purslow were here, all trying to destroy it? Yeah what a bastard he was. LFC lost out because we had owners who didn't care about it and an MD concerned with his own ego and trying to play Championship manager. Not because of Rafa. And if Carragher's so concerned with the club, why was negotiating a contract whilst the future of the club was in limbo?

 

Ignorance encapsulated. Let's get this right. Hicks and Gillette were an absolute disaster for the club. To paraphrase you, if Rafa was so concerned with the club, why did he negotiate a contract with the devils whilst the future of the club was in limbo? Why did he ask the fans to lay off? And Purslow was trying to destroy the club? I can only guess at the number of twisted synapses you employed to come up with that. Explain the thought process there. Not your emotional and baseless assumptions. Let's ignore the fact that he voted against Hicks and Gilette to effectively wrest the club from them for a minute. Explain to me Purslow's motives for destroying the club. What about Broughton? You know, the man who sacked Benitez? Where does he stand in the pantheon of hate? What about Gerrard? Is he on your dartboard too?

 

This is fucking boring and I've been dragged in yet again by another obsessive ignoramus.

[stringvest]

No it wasn't.

 

We're completely fucked and showing no signs of recovery. We're locked out of the top four and the squad is aging and plummeting in value.

 

It was a disastrous decision.

 

You continue to delude yourself if you think the wounds caused by Benitez were miraculously going to be healed, and we were going to rocket up the table with minimal funding to replace Torres etc. Or that Benitez would have been around after a further tumultuous season. Or that FSG would even bother waiting that long before getting rid of him, as it's obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that his is not the sort of personality that they want to be dealing with.

[Jairzinho]

 

And some people were right ot champion Hodgson as he had done so well with Fulham, it was their right.

 

 

Haha.

[Funkasy]

[stringvest]

To be fair to stringvest here TK, he is right in what he is saying, he did say wait until the season is over.

 

He may have wanted him gone, but he wanted him gone at the end of the season.

 

And some people were right ot champion Hodgson as he had done so well with Fulham, it was their right.

 

I however didn't want him.

 

Just so we are clear on this taking sides thing.

 

Thank you Skidders. If Benitez could have resolved the problems with the team and the results, then he would have deserved another year at least. He wouldn't or couldn't. He spent rather more time fluttering his eyelashes at other clubs and making ultimatums he knew he couldn't win. He was engineering.

 

I would be happy with a manager who I do not like as a person if it meant the club were successful. That's why I wouldn't throw my toys out of the pram if we hired Mourinho. That's why I would have been happy for Benitez to stay, had there been even a flicker of evidence to suggest he might be able to turn things around. There was not. It just was not going to get better, it would have got a lot worse.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

Thank you Skidders. If Benitez could have resolved the problems with the team and the results, then he would have deserved another year at least. He wouldn't or couldn't. He spent rather more time fluttering his eyelashes at other clubs and making ultimatums he knew he couldn't win. He was engineering.

 

I would be happy with a manager who I do not like as a person if it meant the club were successful. That's why I wouldn't throw my toys out of the pram if we hired Mourinho. That's why I would have been happy for Benitez to stay, had there been even a flicker of evidence to suggest he might be able to turn things around. There was not. It just was not going to get better, it would have got a lot worse.

 

Well said.

 

Can I have next week's lottery numbers, whilst you're wildly speculating absolute baseless horseshit?

[Bjornebye]

[Guest TK-421]

Blah Blah Blah.

 

It was a fuck up. We haven't recovered.

 

Deal with it.

[zigackly]

[suigintou]

Ignorance encapsulated. Let's get this right. Hicks and Gillette were an absolute disaster for the club. To paraphrase you, if Rafa was so concerned with the club, why did he negotiate a contract with the devils whilst the future of the club was in limbo?

 

It wasn't at the time. Hicks and Gillette were still the owners and RBS hadn't yet called in the loans. Carragher's contract was signed when the club's ownership was about to change hands and therefore it's a completely different situation. So you're wrong there.

 

Why did he ask the fans to lay off?

 

Source?

 

And Purslow was trying to destroy the club? I can only guess at the number of twisted synapses you employed to come up with that. Explain the thought process there. Not your emotional and baseless assumptions.

 

He mightn't have been in league with H+G but he was trying to make footballing decisions that weren't within his remit, Insua's loan/sale and Joe Cole's signature for example. He also helped in getting rid of Rafa. Which despite your assertion, wasn't the right decision as his successor failed.

 

 

Let's ignore the fact that he voted against Hicks and Gilette to effectively wrest the club from them for a minute. Explain to me Purslow's motives for destroying the club. What about Broughton? You know, the man who sacked Benitez? Where does he stand in the pantheon of hate? What about Gerrard? Is he on your dartboard too?

 

I haven't said anything about Gerrard. The board was reconstituted when Broughton came on board and he was the only one who could reshape it, even Hicks and Gillette weren't allowed to as evidenced by their failed bid to do so. I never said Purslow was in leagues with H+G and that's a baseless assumption of yours. Given all of that, if Ayre or Purslow didn't vote in favour of NESV, Broughton could have reshuffled the board so Purslow had to vote that way. Not that it matters, Purslow wasn't about H+G or Broughton. Sure enough, when NESV took over, Purslow remained at the club, perhaps not in employ but there nonetheless. What about Broughton? Yeah he sacked Rafa and it was the wrong call. So what? Doesn't mean he wasn't right to get rid of H+G, as was his job.

 

This is fucking boring and I've been dragged in yet again by another obsessive ignoramus.

 

And again. You should see a doctor about that fetish.

[suigintou]

And of course, stringvest wanted Rafa gone. Explains a lot.

[Delmar]

Thank you Skidders. If Benitez could have resolved the problems with the team and the results, then he would have deserved another year at least. He wouldn't or couldn't. He spent rather more time fluttering his eyelashes at other clubs and making ultimatums he knew he couldn't win. He was engineering.

 

I would be happy with a manager who I do not like as a person if it meant the club were successful. That's why I wouldn't throw my toys out of the pram if we hired Mourinho. That's why I would have been happy for Benitez to stay, had there been even a flicker of evidence to suggest he might be able to turn things around. There was not. It just was not going to get better, it would have got a lot worse.

 

I also wanted Benitez gone, though unlike you, I like his character and the football his teams play. I, like you, thought that it would not get better, but probably worse. As it is it got a lot worse anyway, we are now even worse than when he was sacked. In hindsight, we might as well have kept him and saved 10-15 million. I reckon the results would not have been any worse than we've had since he was the manager.

[xerxes]

You mean when Rafa was trying to do the best for the club whilst Hicks, Gillette and Purslow were here, all trying to destroy it? Yeah what a bastard he was. LFC lost out because we had owners who didn't care about it and an MD concerned with his own ego and trying to play Championship manager. Not because of Rafa. And if Carragher's so concerned with the club, why was negotiating a contract whilst the future of the club was in limbo?

Rafa was employed to manage LFC. He failed to do that in his final year. It is hard to see how that was the best for the Club, or himself. Had he been smart,and kept his head down in that final year and done his job, we would have been in far better shape when FSG took over. Broughton, who did do his job, commented that Rafa's behaviour constituted the most compelling case of a man pursuing dismissal he had seen in his career.Rafa simply could not help himself - which is why he is currently sat twiddling his thumbs.

 

There is no dispute that G&H were the cause of our malaise.

 

Carra is employed as a pro footballer, if your case against him is that a man who has been with us for 22 years wanted to stay, it is a weak one.

[suigintou]

Rafa was employed to manage LFC. He failed to do that in his final year. It is hard to see how that was the best for the Club, or himself. Had he been smart,and kept his head down in that final year and done his job, we would have been in far better shape when FSG took over. Broughton, who did do his job, commented that Rafa's behaviour constituted the most compelling case of a man pursuing dismissal he had seen in his career.Rafa simply could not help himself - which is why he is currently sat twiddling his thumbs.

 

It's a bit of a leap to that Rafa's not a manager right now because of his disagreements with H+G. Otherwise he wouldn't have got the Inter job. And he wouldn't have been considered for other jobs but as he says, he's waiting for the right offer.

 

You can argue he could have been smarter but he was swimming against the tide under H+G (and latterly Purslow). It's no surprise that the manager wanted the best working conditions and the best for the club he's managing and so it was with Rafa. If he'd have just kept quiet and not called out the owners, we perhaps might not have had new ones. Fans certainly were alerted by Rafa to the owners being charlatans. What's your source on the Broughton thing. To my recollection he did send an email to Jim Boardman about the media sharing the decision to sack Rafa. So maybe it's best not to take his decision as the correct one?

 

If you think Rafa didn't do his job throughout his tenure, you're very much mistaken. He did that and he was successful.

 

There is no dispute that G&H were the cause of our malaise.

 

Carra is employed as a pro footballer, if your case against him is that a man who has been with us for 22 years wanted to stay, it is a weak one.

 

It doesn't matter if he's been here 22 years or 22 minutes. It was still an iffy thing to do.

[Guest ShoePiss]

What a load of fucking bollocks, anyone with a brain knew firing Benitez was the wrong thing to do just like they knew hiring Hodgson was.

[Delmar]

What a load of fucking bollocks, anyone with a brain knew firing Benitez was the wrong thing to do just like they knew hiring Hodgson was.

 

Nah, anyone with a brain knew that things were not right. Why, well there were a lot of opinions. I really think it was a close call with Benitez, even with Benitez haters, unlike with Hodgson. Hodgson was just wrongness personified. Benitez was different, in hindsight I wish he could have stayed. Back then, in those particular circumstances, I saw nothing to suggest that things would improve and thought that he had to go.

 

As far as Carragher or any other player goes, a football team is not a democracy, but a dictatorship. The ones ruled upon get paid well, but have little say in how things are run. Carragher will understand this better when he becomes a manager and has to deal with a team of Carraghers.

[silverlining]

Am I in some sort of weird club of one by admitting I like Carra *and* Benitez, and have respect and affection for both?

 

Or will I be mocked and hated by both camps for this outrageous viewpoint?

 

I'm worried that I may be outcast

[suigintou]

Anyway, I'm out. It wasn't my intention to try and defend a former manager of ours (from our own fans no less). Whether it's Ged, Kenny, Evans or whoever, they should all get 100% support from our fans. It doesn't seem to be the case which is sad. Certainly not with Rafa, who for fans really despise for some reason.

 

Anyway, good evening.

[Guest ShoePiss]

I saw nothing to suggest we'd find a better replacement. I understood we'd had a bad season but given the circumstances knew it would be wrong to remove him. Said it at the time and it sadly turned out to be correct.

[Guest ShoePiss]

Am I in some sort of weird club of one by admitting I like Carra *and* Benitez, and have respect and affection for both?

 

Or will I be mocked and hated by both camps for this outrageous viewpoint?

 

I'm worried that I may be outcast

 

It's not that weird, I've always been in that club. Lots are. Tiny brained mongs like to pigeonhole people though.

[redrosetints]

Thank you Skidders. If Benitez could have resolved the problems with the team and the results, then he would have deserved another year at least. He wouldn't or couldn't. He spent rather more time fluttering his eyelashes at other clubs and making ultimatums he knew he couldn't win. He was engineering.

 

I would be happy with a manager who I do not like as a person if it meant the club were successful. That's why I wouldn't throw my toys out of the pram if we hired Mourinho. That's why I would have been happy for Benitez to stay, had there been even a flicker of evidence to suggest he might be able to turn things around. There was not. It just was not going to get better, it would have got a lot worse.

 

It did get worse, we started life after Rafa in relegation form and ended Kings management with similar form 2 years later.

 

You remove a manager to make things better, were worse on the pitch and to prove the point any more, if it needed proving, we still have 7 of the 11 first choice Inspite of spending 150 million in the following 2 years up to the end of last season.

[Rambo]

Am I in some sort of weird club of one by admitting I like Carra *and* Benitez, and have respect and affection for both?

 

Or will I be mocked and hated by both camps for this outrageous viewpoint?

 

I'm worried that I may be outcast

 

Wow, our little gang who likes both is up to three! We'll be able to win a good old fashioned bar brawl soon!!!!

[stringvest]

Am I in some sort of weird club of one by admitting I like Carra *and* Benitez, and have respect and affection for both?

 

Or will I be mocked and hated by both camps for this outrageous viewpoint?

 

I'm worried that I may be outcast

 

You already are.

 

I have absolutely no issue with anyone respecting, linking or loving Rafa. Each to their own. It's when they are so blinded by that that they start turning on long term servants and legends of the club because of some perceived slight against their man. Some of them actually believe that Carragher and Gerrard got him sacked, so are consumed by dislike and bitterness towards them. That's where the problem comes, at least for me. I have no problem at all with people being fond of Rafa - I know some people in real life that remain fond of him to this day. They also respect, appreciate and like Carragher and Gerrard, just like you.

 

Brendan, the voice of moderation. How the fuck did that happen?