Rafael "Rafa" Benítez Maudes

The Albert Former players and managers
67

Uh, where to start…

First of all, I love Rafa and I’m pretty sure this will not tarnish it or my memory regarding him and his time at Liverpool. Never say never but I’m pretty sure if he doesn’t do something really shocking/stupid, I’ll love that man forever.

Second, I do think he could’ve been approached once when we were under new owners and looking for a manager, at least a short term one. But on the other hand, I can agree that they maybe didn’t want to go back. I don’t agree with those who usually say “you should never go back”. It’s also why I don’t understand why there’s a “he’ll never manage Liverpool again” feeling. I’m pretty disappointed if that’s the case. Klopp (or even FSG) won’t be here forever, great times are not permanent, who knows what can happen. If we need someone and there’s Rafa, a pretty good manager, free, living basically in the city, willing to return, I would hope he would be under consideration at least. But of course, his quality/reputation dropped in last years and he’s not attracting those top jobs anymore. There are obviously good reasons for that. Doesn’t mean he can’t get there again, but maybe he’s past his peak.

His family is obviously fully settled on Merseyside and that is a massive factor for him. He wants to work and still has years ahead of him, but he’s not getting younger either…

From everything I got to know about the Merseyside rivalry, I always felt it was a little bit different. The culture of the city is different. Obviously there’s no need to exaggerate and pretend like there’s no proper rivalry or hatred among a lot of people (maybe it would increase if the rivalry was actually a sporting one again, it simply isn’t because Everton are not competitive and we also had our own years of crap), but as Shanks once said, it’s different.

I don’t know, part of me still hoped he would find a club in the PL that enables him to still find the balance between working and going back to the Wirral when he can. I understand if Newcastle simply isn’t an option as long as Ashley is there. I also understand it’s not easy to sell/find a buyer for that club. Yes, they have a few interesting facts about them, there’s certain potential but it’s certainly not as easy as fans think.

I think it will be alright actually. Who knows how long he stays there, maybe if it’s a short term adventure and he says some strange things, he/we might regret it. But I see him still get the respect from the majority of Liverpool fans. And of course his face on that flag deserves to remain.

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68

I can’t see a good outcome for Rafa and the club after a few seasons. He also ends up fighting with the Executive board. He has done that with most of his previous clubs.

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69

That might have been the case when he had a 20yr working lifespan in front of him Maria…
This may well be his last chance to show the world of football, exactly how good he actually is…!

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70

Rate Rafa, He would get Arsenal in contention for UCL qualification if he got the job there. He will do a professional job at Everton but not something that will be admitted by their fanbase who wont take to him.

Least Liverpool fans can do is show him the respect and love. The banner needs to remain and they can clap for Rafa and sing the Rafa Benitez song even when playing against him

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71

I don’t quite understand where this legend about him picking fights with his respective boards is coming from.

  • When he left Valencia, he talked afterwards about the reason for him to leave: it was that he hadn’t been supported as he wanted. He didn’t fight with the Valencia board while he was there, he just left when something better came along, like almost all other managers do in a similar situation.

  • With Moores and Parry, there were no fights. Despite them being relatively poor owners, they got along quite well throughout. Things quickly got sour when g+h came in though, understandably so. And that’s probably where that false reputation comes from. The British media built up that image of him picking fights with the board, when he was indeed fighting against g+h in order to protect the club they were attempting to kill.

  • Then he went to Inter. No fights, just not such a successful spell ending up in a quick sacking, after six months in charge.

  • Then Chelsea. No fights. Just being an interim manager and doing very well there. So well that he turned the fans around, who didn’t want him in the first place.

  • At Napoli, despite the owners having a reputation of being unforgiving, and not always backing their managers to the hilt, there were no fights. He did well considering the level of support, and left well-respected by everyone, after two years.

  • Madrid was a strange episode. Zidane was being nurtured to become the new manager, but they thought they’d get Rafa in first. He had a hard time with some players, especially Ronaldo, and the fans strangely didn’t take to him, despite of him being a Madridista. Despite of this, the results were generally good, but he hadn’t the time to finish the season (maybe his style of play wasn’t attacking enough to please everyone there), and Zidane replaced him after a few months.

  • At Newcastle, he had the worst possible owner in Ashley, bar g+h. But he didn’t pick the slightest fight with him, quickly became a huge fans favourite, and did well there. He left because that club was just going round in circles because of Ashley.

  • Then he went to China. I don’t know how it went there, but I haven’t heard about him picking fights with the owners.

Looking at all this, anyone should realise that his reputation of picking fights isn’t warranted.

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73

That’s a rose tinted view Hope, massively.

He practically forced Moores out, the need to fund Rafa and compete drove the desperation to sell. He left Valencia because he wasn’t in control not because we came in, that was why he was available for us to come in. Inter and Real both got rid quickly due to infighting, he demanded Inter back him or sack him. There were problems at Napoli too hence them being very happy for him to move on but he did mostly have things in his control there so not much to fight over. Only Chelsea as an interim boss and possibly China are jobs he hasn’t ended up at war with the board. Some of those boards definitely deserved to be fought against, thank god he did with the crooks here. But its dishonest not to acknowledge that side to him. Its why he’s maybe taking the Everton job instead of a top Champions League side when he’s one of the best tactician in the game.

74

Fair enough, thanks for clarifying. I misunderstood, i got that impression over the years. Also, I thought he had a difficult time bonding the players, which Gerrard has said in the past, he was hard on some of them, such as Alonso. I will always love and respect Rafa as our former manager though, he is part of our history.

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75

2001/2 Spanish Champions with Valencia
2003/4 Spanish Champions with Valencia
2003/4 UEFA Cup winners with Valencia
2004/5 European Champions with Liverpool
2005/6 FA Cup Winners with Liverpool
2005/6 UEFA Super Cup winners with Liverpool
2006/7 Community Shield winners with Liverpool
2010/11 Super Cup winners with Inter
2010/11 FIFA Club Cup winners with Inter
2012/13 Europa League winners with Chelsea
2013/14 Italian Cup winners with Napoli
2014/15 Super Cup winners with Napoli

Picking up fights :man_shrugging: :roll_eyes:

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76

Fucks sake. Poor old Moores.

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77

Stunning lack of mention of Rafa anywhere here:

https://www.lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/3038

End of the day, he wanted Liverpool to be successful and with the arrival of billionaire owners like Abramovich he realised he’d never have the resources to compete and looked for investment, and then a sale. The fact Rafa was manager at the time was coincidental.

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78

To say he forced Moores out after less than 12 months at the club is just an astonishing manipulation of the facts.

Also, it implies it wasn’t Moores’ fault that he sold to H+G. He shouldn’t be absolved of that blame.

Also, he was too poor to own us, and not a good enough businessman. It took us two years to save up £10m for Djibril Cisse while Man Utd and Chelsea had been dropping £30m+ on players for years. We didn’t even open the club shop or have stock in the online store the day after winning the CL. Fans had been very dissatisfied with Moores, and particularly Parry, for a long time before Rafa ever showed up.

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79

Easy there Hope, way too much common sense in there for the lazy arses who couldn’t be bothered to actually know the history of the man (yet claim they love him) instead of picking up all this of random Twitter and media narratives over the course of the years.

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80

It’s a bit of a myth, like people who to this day maintain his ‘facts “rant”’ was some kind of lunatic diatribe, when the reality is it was anything but.

Rafa isn’t afraid to pick a battle, but the idea that he’ll militantly take on owners over every little issue is massively wide of the mark. What he does do, and what I appreciate him for doing while at Liverpool, is always trying to do what he sees as being the best for the club, even if that means a bit of friction with the hierarchy. He’s not a yes man. He’s a guy you want in your corner, and as a supporter of Liverpool I have nothing but respect for his words and deeds during one of our darkest episodes of modern times.

The idea that Liverpool fans would now use that against him I find a bit baffling and disappointing. Contrast it to how Ferguson never spoke a word against the Glazers, and the harm they’ve done that club.

As for relationships with players, he’s never been one to be pally with them, which some players (like Gerrard) didn’t appreciate, but he always wanted to improve them and make them the best they can be. In recent years Gerrard has come to appreciate what Rafa did for him a lot more than he did at the time.

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81

Exactly. The decision to sell was taken even before Rafa was named LFC manager. Claiming otherwise is a preposterous distortion of the truth.

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82

I’m off to Royal Ascot now. Can’t wait to see how this thread has gone by the time I get back tonight.

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83

I’m sorry but that is complete revisionism and utter hogwash. You’re once again trying to reach the lowest reaches of the argument first in order to try and win it, as is your wont at times. Have a rethink, give your head a wobble and go back and actually do some proper research. You’re better than this.

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84

Moores was shit and no matter how he tries to dress it up he sold to the worst new owners for LFC for the best deal for him. He’d obviously already determined that he needed to sell, but the drive to fund the team properly, especially whilst we had a world class manager, did make it an urgent need. If it had of been Klopp back then I doubt it would have felt so urgent. I only brought this up because someone said it was fine between Rafa and the recruitment situation before the criminals came in. It wasn’t.

85

The level of exaggeration you tend to come up with never ceases to astound me.

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86

Except for Valencia he never wins the League, that reassuring if he signs with Everton. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

87

Moore’s legacy is a man out of his depth in the wrong era.

The problem was not that he did not have deep enough pockets. The problem was that he thought he needed to. United we’re singing £300M sponsorship deals with Nike. We were singing £100M ones with Reebok.

The club had stagnated off the pitch, which meant it had stagnated on it. It’s remarkable the success we did have (lucky with some great youngsters). As well as some very good managers.

The pressure did not come from Rafa but the other shareholders. They could see the club falling further and further behind.

This give some of the background to the hostilities at the time

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