Poor Roy Hodgson. Failure to convince Liverpool fans he is the right man to take the club forward to the point where they chant the name of the last man to take them to the title at games is bad enough. Having another popular predecessor leave his job and move into a house down the road is quite another. Roy must feel surrounded by the ghosts of Christmas past.
Ironically, that may be one thing he has in common with some Liverpool fans. The routine and tiresome accusations from rival fans that they live in the past, like most clichés, are not without foundation.
Reared on being Britain’s most successful club, Liverpool fans want and expect more of the same, even if most of them are much more depressingly realistic about that prospect than the caricature suggests. Certainly many fans have looked to the past as the way forward – first with the calls for Kenny Dalglish to return and now with the far-fetched campaign to ‘bring back Rafa’.
First, a reality check. It is not going to happen. The reasons why Benitez was fired are still there and so are some of the people who took or encouraged that course of action – notably some leading players. Throw in his outbursts against owners at three successive clubs and the owners’ criticism of his spending record and it is simply impossible to imagine them reappointing him now.
More interesting is the question of whether they should appoint him. He is certainly a better manager than Roy Hodgson, with a better track record and a real understanding of the club. Hodgson’s time should be nearly up for a club of Liverpool’s ambition and if he is to be replaced, a man who loves the club and has already delivered some success there might seem an obvious contender, his poor last season notwithstanding – you could put that down to the ongoing tensions and financial constraints under the previous owners. A poll on this site currently shows over two thirds of fans would welcome the appointment.
But there is a case against. For some Liverpool fans, Benitez can do no wrong. His clear love for the club and the city, the heroics of Istanbul, even the rant at Alex Ferguson make him a God-like figure in their eyes. These ‘Rafa-ultras’ regard him as a genius, the best manager in the business and probably more important than any player to the club.
They respond ferociously at times to any criticism of their man, former Liverpool hero John Aldridge was flamed so much after tweeting that he didn’t want him back that he left Twitter. While the admiration for Benitez is in some ways commendable, it can lead to a glossing over of some of his mistakes and failings while at the helm, including a shocking final season in which he had clearly lost the support of key players.
I’m a huge admirer of Benitez as a man and as a coach and there is no question that he was Liverpool’s best manager since Kenny Dalglish. He took the club forward in big steps, winning the Champions League in his first season with a relatively weak squad was an astonishing achievement. The development ebbed and flowed, but by 2009, he had taken the club to second in the table and they looked ready to make the final step and win the title.
Then Alonso was sold, Riera (an underestimated influence in bringing attacking width) fell out of favour and Benitez began to exploit the power vacuum at the heart of the club, removing key members of the backroom team and as a result alienating senior players. It would also be wrong to forget some of the perplexing substitutions and tactical changes that visibly alienated players last season.
His man management skills have never been the greatest, but in losing Alonso and clearly losing the full support of senior players, he seemed to reach a new nadir. Players did not want to play for him any longer and it showed.
Be careful what you wish for – the players then got Roy Hodgson, a nice guy but a far less able coach, with expectations that are not so much humble as defeatist. The expected buzz created by a new regime has not materialised in six months, the football is dire and the team lack both motivation and belief.
If this continues until the summer, have no doubt that the most stellar performers will be on their way. They have virtually said as much. But throwing Rafa into that mix is hardly going to smooth feathers. It would be divisive among players and fans and the media (who may not matter, but do tend to obsess Rafa) would do everything in their xenophobic power to derail the new regime. It wouldn’t be a fresh start, it’d be an admission that sacking Rafa was a mistake – a view that some in the dressing room do not share.
Rafa would also quickly clash with the new owners. They favour a transfer policy based on buying and bringing through young players – as favoured by Shanks and Paisley in years gone by and by Manchester United now. His record on bringing players through the ranks is not the best – he has tended to clash with boards primarily over availability of money to buy players.
The speedy turnover of players under Rafa would also jar with NESV – yes, he had to change things quickly and the club didn’t help as they might have, but it just isn’t the NESV way of doing things.
The reality that Rafa is not coming home to Liverpool – at least not as manager – should be obvious to all. What isn’t the equal truth is that it would be a retrograde step to appoint him. Liverpool need to look to the future – either to a young, ambitious manager to build a new dynasty or to a caretaker figure like Dalglish, until such a man can be found. Rafa was the answer in 2004, he is not the answer now.
2 comments:
A few points:
1) John Aldridge may be a bona fide Liverpool hero, but he is also a part of the xenophobic British media u mentioned and has uttered loads of Bullshit in the past few years. It's not simply a matter of being pro or against rafa.
2) Riera did relatively well in his first season.. But then again faded in the second half of the season. His performances in 09/10 were quite bad and he had a bad attitude. If manager can't drop such players, or any player as he may wish, then what do we want the manager for? Regarding width, kuyt and benayoun may prefer cutting in a lot more than going out wide, but insua and Johnson got forward a lot, as do most fullbacks nowadays, providing the width. Which is exactly the reason why we played 4231, with 2 defensive midfielders compensating for the overly offensive fullbacks.
3) losing SOME of the player support would be true. Players like Reina, kuyt, Lucas, insua, masch supported the manager. But perhaps more impt is that some players being unhappy is not a good enough reason for getting rid of the manager. Do you see that happening at man u where ferguson has produced a fair amount of unhappy players over the years?
4) Exploiting the power vacuum and removing key members of the back room staff?I think it is enough to say that rodolfo borrell who brought through among other players at barca is way better than Steve heighway. And Once again why should the players have any say in the appointments of the back room team. We might as well leave it to the players to run the club.
5)rafa has made his fair share of unpopular decisions over the years incl. Taking gerrard off v everton, and over the long run they have tended to work. Perhaps they didn't work as well in 09/10 due to many factors but we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water.
6) rafa brought in lots of young players and I don't think he would have clashed with NESV's policy and aims. In fact, one overused beating stick by the British media has been that rafa wasted too much money on young fringe squad players. Lots of academy players during his years did not end up at premier league clubs (in fact, please name me some if u are aware of any), suggesting that their quality were poor to begin with, which is exactly why rafa had to change the back room staff. How many years has it been since gerrard broke through.
7) the speedy turnover of players is a reality of life under hicks and gillette as we had to essentially buy in order to sell. It can also be read in a positive light if you wish, as we should definitely get rid of duds asap before they depreciate in value--Chelsea and shevchenko.
8) I can understand your view that the key players need to be kept happy, but the manager needs to have the authority as well. It will be a unhealthy culture if players can challenge the managers at a whim. Over the long run, if a manager really cant work with and inspire his players, then of course he should be challenged, but not as in rafa's case as he worked well with gerrard and carragher till 08/09 and gerrard regularly praised rafa. We shouldn't forget that it was only after rafa arrived that gerrard started his 20 goal seasons. Under houllier he never came close to this. If one day gerrard woke up and decided that rafa has offended him and he doesn't like rafa anymore, then fuck him.
Finally, you have as much a right of expressing your opinion as I do, and if you so conclude that bringing rafa back is a retrograde step, fine--great actually as the difference in opinions is exactly what brings mankind forward, as long as at the end of the day everyone hunkers down and works hard for the cause--just as I think the unhappy players should have done. The player who played best during 09/10 by consensus has to be Reina, and he let his football do the talking.
Your opinion is yours entirely but I do hope you will consider the stuff I have pointed out.
Merry Christmas!
Sorry typo, 7)
*sell in order to buy
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