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**Gamma** · March 18, 2009, 05:49 PM

him a guh dead in 2014?

**Sir X** · March 18, 2009, 10:37 PM

Balance of power tilts to Benitez

New contract gives manager greater control of transfers but may not end the infighting at Anfield
By Ian Herbert

Thursday, 19 March 2009

- For once, a contract announcement with impeccable timing. Liverpool were in the thick of their Premier League title race and preparing for the first of what were to be three encounters with Everton in January when Rafael Benitez announced, in no uncertain terms, that he was dissatisfied with the control he was being afforded within the terms of the proposed new deal which had just hit his desk. Last night's announcement of a new five-year contract comes ahead of Liverpool's renewed, if belated, assault on the title.

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Though it also arrives against the backdrop of two of the most famous wins in the club's history – eight goals within the space of 100 hours against Real Madrid and Manchester United – the £4m-a-year deal cannot be seen as a direct reward for that. Benitez has been lobbying for weeks behind the scenes for an overriding aim: greater control over whom Liverpool pursue in the transfer market, with his agent Manuel Garcia Quilon rejecting half a dozen contract drafts. The word from both Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, was that the "checks and balances" of a corporate structure in which a chief executive operates between them and the manager must be in place at Liverpool, just like Manchester United. But Benitez, determined to avoid a repeat of the situation in July, when his protracted pursuit of Gareth Barry, the Aston Villa midfield player, ended in humiliation with the board vetoing an £18m deal, has gradually moved towards a position in which he feels comfortable.
The tortuous road towards this resolution stretches back to last April when Tom Hicks, seemingly trying to improve his own credibility in a particularly rancorous phase of his relationship with co-owner George Gillett, announced a one-year extension to a contract which expires next summer. It was hardly a ringing endorsement and on 7 November the Americans, aware that the prospect of Benitez's departure would damage their attempts to sell Liverpool, came up with a more positive announcement that contract discussions were starting in earnest. That public declaration created immediate time pressure and Benitez fanned the flames, declaring immediately that he wanted the whole business resolved by the end of that month.
Hicks and Gillett are all too familiar with Benitez's demands to deal directly with them. When they told the Spaniard in October 2007 to stop demanding more money and work through chief executive Rick Parry it presaged one of the longest sulks in Premier League history. Benitez waged the same kind of battle with the owners of the Extremadura club he managed in Spain in the late 1990s, insisting their facilities were inadequate, and the way he ridiculed the players Valencia bought him during a battle for transfer policy autonomy mirrors the recent one at Anfield. That spat brought us his now legendary line: "I asked for a table and they brought me a lampshade."
Parry has represented the prime obstacle to Benitez's ambitions. The Spaniard has taken issue with the way Liverpool's outgoing chief executive operates and with the lack of urgency, as he sees it, with which players are pursued. But Benitez has often been a source of supreme frustration. A favoured strategy has been to insist his board sign a player or lose them to Manchester United. Only last week, Benitez described dragging Parry to a fax machine to secure Lucas Leiva's services, before United might pounce. He made precisely the same warning about Italian defender Andrea Dossena, though to suggest United were interested seems far fetched.
As the Americans gradually ceded greater control towards the manager in the various drafts of the contract, Parry told Hicks and Gillett, a few days before Liverpool travelled to play Real Madrid in the Bernabeu last month, that he would be leaving at the end of the season. That appears to have been a critical staging post in the journey towards persuading Benitez that he will be operating in a different realm in the future.
So is this the end of the interminable power struggles at Anfield? Unlikely, where Benitez is concerned. Hicks and Gillett remain convinced that control of the manager's autonomy is necessary and in the words of one senior executive at Anfield, there is no way they will say to Benitez at the end of a season: "Here's £20m, we'll see you in September." The assiduous search for a replacement for Parry – commercial director Ian Ayres is a contender and former FA chief executive Brian Barwick was at the Liverpool/Real Madrid game – suggests the Americans are not looking for patsy. A strong chief executive means Benitez would have as much of a battle on his hands as ever.
But for now at least, the manager's future is secured and Liverpool have even more potential to achieve the near impossible and topple Manchester United, the champions elect.

March 19, 2009

Rafael Benitez Q&A: What does this news mean to Liverpool?

(Bradley Ormesher/The Times)

Rafael Benitez got an extra year on top of the year that many people were predicting

Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent

After this evening’s announcement that Rafael Benitez has finally signed a new five-year contract with Liverpool, Oliver Kay, Football Correspondent, answers our questions.
What does this news mean to Liverpool?
Clearly it is fantastic news for Liverpool. There had been genuine doubt about whether Benitez would stay, given the tension there has been behind the scenes at the club over the past 18 months and over his frustration at the way that the contract talks were unfolding. Even though he always wanted to stay, he admitted a week ago that he could not guarantee he would be doing so. But now everything is resolved and I think it’s fair to say that Liverpool’s supporters will be very happy.
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Does Benitez really deserve a new contract? He's been there five years and they haven't won the league?
I think a lot of people underestimate Benitez and just what he has achieved at Liverpool. It's not just winning the Champions League. People say "he's spent £200 million", but look at the net spend, which is about £120 million, and look at the improvement over the past five seasons. Look at their results in the Champions League, where they're ranked the best team in Europe. The squad still isn't in the same league as Manchester United's, but nobody else's is either. Still, they didn't look too bad up against United on Saturday, did they?
There have been a lot of stumbling blocks with the contract. Why has it been signed now?
Because all of those stumbling blocks, finally, have been overcome. He has been getting there – little by little, to use one of his favourite phrases – over the past few months. First came the agreement over the money, which in most contracts is the biggest hurdle. Then came a series of battles that he won over getting control of his transfer budget and overall control of the youth academy. Then there were assurances over the future of his coaching staff. The final stumbling block was that he wanted something in his contract to protect his position in the event of a change of ownership. I don’t know yet whether he has got any written agreement about that in the contract, but I suspect he has got the assurances he is looking for. And the deal is for five years, not the four years that most people were expecting. It’s amazing what hitting four goals past Manchester United and Real Madrid can do for a manager.
Do you think that was a factor?
It can't have done any harm in terms of heightening the owners’ sense of urgency, illustrating his value and getting the agreement finalised. It can’t have done his bargaining position any harm. I also think that these past two results will have reminded Benitez what this team is capable of achieving. If he had been tempted by Real Madrid – and I’ve never been convinced that he was at this juncture – I think their 4-0 defeat at Anfield last week will have told him which club has the greater prospects in the Champions League over the coming years.
So does this finally mean the end to all the talk of turmoil at Anfield?
On the playing side, it will bring some much-needed stability. I would expect Dirk Kuyt, Alvaro Arbeloa and a few others to agree new contracts quickly, while Benitez can also start proceeding with plans for next season. Off the pitch, it’s not so easy. They’re looking for a new chief executive, with Rick Parry leaving at the end of the season, and there are already signs that Tom Hicks and George Gillett are pulling in different directions when it comes to that appointment. Gillett, in particular, remains a fly in the ointment, but I’m certain his days are numbered. And yes I know I’ve said that before … .

Dawning of new age for Benitez, the Kop messiah

By JOHN EDWARDS
Last updated at 1:29 AM on 19th March 2009

It may not stop Manchester United cantering over the line in the race for this season’s Barclays Premier League title, but Rafa Benitez’s latest triumph is being seen on Merseyside as tangible evidence that another era is about to dawn.

There was no 42,000 capacity crowd lifting the roof off Anfield when the Liverpool manager finally ended months of uncertainty over his future by scrawling his indecipherable signature on a £5million-a-year contract that will tie him to the club until 2014.

It was a victory all the same, though, and every bit as momentous as the rousing 4-0 Champions League demolition of Real Madrid that further enhanced Anfield’s reputation as the place to be on the big European nights.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat: Benitez's penned a five-year, £25million deal at Anfield

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Every bit as significant, too, as the stunning 4-1 triumph over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday that suggested Benitez may finally be closing in on a formula for success at home as well as in Europe.

The 48-year-old Spaniard was understandably jubilant at securing his longterm future and belatedly bringing to an end a soap opera that has had more fiendish storylines than any of its fictional counterparts.

Well he might have been, too. Benitez is not renowned for compromising and last night’s long-awaited breakthrough can be taken as confirmation of a hat-trick of notable wins. First Real, then United, now co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

It will be portrayed as all parties speaking with one voice, naturally enough, but the truth is the Americans have seen the light. They examined how things are run at Manchester United, Aston Villa and even Everton and concluded that Benitez may not be a power-crazed despot after all.

Job done: Benitez and prize asset Fernando Torres shake hands during the demolition of Real Madrid

For all the suggestions that he wanted his fingerprints on every minute detail of Liverpool’s existence, Benitez sought nothing less than a mandate allowing him the final say on all team matters. To manage, in other words.

He was not prepared to tolerate any outside interference and it would appear a glance at how other American owners operate, at Villa Park and Old Trafford may just have convinced Hicks and Gillett that it wasn’t such an outlandish demand after all.

Hicks likes to convey an impression of being well informed on Merseyside issues and will have noted that, across Stanley Park, David Moyes’ word is final when it comes to football policy.

Now Benitez has had his own way, the prospect of launching a new, overdue chapter of success seems tantalisingly close at hand. He insists he is closer than ever to cracking the code on the home front but knows he needs more attacking potency and craft to counter an over-cautious approach from too many visiting teams.

Pointing the way: Liverpool's destruction of Manchester United hinted that European master Benitez may finally be cracking the nuances of the Premier Leaague

The wins over Real and United sent out their own messages but failed to disperse a nagging suspicion that any lowly Premier League side might arrange all 10 outfield players behind the ball at Anfield and hold out for 90 minutes.

It is a shortcoming Benitez intends addressing over the coming months and he will do it with renewed vigour after finally receiving assurances from Hicks and Gillett that he can do it his way, regardless of who they install as chief executive in place of Rick Parry at the end of the season.

Gillett made it clear he feels Liverpool are now primed to be European champions for a sixth time, even if the Premier League title may prove out of reach.

‘Rafa has special abilities and qualities which are admired throughout the world, as well as at Anfield,’ he said. ‘Coming after our excellent wins over Real and United, this will give us great momentum going into the final stages of the season.’

Hicks was just as elated, saying: ‘It is wonderful that Rafa has made a long-term commitment to this club. He has been responsible for our great progress since taking over as manager in 2004 and I know he will continue to build on those achievements.’

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