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Martin Samuel: Don't weep for Rafa Benitez, he made his own bed...
Last updated at 3:22 AM on 6th May 2010
There exists a very good reason why Liverpool have not gone creeping to Rafael Benitez to offer or receive assurances about his future at the club. Probably, when they gave him the five-year contract he had driven them mad for last season, they thought all that nonsense was over.
On March 17, 2009, having taken full advantage of making Liverpool competitive in the title race for the first time since arriving at Anfield, Benitez agreed a contract until 2014. Why, then, should the club be enquiring obsequiously about his long-term plans now?
As usual with Benitez, the details conflict. He is said to have cancelled two meetings with his bosses, yet only last week claimed there had been no moves to ensure he stayed. Yet, why should there be? If Benitez wants to go to Juventus — who are in no better state than Liverpool, in that each club is no longer the powerhouse of old — he needs to approach his employers and ask to be released, not the other way around. Chances are they will comply. The romance has long fled from this relationship.
No love lost: The romance between Liverpool and Benitez has long since died
It is worth remembering, too, that Benitez made the running over his lengthy commitment to Liverpool. Rick Parry, the chief executive, was as good as thrown overboard to accommodate him and Benitez asked for control of transfer policy, and received it. He got everything he wanted and has responded with a wipe-out. Liverpool supporters had better hope their team did roll over against Chelsea on Sunday; if that was them trying, they really do have a problem.
Benitez is hinting that certain guarantees have not been met, but this is an old tactic. Whether Liverpool have the money for the massive rebuilding project required after 105 player trades in five seasons
is an entirely different matter.
What they do have, Benitez utilises as he wishes, and no manager can ask for more. It is unrealistic to be allowed to spend money that the club does not possess. Along this road Portsmouth lies and if Benitez was unaware that Liverpool were relatively impoverished until new owners could be found, he was alone in this misapprehension.
He certainly seemed keen enough to stay a year ago. Liverpool executives spent the season walking on eggshells around Benitez due to his demands for a long-term contract on his terms.
I recall the press team being terrified of allowing any one-on-one interviews with their manager, because the one time he sat down with a journalist he used the opportunity to relentlessly pursue his own agenda, leading to months of speculation about divisions at the club. He twice hijacked press conferences on the eve of major matches to do the same.
In the end, two results drove Benitez and his many caveats over the line. Liverpool beat Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield on March 10, then went to Manchester United and won 4-1 on March 14. The supporters were understandably ecstatic.
Liverpool were on for a League and European double and Benitez could do no wrong. It was pondered whether any manager was more capable of achieving those results for Liverpool; the answer was no, and by the time the club next played Benitez had his five-year contract.
Since when, just about any bloke with a tracksuit and a grade one coaching badge could have replicated Liverpool’s form. With the exception of a home win over Manchester United in October this season, they have been second best to every good team they have played, and some lousy ones, like Reading, too.
At Valencia, his previous club, Benitez’s chosen exit strategy was to escape through the fog of civil war. It looks like a similar getaway is being schemed here. Benitez, sensing that even Gordon Brown could win a popularity contest against the present Liverpool owners, is likely to reach his new job in Serie A via the high moral ground, spinning up tales of broken promises and executive incompetence.
As he has done considerably more for Liverpool in recent years than any man in a suit, he will more than likely win this last skirmish. Does that mean he is justified? Not really. This season has been as calamitous as 2004-05 was miraculous.
The miracle of Istanbul: Benitez and Steven Gerrard celebrate the mother of all comebacks in the Ataturk Stadium
Financial hardship is not the only myth circulating about Benitez’s reign. It is stated that he has been unfortunate because his points total of 86 last season would have won the League this year. Unlikely.
If Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic on Sunday, their points total will be 86 but their goal difference will be above its current level of 63. Liverpool finished with 86 points and plus 50 goals last season, so they would have come second just the same, albeit narrowly.
The fact is, Manchester United got more than 86 points last year, making Liverpool second best, and this year when 86 would have been a potential title-winning tally, Liverpool can amass only 65, maximum.
Using last season’s points total to make the case for Benitez this year is as redundant as the former managers of Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion claiming that, unless Hull City win 11-0 on Sunday, the points totals on which they were relegated last season would have been enough to keep them in the Premier League this year. Tough. Were you the worst three teams in the League in 2008-09? Then you deserved to go down.
The transfer market, not mathematics, has been Benitez’s downfall.
His supporters always focus on his net spend, but that is misleading, too. The majority of managers have to sell to buy, particularly in the current economic climate; it is what they buy that is critical. Benitez has too often compounded the problems at Liverpool with misjudgments.
Alberto Aquilani (£17.1million), Andrea Dossena (£7m), Robbie Keane (£19m), Albert Riera (£8m), Martin Skrtel (£6.5m), Lucas (£5m), Ryan Babel (£11.5m), Craig Bellamy (£6m), Jermaine Pennant (£6.7m), Mohamed Sissoko (£5.6m), Luis Garcia (£6m), Fernando Morientes (£6.3m).
Costly: The likes of Aquilini (left) and Riera were bought - at significant expense - by Benitez
That is more than £100m on players who have either failed at Liverpool or been, at best, temporary or ordinary. It does not matter that Benitez has been made to wheel and deal. If he loses Peter Crouch for £11m and spends the money wisely, Liverpool still end up a better team. If he loses Crouch and spends on the ineffective, lightly-used Babel, Liverpool end up where they are now.
Benitez has spent £79.4m more than he has brought in, so has been given roughly £16m each season on top of what he has been able to drum up by selling players he does not rate.
Real hardship is bringing in £40m through player sales and being given £10m to spend; not selling £40m and receiving a budget for £56m. Many of the candidates to replace him, not least Roy Hodgson at Fulham, would view Benitez’s balance sheet as a windfall, not a free pass for a dig at the directors and a private jet away from Anfield.
No doubt there will be more talk of broken promises as Benitez edges towards the exit. He turned water into wine in his first season, water into Babycham on a few occasions after, and water into a stagnant bucket of rotting fish-heads almost from the moment he signed his new contract.
He will leave behind memories of magnificent individual victories, one epic night in Istanbul, the poison pill of a weak squad and a disillusioned Fernando Torres, now more vulnerable to a move from Chelsea. Over five years of gathering chaos the club can hardly moan, but neither should he. He can leave with head held high; stay much longer and his feet could be held higher.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1272460/Martin-Samuel-Dont-weep-Rafa-Benitez-bed-.html#ixzz0n9gR9dw6
Martin Samuel: Don't weep for Rafa Benitez, he made his own bed...
Last updated at 3:22 AM on 6th May 2010
There exists a very good reason why Liverpool have not gone creeping to Rafael Benitez to offer or receive assurances about his future at the club. Probably, when they gave him the five-year contract he had driven them mad for last season, they thought all that nonsense was over.
On March 17, 2009, having taken full advantage of making Liverpool competitive in the title race for the first time since arriving at Anfield, Benitez agreed a contract until 2014. Why, then, should the club be enquiring obsequiously about his long-term plans now?
As usual with Benitez, the details conflict. He is said to have cancelled two meetings with his bosses, yet only last week claimed there had been no moves to ensure he stayed. Yet, why should there be? If Benitez wants to go to Juventus — who are in no better state than Liverpool, in that each club is no longer the powerhouse of old — he needs to approach his employers and ask to be released, not the other way around. Chances are they will comply. The romance has long fled from this relationship.
No love lost: The romance between Liverpool and Benitez has long since died
It is worth remembering, too, that Benitez made the running over his lengthy commitment to Liverpool. Rick Parry, the chief executive, was as good as thrown overboard to accommodate him and Benitez asked for control of transfer policy, and received it. He got everything he wanted and has responded with a wipe-out. Liverpool supporters had better hope their team did roll over against Chelsea on Sunday; if that was them trying, they really do have a problem.
Benitez is hinting that certain guarantees have not been met, but this is an old tactic. Whether Liverpool have the money for the massive rebuilding project required after 105 player trades in five seasons
is an entirely different matter. What they do have, Benitez utilises as he wishes, and no manager can ask for more. It is unrealistic to be allowed to spend money that the club does not possess. Along this road Portsmouth lies and if Benitez was unaware that Liverpool were relatively impoverished until new owners could be found, he was alone in this misapprehension.
He certainly seemed keen enough to stay a year ago. Liverpool executives spent the season walking on eggshells around Benitez due to his demands for a long-term contract on his terms.
I recall the press team being terrified of allowing any one-on-one interviews with their manager, because the one time he sat down with a journalist he used the opportunity to relentlessly pursue his own agenda, leading to months of speculation about divisions at the club. He twice hijacked press conferences on the eve of major matches to do the same.
In the end, two results drove Benitez and his many caveats over the line. Liverpool beat Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield on March 10, then went to Manchester United and won 4-1 on March 14. The supporters were understandably ecstatic.
Liverpool were on for a League and European double and Benitez could do no wrong. It was pondered whether any manager was more capable of achieving those results for Liverpool; the answer was no, and by the time the club next played Benitez had his five-year contract.
Since when, just about any bloke with a tracksuit and a grade one coaching badge could have replicated Liverpool’s form. With the exception of a home win over Manchester United in October this season, they have been second best to every good team they have played, and some lousy ones, like Reading, too.
At Valencia, his previous club, Benitez’s chosen exit strategy was to escape through the fog of civil war. It looks like a similar getaway is being schemed here. Benitez, sensing that even Gordon Brown could win a popularity contest against the present Liverpool owners, is likely to reach his new job in Serie A via the high moral ground, spinning up tales of broken promises and executive incompetence.
As he has done considerably more for Liverpool in recent years than any man in a suit, he will more than likely win this last skirmish. Does that mean he is justified? Not really. This season has been as calamitous as 2004-05 was miraculous.
The miracle of Istanbul: Benitez and Steven Gerrard celebrate the mother of all comebacks in the Ataturk StadiumFinancial hardship is not the only myth circulating about Benitez’s reign. It is stated that he has been unfortunate because his points total of 86 last season would have won the League this year. Unlikely.
If Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic on Sunday, their points total will be 86 but their goal difference will be above its current level of 63. Liverpool finished with 86 points and plus 50 goals last season, so they would have come second just the same, albeit narrowly.
The fact is, Manchester United got more than 86 points last year, making Liverpool second best, and this year when 86 would have been a potential title-winning tally, Liverpool can amass only 65, maximum.
Using last season’s points total to make the case for Benitez this year is as redundant as the former managers of Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion claiming that, unless Hull City win 11-0 on Sunday, the points totals on which they were relegated last season would have been enough to keep them in the Premier League this year. Tough. Were you the worst three teams in the League in 2008-09? Then you deserved to go down.
The transfer market, not mathematics, has been Benitez’s downfall.
His supporters always focus on his net spend, but that is misleading, too. The majority of managers have to sell to buy, particularly in the current economic climate; it is what they buy that is critical. Benitez has too often compounded the problems at Liverpool with misjudgments.
Alberto Aquilani (£17.1million), Andrea Dossena (£7m), Robbie Keane (£19m), Albert Riera (£8m), Martin Skrtel (£6.5m), Lucas (£5m), Ryan Babel (£11.5m), Craig Bellamy (£6m), Jermaine Pennant (£6.7m), Mohamed Sissoko (£5.6m), Luis Garcia (£6m), Fernando Morientes (£6.3m).
Costly: The likes of Aquilini (left) and Riera were bought - at significant expense - by Benitez
That is more than £100m on players who have either failed at Liverpool or been, at best, temporary or ordinary. It does not matter that Benitez has been made to wheel and deal. If he loses Peter Crouch for £11m and spends the money wisely, Liverpool still end up a better team. If he loses Crouch and spends on the ineffective, lightly-used Babel, Liverpool end up where they are now.
Benitez has spent £79.4m more than he has brought in, so has been given roughly £16m each season on top of what he has been able to drum up by selling players he does not rate.
Real hardship is bringing in £40m through player sales and being given £10m to spend; not selling £40m and receiving a budget for £56m. Many of the candidates to replace him, not least Roy Hodgson at Fulham, would view Benitez’s balance sheet as a windfall, not a free pass for a dig at the directors and a private jet away from Anfield.
No doubt there will be more talk of broken promises as Benitez edges towards the exit. He turned water into wine in his first season, water into Babycham on a few occasions after, and water into a stagnant bucket of rotting fish-heads almost from the moment he signed his new contract.
He will leave behind memories of magnificent individual victories, one epic night in Istanbul, the poison pill of a weak squad and a disillusioned Fernando Torres, now more vulnerable to a move from Chelsea. Over five years of gathering chaos the club can hardly moan, but neither should he. He can leave with head held high; stay much longer and his feet could be held higher.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1272460/Martin-Samuel-Dont-weep-Rafa-Benitez-bed-.html#ixzz0n9gR9dw6
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015