Another One-Off Rafa Story

[gkmacca]

Didn't want clog up the forum by using an existing thread, so here's a new one.


Rafa predicts Reds return

ESPN staff
April 9, 2013

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Rafael Benitez is open on a possible return to manage Liverpool © PA Photos​

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Rafa Benitez has told Marca he will "almost certainly" manage his former club Liverpool again at some stage.
Current interim Chelsea boss Benitez became Reds manager in 2004, winning the Champions League in 2005 and FA Cup the following year. He left in 2010 after falling out with the club's then owners and finishing seventh in the Premier League.

Asked if he thought he would again manage the club at some point in his career, Benitez replied: "I will return, almost certainly. What I do not know is when. My daughters and wife still live there."
The former Valencia and Inter Milan coach has guided Chelsea to the FA Cup and Europa League semi-finals, and kept the side on track to qualify for next season's Champions League, although he has had to contend with significant protests from Blues fans.

Benitez said he did not know yet where he would work next season, but suggested it could be somewhere in England.
"My idea is to train a competitive team. Why not in England?" Benitez said. "We will have to wait and see. Everything will be worked out."

A return to his former club Real Madrid was also possible, he suggested.

"Obviously I know the place very well - I was there from 13 years old as a player and coach," he said. "I am a Madrid fan. It is nice to be linked in one manner or another, but that does not make me lose my current concentration on Chelsea. I have a good relationship with [Madrid president] Florentino Perez. Whenever I have talked with him, he has always been polite."

Should Benitez replace Jose Mourinho as boss at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, he would rejoin former midfielder Xabi Alonso, whom he controversially sold to Madrid when at Anfield. Any past disagreements would not affect their potential future working relationship, he suggested.

"At Liverpool I had to take some decisions and [Alonso] reacted in his own way," Benitez said. "Each person has their own way of behaving. He is a great player, very important for any team. I cannot say we had a good or bad relationship. It was professional."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd

 

[localny]

It's wuthering heights all over again. Rafa is catheeeee

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

"At Liverpool I had to take some decisions and [Alonso] reacted in his own way," Benitez said. "Each person has their own way of behaving. He is a great player, very important for any team. I cannot say we had a good or bad relationship. It was professional."

In English, he means they had a bad relationship.

 

[Leo]

It's wuthering heights all over again. Rafa is catheeeee

Yeah, bad dreams in the night.

 

[Jerry Laser]

Its Rafa's fault we didnt kick on from finishing 2nd that year, mainly due to his infactuation with Gareth Barry which alienated Alonso.

Losing Alonso pretty much single handedly put us back to where we are now.

 

[Rosco]

Rafa clearly knows he's getting the boot, and he knows there's not much interest in him from other clubs.

So he's trying to rally the masses to get himself a job. I think we're beyond that though

 

[hmmmmm1]

Keep the flame alive for the folks on RAWK.

Would love us to sell Lucas, in the summer just to see that site go into meltdown

 

[Oncy]

He can fuck off.

 

[Leo]

For one who seemingly hated the British media he's turned into a media whore.
He's becoming a laughing stock.

 

[Oncy]

For one who seemingly hated the British media he's turned into a media whore.
He's becoming a laughing stock.

Becoming?

 

[Leo]

Becoming?

Yeah spose it's more regular these days.

 

[juniormember]

He was a great manager for us. Took us to heights we hadn't reached in two decades. That is all.

 

[Modo]

Like I said in the other thread.

Yay.

Still wouldn't mind having him back. Doesn't mean I want Rodgers sacked.

 

[dantes]

Although it'd be kinda funny to see Rodgers get fired, especially if they filmed it as an epilogue to Being Liverpool with a Vince McMahon style 'you're fired', I would prefer the club to not give even the faintest of hopes to Benitez that he could ever come back here.

 

[moron]

I wish we could have him back. I would love to have him back. Come back Rafa come back !!!!

 

[Asbo]

Its Rafa's fault we didnt kick on from finishing 2nd that year, mainly due to his infactuation with Gareth Barry which alienated Alonso.
Losing Alonso pretty much single handedly put us back to where we are now.

He got us there, he also bought Alonso in the fist place, people said he wasn't good enough because we didn't win the league, and now we desperately want just to finish 4th, something Rafa didn't do often because 2nd and 3rd place finishes out numbered his 4th place finishes. Be careful what you wish for springs to mind.

 

[Modo]

I wish we could have him back. I would love to have him back. Come back Rafa come back !!!!

Get him boys.

 

[gkmacca]

Although it'd be kinda funny to see Rodgers get fired, especially if they filmed it as an epilogue to Being Liverpool with a Vince McMahon style 'you're fired', I would prefer the club to not give even the faintest of hopes to Benitez that he could ever come back here.

No, it would be like the end of The Prisoner. The chair would spin around and there would be Rodgers, opening up the envelope and laughing manically as the credits rolled.

 

[Modo]

No, it would be like the end of The Prisoner. The chair would spin around and there would be Rodgers, opening up the envelope and laughing manically as the credits rolled.

I'm not a number!!!
Jeez that show did my head in. Hated the last episode..

 

[refugee]

Its Rafa's fault we didnt kick on from finishing 2nd that year, mainly due to his infactuation with Gareth Barry which alienated Alonso.

Losing Alonso pretty much single handedly put us back to where we are now.

"Barry made 34 Premier League appearances in the 2011–12 season as Manchester City won the league title"

 

[dantes]

He'll end up at man city with any luck. And get to see first hand how good Barry is

 

[Dreambeliever]

No chance

 

[moron]

He got us there, he also bought Alonso in the fist place, people said he wasn't good enough because we didn't win the league, and now we desperately want just to finish 4th, something Rafa didn't do often because 2nd and 3rd place finishes out numbered his 4th place finishes. Be careful what you wish for springs to mind.

Good point - people forget so quickly how happy we were back then, how we were the strongest team in Europe the most feared - the team that went to Barca and beat them on their turf, the team that thrashed Real Madrid at Anfield. The list goes on - but people forget, people and assholes just forget the good shit that was around then.

 

[StevieM]

No chance

Well that's settled it.

Rafa's a cert to be our next manager.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Benitez's 2nd and 3rd place finishes were punctuated with a 4th-placed finish in the middle and bookended by 5th and 7th place finishes. We finished 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 7th under him. In the league, his record was not much better than Houllier's seasons in charge (7th - joint management with Evans, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 4th). Evans' record was 4-3-4-3, so not much better/worse than either of his successors too.

Ultimately, Evans, Houllier and Benitez all paid for not delivering on the key target of their jobs. Our targets have changed now, but that's a combination of the effects of the bad decisions taken at both the board and team level (appointing the wrong manager, buying/selling the wrong players, etc.) rather than just who was managing the team.

However, with the exception of Hodgson, all the recent managers left their mark in different, constructive ways. Houllier is largely credited with bringing discipline and a more professional attitude to the club, while Benitez's most telling contribution may well be bringing in the likes of McParland, Borrell and Segura to revamp the Academy. While Kenny's full season in charge was a major disappointment in terms of league results, he brought renewed hope in taking us to a pair of cup finals and winning a cup after a couple of painful seasons to forget.

If we're to get back to where we were, it'd be on the foundations laid down by these guys. I prefer to have it that way, than to over-romanticize over the notion that a messiah will return and lead us back to the promised land. We tried that a season and a half ago; that worked for the half season and then it went flat again (albeit with some flashes of hope).

 

[LarryHagman]

Embarrassing that.

 

[localny]

More telling contribution was number 5 for me, but the arrival back in the top of European football was great.

But I'd not want him back. That five years of Mid week Mania, leaping for joy every tues or wednesday, Who'd want that back. It's much more fun to have a project.

"How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child"...

 

[Holle]

He can fuck right off.

 

[Modo]

What if this "Messiah" wins the Europa league and the FA cup?

 

[Jerry Laser]

"Barry made 34 Premier League appearances in the 2011–12 season as Manchester City won the league title"

So you are trying to quantify that Gareth Barry is a better player than Xabi Alonso with that?