Rafael BenÃtez has blamed Liverpool's managing director, Christian Purslow, for his departure from Anfield and the club's financial problems for last season's dramatic downturn on the pitch.
The former Liverpool manager accepted a severance payment worth up to £6m to leave Anfield this month, following a miserable campaign that yielded a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and saw the club drop out of the Champions League for the first time in six years.
BenÃtez endured a fraught relationship with Liverpool's co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, during his final years at Anfield and the pair tried to replace him as manager with Jürgen Klinsmann. However, the new Internazionale coach said the man responsible for his exit was Purslow, who joined Liverpool in June last year and is now overseeing the search for the Spaniard's successor as manager.
"It was really sad," BenÃtez said when discussing his departure in an interview with Radio City today. "I was on holiday so it was a surprise that everything was going on in this way, but at the end of the day it has to be like this because Christian Purslow is now in charge and he decided to do it in this way. That is it. It is really sad but you have to move forwards. I said to my family that we cannot stay talking too much or complain too much; we have to move forwards.
"The people of Liverpool are fighters and I was fighting from the beginning until the end. Now I have to do the same and I have to be thinking about the future. I was really pleased here, the fans were amazing, but I can't stand around complaining. I have to move forward and do my best for my new club." Liverpool declined to comment.
Roy Hodgson is expected to become the club's next manager once the terms of his departure from Fulham and contract at Anfield have been resolved, but BenÃtez said the problems of last season will not be eradicated simply by his exit. "It's strange. This year everything changed from the beginning," he said.
"People in the club changed and the approach to everything was different. Clearly it was a question in the beginning of controlling the money we could spend or not, and everything was different to the past. We were so close to winning the title the year before that everybody was expecting something more but we couldn't do it. We had some problems from the beginning with injuries and some performances, and there was a little bit of frustration. At the end the atmosphere was different and we can see now during the summer that the fans are not very happy."
BenÃtez kept open the possibility of a return to Merseyside, insisting he has no plans to sell his house in Wirral. He added: "I can guarantee one thing – I will not sell my house. It is our home and we will come back. I don't know when but we will come back for sure.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/25/rafael-benitez-christain-purslow-liverpool-exit
The former Liverpool manager accepted a severance payment worth up to £6m to leave Anfield this month, following a miserable campaign that yielded a seventh-place finish in the Premier League and saw the club drop out of the Champions League for the first time in six years.
BenÃtez endured a fraught relationship with Liverpool's co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, during his final years at Anfield and the pair tried to replace him as manager with Jürgen Klinsmann. However, the new Internazionale coach said the man responsible for his exit was Purslow, who joined Liverpool in June last year and is now overseeing the search for the Spaniard's successor as manager.
"It was really sad," BenÃtez said when discussing his departure in an interview with Radio City today. "I was on holiday so it was a surprise that everything was going on in this way, but at the end of the day it has to be like this because Christian Purslow is now in charge and he decided to do it in this way. That is it. It is really sad but you have to move forwards. I said to my family that we cannot stay talking too much or complain too much; we have to move forwards.
"The people of Liverpool are fighters and I was fighting from the beginning until the end. Now I have to do the same and I have to be thinking about the future. I was really pleased here, the fans were amazing, but I can't stand around complaining. I have to move forward and do my best for my new club." Liverpool declined to comment.
Roy Hodgson is expected to become the club's next manager once the terms of his departure from Fulham and contract at Anfield have been resolved, but BenÃtez said the problems of last season will not be eradicated simply by his exit. "It's strange. This year everything changed from the beginning," he said.
"People in the club changed and the approach to everything was different. Clearly it was a question in the beginning of controlling the money we could spend or not, and everything was different to the past. We were so close to winning the title the year before that everybody was expecting something more but we couldn't do it. We had some problems from the beginning with injuries and some performances, and there was a little bit of frustration. At the end the atmosphere was different and we can see now during the summer that the fans are not very happy."
BenÃtez kept open the possibility of a return to Merseyside, insisting he has no plans to sell his house in Wirral. He added: "I can guarantee one thing – I will not sell my house. It is our home and we will come back. I don't know when but we will come back for sure.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/25/rafael-benitez-christain-purslow-liverpool-exit
