Worth starting a new thread for? You decide.
Rafael BenÃtez backs Kenny Dalglish to get Liverpool job
• BenÃtez says Dalglish would be perfect as his successor
• 'It was a really sad day when I had to leave Liverpool'
Andy Hunter The Guardian, Wednesday 16 June 2010 Article history
Football Rafael BenÃtez yesterday checked in at Internazionale, immediately endearing himself to his new employers by describing the job as "the perfect opportunity" while offering a piece of advice for his old ones back on Merseyside. The Spaniard said his former club should appoint Kenny Dalglish as their manager and forget about trying to lure Roy Hodgson from Premier League rivals Fulham.
"I think they should look at Kenny Dalglish," he said. "He is the best man for the job. The owners should listen to the fans because they are unhappy. No one knows the club better than Dalglish and he would be perfect there. He wants the job and in my opinion should get it."
BenÃtez, otherwise, tried to avoid talking about Liverpool at his Inter unveiling and there was no settling of scores with Tom Hicks, George Gillett or any other Liverpool suits with whom he fought. But there was the admission that, due to circumstances at Anfield, he had to go.
BenÃtez left Liverpool with a £6m severance payment, of course, the first £3m instalment offered in exchange for consent to his departure after one backwards step of a season and one too many disputes with the club's hierarchy. It would be a surprise if the final pay-off did not include a confidentiality clause but there was a sense of BenÃtez wishing to move on from the turbulence that characterised his final few years at Anfield having, within a week of his exit, signed a two-year contract with the reigning European champions.
"It was difficult to leave Liverpool after six years working there. I had amazing times there," said BenÃtez. "Also my daughter is seven, she lived most of her life there. It's not easy but things changed so I needed to move and I had the perfect opportunity to come to Inter. The club was fantastic, the fans amazing so it was a really sad day when I had to go but things changed so it was obvious I had to do it."
BenÃtez made a brief and emotional return to Merseyside last week when he donated £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group and what was described as "a significant amount" to the Lily Centre, a breast cancer support group where his wife, Montse, is patron. The causes that matter addressed, he saw little point in expending energy on Hicks and Gillett, the Liverpool co-owners whose takeover and financial problems provided the root cause of his ultimate frustrations.
Javier Mascherano, Dirk Kuyt and even Steven Gerrard have been touted as possible signings for Inter, but a new start at a new club in a new country has not brought a new era of openness from the Spaniard when it comes to transfer targets. After recent frugal times at Anfield, he will simply be pleased to have some.
"I will try to buy good players, of a good level who will suit a top-level club but I can't say their names. I don't talk about players of other teams," he said. The Italian press will soon become accustomed to hearing that line. As for those at Liverpool, BenÃtez added: "I have been in contact with the majority of players and the majority said thanks for everything and all the best. I talked to Gerrard when it was his birthday and he's fine. He wants to talk about the World Cup now, not anything else."
Despite the stark personality contrast with his Inter predecessor, BenÃtez's football was not wholly dissimilar to José Mourinho's at Chelsea, as Jorge Valdano once infamously noted. There is, he accepts, little to fix at the European champions. "I don't think I am the anti-Mourinho but I am different," BenÃtez said.
"Inter are coming off an almost perfect year. I want the footballers not to lose the desire to win. I want to keep that winning mentality and I think I can. I'm happy to have top-class players. The difficulty will be keeping this level but we can do that. I think the level is high and if we can keep that winning spirit I think we can do well. If the players can do the same again this year, for two more years or even more, it will be an historic period for the club."
Dalglish's son, meanwhile, has claimed his father only wants to succeed BenÃtez at Anfield owing to an absence of credible alternatives. Paul Dalglish, now head coach of Tampa Bay Rowdies, revealed: "It's not as though José Mourinho is going to come and do the job. It's not as though Fabio Capello's going to leave England to become the next manager of Liverpool. My dad wants to do the job and he feels he is the best person available to do the job. If José Mourinho was available and he wanted to do the job, my dad wouldn't have any interest in it because all my dad ever does is act in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club."
