Rafa sacked

[LeTallecWiz]

Two questions.

Did the loan exist?

Did the war between Gillett and Hicks exist?

Not my problem if you believe that Brian Reade lied.

Rafa took a great spine and made it excellent, and then destroyed it.
You can blame two terrible owners (and yes, they hated each other after a while), or you can also see how he took excellent CL teams in Inter and Napoli, and moved them backwards despite investment.
Your posts though read like that of a conspiracy theorist who's out to prove Rafa was a knight in shining armor. He wasn't - move on.

 

[Arn]

An Epic Swindle: 44 Months with a Pair of Cowboys
This is a tale of debts, lies, cowboys, and a civil war that dragged Britain's most successful football club to its knees, through the High Court, and almost into administration. Players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher tell of their anger at the broken promises, as well as their pain at watching loyal fans in open revolt. The manager, the chief executive, board members, leading fans, and journalists reveal the turmoil at a revered sporting institution run by two men at war with each other, and who trampled the notion of The Liverpool Way into the gutter. No story sums up the naked greed at the heart of modern football quite like Hicks' and Gillett's attempt to turn a quick buck at Liverpool, and no one has had as much access to the truth, or tells it with as much passion, wit, and insight as Brian Reade.

 

[Arn]

He wasn't given a single euro to spend at Inter. Instead the club sold a couple of their best players and didn't replaced them. One of the players he had to play because of that was Coutinho.

 

[jexykrodic]

Rafa took a great spine and made it excellent, and then destroyed it.
You can blame two terrible owners (and yes, they hated each other after a while), or you can also see how he took excellent CL teams in Inter and Napoli, and moved them backwards despite investment.
Your posts though read like that of a conspiracy theorist who's out to prove Rafa was a knight in shining armor. He wasn't - move on.

I think you might be being a little selective in your assessment. You only have to look at the trophies his teams have won to see he has ability. Abilities recognized by many top clubs. I suspect he will have plenty of suitors, should he choose to get straight back in.

 

[Woland]

Chelsea

 

[Arn]

Rafa took a great spine and made it excellent, and then destroyed it.
You can blame two terrible owners (and yes, they hated each other after a while), or you can also see how he took excellent CL teams in Inter and Napoli, and moved them backwards despite investment.
Your posts though read like that of a conspiracy theorist who's out to prove Rafa was a knight in shining armor. He wasn't - move on.

He didn't destroy it. The loan did. £50m rent is a lot of money. £50m rent, first £30m in the summer and £20m a few months later.

 

[Woland]

John Terry

 

[Mamma Mia]

He didn't destroy it. The loan did. £50m rent is a lot of money. £50m rent, first £30m in the summer and £20m a few months later.

Shut up, Paddy.

 

[Arn]

Look at our squad when we sold Xabi and then decide who you should have sold to get £30m to pay the rent. You couldn't spend that money on other players.

After that look at our squad a few months later, the next window, and decide who you should sell to get £20m to pay the rent, again you couldn't spend that money on other players.

Then you look at our squad the following summer and decide who you should sell to get another £30m to pay the rent, again you couldn't spend the money on other players. Mascherano was sold this time to pay the rent.

We got all the money upfront when we sold our players but when we signed players we paid for them in the usual way, instalments and in many cases we could only sign players from clubs that owned us money.

The wages was also a part of the transfer budget. When we signed a player for £20m then it was transfer fee plus wages and not only the transfer fee. Something Purslow didn't tell Rafa.

It could also take months before he got a reply from one of our owners asking them if he could sign a player.

You can read about it in An Epic Swindle by Brian Reade.

 

[Woland]

Those SoS dickheads are so full of shit.

 

[cloggypop]

Shut up, Paddy.

He's not a paddy he's a scando.

 

[Mamma Mia]

He's not a paddy he's a scando.

Shut up, Glock.

 

[cloggypop]

Shut up, Glock.

Stop your quacking you swivel eyed headwand.

 

[Mamma Mia]

Stop your quacking you swivel eyed headwand.

I've had a LOT of beer. I wish I had a horse.

 

[Arn]

Shut up, Paddy.

So the loan didn't exist? Maybe Gillett and Hicks didn't exist either. If it is someone that need to shut up then it is you and a few others that don't have a clue what you are talking about.

Download An Epic Swindle and then read it. A warning. If you do then you will look back at your post and look like an idiot.

 

[Buddha]

A warning. If you do then you will look back at your post and look like an idiot.

 

[FoxForceFive]

So the loan didn't exist? Maybe Gillett and Hicks didn't exist either. If it is someone that need to shut up then it is you and a few others that don't have a clue what you are talking about.

Download An Epic Swindle and then read it. A warning. If you do then you will look back at your post and look like an idiot.

Are you the publisher of Brian Reade's book? What was the title again? I can't remember, cos you've barely mentioned it at all.

 

[localny]

An Epic Swindle: 44 Months with a Pair of Cowboys
This is a tale of debts, lies, cowboys, and a civil war that dragged Britain's most successful football club to its knees, through the High Court, and almost into administration. Players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher tell of their anger at the broken promises, as well as their pain at watching loyal fans in open revolt. The manager, the chief executive, board members, leading fans, and journalists reveal the turmoil at a revered sporting institution run by two men at war with each other, and who trampled the notion of The Liverpool Way into the gutter. No story sums up the naked greed at the heart of modern football quite like Hicks' and Gillett's attempt to turn a quick buck at Liverpool, and no one has had as much access to the truth, or tells it with as much passion, wit, and insight as Brian Reade.

We' ve all read it Arn. Change the record.

 

[Red Mullet]

Rafa, big ego? If it is one thing he don't have then it is a big ego and that means that he will never win against the big ego world class players.

IMO the big reason to why he had very big success here and at Valencia is that both clubs at that time didn't had any big ego world class player. He was the boss from day one. He didn't need to win over the fans and the players.

If you look at his signings for us then you will see one thing. He didn't sign a single player that had a big ego. Not a single one. A few of them got a big ego after the success here but they didn't had that when he signed them.

Gerrard and Owen

 

[keniget]

The thing Rafa was the absolute worst at was planning buys over the medium term and the major reason why he fucked his own squad over and found himself out of a job.

The idea that he is somehow qualified to be a DoF based on his efforts here is right up there with some of the maddest things I've read on here.

 

[moron]

I have defend Arn on this - Rafa made us international again by making us one of the strongest teams in Europe. It is unfortunate we did not win the title under him but I suspect he was contending with a lot of pressures off the pitch unrelated to football. I was absolutely gutted when he left, and I think everyone knew something was wrong with this team when we kept on selling our best players. Fuck all of you - under him we beat Real Madrid 4-0 if I remember correctly, and also beat Barca in their own ground.

It is a shame what has happened to him at both Inter, and now Real - if anything his recent sacking just shows how pathetic the Spanish league is, I mean there is still enough time in the season for him to win it, and also the draw against Valencia - is the same result that Barca got - draw against Valencia for fucks sake. I think the problem this time is that the owners of Madrid are seeing Athletico up there with limited resources and thinking - that they should be able to be in that position with their squad. The pricks don't realized that their team is completely unbalanced when comparing quality from front to back. You take Barca - they have super super world class talent up front in Suarez and the rest are well drilled class players in their respective positions. Joke of a club - seriously there are no decent coaches for them to get out there because they have now been through them all.

 

[Oliver Twist]

We' ve all read it Arn. Change the record.

Yes, but do you carry a copy round with you and pray to it like Arn does?

If the answer is 'no', then do it. And then after 430 days, look back and see what an idiot you were before enlightenment.

 

[localny]

Let's talk about Rafa's record.

• Valencia - Won La Liga twice, a rare feat for a non Classico team - had to be 10/10
• Liverpool - did really well but a club that had seen better days.This was a good as it got for many of us as adult LFC fans 9/10 because of Istanbul, and Athens.
• INTER - what was he thinking, taking that job. NO chance of it working out well: Reports of Mourinho being an ass behind the scenes stirring the players 3/10
• Chelsea - Did a good job. And won the Europa League, got them into Europe. 7/10
• Napoli - Nothing really to write home about - again middle the road - 6/10
• Madrid - Too early to judge, but probably a 6/10 made into 7/10 by his CL performances.

So overall, Benitez is a manager who started exceptionally well , and has settled into above average. He's no Ancelotti, Klopp,or Mourinho, but he does reasonably well where expectations are not silly. He's in the same league as LVG. Overall as a manager, he's got 42/60 on my ratings.

 

[Rosco]

0

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I think you might be being a little selective in your assessment. You only have to look at the trophies his teams have won to see he has ability. Abilities recognized by many top clubs. I suspect he will have plenty of suitors, should he choose to get straight back in.

What domestic trophies did he win at Inter and Napoli? Since he won the FA Cup with us, he's won the Int'l Club Championship (I think) @ Inter & the Europa League at Chelsea, which again highlights his strength as a manager (cup competitions). He's not won any league since Valencia ...

Read Macca's post - of course he'll go straight back in ...

 

[LeTallecWiz]

He didn't destroy it. The loan did. £50m rent is a lot of money. £50m rent, first £30m in the summer and £20m a few months later.

Remind me again what Xabi has said about Rafa since he left? Was there a falling out which pushed the sale that took away the pulse of the team he was building? If the money was key for the loan, why was it invested in players like Aquliani etc?

Remind me again how Keane (see what I did there?) Rafa was on Robbie Keane? How he was scoring goals before he was sold with no back up whatsoever put in place despite being in a battle for the league?

Let's just blame it 'rent money', 'rent boys' whatever - go on.

 

[Rosco]

So the loan didn't exist? Maybe Gillett and Hicks didn't exist either. If it is someone that need to shut up then it is you and a few others that don't have a clue what you are talking about.

Download An Epic Swindle and then read it. A warning. If you do then you will look back at your post and look like an idiot.

If i loan you 150m and you only pay back 111m , who is swindling who ?

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Let's talk about Rafa's record.

• Valencia - Won La Liga twice, a rare feat for a non Classico team - had to be 10/10
• Liverpool - did really well but a club that had seen better days.This was a good as it got for many of us as adult LFC fans 9/10 because of Istanbul, and Athens.
• INTER - what was he thinking, taking that job. NO chance of it working out well: Reports of Mourinho being an ass behind the scenes stirring the players 3/10
• Chelsea - Did a good job. And won the Europa League, got them into Europe. 7/10
• Napoli - Nothing really to write home about - again middle the road - 6/10
• Madrid - Too early to judge, but probably a 6/10 made into 7/10 by his CL performances.

So overall, Benitez is a manager who started exceptionally well , and has settled into above average. He's no Ancelotti, Klopp,or Mourinho, but he does reasonably well where expectations are not silly. He's in the same league as LVG. Overall as a manager, he's got 42/60 on my ratings.

Valencia - You're being harsh - I'd even give him 15/10. What he did there was fantastic, not to mention the UEFA cup he won before coming to us.

Liverpool - I cannot give him a 9/10 because of Istanbul. Athens - I still to this day have no idea why Peter Crouch didn't play that game - esp when AC Milan where shitting themselves. To me, he got an excellent team, made it even better and really should have won the league. We had a good enough team, and his decisions (letting Keane go midseason, some odd line ups against relegation fodder) were key unfortunately in us missing out on #19. - 7/10

Inter - 2/10. Terrible mistake to go there as you say, but to be let go after a few months? Never had the dressing room and Inter has never really recovered since. His fault? No chance, Mourinho does what he normally does and the players were worn and Inter are still rebuilding.

Chelsea - 8/10. Did he do anything wrong? Could even be 10/10 in theory as he was only give half a year and bar not winning the league (I don't remember if they had an opportunity or not when he was brought on), he did everything else ok.

Napoli - We differ here. He took a top 3 already with an owner who let him spend lavishly - Higuain, Mertens, Albiol etc. And he left the team in the Europa League. He took the team backwards - that's not 6/10, more like 4/10.

Real - He was bound to fail here. His win % was poor for Real standards, and his Champions League performances was expected (PSg and two nobodys ... The 0-0 against PSG with an injury depleted team was Rafa at his best, reminded me of our 0-0 vs Juve). No rating from me - it was his dream job but he had ZERO CHANCE of succeeding here unfortunately. They'd have fired him regardless.

He's still one of the best cup managers in the business, but I question whether he can win the league considering his failings since he left Valencia. He'd be ideal for PSG if I'm honest! They want to win Europe, have $$$ and he won't be challenged in the league.

 

[jexykrodic]

What domestic trophies did he win at Inter and Napoli? Since he won the FA Cup with us, he's won the Int'l Club Championship (I think) @ Inter & the Europa League at Chelsea, which again highlights his strength as a manager (cup competitions). He's not won any league since Valencia ...

Read Macca's post - of course he'll go straight back in ...

I was thinking more of looking at his managerial career in the round rather than isolating particular successes or failures in an effort to be reasonable about a man that provokes strong opinions. You do seem intent on discrediting him and that's your right, however he does seem to carry the great and the good in the game as he keeps geting hired for high profile jobs. This cannot be a fluke.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I was thinking more of looking at his managerial career in the round rather than isolating particular successes or failures in an effort to be reasonable about a man that provokes strong opinions. You do seem intent on discrediting him and that's your right, however he does seem to carry the great and the good in the game as he keeps geting hired for high profile jobs. This cannot be a fluke.

Would someone who discredits him write, "He's still one of the best cup managers in the business, but I question whether he can win the league considering his failings since he left Valencia. He'd be ideal for PSG if I'm honest! They want to win Europe, have $$$ and he won't be challenged in the league. "

Bottom line for big clubs (or wannabe big clubs like us and Napoli), the league is what matters most ... He's not proven he can take that step since Valencia. There is no agenda etc - that's just looking at the last 11 years ...

He will continue to get good jobs just like most managers with good resumes like his (Van Gaal, Allegri, etc). As I said earlier, as long as he's not in England, I hope he does really well.