James Pearce on the return to Anfield of the former Liverpool FC manager Rafa Benitez WHEN Rafa Benitez emerges from the tunnel at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, the Spaniard will be afforded the warmest of receptions. The Kop always pay homage to those who have contributed to Liverpool Football Clubâs rich history but this will be different. For the first time since Benitezâs six-year reign was ended in June 2010, he will return as a rival boss to his old stomping ground. There will be the unlikely sight of a Chelsea manager being lauded on Merseyside, while his own supporters packed in the away end treat him with a mixture of apathy and contempt. Emotions will be running high â both on the touchline and in the stands. After all few are able to stir feelings quite like Benitez does. There will be those among the home fans wishing that Benitez was turning right rather than left at the end of the tunnel. They will passionately argue that the man who led Liverpool to their fifth European Cup in 2005 is a tactical mastermind whose services should never have been dispensed with three years ago. The argument goes that his tenure went downhill due to circumstances beyond his control as the deeply damaging ownership of American duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett took its toll. That Benitez was simply a victim in Anfieldâs civil war. However, there will be many in attendance on Sunday whose applause for Benitez wonât be fuelled by any desire to see him get his old job back. They admire and respect what he did for Liverpool but view his Anfield demise as being largely self-inflicted â the result of mistakes in the transfer market and spending too much time picking fights he couldnât win. When Benitez ended his two-year sabbatical and became Chelseaâs interim boss last November, the reaction among Kopites was predictably contrasting. While some were devastated by his choice of destination in the belief the Londoners had struck gold, others had a chuckle at the prospect of a bizarre marriage of convenience going badly wrong. Benitez polarises opinion like no other. There is no middle ground. There were so many highs and lows during his stay at Liverpool that there is no shortage of evidence for either camp to fall back on. His first season at Anfield following his arrival from Valencia, where he had clinched two La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup, was a case in point. Liverpool lost 11 of their 19 away league games en route to finishing fifth and were dumped out of the FA Cup by Burnley. Yet, remarkably, their European adventure led all the way to Champions League glory on a miraculous evening in Istanbul. It was Benitez who inspired the most dramatic fightback in football history as a 3-0 half-time deficit was wiped out against mighty Milan. He turned a team boasting Djimi Traore, Djibril Cisse, Harry Kewell and Milan Baros into champions of Europe. Read more: Liverpool Echo http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...r-rafa-benitez-100252-33193121/#ixzz2QouoSXiA
On the night the club’s 21-year wait to lift ‘old big ears’ was ended, an unbreakable bond with Kopites was formed. He had given a generation brought up on tales of Rome and Paris, a wonderful story of their own. The European Super Cup was swiftly added to the trophy collection and in the tactical battles of continental action, Benitez excelled. His attention to detail ensured Liverpool were always prepared for whoever lay in wait. Ironically, Chelsea were often on the receiving end. The spine-tingling 2005 and 2007 semi-final triumphs entered Anfield folklore. The Reds, who topped the UEFA rankings, became feared across the continent. There were cherished wins in the Camp Nou, Bernabeu and San Siro. It was after defeat to Milan in the 2007 final in Athens that the first cracks appeared. Benitez had been due to meet Hicks and Gillett to discuss summer transfer plans but instead the pair flew straight back across the Atlantic. “I’m tired of talking,” he said, delivering his first attack on the owners. “We talk and talk but we never finish, I want things to be done.” The Americans responded by lining up Jurgen Klinsmann as his replacement, but Benitez was unsackable. That was demonstrated by the show of solidarity from the thousands of fans who marched to matches at Anfield chanting ‘Rafa is a Scouser’ and ‘Rafa’s going nowhere’. The power struggles were constant. With the owners, with chief executive Rick Parry and with his successor Christian Purslow. Benitez lost his trusted assistant Paco Ayesteran after falling out with him and threatened to quit in the summer of 2008 after the board refused to sanction the transfer of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa. His willingness to sell Xabi Alonso in order to buy Barry alienated the classy Spanish midfielder, culminating in his departure to Real Madrid a year later. Benitez’s man-management skills were frequently questioned. Fernando Torres wrote in his autobiography that he was congratulated by him the day after the birth of his daughter, only to realise he was in fact being praised for attacking the near post. It’s an anecdote Benitez denies. Steven Gerrard joked after his stunning display in the 2006 FA Cup final victory over West Ham that it still wasn’t enough to get a ‘well done’ from Benitez. His style was always to demand more, to drive them on to greater heights but some regarded his approach as cold. In the transfer market his record was mixed. The likes of Alonso, Torres, Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel were wise investments and are used to illustrate Benitez's eye for a player. Others will issue a retort with the mention of flops such as Andriy Voronin, Antonio Nunez, Jan Kromkamp, Nabil El Zhar, Philipp Degen, Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena and Alberto Aquilani. There’s no doubt that Benitez had to take risks because of the crippling interest payments on the club’s debts which hampered his spending power. But splashing out £17million on an injured Aquilani who hadn’t kicked a ball for six months made no sense. It was a costly error in the summer of 2009 compounded by the fact that the money he had been promised to buy Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic was then taken away from him. From producing Liverpool’s most credible title challenge for two decades when they finished second to Manchester United in 2008/9, the wheels came off spectacularly. The infighting intensified and key players became disillusioned. Benitez stood accused of taking his eye off the ball. The Reds suffered 19 defeats in all competitions and slumped to seventh – culminating in a parting of the ways on June 3 2010. His last four years had been trophyless but the feeling remained that he had been shown the door primarily in order to smoothen the sale process. His final act, donating £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group, was a touch of class. Three years on, Wirral remains home for Benitez and his family, and his burning desire to manage Liverpool once again is no secret. Yet the fact that owners Fenway Sports Group didn’t even consider him as a candidate prior to appointing Brendan Rodgers last summer spoke volumes. There was too much baggage. On Sunday Anfield will welcome back an old friend. A genius who was let down by those around him or a divisive coach who paid the price for his own mistakes? The truth lies somewhere in between. Read more: Liverpool Echo http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...rafa-benitez-100252-33193121/2/#ixzz2Qov8Qdjm
I will keep the nostalgia going: please log in to view this image The days that were..... please log in to view this image
He's going to come back to Merseyside in the summer & stalk Rodgers via the media - you just watch......
The most impressive moment of his time with us was when he wanted to stay, even as things crumbled and we were bound headlong for administration. That's true love, that is.
We need to build a colossal statue of Rafa in the ocean tall enough to be seen all across Merseyside. We can liquidate Everton to partially pay for the statue.
I'm not sure admired is the right word considering how much compensation he got from us for his sacking, appreciated is probably better
that pic of rafa and mourinho says it all. the guy was kidnapped, murdered and buried in a shallow grave by ferguson in 2006 and replaces with a goatee sporting clone who was actually an agent for utd's global domination. he started by ruining lfc, then went to inter to ruin them (now nowhere in Italy) and now he's trying his damnedest to ruin Chelsea too. its all i giant conspiracy i tell you evil rafa has a goatee. rip sane and nice rafa.
For many a year I wondered if I was the only one crazy enough to thik we went downhill with that damn goatee.
Meireles was only ever good with a skinhead too. That goes for Enrique too! I would have said Johnson became better once he got rid of the dreadlocks but he's been **** lately!