Go have a look at how rare it is for a club in scotland that doesnt have the word Glasgow in their name to win the league. It will give you an idea of the size of his achievement.
Oh and there is 1 team that both Jose and Rafa have managed. It would be fair to use it as a comparison I think. So...
I realy like Rafa as a person. He is a genuine guy and Liverpool fan. I have some of my best memories as a Liverpool fan under his reign. But also some of the worst. He has had his shot as far as i'm concerned.
UIR & Eric, Leave it out will you. If we, (the club and the supporters) want Rafa back at some time, in some capacity then its up to us. It's got **** all to do with United, Ferguson, or your opinion of Rafa. If that sounds too harsh then it 'cause I'm still feeling bad after the debate and I'll apaolise tomorrow!
I'll let you off Dave as it was an emotional night for you lot. If you read my post it was purely about Rafa and MY personal opnion about Rafa - not Uniteds but mine. Ferguson was brought into it by your fans but as usual it the big bad United fans who get the blame
What about when Rafa won La Liga with Valencia - how often does a side outside of Real Madrid & Barcelona win La Liga? Rafa's Valenicia is the only side to have done this (twice may I add) in the last 11 years and the second time was a League/Uefa Cup (when it had credibility) double
Feeling almost human this morning - so apologies! I strongly doubt that Rafa will ever be manager again. Yet his love and comitment to the club are evident. It's not the right time to bring him back into the club in any capacity. However, in the future I can see that happening. For many reasons we have not seen the full story of what happened during Rafa's time as manager. As a tactician he has very few peers, as a man-manager he did appear to struggle.
For me..... again i'll state it. he lost the plot badly and he did the same at itner. something changed in him, like he started to beleive his own hype. The earlier decisions though one could still point to bad buys were not anwhere near as simply crazy as it got toward the end. After all as he built us up in 2007, 2008 we were getting there, reina, alonso et al. but he ust plain and simple lost the plot, made atrocisouly bad buys that we all could see day one they were awful. degen, doseena, voronin, aquilani, keane, the attempt for barry. we all were writing these were wrong and wrong they were proved to be. So for me love and all that is nice but kenny had to go work with the kids, not even be an ambassador for the club to get back in and aren't we lucky! Kenny in 1991 was guilty of buying badly too you know but at least he went to blackburn bought very well and won a league to reclaim his reputation after chucking it. He did as much at newcastle as anyone including bobby robson so let me ask what's rafa doing? he's got a lot of reputation to rebuild before his love of my club will allow him to walk into a job in the future. I've absolutely no issue with a utd fan or anyone else making an objective point about his record to be frank. as long as it is that not just inter club bashing....
But that is something that doesn't fit in with manc arguments. If Rafa had the man management skills to match his tactical skills he would be superior to any current manager. Unfortunately he doesn't and manages to piss players off. In saying that, Fergie's style has resulted in certain players leaving and others not wanting to come to United
I think Rafa should go back to spain, manage a team there for a while and in a few years who knows! We might need a new influx of spanish players by then and Rafa can scope out the talent in spain first.
I don't buy into the fact that Rafa is a poor man-manager. Players like Reina, Torres, Masherano and Alonso all arrived with good reputations but they have left with the tag of being 'world class'. Even Gerrard improved significantly especially in terms of his goals return. I get the sense that Rafa is not someone who will put an arm around but he will demand perfection and he will work with players who have the right attitude. Just because a manager doesn't have a laugh and a joke with you, doesnt mean he lacks man-management. Rafa helped raise their respective levels and turned them into world class. Players who complain that Rafa is too quiet or doesn't have a personality are just idiots who want to be worshipped and have their arse's kissed.
