ps. Garth Crooks is a grade A nob who knows nothing about football. I think the only point he was trying to make is that he rates Benitez but there's a handful of better managers in the league, all of whom have more resources than we would ever be able to provide. Perfect world for us is top ten with outside chance of some European competition and we are a distance from that at the moment. Class A crack indeed!
They signed some of the best players in the world man and squandered a **** load on ****e. For every Torres there's an Aquilani. They should have at least been challenging yet never mounted a single title challenge. You're just being defensive cause of you're a mag, rose tinted specs like some of our lot are with Big Sam. He'd never win the title with unlimited spends cause he's not good enough. Everton will be about the right level for him.
Benitez after Valencia has a record of going in, spending a fortune and not progressing clubs one bit. Fortune at Liverpool, great player but not close to the title. Napoli, ridiculous budget, nope. Look at them since he left. Players they signed when he was there against his will, Mertens the main one, plays now and smashed 30 plus in the league. They are top and rinsing the league now. The job he’s done at the Toon has been very good though, for me it’s the first time since Valencia he’s done anything. Liverpool and Napoli, he achieved what was expected. Overachieved winning a CL of course but let’s not pretend that was genius management. He had a goal that never was in the semi and a Milan team that played the second half pissed cos they had the game won at half time. The Liverpool team he had with Torres in prime was easily good enough to win a league. It didn’t.
Didn’t you read the last part when I said he’s doing a good job again now? I have always maintained I think his reputation is undeserved, but that isn’t the same as saying he’s a bad manager. He’s a good one, a very good one. He’s just done little of note to deserve the status he has in my eyes. Of course I’d have him over Grayson. I’m under no illusions here mate.
Stokoe led a 2nd tier side to the FA cup but mostly struggled in the league. Poyet guided us to a final. Greece won the European Championship. Winning a cup competition can be achieved by less than perfect teams and managers. The League is the bread and butter init Being successful and maintaining it is a different world. That Torres team didn't come close to mounting a challange and it should have been with in a shot for a good few seasons. Massive failure from rafa. You got a good team with Torres and Alonso in your side, you don't go and spunk 18m on Robbie Keane at a time we're being ****ing linked with him Nah he's no top manager like, still a very good one though. Not as good a Crooks clearly thinks he is.
The next Everton manager odds make interesting reading - David Unsworth significantly ahead on 9/4 despite the fact he's never had a full manager job and only ever been caretaker/U23 coach. Then it goes straight to David Moyes at 4/1, who you assume Prem teams wouldn't be touching with a barge pole right now and would only be a last resort. Same odds for Sean Dyche, who is probably a good shout, and has definitely earned the chance of a bigger job. Then it goes to Carlo Ancelotti at 8/1, which seems ridiculously optimistic odds for a manager like that to take a job like Everton.
I said he was a successful manager not a miracle worker! SBR won plenty, just nothing for us. He did well for us in the main though. As for the Keane thing at Liverpool, it was widely reported at the time that he didn't want Keane and instead wanted Barry. It's why Alonso went the following summer (as Benitez went after Barry to effectively replace him) and why Keane was sold off again 6 months later. There's ****loads of terrible signings you can choose from when he was at Liverpool (Pennant, Sissoko, Aquilani, etc.) but Keane is a stretch. I've been called rose-tinted for saying I think he's the most successful manager either club has had in the past couple of decade and yet people are throwing around how Liverpool never challenged for the title under him - really? In 2009 they got 86 points, did the double over United and had a better goal difference, they were undone by a series of draws. You win it or you don't and they clearly didn't (which was a blessed relief for me at the time as I work in Liverpool and Newcastle were relegated that season, I got enough chirping from those bastards as it was!) but it feels like there's a certain amount of history re-writing going on here. He's a good manager, maybe very good. No he's not in the top bracket and no-where near the level Crooks seems to think he is. I doubt even Benitez thinks he's in that bracket else he'd be angling for a move because if he was that good he wouldn't be at Newcastle. He is at Newcastle though so I get it, he's ****e.
I'm going to kick myself for asking this, but who is SBR? I think he went for Barry because Barry was Gerrard's mate. And his pursuit of Barry cost him Alonso. Also, I could never fathom why he got rid of Crouch. He broke up a good side there
08/09 Liverpool mounted a serious challenge under Rafa. Obviously the fat div buckled under Fergie's mind games and we all ended up laughing but it wasn't a comfortable ride.
