[Archived] Rafa Benitez

[Mattyblue]

Mourinho? Pah, like he'd go for more goals if 3-0 up at home...

[Ozz]

Who the hell is Rafa Bentiez? The barman off Benidorm?

[Stuart]

Interesting though that our most successful managers in recent times were both ex Liverpool managers.

Just been looking on wikipedia (here) to see who our next one will be. It's either Benitez, Houllier, or Roy Evans!

Looking at that list though, some wag has erased Hodgson from their history! Great Scot!

[FourLaneBlue]

We are talking about a man who beat Real Madrid's Galacticos to the Spanish title not once, but twice. Add in a Champions League, an FA Cup, a Premiership season with Liverpool in which they lost just two games, a Uefa Cup, a World Club Championship and it is hard to conclude that anyone not wanting him at Rovers in our current predicament must have a screw loose.

Sure, he might not win us the title (!!!) but his record seems to suggest we would be nowhere near a relegation scrap. His last two seasons have not been up to his prior standard but there is no doubt that he would be one of the all-time greatest coups for Rovers. Up there with King Kenny, Big Al and, of course, Keith Andrews.

[Darwen End]

Were lpool our champs when they win that pen shoot out ? They clutch at straws , dine of history and milk tragedy. They are now closer to us rather than united etc who they are firmly in the shadows of. What happened to Roy is different to kean. Lpool were an ok side Roy was an experienced coach who perhaps deserved more time but he was driven out because he wasn't like or one of them. Typical of the inward looking socialist state of merseyside which is all take and no give and accepts no responsibility for its actions

English please?

If you had the same history, you'd do the same. 'Milk tragedy', Hillsborough was a disaster and we'll fight for Justice till we get it! Ha ha! Look at the table lad! Roy had more than enough time, the decision to get rid was bang on but I think the owners should have got rid earlier. Results were poor so were the performances! You should spend more time in and around Liverpool, see how great the City is and it's people

Dalgleish P18 W8 D3 L3

Hodgson P7 W3 D3 L1 incl beating Dalgleish's Liverpool and only defeat was to Chelsea - after taking the lead.

Darwen End - away fans are very welcome on this board and can have reasonable debates with any of us. However, you are doing your best to make yourself unwelcome. So sense the general mood on here and wind your neck in will you.

Btw, giving credit to Benitez for Istanbul? That honour goes to one man and it ain't Rafa.

Why don't you compare Roy's time at Liverpool with Kennys? Before the Man City game at Anfield, even if we lost all our games, Kenny would still have a better record than Hodgsons!

I'm having a simple debate about a manager, it's okay for other members to make posts which are out of order?

Ha ha! Yeah because Ged signed Alonso, Garcia etc? Rafa took us from the first step till last, it's easy to give the previous manager credit but Rafa is a tactical genuis

[Mattyblue]

English please?

If you had the same history, you'd do the same. 'Milk tragedy', Hillsborough was a disaster and we'll fight for Justice till we get it! Ha ha! Look at the table lad! Roy had more than enough time, the decision to get rid was bang on but I think the owners should have got rid earlier. Results were poor so were the performances! You should spend more time in and around Liverpool, see how great the City is and it's people

We are the 8th most successfull club in English football (not half bad for a small town), do we go waving our dicks around on the message boards of the 9th, 10th, 11th (and so on) most successfull?

Get a grip 'lad'.

[Darwen End]

1 Munich, bradford etc course we hear about it, but not an annual witch hunt, just accept tragedy the way others manage to and move on. Typical scouse way, Michael shields ? Who can we blame for that one, heysel too. Boris Johnson was right scousers love a bit of tragedy

2 Roy had a fair amount of time with us, and we had also won the big cup recently unlike Lpool.

3 they are currently closer to us now in the grand scheme of things , well we played them off the park.

Every disaster is remembered. All we want is Justice for the 96

You played us off the park under Roy, we're a different team now

Gotta laugh at the scousers

One minute they bang on about the most titles....now thats about to go pop they change to '5 European cups'.

We could do that....how about '1 premier league' or '3 FA Cups in a row'?

As for '5 European Cups'.....check out Real Madrid they have more....oh and guess what, "Special one" is still in, Rafa is no longer even in a job!

You're not a United fan, you wouldn't know how much we bang on about the five European Cups.

Real Madrid aren't our rivals, they don't play in England and it'll be only a matter of time before he's in a job, don't you worry about that

Who says he is a Scouser?

They have as many plastic fans as Man Yoo

By the way, you would never see a Yernited fan on a Rovers board giving it large, theres the difference!

Scouser born and bred lad

Who's giving it large? Pure football debate

idiotic post lingazi. really out of order.

many lfc fans i know- season ticket holders- believe carragher and gerrard use their influence to further their own careers rather than the team.

apparently they marginalise the less effective foreign players as 1 example, and have their own cliques.

the belief of many of those lfc fans is liverpool wont be successful again until both carra and stevie g are finished there.

Carra and Stevie did use their influence at the end of Rafa's time and also got Hodgson the job. All Liverpool fans know Gerrard is awful in CM but he got to play that role under Hodgson because he wanted to.

Nah, thats rubbish, Kennys back, the whole place is happy! It's only a matter of time before we start challenging the top half properly. A few good additions in the summer, with Kenny and Steve Clarke, we'll be fighting for the title again. We're not as far as many seem

[Stuart]

Why don't you compare Roy's time at Liverpool with Kennys? Before the Man City game at Anfield, even if we lost all our games, Kenny would still have a better record than Hodgsons!

I'll let you do that. Please feel free to supply the stats.

I'm having a simple debate about a manager, it's okay for other members to make posts which are out of order?

I'm not going to get involved in the grief issue - although I do think it's tasteless. However, recognise that you are a Liverpool fan (presumably) and you are posting on a Blackburn Rovers messageboard. Imaging this was a pub near Ewood, if you start to get rowdy and shoot your mouth off, the regulars will tell you to STFU, and eventually the landlord or one of the bouncers will turf you out. If you were to do the same in said Rovers pub straight after another defeat in a long, winless streak, dont be surprised if you get a pop on the nose (metaphorically speaking!).

Ha ha! Yeah because Ged signed Alonso, Garcia etc? Rafa took us from the first step till last, it's easy to give the previous manager credit but Rafa is a tactical genuis

So much so he managed to lull Milan into taking a 3-0 lead. Which is the point I was responding to.

[Darwen End]

i agree with you, put people cant go on about "scousers loving a bit of tragedy etc..."

its indefensible.

i agree with you other points TCO.

i had friends that attended the champs lge final in athens... they witnessed lfc fans stealing tickets for their own supporters, some of them children, and flashing a cigarette packet to gain access to the stadium, because it looked like a ticket.

but as in the other bit about tragedy, you cant blame people, all fans and the city as a whole.

There are good and bad people who follow our club, just like at Blackburn and the rest of the league. That's football for you

So he can only win if he spends more money than his rivals

not much good for us then

How much did Jose spend at Chelsea? Still couldn't get them the European Cup. Look at how much Jose has spent this season with Real? Still won't win the league? Does that make him a bad manager?

Not sure where you figure out he was tactically very good. I am sure the Liverpool fans were being driving crazy by him changing the squad all the time.

I also remember Gerrard having to rescue them several time against inferior European opposition

Of course he is better than the current Klown but is he really the man to take us forward I am not sure.

No we weren't! It was the media with all the 'Rafa the Rotater' crap.

That's what captains are for

[Stockport rover]

Is there any truth in this and do we actually believe that we can attract a manager of that caliber (even though he's not as good as he's rated)?

[dring1]

Is there any truth in this and do we actually believe that we can attract a manager of that caliber (even though he's not as good as he's rated)?

Wait and see if we stay up first as that is the key

[ABBEY]

Rafa is only marginally less Rovers' next boss than Sven Goran Ericsson was.

thing is tho phil if barry white venky is anything to go by (players hes quoted etc) he would go for sge because id wager he had good fm 03 points.

[tuzla]

If we can discuss Rafa then what about Bernd Schuster as the new rovers manager if we stay up. He certainly can manage small clubs - Getafe, but also did decent job managing Real. He is currently unemployed and could fancy coming to England for a fresh challenge.

[Cheeky Sidders]

In some ways I'd love to Schuster as our new manager as soon as Kean (surely!) gets chopped. For one, he has experience of managing clubs on limited budgets and has experience of big leagues with big name players and egos to match. He's also very attack minded and uses wingers as they should be used.

But on the downside, his charge of light brigade type of football would cost us dearly against skilled counter attacking teams and wherever Schuster goes controversy is sure to follow. Throughout his career he has not taken well to being told what to do and has a lousy habit of making his disputes public. How would that work with Anderson telling him who to sign and having to trail across the world once a month to see Mr T, Chicken George and the Dragon Lady?

[philipl]

Apparently Rafa has a pre-contact deal signed and Schuster doesn't.

[joey_big_nose]

Apparently Rafa has a pre-contact deal signed and Schuster doesn't.

Really? According to whom?

Mixed feelings about him. Poor in the transfer market, arrogant, controversial handling of players - all point to him being a poor choice for a club with limited resources. Also in my opinion he seems a bit unbalanced and slightly neurotic in the last couple of years.

However he does have pedigree and a winning mentality. Hum.

[PAFELL]

Really? According to whom?

Mixed feelings about him. Poor in the transfer market, arrogant, controversial handling of players - all point to him being a poor choice for a club with limited resources. Also in my opinion he seems a bit unbalanced and slightly neurotic in the last couple of years.

However he does have pedigree and a winning mentality. Hum.

But if it was a choice with him or Kean - as it may seem, Rafa any day.

[RevidgeBlue]

Apparently Rafa has a pre-contact deal signed and Schuster doesn't.

If that is true, why then do you say he is "marginally less" Rovers next boss than SGE who never came to the Club and never had anything other than a gentleman's agreement with Jack?

[Seggie]

Apparently Rafa has a pre-contact deal signed and Schuster doesn't.

If this is true, does this depend on Rovers staying in the PL?

[philipl]

Well done Seggie for answering Rev's question.

[rovers_rob]

If that is true, why then do you say he is "marginally less" Rovers next boss than SGE who never came to the Club and never had anything other than a gentleman's agreement with Jack?

I could be wrong but I'm sure that Sven said in an interview a couple of years ago that he did sign a pre contract but Jack agreed to tear it up after Sven changed his mind.

Anyway back to Rafa...I can't understand why he would sign a pre contract for next season. Why didn't he just take over straight away if he wanted the job ? Why wait ?

[philipl]

I could be wrong but I'm sure that Sven said in an interview a couple of years ago that he did sign a pre contract but Jack agreed to tear it up after Sven changed his mind.

Anyway back to Rafa...I can't understand why he would sign a pre contract for next season. Why didn't he just take over straight away if he wanted the job ? Why wait ?

Actually you are correct- SGE did sign a contract which Jack then ripped up. It was a real contract as well and not a subject to subject to subject to pre-contract agreement.

Maybe Rafa is chicken on relegation scraps?

[RevidgeBlue]

Anyway back to Rafa...I can't understand why he would sign a pre contract for next season. Why didn't he just take over straight away if he wanted the job ? Why wait ?

I don't understand that either. If it was me I would want to take over immediately to use my expertise to ensure we were definitely in the PL next season.

Nor would I particularly want to join a Club who didn't want me immediately. I'd say "stuff you then" and look elsewhere.

Still, Philip says "We stay up he's here" so we can only wait and see if he's right. Odd no other media outlets have caught a whiff of a major development like that though.

[DanLad]

Actually you are correct- SGE did sign a contract which Jack then ripped up. It was a real contract as well and not a subject to subject to subject to pre-contract agreement.

I was under the impression that Lazio (the club that SGE went to?) had to pay us hefty compensation to get SGE out of that contract. Is that not right?

[Gav]