Is the Rafalution coming to an end?
When Liverpool got new American owners this spring, a lot of Manchester United supporters questioned why the Liverpool fans didn’t protest against the move more stubbornly then they did. Having arranged massive protest against the similar overtaking of their own club by the Glazer family, they didn’t understand how the Liverpool fans could greet their new Yankee owners with such celebration. Now it looks like those questions were justified.
Yes, Gillett and Hicks played the PR-game perfectly at the beginning. Coming out with all the right noises, all the right sound bites. But now, Liverpool’s American honeymoon is over. Reality is setting in. And for the first time since they seized control of Britain’s must successful football club, George Gillett and Tom Hicks find themselves under fierce criticism from a vast majority of the Liverpool fans. It is the serious broad sheets that are leading the way; it isn’t the Sun or the other tabloids. Serious papers are writing that Benitez will be out of a job sooner rather than later – and no statement has been released, yet, where the owners show their support for Benitez. If you want the Rafalution to continue, it doesn’t look good.
Many newspapers have over the last few days written that Rafael Benitez has picked a fight he cannot win. Because, as Jose Mourinho found out, in modern football it is the men controlling the purse strings that now control the game. Well, by going against the Liverpool supporter’s wishes, it looks to me like it is the Americans who have picked a fight they cannot win. Sure, they can sack Benitez, but at the same time they will lose the vast majority of Liverpool Football Club’s main asset: the fans. I’m not talking about day-trippers from Bury St. Edmund, Trondheim or Donegal, but the loyal match going Reds, the season ticket holders from Bootle, Dingle and Huyton.
In this conflict, I cannot avoid thinking that the two Americans are seriously underestimating the Kopites. If the unjust sacking of the manager who brought Ol’Big Ears back to Anfield on a permanent basis goes trough, the before mentioned Manchester United supporter’s protests will seem like a San Francisco hippie love in from the late 1960’s. Yes, Benitez should have kept his criticism within the club, and not so actively used the press to get his point across. And yes, this is one of those conflicts where it is not black and white. None of the parties involved can claim to be 100 per cent right, none of the involved parties can claim that the opposition doesn’t have valid arguments. The two Americans anger at Benitez’s public outbursts are understandable, and it is unworthy of the manager of a gentleman’s club like Liverpool to use the kind of tactics that Benitez has used over the last week or so. But at the same time they should handle football related criticism from the man that is paid to decide on the football matters at Anfield, and that should always be the manager.
Frustration at the Liverpool suits’ slowness in transfer negotiations is nothing new, and is something that existed long before the two Americans arrived. Remember Simao Sabrosa? When it comes to negotiating – and more importantly, going through with – transfer deals, Liverpool aren’t exactly moving like Ian Rush onto a Kenny Dalglish through ball, but more fittingly like Neill Ruddock giving Jan Molby a piggy back ride.
So it is understandable when, according to reports, Benitez is close to a few cheap deals, but isn’t allowed to seal them because Mr. Hicks and Mr. Gillett wants to wait until they arrive in England just before Christmas, that Spanish frustrations run high at Melwood. Benitez hasn’t lost his temper because Hicks and Gillett have refused to sanction a big money move for some International superstar, but rather because the green light isn’t given to what can be described as minor transfer deals, and because the mighty Liverpool FC – one of the major trademarks in the World – is run via e-mails and a fax machine in Texas.
Apparently Liverpool have been close in recent weeks to clinch a £4 million pound deal for AC Milan’s Kakha Kaladze, wrap up a couple of Bosman player’s for next season, and sign a few talented but cheap South American youngsters. But all this is put on hold until the two Americans arrive on Merseyside for the game with Manchester United on the 16th – thus putting it all in danger as other clubs are hovering over the same targets. The transfer window means that you can only sign players in January, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t necessary to get all the groundwork in, in advance.
Personally, my main beef with the American owners is their lack of involvement in the day to day running of the club. I cannot help but think that Rafa feels the same way. Hicks and Gillett visit Liverpool around every two months, all the major decisions are made through e-mails and phone calls across the Atlantic. Mr. Gillett’s son Foster, who is supposed to be at Anfield to run the show together with Rick Parry, has apparently been spending more time back home in the States lately, than in Liverpool. The new American Liverpool seems to be like a car with the engine in England, and the steering wheel in America. The main course of concern for me, is Rafael Benitez’s boldness. Has the situation gone so far that Benitez feels that he now has nothing to lose? Is the fact that Benitez now uses the media as his outlet a sign that he feels himself that his time at Anfield is running out? Or even worse, is Benitez using this as a tactic to speed up the process of his own departure, because he sees that it will happen sooner rather than later anyway?
I think it boils down to one headstrong and stubborn Spaniard, who knows how Liverpool FC works, and who knows where the chink in the Americans armour is: Their lack of history in the game of soccerball, and their lack of historical knowledge when it comes to Britain’s most successful soccerball team. Rafael Benitez hears his name being chanted at every game, not at least so in the last outing at St. James’ Park. He is well aware of his own popularity, and I believe he attempts to use this as a stick to beat the Americans. Or rather, he gives the stick to the Kopites, so they can swing it for him.
When Liverpool face Porto and Bolton later this week, Gillett and Mr. Hicks will see what fans’ passion is all about. This isn’t hockey, baseball or the NFL. This isn’t bowl shaped stadiums filled with middle-aged rednecks sitting still, sipping their Budweiser while they punch the air and let out screams of “Yeah!” every five minutes or so. This is real football, real feelings and real fans. By picking a fight with Benitez, the two Americans have also picked fights with the Liverpool fans. Perhaps seen by the Americans as nothing more than “customers” in their new soccerball business. But this will not be an American dream for George and Tom. If they do sack Benitez, it will turn into a nightmare, because as a poster on a Liverpool forum wrote here the other day:
“The Yanks have the money, but we have the scousers…”
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Spot on Eric, couldn’t agree with you more. Its a bit like when the owner of a restaurant has nothing to do with the restaurant maneger & never goes to the restaurant but wont let him order more stock that will benefit the menu but still expects massive profits. The US owners need to communicate & as they say “Get Real!”
Good read that
I dont agree. If Rafa wants to chicken out then let him go. I’d rather have the Americans money & just get someone else in who doenst moan so much. “put up or shut up” I say
A lot of sense in that article. The Americans will lose a lot of us local fans if they get shut of Rafa. They’d have to be idiots to do that, but with Hicks being mates with George Bush they most probably are.
Shane McCarthy is talking through his arse, and his thoughts dont represent the vast majority of our fans( especially the local fans)
Just about sums it up. Still don’t think its too late to sort this mess out though, if the Americans are supposed to be good business men then surely they must realise Rafa must be given freedom to buy when and who he wants within reason. Got to say the media are building it up to the point where the Yanks nor Rafa will want to lose face therefore pressuring them into dropping Rafa. Time for them to grow up and sort it out…By the way where the fuck is Parry in all this, does he still work for LFC, would be nice to hear his thoughts.
Not enough has been said about the ballooning figures for the stadium. I am suspicious that the “soft costs” that Hicks referred to include a great deal of additional commercial additions and fixtures which will be revenue raising, as well as all Hicks and Gillett’s costs during the building – the costs of their jets and administration – everything thrown in and charged to the stadium. At the end of it we will be paying mortgage on the whole bill including all they have taken out during the building phase.
The crux of the problem with Benitez is that the yanks don’t have the money or are unwilling to commit themselves to spending money. Rafa knows this and he is calling their bluff.
I was really dissappointed with what Shane McCarthy wrote, here’s a snapshot of modern football for any fans taht need a bitesize education: football is a game of passion, it affects our everyday lives, it has done so far and will do to my dying day, I love Liverpool, I love this club soo much, soo much so that i wouldnt dream of writing anything i didnt believe to be true, ive watched football since i was a kid, and i watch it non stop, ive studied international journalism at university and i think that the situation at the minute is mad. Football’s a game of snap judgements and quick assessments of both onfield and off field matters, the majority of people on this planet are of below average intelligence, this is true, and they will believe pretty much anything they are told on tv, newspapers and any other media there is, the ability to think for oneself and come to individual assessments and opinions is a great quality. Liverpool fans are a rare breed, the majority of us actually think, my little cousin was just in my house an hour ago askin me to help him out with his coursework, he asked me: “do u want mourinho?” i couldnt believe it!!! I told him pretty much what i tell the public now, sacking Rafa Benitez would me a monumentally massive mistake, one which would haunt every single Liverpool fan who questions his position for years, no decades to come, have we forgotten how far weve come with this man, have u all got amnesia? A European Cup (for all 90’s fans that’s a Champion’s League guys) in his first season in England (that’s a new country guys, why dont u all load up a new game of Football Manager and see the amount of players you know in La Liga, you’ll get a shock), he didnt speak English, with the exception of Carragher, Hyypia. Finnan, Hamann, Gerrard, and Kewell this man inherited an awful squad, so far off the pace that it’d make your head spin, he won the fa cup in his 2nd season and achieved a great final league position, last season he got us to the Champion’s league final, again, we outplayed Milan, and if we had taken our chances we’d be singin “we won it 6 times!!!”, this year were unbeaten, in my opinion will qualify for the next round of the Champion’s league, we will challenge strongly for the title this year, but i firmly believe that Rafa will deliver the Premiership Title that we all crave either this year or next season. Man Utd fans are drooling over the possibility of us losing Rafa, believe me they are, they know that Rafa represents the biggest threat they’ve seen from a Liverpool side in 18 years to their domestic supremacy. Reina, Finnan, Agger, Carragher, Alonso, Gerrard, Masherano, Torres, Crouch, Babel, Benayoun: all class players. Dudek, warnock, traore, biscan, smicer, diao, cheyrou, le tallec, baros, diomede……… there is a trend here, Benitez’s work speaks for itself, let him work, he’s done amazingly so far and is continuing to do so, it’s been a very promising start to the season. I leave everyone who reads this with 1 last thing: Real Madrid won 2 champions leagues in 3 seasons with the underappreciated Claude Makelele at the heart of it all, once he was removed it all fell apart, the team who signed him from Real only went on to win 2 Premierships on the trot and were impressive in all competitions, except for the Champion’s League where a currently undervalued Rafa Benitez showed that money doesnt buy you total success, it helps when spent wisely. The Beatle’s sang “Money Can’t Buy Me Love”, throwing money at a second rate rafa replacement will probably bring limited success, but probably nothing sustained, for sustained success, it has been proven time and time again in football that you need continuity, Rafa can give us this: Rafa can make us fall in love with this club all over again like we did in the 70’s and 80’s, let him do it. The Beatle’s had the right ideas, so does Rafa. Trust him
Ronan, 2 things :
1) Wow, do you want to write for our site?
2) Do we know each other ie. were you in my class at uni?
I too adopt a similar stance to urself on Liverpool & agree with the way you perceive the modern world of football.
Shane McCarthy you came for a reaction & you certainly got one. If that is your opinion, & ur certainly entitled to one, you are very much the minority & quite possibly lacking in the football knowledge department! Rafa should & will receive the backing of the(true)Liverpool fans.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8713035189
Support Rafa
When it comes to figures and transfer fees, it is also worth pointing out that Liverpool under the two Americans haven’t really spent that much – at least not when you compare withe the teams we are supposed to be fighting with, the Chelseas, Man Uniteds, Barcas and Real Madrids of this world. Arsenal and Chelsea spent less – net – than Liverppol this summer. Arsenal because they are reaping the rewards of Wengers youth policy – a policy that is the blue print of what Benitez have been doing lately – buying talent from all over the world.
Chelsea had a net spendage this summer that was massively down from previous years – mainly because they sold Robben to Real.
United spent a lot – a lot – more than Liverpool – as in deed they have for the last few years (I’ve never understaodd why only Chelski have got the money bags tag, while United have been let of the hook. Look at the current United side – a handful of local players that came trough over a decade a go apart – most of them has been bought for £10-20 million).
When you take into consideration the players who have been loaded of, Liverpool had a net spendage of around £20 mil. this summer (bought players for £40 mil., sold for £20 mil.)
That means that Liverpool spent considerably less than United and Man. City this summer, and it puts Liverpool on par with the mighty Fulham!
A summer spending spree of £20 mil. is just a few mil. up from what Liverpool have been spending the last few years. It’s not like the two Americans have gone all Abramovich. At least not yet.
However, it has to be said, that the new stadium plans look more appealing than Rick Parry’s Pride Park style model kit. And it has to be said that the two Americans sanctioned the signing of Torres – Liverpool’s record signing.
Rafa we’re all 100% behind you! We wont let you go. If it happened there would be a boycott & no point in building new stadium as no one will be there.
May the Rafalution continue!
let us show our support Rafa. I support you Rafa
Good article great points. We will wait and see. True they have picked a fight with the fans but i think this situation has been exaggerated.
YNWA
On your man ronan whoriskey up there i have one question? What age were you during the 70’s and 80’s? Hopefully you dont reply with under the age of ten cause i dont reckon ye can have the knowledge at that age to understand football and fall in love with liverpool. Anyway, alls i’ll say is that man u fans arent bothered at liverpool losing rafa. Why should they? Nearly twenty years since they won the league. Man u fans are interested in arsenal and chelsea who i think will finish above liverpool. Sadly for liverpool theres always been doubts about their manager. Look at man u. Fergusons been in charge longer than liverpool last won the league. Thats a long time…