Quote:

Note To Self
Been looking at his website and other reports. It's clear he's an intelligent man, but that's not enough to make a man a great manager.
On his transfers, what I tended to see in them was "This player is doing well at his club - I want him, damn the costs!". If he isn't given the finances for the exact player he wants, he complains.


Yes, and? Furthermore there are many occasions when Rafa had to take third choices on his list, and it had nothing to do with the player playing well at his club, so let's buy him. Rafa had a massive scouting network and all players were looked at in detail before they were bought, as is the Liverpool way. Quite a few were brought in over the last couple of seasons because they were all we could get, and if he didn't bring them in we'd be too thin a squad, the Yanks in charge wouldn't allow the money to be held till the next window, that happened on a couple of occasions.

Players I'd put to this are Babel, Keane, Johnson, Aquilani, Jovanovic, Crouch, and the interest in Barry.
Some worked out, some not so much.

You see, you've been told about these players but you seem to ignore everything that's said to you. Kean was only wanted IF AND WHEN BARRY WAS BROUGHT IN. It is never good when a chief exec goes against the manager on a footballing issue, behave yourself.
Johnson was bought(and a great buy he's been) because Portsmouth still owed us money from the Crouch deal. Aquilani the same. Jovanovic was free and Crouch was an excellent buy for us, what's the problem?

Gareth Barry sticks out, as the team already had a good player for that fit Alonso's role perfectly, who Benitez of all people should have recognised.

FFS Note, I'm sick of repeating the same answers to you. Rafa was told he had to sell to buy. Alonso had had a mediocre two seasons and Rafa thought he was the player he could raise enough funds from with which to strengthen the squad. This is proven by the fact that he couldn't even get 16 million for him. Alonso saw his arrse and went on to have the season of his life to prove Rafa wrong, rightfully so, no problem with that, but Alonso had then decided that no matter what he was leaving the next summer regardless of being asked to stay many times. This is also proved by the fact that we got 30 million for him.

Whether it would have been different had Robbie Keane been at the club at the same time, no-one will know - but I agree with the board on prioritizing another striker over another midfielder.

The board should never decide football matters, ever. They are there to sign the cheques, or not, that's their prerogative. BUT NOT TO MAKE FOOTBALLING DECISIONS.

He strikes me as being very capable of dealing with individual players, and he's well read with the tactical side of the game, but somehow seems to struggle to marry the two consistently.

The only struggle Rafa had was with the two owners of the club who were spiraling us in to further and further debt.


It's this interpretation which makes me think he can potentially be good for an international club - he's free to chop and change until he has a team which does work without fear of financial problems. However, I might have concerns with his selections - players who individually play well, but can't as a team.

Complete balderdash




Is he a good manager? His achievements at Valencia and Liverpool suggest yes, he's good. You can't reach a Champions League final on more than two occasions on luck alone. One of the greatest of his generation? That I disagree with.

He's definitely one of the best managers of his generation.

Quote:

Note To Self
I don't ignore what I can't dispute -
I know I've been told about the players; and my view still stands - if Benitez wanted both Barry and Keane, he should have been willing to sell someone to make way. Buying both would have cost around the region Carroll cost.


Note, Note, Note.....you're like a dog with a bone but you're very polite with it, so I'll try to be the same.
Rafa didn't conduct the financial side of transfers, he usually did the sounding out of agents for availability, and then gave the CE the information needed to sort it. He knew what his budget was which was whatever he managed to raise for himself, so his recommendation for Barry was 15million and 10 for Keane. He wanted Barry first and foremost, and Keane ONLY IF he obtained Barry, and to drop the deal for Keane if he couldn't be got for 10 million. Parry decided Keane would be the best buy at any price. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I'm still a little confused on the suggestion that Rafa didn't want Keane (until after they had another midfielder) - did he really say he'd rather have neither than Keane (but he'd rather have both).

He wanted Barry whatever, Keane only if he had Barry.

Crouch was a good buy - can't argue there. I'm still suprised you sold him - he offered more than Keane (but we'll get to this again later). I've heard values of between £7-10m being quoted for his move - which was definitely a large amount for a Championship player. Nowadays it seems fairly close to the market rate. Wouldn't say it was a cheap buy.

7 million wasn't that much we'd just paid 6 million for a GK. We also sold Crouch for a 4 million profit, it was a good deal all round and he played well for us for a couple of seasons. He wasn't prepared to sit on the bench when we bought Fernando Torres, he was asked to stay but he said no.

Glen Johnson is another of the ones who has worked out - glad you agree with me there. I still think that the fee was over the odds - even if it's seen as all of the Crouch funds went into it. For a club who are or were in financial straits, surely the ball was in the bidding teams court?

English players are never cheap, and it was because of the looming administration a deal was done quickly, H&G wouldn't have been prepared to wait for the money until all that was sorted out.



Aquilani I'm guessing you're referring to the John Arne Riise transfer? Assuming all the fee contributed to Aquilani's transfer - that would make it a £12m acquisition. Probably fair on his ability. Wages? In the region of 60k - but we've discussed wages to death (and I've still not heard a valid rebuttal of the estimates I gave you). For his contribution to the club, I still class him as an expensive flop who is still costing the club.

Yes, Rafa was told he had to deal with them because they still owed money for Riise, the Riise money was then used as a down payment for Aqua.

Jovanovic was a free transfer, but an expensive one. Three years on 90k per week? That would cost at least £4.5m for the year he was there. Don't know any details on the agents fee, but for such a large contract it's fair to say he will have gotten a decent sum. It's a shame that Rafa couldn't have brought him to Inter as he wished in hindsight. Would have helped add youth to the ageing squad he was plagued with...

Jova was on a high wage, I agree, but I'm not even getting in to agents fees which would distort every transfer picture in the league.

Alonso - Rafa knew from his time at Valencia Alonso's ability. His first three seasons at the club were largely successful - he then had a dip in form and suddenly he's mediocre?

No, his first two seasons were good, his next two were mediocre by his standard, especially 07/08 when he also spent a long time out with injury. Rafa probably thought he was going a bit stale, but was still a good player and one he could raise enough money on with which to strengthen the squad.

The board shouldn't make footballing decisions, no. But it is their responsibility to keep the finances in check. They couldn't afford to buy Barry and Keane and pay their wage demands in addition to the other signings that window (Mascherano springs to mind). The Barry deal was allegedly going to be £20m; Rafa knew that neither was going to come cheap so why did he stick his heels in? I'm sure the great scouting network at his disposal could find better alternatives for that price...

We needed more English players and he wanted Barry, that was the important one. Keane was only secondary and could be done without. As I've already stated, THE BOARD IS THERE TO SIGN THE CHEQUES, OR NOT, THAT IS THEIR PREROGATIVE. They must never make footballing decisions.

Carra - the reason O'Neill and Redknapp are considered good managers by the media is because they are English. O'Neill I don't rate particularly highly, and Redknapp still hasn't really convinced me yet. Sure; he's built Tottenhams stature, and brought success to Portsmouth, but he needs to maintain the top four finish for a few more seasons before I'm convinced. Personally, I rate Moyes higher than either of them despite having never won a trophy.

Rafa's being linked with the Chelsea job at the moment. Couldn't blame him if he took it, but I feel it would end in disaster.

It's a disaster before it started, their fans don't want him I'm glad to say, would hate to see him there although I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd took it. Their loss imo, no-one is better than Rafa in the CL