No true Liverpool fan hates Rafa or will ever deprive him of his place in history. We are all grateful for his successes. It's just that most of us realise that his time has come and gone as a force in the game - and we don't need to go backward. Stop trying to pump up extremist arguments - it's childish!
I agree with most of that. I don't think his time has come or that he's no longer a force. He's been at 2 consecutive clubs where he's been forced out because he's been made promises by owners that weren't fulfilled, and he refused to stand for it and be made a scapegoat. Hats off to him for that, he's no fool.
At Liverpool he had to go. He had become stale, and there was no way things could continue the way they were. He did great things for our club, and he bought some great players for us. Had he been backed by those cowboys the way he should have been, we might have got Silva, Villa or Mata a couple of years back (not saying we would have, but he was chasing them, and we have a good chance).
With restricted funds he brought us very close to winning the league. If he had been backed, things could have turned out differently, and we might have won the title that year - as we deserved to. The amount of last minute own goals and deflected shots Man Ure got at the end of that season was incredible. Not to mention that one game where Spurs were 2-0 up and Webb gave Man Ure one of the worst penalty decisions i've ever seen, which started their comeback.
In Rafa's last year it went all wrong. The club was in turmoil from top to bottom, and the top was weighing down heavily on the rest. Don't forget that in his first season he won the European Cup, in his second he won the FA Cup, and he improved our league position every year until almost winning the title that season. Then it went downhill from there. So calling him a failure is very harsh. Some people like faz especially easily forget that, and constantly display an agenda against the man. Why, I have no idea.
I wanted him gone, but it was with a heavy heart, because I loved the man and I have memories of some great times because of him. His time had just come. He clearly loves the club very much, and part of me would love to see him come back to the club some day - but not any time soon. For now, i'd like to see him do well at another club first.