KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum If FSG want CL football, surely Rafael Benitez is their man

I think we've gone through this many times and I'll say it one more time - Rafa was never given full support from owners and for that, he deserves another chance.

For starters, rafa was never given 100m to spend like dalglish. If he had been given that obscene kind of money and failed, yes I'll never want him back. But fact is that he was never backed and he did really well with what he had.

If I remember correctly, Uefa let us in the champions league the next season even tho we were 5th.

1) I know for sure that Rafa would have bought much better european pedigree if he had been given 100m last summer. Not carroll, henderson, adam.

2) He bought more good players than bad ones. And the sale of the good ones ensured that his nett spend over the 6 years in-charge was a measly 20m after the sale of torres. In that period, we reached giddy heights of european successes that others can only dream off. We were feared throughout europe. Everyone wanted to avoid us. He made the people happy once again. Don't tell me you were not proud to be a red fan in those 6 years under him?

3) He was given feck all to buy players at inter milan. All his targets were rejected by the board.

4) He didn't just win cups at valencia. He won league titles with them. Talk to any valencia fan and they still speak of rafa highly.

5) I want him back not because of istanbul nostalgia. I want him back because he knows how to win matches and out-think the opposition tactically. And of course I think he would be able to sign talented players worth their salt. Just look at the current side - Pepe, Lucas, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, kuyt, maxi - were all his signings and they're still in the spine of the team. Did he really waste a lot of money on duds???

I'd rather be challenging the likes of Madrid & Barca for the Champions League than scraping a win against Cardiff like we did recently.

I agree he wasn't a huge success in the league but I feel that could change now we have someone new in charge.

Whether we get Rafa or AVB doesn't bother me, as long as it's someone who makes us play better football than we currently are.

It is shocking that we cannot keep a two goal lead against QPR and cannot beat the likes of Wigan, Norwich & Bolton, it just isn't good enough and that is why I want to see Kenny move aside.

Rafa spent around 220mil in his time as manager at Liverpool, that's less than double what Kenny has spent. Uf the players that Rafa brought in that we have sold when he was here, and since he has left we have recouped around 174mil.

He is a talented man, and I would love to see what he would bring in with the cash that Kenny has been given. You can argue about inflation, but we didn't need to spend those stupid peices on our below par players. And that's kind of the point.

I respect your opinion but disagree with it. This is not a bring back Rafa thread, but rather a, who's good at what thread? Rafa did not fail to get us into the top 4 6 years in a row, and what Kenny was hired to do, was to get us into the top 4. Secondly, rafa did not have the same means that Kenny has had. Thirdly, I have always supported Dalglish throughout this season, but you reach a point where you cannot lie to yourself anymore. After watching his tactics and his insistence on playing with 1 striker upfront at home against the likes of Wigan, you realise the man has lost touch with reality.

Dalglish is and always will be a Liverpool legend, but if he really wants what's best for the club, it is time for him to walk away. He has proven over and over again that he is not capable of dealing with the modern game and all aspects of it, including the media.

Congrats to him on the cup win and getting to the semis of the FA cup, congrats to him on truly setting the foundations of the club with some youthfull prospects for the future. However, he is not a manager who will get us challenging for the title or for CL football.

On the other hand, Rafa not only won the CL with us, with a team which was of lesser quality than some of their opponents, he also almost on a constant basis had us amongst the top 4. He is a tactical genius.

Rafa is not unemployed because no one wants to hire him but because he refuses to take charge of a club where others will dictate what he does. Rafa is a decent and clever man and sooner or later you will realise that, I just hope he doesn't take over at Chelsea or City or some of our other rivals.

Rafa reached the semis and the final of the Champions league on numerous occasions with different teams...he got us to the final twice and valencia to the semis twice...so....hardly a bad record that...

5 CL appeances (1win from 2 finals) in 6 years while not fully supported by the owners shows how good Rafa is. Once 2nd, twice 3rd and a 4th in the league too.
Kenny's target this season was to challenge for top4, not the title.
So KP's argument about not being fair to expect Kenny to do in 1 season what Rafa failed in 6 don't make sense does it?

Some people are so annoyed that they backed kenny and he let them down that they are taking it out on the 1 person who has done well for us and would probably surpass his previous achievements the 2nd time around. It doesn't matter if Rafa makes kenny look bad - we should ALL be thinking about what/who is the most likely to bring success back to the club as that is more important than the feelings of any individual.
We need to use fan power again to bring back Rafa. It helped us to get rid of H&G, it helped us to get rid of Hodgson and it helped us to get kenny back for 1 last swansong. Let's use it again to bring back Rafael Benitez, not because of any sentimental reason, but because he proved what an exceptional manager he is under difficult circumstances and with limited funding. With FSG's support and resources the sky could be the limit for us again!

1.6 years top 4 about 200m in
2.6 years tfers about 50m net inc torres 50m fee that cannot be used against kd outlay cos hes rafas signing
3.old big ears home 4ever and runner up.2 finals in 3 years
4.new 5 year contract cos he knew he was going to be hung out to dry by dumb and dumber.
5.a stubborn man but [oops] if i'd done what he had i would be stubborn that i knew what i was doing and for people ie board to let him get on with it
6.our own board /owners sortof poisoned us against him to an extent
7.with the internal troubles i wouldn't have been ranting i'd have been banging my head off walls in frustration in press conferances
8.discount inter the team was joses as usual the italians didn't want to know what the manager wanted where are inter now
9.our most successful in 20 years and more importantly successful in the modern game
10.fergie and europe terrified ANFIELD the one place no european team wanted to go to
11.has the same passion for lfc as kd icried with him at hillsborough anniversary
12.no manager is perfect not even fergie.sure he bought duds and had them foisted on him but look at the magic he bought many still with team
13.at the end of days he was having to sell players to raise cash look at the players he wanted that we could have signed but no money from dumb and dumber
14.i don't think my sentimentality is overriding good sense
15.my fav player in the world ever is kenny so this is not kd bashing i've followed lfc nearly 40 years so i know a little bit i'm not one of these new football fans who think football started 20 years ago
16.when i heard kd was up for the job i was in two minds yes the legend is back no if this goes tits up then the reputation of a true football legend is tarnished
17.we should bring back rafa and support him 200% and tuck kenny back into our memory where he will never do anything wrong and will always reign supreme as king kenny
any thoughts anyone?