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What are the points to justify sacking Rafa?

What are the things that would make the board sack Rafa?

So come end of the season, rafa walks into a meetng with the board........ whats the boards points on sacking the coach?

- no trophies in 4 years (if we don't win europa)
- the kind of players he has wasted money on (dossena, lucas, keane, riera, morientes and most recently aquilani to name a few)
- the kind of football we play, it's not even football this season. he's not the master tactician some want to believe he is.

there's so many reasons. bottom line is we need change and he would have got sacked at any other club....

completly agree with all that ,we had a good season last season and didnt win anything so its time for a change but the problem is will we attract a big manager if g&h are still at the helm [probably not]

Good evening!

I don't post a lot, but I lurk around this site everyday. theswede_kop, at the start of the season you posted and defended Rafa a number of times. Several times you said that Rafa had not been properly backed by the board and at one time you wrote: "Can't think of many other managers that would have done a better job than Rafa has done...Particularly not if you think about the circumstances he's been working under." And at one point you defended Rafa's transfer policy by writing:

"People like you seem to forget that we've also sold players....

If we take a look at the transfers of the summer of 08, winter of 09 and the summer of 09 it looks like this:

In: Keane £19m, Dossena £7m, Ngog £1,5m, Riera £8m, Johnson £17m, Aquilani £18m

Total: £70,5m

Out: Crouch £11m, Riise £4m, Keane £15m, Arbeloa £3,5m, Leto £3m, Alonso £30m

Total: £66,5m

We have also sold Hobbs, Anderson and Hammill which brings in another couple of millions but to be fair we have also brought in a couple of youngsters like Mavinga etc.

You can call this backing Rafa if you want to, but i dont think that approximately £5m over 2 seasons is backing a manager in a team that's going to challenge for the title and compete in europe.

To be fair they did back him up in the summer of 07 when we brought in Torres, Babel and Benayoun, but a lot of the other players you've mentioned was bought before the yanks took over. And I was talking about the yanks backing him up, not how much he's spent over the last 5 years..."


How can all this have changed so dramatically over 6-7 months? I still believe Rafa is the right man for the job and will do so until he gets proper backing from the men upstairs. So many times have we seen signings not come off because of our owners.

Don't take me for a stalker, as I just wanted to make a point here and the research in all honesty only took 10 minutes.

first of all yes, i used to back rafa and certainly when it came to transfers. i can say the same thing now, he hasn't had the same kind of money as chelsea, united and city has had. that is nothing new really...

and when i posted this i still backed rafa, and i really thought he had done a good job so far. but i guess i posted this in august early september, when last season still was fresh in my memory. a lot has changed since then and i don't back him anymore. but that doesn't mean that i've changed my opinion on the transfer issue, he hasn't had the same kind of money as the other top club managers.

but the money he has had hasn't been spent wisely has it? he has certainly has enough money to build a team that should compete for the title, yet we won't even finish top 4.

and i've been critical with a lot of other thing for years, like his policy on substitutions and the way he approaches games.

and therefore i think its time for a change.

Ok, thanks for the reply. I still find it strange that you say he should have been able to compete for the title with the money we've spent, yet you acknowledge that he hasn't had the same kind of money as the other top club managers. I can agree that I wish Rafa would approach games in a different sense, but also remember how fantastic we were at the end of last season.
I believe that had we started the season off well, we would have been flying home the title this year. All our downfall has to do with confidence (and perhaps the loss of Hyypia and Alonso). After the poor start I think Rafa got a bit wary of attacking teams and going at them, especially away from home. Injuries have not helped us either.

Yes, Rafa has made mistakes, but not enough to have him packing his bags in my opinion.

thing is i've never thought of myself as anti-rafa or pro-rafa, i just try to see things as they are. and yes, as i said rafa hasn't had the kind of money we all would have liked but when i say i think he should be able to compete for the title i mean that he was able to spend £20m on keane and we all know how that went, and he was able to spend the same amount on aquilani, a player that has failed to make any impact at all this season. we needed him this season, not the next. i just think the money he's had could have been spent much more wisely and in a way where we could have had a much better squad than the squad we have...

yes i remember how fantastic we were last spring, that whats make this season so much more frustrating. why on earth are we playing the way we're doing? injuries plays it's part but that not the main reason in my opinion, it's much down to the way rafa approaches the games.

We tend to agree on some points. However, when we signed Keane (many claim it wasn't Rafa's signing but I don't know) I was excited. However, it didn't work out, and Rafa quickly realized this, shiped him out 6 months later and we got 16 million pounds back if I'm not mistaken. I say it was well done by Rafa to get so much money back so fast. But where did the money he recouped go? What replacement has he been able to buy?

no one knows where the money went except the clowns in charge. they're the biggest problem at the club, no doubt about it. the situation will be the same if a new manager comes in end they're still here, the new manager will have to improvise on the transfer market. but i still believe there are managers around that would have done things differently and better than rafa has done this season. another question is why he isn't using any of the youth players? pacheco is more than ready.

i just think we need change. the lads needs a new voice in the dressing room. someone who can motivate them, something rafa has failed with lately.

Yeah, I agree, I would have liked to see Pacheco used as well, even though I haven't seen him play a lot to be honest. I don't think many fans have, yet they seem to believe he's ready.

Agree to disagree I suppose, I still don't think one poor season is enough to warrant calling for his head. Then Wenger wouldn't have lasted long at Arsenal and I would hate to see us switch managers as often as Chelsea.

Owners out, give Rafa a good season with nice backing and I'll be happy. If he fails then, even I might be wanting a change.

Trevlig helg!