Malcolm X

Wonder what Steven Gewward, Weina and Towwes will think of Uncle Woy's appointment. Maschewano is pwobably on his way to join Wafa.

Benítez kept open the possibility of a return to Merseyside, insisting he has no plans to sell his house in Wirral. He added: "I can guarantee one thing – I will not sell my house. It is our home and we will come back. I don't know when but we will come back for sure." We would welcome you back with open arms (well at least some of us would).

I was watching it in the Middle East on Al Jazeera sports where they had an elite panel of Tim Sherwood, Trevor Francis and Souness. Tim Sherwood is a genius. When asked on his thoughts on Chile his this is what he said: TS: "I think Chile can spring a surprise against Brazil, I really do. If they get in amongst Brazil like they did today against Spain they could surprise Brazil." Presenter: "But they have their two key defenders missing for the next game." TS: "Yes but they will have new players coming in who can still get into Brazil." Presenter: "Do you know what Chile's results were against Brazil in the qualifiers? Lost 3-0 and 4-2!!" TS: "Yeah but this is the World Cup, its different" Trevor Francis: "You really think they can beat Brazil? (looks at him like what the f*ck are you on)" Que silence from Sherwood.

I agree with you that it was a gamble and I even said at the time that Aquilani could cost Rafa his job. However, I can see what Rafa was thinking: "Ok, I sell Alonso for 34 million and buy Aquilani for 17 million, that leaves me... (tap tap on the calculator) 17 million. I buy one back up striker, buy Michael Turner and maybe sell Riera or Babel and buy a winger. We have a good team no?" Then Rafa is told the profit from Alonso has disappeared and he has no cash at all. Funny how that Aquilani signing then stands out like a sore thumb. I don't want Roy Hodgson anywhere near the f*cking club let alone not wanting him to spend the Mascherano money.

Except Houllier wasn't there for 5 or so months of the season. I still firmly believe that run we had while he was in hospital had more to do with 'lets do it for GH' than anything GH did in that season. Its no coincidence that our form was sh*t before GH went to hospital and improved while he was away. As soon as he came back we faltered in the title race and got knocked out of the Champions League. What does that tell you? And I will ask you again - did GH have to spend 3 years under backstabbing c*nt owners? Did he have to face reports every 3 months of him being sacked? Despite your apparent dislike for Rafa, you have to consider the conditions GH and Kenny worked were nothing like what Rafa has faced over the last 3 years. And yes I do believe the working conditions are directly correlated with whether an individual is successful or not. B*llocks. There is plenty to argue against that post.

Fair enough mate. You have your views and as Stevie H and Mike have said, we have to move on. However regarding your point, was he an improvement on Houllier? Absolutely , a massive improvement. He gave us a lot more to cheer about than GH did. He worked tirelessly for the club under complete c*nts for owners that GH never had to face. And crucially the landscape changed significantly when Rafa took over as he not only had to overtake Utd and Arsenal, he also had to Chelsea's millions and Maurinho to contend with. There is no doubt in my mind, had he been backed properly in the transfer market we would have won the league a few years ago. I agree that Rafa moving on was probably the best thing in the short term as another year of infighting may have dragged us further down. But you have to agree that no manager in living memory had to face what Rafa went through under these owners.

Ok since you ask. For the first 5 seasons yes Rafa was reasonably backed to achieve 3rd or 4th, which he did and more. Last season he wasn't reasonably backed but we should still have finished 4th with that squad and therefore last season was a failure. You can say with the crumbs he was given last season, he had to be absolutely spot on in the transfer market and he wasn't. Did he make a mistake buying Aquilani. Probably. But which manager has not made any transfer mistakes? Does last season's failure take him out of the bracket of the elite managers in the world? F*ck no. But what really p*sses people off on this forum is when you and Mike to name a few, use last season's failure as a stick to beat Rafa with and start picking holes in his whole tenure here just to prove your point that he is only an ok manager.

Belittling Rafa's achievements is definitely an 'agenda' and not a view especially when it is not shared by most on here. Your statement 'Rafa achieved an average of 4th at best despite being financially backed' is more one side than a double headed coin. That statement is absolute b*llocks and you know it. It is interesting that you mention 2007. I am assuming now you think Rafa deserves to be criticised from 2007 onwards? I seem to recall you mentioning that you only really became critical of Rafa last September. Or have you now changed your opinion again to back your current stance?

Its ok, he's had an agenda against Rafa for quite a while now. Despite his denials its all coming out now. His posts are becoming f*cking tiresome.

Serves you right for getting married to an 18 year old.

Yep, your entire post seems to imply you know what you are talking about which is, for the record, complete and utter b*llocks. Anyway carry on.

Truly sad watching that. Without doubt the best manager we have had in the last 20 years although some supporters will try to tell you that he was no better than his predecessors and will use all kinds of f*cked up mentally deranged arguments to back this up.

This was one of the comments on the Liverpool Echo: mrfitz wrote: A well planned gesture.. A great manager and character in rafael benitez.. I personally think it should of been £960,000 given the fact he just set himself up for life with a £6m booty from our club. Nonetheless.. a good move.." What an absolute d*ck.

This for those who think our future is bright: "Benítez was given an initial £3m, with a further £3m in instalments, by Liverpool officials last week to end his six-year spell at Anfield "by mutual consent". As Internazionale's swift approach reveals, Benítez's reputation remains high despite his frequent disputes with the Liverpool hierarchy and the club's seventh‑placed finish in the Premier League last season. The Spaniard had previously resisted an offer from Juventus to move to Serie A." So basically we are so loaded that we had to pay Rafa 3 million in instalments - I am guessing over 3 years.

Yep thats the one.

He is baffled why Woy calls him Awigo. Maurinho in particular played 6 games against Rafa in Europe and won 1.

What does Sacchi know, I am trusting the football oracles David Hodgson, Gunga Din and Kev. They know what they are talking about.

Who is to say Elisha is not making this sh*t up to justify his stance for wanting Rafa out. Yeah Torres may have left even if Rafa stayed because he was sick of getting the sh*t kicked out of him with absolutely no protection from the referees. And you know what he could still leave for exactly the same reason not because of Rafa but because he is unlikely to still get any protection from the refs. Used as a battering ram, f*cking hell. He wasn't really complaining about playing as a lone striker when he was banging in those goals last season.

Wenger has won f*ck all for 5 seasons. F*ck, thats worse than Rafa. According to Elisha's logic, Wenger must be sacked because he has won f*ck all for the last 5 seasons. Then again according to Elisha's theory because he has better man management skills he doesn't deserve the sack. Its easy this.

Including yours.

Even better one was "Roman Abramovich is the most important person at Chelsea."

His people skills seem to work out just fine at half time in Istanbul. Or during 2008/09 after we had the mini blip. But there will be telling you that it wasn't Rafa but the occasion and the big games that roused the players.

I am going with that as well.

They like you completely ignored the 5 very good seasons that preceded this sh*t season. They were looking for one bad season to stick the knife in, which they duly did. The sacking was not a footballing decision. A footballing decision would have been something like we have screwed this guy over for the last 3 seasons and, with the exception of this season, by and large he has done well. Lets try to come up with some dough this summer and see what he can do with some real backing. But they knew they didn't have the cash and by sacking Rafa it makes their job of selling Torres, Gerrard, Reina and Mascherano that much easier as the one man that would have stopped them from doing that is no longer in their way. Footballing decision my left test*cle.