Jump to content

Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)


Recommended Posts

Rafa needed the right club and Everton certainly isn't/wasn't it. I still stand by him being a world class manager, but he was always on a hiding to nothing going there, the fans were never going to give him a chance. I think he needs somewhere he can go into where the fans accept him, where he's able to bring in his coaching team and change things to how he wants to run them. I'd have loved him to be the one to take us into the new era, but I think everyone's moved on now, myself included (as much as that's a surprise to myself to admit!)

Link to post
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Thiago said:

I think he's going to regret the Everton/Newcastle decision for a long old while. 

Yep.

 

He could have had it all here. I genuinely don’t know what his next job will be. He won’t retire, but I just can’t see him getting a decent gig in England again.

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

Neither did I, but I still think he's a good manager, just joined the wrong club. Actually, I don't think the fans of any top club will be happy with that type of football any more, Mourinho is also not fashionable any more for the same reason. 

I think you're right about the type of football but I think it's old fashioned and gets found out quite easily these days, this is why both Mourinho and Rafa struggle nowadays (in my opinion).

Link to post
Share on other sites

In hindsight probably should have worked things out with Ashley one way or another

 

I think had the situation been different at Everton he would be doing better but I can't imagine by very much. Everton are rotten when a manager superior to Rafa finished midtable last season with them. Tells you everything you need to know.

Link to post
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, joeyt said:

 

What decision?

 

We weren't an option for him in the summer

The decision to join Everton while our fate was still unknown. 

 

When he was announced we were hearing that there was no viable way for them to stop the takeover. I can promise you their chats with Rafa would have been a lot more informative and clear on timelines etc. I love the guy, but he was never going to be a success there. There's a reason only one man had done it before him in 129 years. Even the briefings coming out painted him as 'the best they could get'. 

 

I admire his work ethic, but for someone that has spent his whole career wanting total control it baffles me why he wouldn't wait another six months to a year. He'd have had chance to shape this club in every conceivable way, and basically been seen as the man that ushered in a revolution at a success starved club. He's never really done that before either. He's usually only ever done it at clubs with a past. 

 

Even if he hadn't worked with Liverpool previously, what is appealing about that job? No disrespect to Everton, but you're going into a two team city in which the other team is streets ahead and you've got no money to change things. Throw in that a good portion hate you, it just screams dumb idea.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

He wouldn't have known that the takeover would be announced 3 months into the season, it wasn't exactly making progress back in June

 

It seemed to even take Staveley and her entourage by surprise how quickly it was resolved

 

 

Edited by joeyt

Link to post
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

I think you're right about the type of football but I think it's old fashioned and gets found out quite easily these days, this is why both Mourinho and Rafa struggle nowadays (in my opinion).

 

I think that kind of football can still work, but it will probably a suit a 2nd tier team, and by that I mean those outside of the top 6. Oddly enough, I think Mourinho might have had a good crack at the Everton job as he wouldn't have met with the immediate hostility Rafa got. But yeah, defensive football is not winning titles again in a hurry, not when you have teams like Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool leading the way. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Sorry, but no chance.


Course he is. It takes a long time for him to get a side modelled in his image. There were even some initial teething problems in the Championship and we lost a fair few games in that league.


He’s made two bad career decisions since leaving us, and he’s certainly to some extent suffered out of his loyalty to us in the summer of ‘16. I feel for him. He’s far, far better than this. 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Agree with a lot of what has been said. His style has probably not kept up with the times, but it still has a place in the game. The Everton budget certainly did not help. 

Also, they always say that as a manager if you lose the fans you have no chance. He had lost the fans before he had even started because of his Liverpool connection. Basically he had no chance. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I just feel like nowadays the distance between someone like Rafa and your average top level manager has shortened massively. On top of that managers are getting younger and more data driven.

 

World Class is a pretty strong term I'd say when we you look at what other managers are doing atm.

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

What’s the criteria for defining world class? He hasn’t really done anything of note in years. You can see the clear impact he had here but he wouldn’t be the first or last manager to get a team promoted and then mid-table in the Prem. Seems to be a reason he isn’t getting attention from the best teams now. 

Saying that managers and clubs can often just be the wrong for each other and that’s clearly happened here and I imagine China too. Clearly not all his fault, but pretty understandable if Everton fanbase is annoyed. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

What sets Rafa apart from a lot of managers is the longer he stays the better his teams get. For a lot of managers they come in and get a reaction from the players and things look ok for a while and then tail off. I do think that if Everton keep backing him he’ll be successful there but the fans clearly hate him and it could get pretty toxic. Hopefully it does and they can fuck off down to the championship for a year 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...