Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

[Conjo]

3 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Don't think Rafa will ever lose his appetite for football, he's probably a bit gutted that he's ended up at another club with a lop-sided squad. Even though he didn't get backed by Ashley here, he was in a good place because we had had so many dud managers, for us to actually land a world class one was a dream for most fans. We were always going to give him our full backing regardless of results, it was just great to have a manager who wanted better things for the club again, not just here to pick up the wages like the other cunts before and after. 

 

I would assume that Benitez, in order to accept the offer from Everton, was satisfied with the squad he inherited from previous managers since there wasn't much funds available to buy new players.

If he accepted the offer blindly without thoroughly assessing their squad & available funds - what does that say about his reasoning for rejecting us in favor of China?

 

For me, if Rafa isn't happy with the squad at Everton, he doesn't have anyone to blame but himself.

 

 

[Guest HTT II]

His next job will be so important to his career, because of he chooses the wrong job, it could be the end of a top level career for him. If only he was available when we finally got taken over…

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by HTT II

[gjohnson]

35 minutes ago, HTT II said:

His next job will be so important to his career, because of he chooses the wrong job, it could be the end of a top level career for him. If only he was available when we finally got taken over…

 

 

 

I'm sure we'd welcome him in  the Director of Football role where he can overlook the entire rebuild of the club as a project. Lets be fair, it's not going to be long before Everton sack him.

[Guest HTT II]

Just now, gjohnson said:

I'm sure we'd welcome him in  the Director of Football role where he can overlook the entire rebuild of the club as a project. Lets be fair, it's not going to be long before Everton sack him.

I’d love that. He’d be perfect and should Howe fuck up, we have an ideal replacement ready to come in, but I can’t see Rafa going for that kind of gig nor Howe being happy with a Rafa over him. He’d be ideal though. 

[TRon]

I don't think Rafa would be ideal at all as DoF. His ideas about football are pretty much opposite what Eddie espouses, he'd be recommending players based on his own criteria, not the current manager's. If he could leave the football side of it to Howe, and get on with the overall club structure, then great, but knowing Rafa, he's football through and through, I can't see him fancying a mostly administrative role. 

[wormy]

I'm sure I've already said it numerous times but I don't see how Rafa coming in to oversee Howe would ever end in anything other than tears all around.

[HaydnNUFC]

Why undermine Howe by bringing Rafa above him man. Up there with wanting Keegan back as manager, mental.

[Consortium of one]

I think Rafa fell in love with the idea of building a club when he was with us.  Hence, he went to China with the same thought.  That failed but not because of him.  The bottom has fallen out of the China football experiment.

 

If the stars would have aligned, the new owners with Rafa would have been ideal.  With a window to bring in some new players and time to drill them we would have been OK, IMO.  I still would have wanted a DoF though.

 

At this point, I think the Rafa ship has sailed though.  I don't want to see Howe undermined by the shadow of Benitez.  At this point I simply don't want him back.  It pains me to say it.

 

 

[wormy]

9 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Why undermine Howe by bringing Rafa above him man. Up there with wanting Keegan back as manager, mental.

 

Hey, now...

[Yorkie]

I worship Rafa but he's never a DoF. He's a manager. If you're going down the Head Coach/Manager + Sporting Director route, you don't appoint two head coach/managers. 

[Consortium of one]

1 hour ago, Conjo said:

 

I had to look at Transfermarkt to see where their money has gone the last few seasons. 20/21 season is fine. Their three main purchases Allan, Doucoure & Godfrey for ~€25m each seems to be good buys, so far at least. However, the three seasons before that there are a few standouts for me:

 

€27,5m - Moise Keane

€25m - Jean Phillipe Gbamin - who the fuck is this?!?  Never heard of him before, haven't seen him play (according to transfermarkt he's featured in 2 pl matches in 19/20, 1 match last season and 2 matches this season)

€25m - Andre Gomes - decent buy, but seemingly struggling to get back to former level after injury

€30,5 - Alex Iwobi - terrible player

€9,5m - Fabien Delph - not the biggest fee, but assume he is on big wages

€49,5 (!!!) - Gylfi Sigurdsson 

€22,5m  - Theo Walcott

€27,5m - Davy Klaassen

€22,5m - Cenk Tosun

 

That's €239,5m wasted the in '17, '18 & '19 combined.

daft business, that

[HaydnNUFC]

Will always love Rafa for what he did and I'll always fight against the bollocks misconceptions about him and his time here. Its a real shame he took the Everton job before the takeover happened but its happened. We have Howe now and he has my full backing just like Rafa had. He's never a DOF, but can't help feeling the Rafa ship is sailing ever so slightly away now. Not that I'd be disappointed if he was managing us, but I want to see what Howe can do with us with a few more games and hours on the training ground under his belt.

[Chicane]

If the takeover had just happened a few months earlier things would be so different right now. I have no delusions that we'd be high up the table but we certainly wouldn't be in the relegation zone.

 

Rafa would be in charge, the defense would be organized and he'd hopefully have been given money to bring in a few quality midfield/forward players to bolster our attack.

 

But probably best of all would be all the restructuring around the club - plans for the youth, the training etc.

 

Timing is everything, man.

[toon25]

2 hours ago, Conjo said:

 

I had to look at Transfermarkt to see where their money has gone the last few seasons. 20/21 season is fine. Their three main purchases Allan, Doucoure & Godfrey for ~€25m each seems to be good buys, so far at least. However, the three seasons before that there are a few standouts for me:

 

€27,5m - Moise Keane

€25m - Jean Phillipe Gbamin - who the fuck is this?!?  Never heard of him before, haven't seen him play (according to transfermarkt he's featured in 2 pl matches in 19/20, 1 match last season and 2 matches this season)

€25m - Andre Gomes - decent buy, but seemingly struggling to get back to former level after injury

€30,5 - Alex Iwobi - terrible player

€9,5m - Fabien Delph - not the biggest fee, but assume he is on big wages

€49,5 (!!!) - Gylfi Sigurdsson 

€22,5m  - Theo Walcott

€27,5m - Davy Klaassen

€22,5m - Cenk Tosun

 

That's €239,5m wasted the in '17, '18 & '19 combined.

Didnt Michael Keane cost them a bomb too?

 

Iwobi takes the piss, mind. Not even a £10 million player 

[WillingtonMag]

2 hours ago, nufcjb said:

So glad he went to Everton and didn't end up back here like because would have hated to read comments like above even if we won matches if he was the manager.

Much prefer Howe the crazy idea of getting some entertainment and enjoyment from watching my team excites me.

[South-Cheshire-Toon]

Interesting looking at their next set of games up until us (sorry about the editing - cut and paste from a website)  - 

 

Monday 6th December Everton20:00Arsenal

Sunday 12th December Crystal Palace16:30Everton

Thursday 16th December Chelsea19:45Everton

Sunday 19th December Everton12:00Leicester City

Sunday 26th December Burnley15:00Everton

Thursday 30th December Everton19:30Newcastle United

 

On seeing how they are playing - they could be in the bottom quarter sooner than you think (here's hoping).

[Paully]

4 hours ago, Yorkie said:

 

 What? It's absolutely beyond me how anyone can have that opinion. He signed one first choice striker in Gayle and he was a revelation. He signed one backup striker in Murphy and he did a grand job when called upon. One winger, Ritchie, who was basically the most productive player in the league that season I think, and served us very well in the first season back up. Centre-mid, Diame, who played a big role and went onto even better things in the Prem, and Hayden, again who provided brilliant value for money. Two CBs: Clark, who formed a formidable partnership with Lascelles, and Hanley, who wasn't up to much but provided cover. Full-backs was 1 out of 3 in terms of Yedlin being more use than Gamez and Lazaar. Then you've got Sels, which was the only big swing-and-a-miss.

 

I mean his signings (and their success) were probably the most impactful thing he did to ensure promotion. 

 

In the PL the context changed cos the budget was farcical and he could never get his first choices. But still resulted in several fantastic buys: Dubravka, Schar, Fernández, Lejeune, Kenedy season 1. Even Joselu and Ki provided a reasonable return when you consider they cost about fourteen pence between them. Who knows what Miggy would've become in a Rafa team. I've always liked him and he certainly played a big part in keeping us well clear of the drop in 18/19.

 

Absolutely spot on!

[Sagar]

I have followed rafa since his days at lfc , and must say this is the worst set of players he has ever inherited. It's not just about the lack of individual quality in almost half of Everton players, it's also they are equally disinterested. On top of that , it's the worst academy that I have ever seen, the whole club needs a overhaul. And who better then rafa to do that, he is ruthless when it comes to any player being disinterested. If only  Everton fans would allow  him two transfer windows, he is exactly what they actually need. Someone who can show the door to disinterested players,  and someone who could build a strong acedemy.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Sagar

[The Bonk]

Poor Rafa, he was always going to be the scapegoat unless he had them top 8, but this is slightly unfair however expected from the Scouse Mackems. We get pelters for being deluded, but I'd say Everton are just as bad as us or worse for expectations as a fanbase. Maybe they could be forgiven with the money they've spent and having some top level managers the past couple seasons.  

 

Overall, they've got a better squad than the results show recently and from the extended highlights I watched of their Derby, they had the chances, but not the world class talent Liverpool do. Salah, if he keeps up this form, should be in for a shout of best player on the planet. Jota had a scorcher yesterday as well. Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City are fucking elite teams, Everton are nowhere close.

[Sagar]

2 hours ago, gjohnson said:

I'm sure we'd welcome him in  the Director of Football role where he can overlook the entire rebuild of the club as a project. Lets be fair, it's not going to be long before Everton sack him.

He would never take DOF, since I have known him for 15-16 years, he has an unfinished project of winning PL, he won't stop unless he does that. He almost won it 2008-09 with a much weaker squad then Manchester uni , Chelsea. His teams always overarchived, and he knows that. The man is exceptional tactician, have seen him outsmarting prime Mourinho, and Ferguson sides that had prime Ronaldo, Tevez , Rooney, Drogba etc with a much weaker squad on paper. The man will eventually win it, just give him love, 3 pl seasons and just 50-60 m every season. 

[Geogaddi]

33 minutes ago, Sagar said:

He would never take DOF, since I have known him for 15-16 years, he has an unfinished project of winning PL, he won't stop unless he does that. He almost won it 2008-09 with a much weaker squad then Manchester uni , Chelsea. His teams always overarchived, and he knows that. The man is exceptional tactician, have seen him outsmarting prime Mourinho, and Ferguson sides that had prime Ronaldo, Tevez , Rooney, Drogba etc with a much weaker squad on paper. The man will eventually win it, just give him love, 3 pl seasons and just 50-60 m every season. 

Is that you Rafa ?

[SUPERTOON]

34 minutes ago, Sagar said:

He would never take DOF, since I have known him for 15-16 years, he has an unfinished project of winning PL, he won't stop unless he does that. He almost won it 2008-09 with a much weaker squad then Manchester uni , Chelsea. His teams always overarchived, and he knows that. The man is exceptional tactician, have seen him outsmarting prime Mourinho, and Ferguson sides that had prime Ronaldo, Tevez , Rooney, Drogba etc with a much weaker squad on paper. The man will eventually win it, just give him love, 3 pl seasons and just 50-60 m every season. 

I love the guy but he is never winning the premier league.

[Magpie]

 

[Guest reefatoon]

Rafa must have been the only bloke on the planet not to envisage how this was going to turn out. Such an idiotic move for him.

[Pata]

21 hours ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

Don’t buy that too much at all. Everton’s squad is no worse than Arsenal’s, for example. Yet they’re eight points and nine places behind them.

 

Teams like Brighton, Brentford and Palace above them. Getting knocked out the cup by QPR.

 

He’s underperforming with the resources at his disposal, regardless of what transfer budget he has or hasn’t had.

Arsenal’s squad is so much better than Everton’s that it’s unreal. DCL has been out for a while, Richa has been in and out and Doucoure had an injury. They have to play shite like Gordon, Iwobi, Davies as there simply isn’t anyone else. Rondon and Coleman both look finished but they don’t have any other options. I’ve watched them quite a bit this year and I don’t think he’s lost the dressing room either outside of Richarlison who seems to think he has outgrown Everton which tbh is probably fair.

 

Rafa could easily get the boot but I doubt there is a manager who would have done any better with that squad and Gray and Townsend have been their best players available all season.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Pata