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Rafa Benítez (now unemployed)

Greg

by Greg
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Chicken Dancer

Chicken Dancer

Posted
Posted

Forever indebted to this bloke. Not only did he sort of initiate the takeover, but he was a shining light in a prolonged dark period for the club.

 

I absolutely hate how in recent years his impact has been downplayed by many of our fans (certainly in my friendship group). 

 

Yes, it was fundamentally pragmatic - but it had to be. We comfortably stayed up with essentially the 16/17 squad and picked up some decent scalps along the way. Ran on a shoestring and made us hard to beat and really bought into the cloob/city. Even when we didn't win in our first 8 or 9 or whatever it was I never really thought we'd go down - in fact I'm convinced we'd have stayed up in 15/16 had he been brought in a game or two before he did after we were beaten by Chelsea 5-1 before a 3 week gap in fixtures.

 

The second half of 18/19 after we signed Almiron was probably the most enjoyable period of the Ashley era for me personally, including 11/12.

 

Love the bloke and always will.

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Geordie Ahmed

Geordie Ahmed

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Chicken Dancer said:

Forever indebted to this bloke. Not only did he sort of initiate the takeover, but he was a shining light in a prolonged dark period for the club.

 

I absolutely hate how in recent years his impact has been downplayed by many of our fans (certainly in my friendship group). 

 

Yes, it was fundamentally pragmatic - but it had to be. We comfortably stayed up with essentially the 16/17 squad and picked up some decent scalps along the way. Ran on a shoestring and made us hard to beat and really bought into the cloob/city. Even when we didn't win in our first 8 or 9 or whatever it was I never really thought we'd go down - in fact I'm convinced we'd have stayed up in 15/16 had he been brought in a game or two before he did after we were beaten by Chelsea 5-1 before a 3 week gap in fixtures.

 

The second half of 18/19 after we signed Almiron was probably the most enjoyable period of the Ashley era for me personally, including 11/12.

 

Love the bloke and always will.

 

Anyone that criticises him is a moron and I immediately render their opinions on football to be utterly useless

 

Love the bloke and him doing bad at other clubs after us is irrelevant 

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Pixelphish

Pixelphish

Posted
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9 minutes ago, Chicken Dancer said:

Forever indebted to this bloke. Not only did he sort of initiate the takeover, but he was a shining light in a prolonged dark period for the club.

 

I absolutely hate how in recent years his impact has been downplayed by many of our fans (certainly in my friendship group). 

 

Yes, it was fundamentally pragmatic - but it had to be. We comfortably stayed up with essentially the 16/17 squad and picked up some decent scalps along the way. Ran on a shoestring and made us hard to beat and really bought into the cloob/city. Even when we didn't win in our first 8 or 9 or whatever it was I never really thought we'd go down - in fact I'm convinced we'd have stayed up in 15/16 had he been brought in a game or two before he did after we were beaten by Chelsea 5-1 before a 3 week gap in fixtures.

 

The second half of 18/19 after we signed Almiron was probably the most enjoyable period of the Ashley era for me personally, including 11/12.

 

Love the bloke and always will.

He's a beautiful person. Everything he did around the community/city never seemed forced or a burden. I hope we see him at SJP soon.

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Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus

Posted
Posted (edited)

His transfer record was good anyway but even his flops have come good in one way or another and made his record even better.

 

Loved him when he was here. Although they were completely different and would have been a disaster if combined, it was Rafa and Ben Arfa that made the Ashley years bearable for the time they were here.

 

 

Edited by Kid Icarus

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Chicken Dancer

Chicken Dancer

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Posted
1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

His transfer record was good anyway but even his flops have come good in one way or another and made his record even better.

 

Loved him when he was here. Although they were completely different and would have been a disaster if combined, it was Rafa and Ben Arfa that made the Ashley years bearable for the time they were here.

 

 

 

 

He was class at buying defenders like. Forwards not so much :lol: He gets a pass for the sheer fact I know they'd have been 4 or 5 on the list of targets.

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TRon

TRon

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Posted
1 hour ago, Chicken Dancer said:

Forever indebted to this bloke. Not only did he sort of initiate the takeover, but he was a shining light in a prolonged dark period for the club.

 

I absolutely hate how in recent years his impact has been downplayed by many of our fans (certainly in my friendship group). 

 

Yes, it was fundamentally pragmatic - but it had to be. We comfortably stayed up with essentially the 16/17 squad and picked up some decent scalps along the way. Ran on a shoestring and made us hard to beat and really bought into the cloob/city. Even when we didn't win in our first 8 or 9 or whatever it was I never really thought we'd go down - in fact I'm convinced we'd have stayed up in 15/16 had he been brought in a game or two before he did after we were beaten by Chelsea 5-1 before a 3 week gap in fixtures.

 

The second half of 18/19 after we signed Almiron was probably the most enjoyable period of the Ashley era for me personally, including 11/12.

 

Love the bloke and always will.

 

 

I think for most of us it was just great to have a coach who knew how to set out a team with an identity. A lot of people criticise him in hindsight but for me it was fascinating to see us play to a plan with a man who clearly studied the game meticulously. I can't stand Liverpool, but pretty sure even after all their recent glory they will still have a healthy respect among the fanbase for what he did there.

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Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Chicken Dancer said:

 

He was class at buying defenders like. Forwards not so much :lol: He gets a pass for the sheer fact I know they'd have been 4 or 5 on the list of targets.

 

I dunno about that mind. Rondon was really good for us and with hindsight he was right about Joselu.

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Decky

Decky

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Posted

Love Rafa. I really enjoyed that period with the club and fell back in love with it again, which amazes me when I remember Ashley was still here at the time because thinking back you'd be forgiven if you forgot that he was. Its such a shame he left and was followed by Steve Bruce who if I remember correctly made several sly digs at Rafa at the start of his time here, such is the nature of that complete tosser. Hope Rafa has a great day and comes back to SJP to see a game again soon.

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Guest

Guest

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Posted

I don't think the takeover happens without Rafa, like. 

 

Him uniting the fans with the club even under Ashley gave a glimpse of the potential of the club. 

 

If we'd went for Steve Bruce for instance after McClaren, I don't think we'd have looked an attractive proposition at all. 

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Chris_R

Chris_R

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I will always appreciate what Rafa did for us, every match we went into I always thought we had a chance in, even against the really big sides. You just knew he'd have a plan and that whilst we might not win, he'd at least get most things right in our approach.

 

I don't care what he has or hasn't done since leaving us, that cannot and will not ever have any effect on how I feel about his tenure here. It's utterly irrelevant. Here he was great, and that's all I care about.

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Chicken Dancer

Chicken Dancer

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

I dunno about that mind. Rondon was really good for us and with hindsight he was right about Joselu.


Aye Rondon was absolutely sound, I should have specified that. But I’m not giving him credit for Joselu :lol:  Plenty of players are late bloomers or just not suited to a league and that’s fine.

 

Like I said though, it’s a pass because we just know that Joselu (and probably Rondon to be fair) would have been number 3/4/5 on the list of targets.  

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Monters

Monters

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Posted
1 hour ago, Chicken Dancer said:


Aye Rondon was absolutely sound, I should have specified that. But I’m not giving him credit for Joselu :lol:  Plenty of players are late bloomers or just not suited to a league and that’s fine.

 

Like I said though, it’s a pass because we just know that Joselu (and probably Rondon to be fair) would have been number 3/4/5 on the list of targets.  

That was what frustrated me the most when we lost him and gained Bruce... The front three of Perez, Rondon and Miggy had started to play some canny stuff (compared to previous seasons) and it felt that the team didn't need much tweaking only for it all to get chucked away over a few million... Obviously Joelinton then to Joelinton now is a very different beast! 

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