Richard Keys claims Rafael Benitez tried to leave Newcastle United for Everton twice

[sageyefc]

No. I wouldn't let my kids stay in your house either. Does that say something about me or something about you?

Funnily enough I wouldn't want strangers kids in my house like anyone that's not a nonce wouldn't

 

[Theoneandonly]

How the hell was he responsible for bringing in players 2 and 4 years after he was sacked???????

When LFC changed owners they asked a lot of former managers for advise and formed a transfer committee, Rafael was asked who to sign, he advised them to sign Coutinho when he left Inter.

He set the ball rolling to sign Suarez in the January before he left, he had scouts watching him the previous seasons. It was a simple case to complete the deal when funds allowed.

 

[jaycee]

Carragher was on the verge of being sold when Rafael got there, he was tried as a right back, midfielder and many other positions. Rafael moved him in the middle and he became one of the best centre backs in the league. Gerrard was utilised as a deep holding midfielder and a right midfielder until Rafael got there and turned him in to the best attacking midfielder in the league.

His signings at Liverpool include Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Sissoko, Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Zenden, Crouch, Bellamy, Kuyt, Aurelio, Mascherano, Torres, Benayoun, Lucas, Meireles. He also transformed their academy and brought in Sterling, Suso, Wisdom, Flanagan, Ayala, Coady, Spearing. Was partly responsible for bringing in Suarez and Coutinho too.

His time at Inter was a failure, but he asked for investment in order to overhaul the ageing squad, which was denied and look at them now. What have they achieved since?

He was a success at Chelsea, no matter how you look at it. Took them from 7th to 3rd. Won the Europa League. Turned David Luiz and Mata in to 50m players. Was actually going to take over in the Summer before, but the champions league win brought Di Matteo some more time. Rafael left on good terms with Roman and the players.

His time at Napoli was a huge success. Won the League Cup, haven't won it since. Won their charity shield for the first time in 14 years, haven't won it since. Got to the semi finals of the Europa league. Haven't got as far in Europe since. Finished 3rd and 5th in the league, which is about average for them. The Owner wanted him to stay and offered him a 3 year deal, but Rafael was homesick.

Signed Mertens, Callejon, Albiol, Higuain, De Guzman, Gabbiadini, Jorginho, Zapata, Reina, Koulibali, Ghoulam at Napoli. A team which set them up for years.

His time at Madrid was average. He wasn't allowed to sign any players apart from Casemeiro due to the amount spent the previous few years. He wanted to get rid of players, but wasn't allowed. Got told which players he had to play and had interference in all his operations. Unbeaten in the Champions League, 3rd in the league with a game in hand when he left.

His time at Newcastle can't be considered less than a success, he's worshiped up there.

I have always considered him to be a fat rs bellend but that academy list has swung it for me

 

[Theoneandonly]

The Napoli narrative doesnt make sense to me, youre saying he was homesick and delivered 2 meaningless trophies with 2 (at best) average seasons....hes in China now.

Madrid they hated his type of football and he was booted pretty quickly...

They might be meaningless to you, but you would love it if we won the equivalent trophies here. Napoli haven't won anything since. Sarri is heralded in England as a maestro, yet he achieved less than Rafael at Napoli.

He's in China now on a short term contract, with clauses. He went there for his staff to keep them in work and keep the money coming in. It's smart business sense. Plus he was at Napoli 5 years ago, his kids are older now. Plus he comes home regularly as the workload is a lot less. In fact he was home last week.

Madrid hated his football? You mean the football in which they barely conceded and broke a whole host of scoring records relative to that point in the season

 

[ClausThomsen]

Did well with Chelsea too. Got them into the Champions League for the first time. People forget that. Also did very well with Monaco.

Fulham was a disaster but he’s not a bad manager, far from it. For a manager to work at any club, lot’s of things have to fall into place. It’s not just about the quality of the manager - which is why our situation doesn’t rest solely on Silva’s shoulders.

Very true and he walked into a mess at Fulham. He's a very decent manager but I think everything has to be just right for things to work which isn't a rarity in the modern game. Most managers seem to have a 2-3 shelf life at most, probably why a DOF or similar setting a consistent tone throughout the club has much greater importance these days.

 

[catcherintherye]

He did very well at Valencia.

At Liverpool he had Carragher, Gerrard + brought in Mascherano, Torres and Alonso but the other signings were mostly awful.

Was awful at Inter, ok short term at Chelsea not good at Napoli or Madrid and ok at Newcastle.

I dont see the fuss...i think hes massively overrated based on Valencia and Liverpool and if were going for experience + a big name theres others out there.

Just because his family lives in the city how does this make him a more attractive proposition than a real top manager...i mean give him Klopps squad a couple of years ago and i cant see Benitez doing as well.

We need to either stick with Silva allowing him to develop over time or get someone who can go toe to toe with the very best.

There's 3 parts for me.

On the first point at Liverpool, he promoted Carragher to being a key player, and recruited the rest of the players described. I'd also add in lads like Kuyt, Sissoko, Reina and others who were all decent buys. He spends a fair amount though so in order to do well he obviously needs reasonable funds. That shouldn't be a problem here.

Overall though he bombed at Real Madrid and Inter (which I acknowledge) but both were the strongest team in their league. I'd say he did very well at Newcastle and was ok at Napoli and Chelsea. So it's a mixed picture, but outside of clubs where the expectation is to be the number 1 team he is very solid.

I suppose on the point of a real top manager, if we could attract one I'd be in favour of that. I'll be quite frank that I'm not sure we can. Likewise I can see the argument to keep with Silva, but I think he has a maximum of 2 games left where he had to avoid defeat. If he doesn't it will be untenable.

It's not the direction I want to go necessarily, however if the fans and Moshiri want quicker success then I think Benitez is ready made. He understands the league very well. He understands the area very well. He would be very keen to take the job (which differentiates him from Koeman) and has shown himself to be able to improve middle to upper ranking teams consistently well.

 

[Goat]

I have always considered him to be a fat rs bellend but that academy list has swung it for me

Who wouldnt want to get the manager in who discovered Jay Spearing?

 

[ClausThomsen]

I suppose on the point of a real top manager, if we could attract one I'd be in favour of that. I'll be quite frank that I'm not sure we can. Likewise I can see the argument to keep with Silva, but I think he has a maximum of 2 games left where he had to avoid defeat. If he doesn't it will be untenable.

If Ashley's relegation threatened Newcastle can attract FSW then I think those in charge can set their sights fairly high. Money talks and it is the biggest (by viewing) league in the world.

 

[Toast]

We will end up paying the Chinese team £100m in compo won't we.

 

[catcherintherye]

Carragher was on the verge of being sold when Rafael got there, he was tried as a right back, midfielder and many other positions. Rafael moved him in the middle and he became one of the best centre backs in the league. Gerrard was utilised as a deep holding midfielder and a right midfielder until Rafael got there and turned him in to the best attacking midfielder in the league.

His signings at Liverpool include Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Sissoko, Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Zenden, Crouch, Bellamy, Kuyt, Aurelio, Mascherano, Torres, Benayoun, Lucas, Meireles. He also transformed their academy and brought in Sterling, Suso, Wisdom, Flanagan, Ayala, Coady, Spearing. Was partly responsible for bringing in Suarez and Coutinho too.

His time at Inter was a failure, but he asked for investment in order to overhaul the ageing squad, which was denied and look at them now. What have they achieved since?

He was a success at Chelsea, no matter how you look at it. Took them from 7th to 3rd. Won the Europa League. Turned David Luiz and Mata in to 50m players. Was actually going to take over in the Summer before, but the champions league win brought Di Matteo some more time. Rafael left on good terms with Roman and the players.

His time at Napoli was a huge success. Won the League Cup, haven't won it since. Won their charity shield for the first time in 14 years, haven't won it since. Got to the semi finals of the Europa league. Haven't got as far in Europe since. Finished 3rd and 5th in the league, which is about average for them. The Owner wanted him to stay and offered him a 3 year deal, but Rafael was homesick.

Signed Mertens, Callejon, Albiol, Higuain, De Guzman, Gabbiadini, Jorginho, Zapata, Reina, Koulibali, Ghoulam at Napoli. A team which set them up for years.

His time at Madrid was average. He wasn't allowed to sign any players apart from Casemeiro due to the amount spent the previous few years. He wanted to get rid of players, but wasn't allowed. Got told which players he had to play and had interference in all his operations. Unbeaten in the Champions League, 3rd in the league with a game in hand when he left.

His time at Newcastle can't be considered less than a success, he's worshiped up there.

I think there's a bit of creative license on some of the points here mate, I mean Coutinho and Suarez were signed many years after he left.

That being said he seems to have a decent eye for a player, but he often needs a fair whack of money to spend. If you haven't got that money he will struggle a bit, and at the top clubs in the league I don't think he's an attacking enough manager to win enough games. However if you are where we are, a middling to upper middling club with money to spend he is a a pretty strong choice.

The point you make about Carragher and Gerrard is a good one. He made both the players they are. We have number of players in a similar boat here, lads who you can see have talent but are not being utilised correctly and a more astute tactician could quite quickly get more out of. Gerrard had just turned 24 when Benitez came and he really kicked on. Carragher was 26. He moved them up a level.

The thing with Benitez is he doesn't have an awful lot of time for younger players, so he won't have much interest in developing lots of lads under 21. Likewise he requires a continual flow of cash to keep signing players as they get a bit older. However some of them will be sold on for decent money (at Liverpool he moved on Alonso, Bellamy, Crouch for decent money as well as Torres and Mascherano after he left).

I don't think they were a million miles ahead of where we are now when Benitez arrived, and quite quickly he had them competing for the league and European trophies.

 

[jaycee]

Who wouldnt want to get the manager in who discovered Jay Spearing?

I was umming and ahhhing till I seen that he had managed to get the Bash St kids signed up

 

[catcherintherye]

If Ashley's relegation threatened Newcastle can attract FSW then I think those in charge can set their sights fairly high. Money talks and it is the biggest (by viewing) league in the world.

I don't mean Benitez mate, I just mean the shouts for Mourinho or Simeone. If we could attract them I'd go for them, but I have my doubts.

 

[Theoneandonly]

Who wouldnt want to get the manager in who discovered Jay Spearing?

Or Suso, Daniel Ayala, Mike San Jose, Gabriel Paletta, Jonjo Shelvey and Raheem Sterling

 

[ClausThomsen]

I don't mean Benitez mate, I just mean the shouts for Mourinho or Simeone. If we could attract them I'd go for them, but I have my doubts.

Not well worded by me so unclear but I was using Newcastle as a barometer for ambition. If they could attract Benitez in that state then it says something for the pulling power of money and the PL.

West Ham for instance went out and got a manager who'd won the PL not long before and had a very good record at places like Real Madrid, Sevilla and success in South America.

 

[Lanolin]

I think there's a bit of creative license on some of the points here mate, I mean Coutinho and Suarez were signed many years after he left.

That being said he seems to have a decent eye for a player, but he often needs a fair whack of money to spend. If you haven't got that money he will struggle a bit, and at the top clubs in the league I don't think he's an attacking enough manager to win enough games. However if you are where we are, a middling to upper middling club with money to spend he is a a pretty strong choice.

The point you make about Carragher and Gerrard is a good one. He made both the players they are. We have number of players in a similar boat here, lads who you can see have talent but are not being utilised correctly and a more astute tactician could quite quickly get more out of. Gerrard had just turned 24 when Benitez came and he really kicked on. Carragher was 26. He moved them up a level.

The thing with Benitez is he doesn't have an awful lot of time for younger players, so he won't have much interest in developing lots of lads under 21. Likewise he requires a continual flow of cash to keep signing players as they get a bit older. However some of them will be sold on for decent money (at Liverpool he moved on Alonso, Bellamy, Crouch for decent money as well as Torres and Mascherano after he left).

I don't think they were a million miles ahead of where we are now when Benitez arrived, and quite quickly he had them competing for the league and European trophies.

Gerrard was 23 when Houllier left Liverpool and already had 30 England caps, was captain of Liverpool, had won 5 trophies, and been in the PFA team of the year twice. Benitez might have made him a bit better but much as it pains to me say it, the lad was well on his way to greatness with or without a new manager. It would be asking a bit more of him to turn Tom Davies into a top class midfielder.