Benitez's Sacking was Inevitable

The more I think about it, the more Rafa Benitez’s sacking was inevitable.

At the heart of it all, Rafa wanted to build a successful football team that could challenge for and win major honours season after season and he wanted the owners and the board to give him the support he needed to achieve that. When that support was denied, Rafa fought to get it, often very publically.

Ultimately, and largely as a consequence of that public fighting, Rafa made too many enemies. This season, we have seen journalists, pundits, Sports TV presenters, ex-players, current players, rival managers and rival supporters all queuing up to stick the knife in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Of key significance, Rafa made enemies of the club’s owners and board members – a suicidal mistake – and even of sections (albeit the dim-witted sections) of Liverpool’s supporters.

We all feel dissatisfaction (to put it mildly) with the Americans and the likes of Parry and Purslow (snake) and can completely empathise with Rafa’s frustrations with them. That said, whatever the circumstances, it is ill-advised for an employee to be so confrontational with his employers.

Had he not broken the viscard that Liverpool FC was a well-run and upwardly mobile club, fans would have expected him to sign top quality players and achieve the club’s targets. When he inevitably failed to meet those expectations, he would have become the target for all the flak (instead of just a lot of it). The likelihood is, he would have been sacked sooner based on results being below fans’ expectations.

By lifting the lid on the true state of affairs behind the scenes, Rafa ensured he was not universally blamed for failings that were outside of his control but in doing so he also instigated a painful three year period in which the club’s dirty linen was humiliatingly washed in public for all to see and effectively signed his own death warrant.

Allardyce, Mourinho, Ferguson, Hicks, Gillett, Parry and Purslow. All of them are cunts. All of them are vile excuses for human beings. All of them were fierce opponents in Rafa’s battles. Throw in his fall outs and rows with Steve Heighway, Paco Ayestaran, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Keane, Albert Riera, Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun and ultimately there was just too much conflict.

So did Rafa make the right decision speaking out against the board/owners? Ultimately it probably wouldn’t have made a difference. Sooner or later, fans would have twigged that the new stadium wasn’t being built as promised and when the club’s accounts were published the lie about loading the club with debt would have been exposed. The anti-Hicks & Gillett supporters groups would still have been formed and Rafa’s replacement would have been fully aware of the issues with the owners, as would the supporters who would have adjusted their expectations accordingly.

The sole crumb of comfort I can take from Rafa’s sacking is that I believe that even had he stayed on as manager next season, we would have endured another difficult season and certainly could have aimed no higher than a top four finish and a decent cup run. Under a new boss, those aspirations will remain the same and certainly will climb no higher until the Yanks have sold the club and (God willing) we have owners with the ability and will to pump cash into the club.

It is a sorry end to the reign of a fine manager but sadly it was always going to end like this.