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Club Focus - Liverpool - Decision time for the Reds and Benitez
He is the embattled leader of a Red party, who recently admitted to making mistakes during in his time in charge. Many have lost confidence in him, others want to give him another chance, but all agree that it has been a rocky few months. He has had a big week, searching for votes of confidence amid calls for change, whilst all the time seeking assurances that his seat in the top job is safe. Shiny, new alternatives have been put forward, leading to the man himself pondering his own role and wondering if he would be better off elsewhere. At the time of writing the result is not yet known, but as Liverpool supporters everywhere have been holding their own leader’s debate over who is the best man to take their club forward into what could be changing economic times, Rafael Benitez is still at the helm. But for how long?
Confusion reigns at Liverpool - take Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea. After the final whistle drew a close to the Reds’ Anfield season, a banner was unfurled from behind the glass of one of the Centenary Stand executive boxes calling for Benitez to quit the club. It drew an angry response from some supporters seated in the ‘normal’ seats outside, and a confrontation ensued. Meanwhile on the Kop, the holder of a pro-Benitez banner was surrounded and told to take it down. As a metaphor for the uncertainty surrounding the club, it could barely have been more apt. Political infighting has torn Liverpool apart from the inside and has now spread to the fans.
It is difficult to comprehend just how much of a mess the Reds are in if you are not fully aware of the situation, with the uncertainty over the manager’s position just the latest aspect of a long, sorry saga. Some supporters are of the opinion that Benitez has been mistreated by Liverpool’s American owners, denied the funds to improve a team that finished as runners-up last season (and with the same amount of points that Chelsea will probably get in winning the league this time around) and constantly shifted from pillar to post by the Americans’ failure to live up to their promises. Others pin the blame solely on the Spaniard, claiming that his controlling, obsessive personality is choking the club, that he has made questionable purchases and is using the ownership situation as a convenient excuse for the Reds’ woes. In truth, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
Benitez has not helped himself, but nowhere else in England is there a manager who is working under such pressures and with such an unhelpful board. There were widespread rumours that he had resigned on the day of a Champions League tie in the Bernabeu last season, similarly before the second game of this campaign at home to Stoke. Who could work under those conditions? Well, Benitez actually, Liverpool won both games, but the constant pressures and what he sees as ‘broken promises’ from the owners have now taken their toll and pushed him to the end of his tether, and it is not difficult to imagine him quitting in the very near future. But such has been this mess of a season, it is not difficult to imagine many supporters would be happy to see him go too.
The rumours linking Benitez with Juventus – a Juventus who will not be playing in the Champions League next season by the way – simply refuse to go away, and as the Spaniard holds talks with Chairman Martin Broughton this week, straight talking is likely from both sides. The overwhelming feeling in recent days has been that Benitez is on the verge of bringing his six-year association with Liverpool to an end, but as the Reds prepare for what is surely their most important summer in recent years, absolutely anything could happen. It is impossible and pointless to predict who could or could not replace the manager, but it is impossible and pointless to predict what will happen at Liverpool next year, next month, next week or tomorrow.
The Reds could start the 2010/11 campaign with new owners. Or not. They could start it with a new manager. Or not. They could start it with a raft of new, world-class players who have been bought with their shiny, fresh new investment. Or not. Right now anything and everything is possible, and as Benitez weighs the pros and cons of staying or going, only one thing seems clear – an end to this mess is needed sooner rather than later. That, for Liverpool supporters, is change they can believe in.
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