Rafa Benitez criticises Liverpool hierarchy
Rafa Benitez launched a scathing attack on the Liverpool hierarchy. Benitez left Liverpool and moved to Inter Milan after a poor season in which Liverpool could only manage 7th position and missed out on the Champions League. Benitez said, “The
last year I was at Liverpool I had directors who knew nothing about soccer and you couldn’t talk about soccer with them. My relationship with [Inter Milan] president Massimo Moratti is good, he is a man who knows his soccer.”
Rafa Benitez took over the Liverpool club in 2004 and won the Champions League Final in 2005 after coming back from a 3-0 deficit. He won the FA Cup in 2006 and in the 2008/2009 season he finished 2nd in the league. However, last season he could
not guide Liverpool into the Champions League places after guaranteeing that the club would finish in the top four. His frustration with the clubs owners came to a head when Benitez was given no money to spend in the transfer window. With Tom Hicks and George
Gillett in debt, it was never going to be likely that Benitez was going to receive the money he wanted. Benitez didn’t go so far as to name any one, but he was highly critical of the board which includes Hicks, Gillett, club chairman Martin Broughton, managing
director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre. Benitez was also critical of the board for failing to sell the club since the start of the summer. The club has still not managed to find a buyer despite numerous rumours of a takeover.
However, a number of critics of Benitez have said that over the six seasons in charge Benitez squandered money and his signings proved to be hit and miss. The manager was also criticised for selling influential midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid and for
not finding a striker to fill in for Fernando Torres.
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