Friday, June 17, 2011

Rafa Benitez Rejected Atletico Madrid 2 Weeks Ago - More On That

From Rafa Benitez's rejection of Atletico Madrid, it is clear that he wants either to work again in the Premier League or he wants to work for a bigger club. It must also be said that his family is settled in England and that right now, Rafa is living in Liverpool home since late December.

Another reason for Rafa to reject Atletico Madrid is due to the fact that he is deeply related to Real Madrid, having developed as a junior player in their academy, then coached their youth and reserve team(Castilla) and then been the assistant manager of the their first team. As he himself admitted, he harbours the ambition to coach Real Madrid one day although he rejected them twice while he was manager of Liverpool. Accepting their offer would surely have killed any chance of coaching Real Madrid since the 2 clubs are fierce rivals.

However, the most likely reason for Rafael Benitez to reject Atletico is probably due to the fact that he sees his future in England. He has more control over the team affairs and he is a manager who likes to build on the long term, while pushing the club to win trophies in the short term. In England, he is a manager while overseas, he would be just a coach. One thing he did say when he was Liverpool's manager is that "in England, the fans remember", probably referring to the fact that supporters in England remember their manager and the success he brought for a long time. All of Rafa Benitez's moves up to now seem to point that he indeed sees his future in England, confirming what he has said many times in the recent past.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Rafa Benitez Has Apparently Rejected Atletico Job Offer

It is no surprise to hear that Rafa Benitez has apparently rejected the head coach position at Atletico Madrid. He has repeatedly said that he would like to manage in the Premier League again as better fits his working requirements. Moreover his family is settled in England. He is likely to reject other overseas overtures even from a very big club, if it means managing again in the premier league with a decent club (or preferably a big one).

However, it should be noted that Rafa Benitez is a workaholic and waiting a whole season without working is highly unlikely for him. He certainly will not rush into a decision like he did with Inter Milan, but it is probable that he has a Plan B should there be no job offers from the Premiership. Regrettably, Rafa would probably accept an offer from a good club overseas - from Spain more likely. However, it would have to be an irresistible deal. So, while the Atletico Madrid deal may be dead for the time being, there could be more movement in a few months time, if they come up with the right deal. It is not just players who are subject to transfer speculation, it is managers also.

Story Source:
Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez turns down Atletico Madrid offer - Report (From Goal.com)

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Rafa Benitez To Become Turkey Coach - Where Does That Come From?

Recently, the internet websites/the press reported that Rafa Benitez could become the next Turkey coach, that supposedly he had already held talks with the Turkish Federation. This just does not make any sense - he has already stated that his priority is to manage in the Premier League. Moreover what could a workaholic manager like him do in a national job with a smaller team that is akin to working part-time?

Latest news: Rafa's agent Manuel Garcia Quilon, has moved swiftly to quash those rumours. It begs to be asked - where do those stupid rumours come from and who is stupid enough to make them up?

The most likely source is some journalist who had some column to fill and thus tried to manufacture some fantasy news - Chelsea want to hire Gus Hiddink as their next manager and since Rafa Benitez was also mentioned as a potential successor to Carlo Ancelotti,it follows that he could replace Gus Hiddink as Turkey coach.

Source:

Rafa Benitez to become the next Turkish national team manager as reported by the Daily Express

Denial the next day that Rafa has held talks with the Turkish Football Association (reported by Yahoo Sports and many others)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Why Do A Blog On Rafael Benitez

I am a supporter of Liverpool Football Club and as such I was very interested when Rafael Benitez decided to join the club in 2004. A quick check on his profile showed that he had won 2 league titles plus a UEFA Cup with Valencia in 3 years. Very impressive. However, despite being one of the best managers around, I find that people have trouble understanding his approach. I studied him closely during his time at Liverpool, I went through his time at Valencia and even his autobiography. It was only after a while that what he was doing started to make sense. I had been thinking of doing a blog/website about Rafa Benitez for sometime, particularly because of the nonsense being written about him in the press. However, I was not sure how to get on with it, and as such I almost didn't do this blog. I figured out that people would always believe what they wanted to believe about Rafa and there was not point of showing them the truth.

I changed my mind only recently, when reading through the forums, I saw that the overwhelming majority of Liverpool supporters held Rafa in high regard. Their voices had been silenced by a minority who had been using Rafa's last season as a hammer to beat him relentlessly. The majority of Liverpool supporters just could not say anything, because anything they would say would be met by - "Rafa performed badly in his last season, so he is shit". Moreover, they quoted the inaccuracies and lies being written in the press, and they used that to attack anybody who dared defend the spanish manager.

I am doing this blog for the sole purpose of analysing and showing Rafa Benitez in his true light - his strengths and weaknesses included.

Rafa Benitez News - Welcome

Rafa Benitez News is designed to analyse all the news concerning Rafa Benitez. Rafa was the manager of Liverpool from 2004 to 2010 and he achieved many great things here. He did make an occasional mistake and he did perform poorly in his final season in the league. He also consistently achieved a very good league standing for Liverpool FC for 5 consecutive years and he brought about many positive changes at the club.

Rafa Benitez is a world class manager. However, he is a person who is very difficult to read and his occasional outbursts have clouded his reputation and his real ability. He is not a saint, he has his drawbacks but he is an excellent manager. This blog is about one thing - show the truth about Rafael Benitez Maudes.