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From Times Online
June 3, 2010
One battle has been lost. Now Anfield must begin fight for its very soul
Tony Barrett
The beginning of what appears to be the end for Rafael Benítez also marks the start of a summer that threatens to be one of the most painful — and will undoubtedly be the most pivotal — in the modern history of Britain’s most successful football club.
All that stands between an avalanche of obituaries on Benítez’s Liverpool career is the outcome of negotiations that will determine whether the club can muster the necessary financial muscle to convince the Spaniard to walk out of the Shankly Gates for one last time.
For once, their monetary weakness may prove their strength. Having had his purse strings tightened in the past three transfer windows, Benítez knows better than most just how scarce ready cash is at Anfield and he will have to pitch his expectations accordingly.
He also knows that support within the boardroom for his regime has evaporated and that there are those in the dressing room who have been so underwhelmed by his performance over the past year that they would not shed any tears if he departed.
Benítez often likes to talk of his love for a fight, a trait he admires in the people of Liverpool, but this is one battle that seems beyond him.
That discussions over a golden handshake have already taken place means that for Benítez to be in charge next season would require a comeback every bit as miraculous as the one that marked the greatest night of his career, when Liverpool defied logic and the might of AC Milan to lift a fifth European Cup in Istanbul in 2005.
The anniversary of that never-to- be-forgotten night passed last week and Benítez marked it by dancing on stage at a performance of the One Night In Istanbul show at the Liverpool Empire. At least now he will know that his days as a limbo dancer are almost at an end.
All that remains is for agreement to be reached on the terms of his departure and he will be free to take up a post at another club, with Inter Milan seeming the most likely destination.
It says everything about Liverpool’s present predicament, though, that even a change of manager will prompt more questions about a club who have lost direction and are in danger of losing their self-respect under the ownership regime of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.
The first conundrum is: who in their right mind would take the Liverpool job? It used to be one of the greatest positions in English football, but now a manager would have to be prepared to take on the running of a club riddled with debt, that are for sale, that have no significant transfer budget, a squad in need of an overhaul, and where the only certainty is endemic uncertainty.
Then there is the playing staff. It has long been mooted that the only way to guarantee that the likes of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will remain at the club would be if Benítez goes. The coming weeks and months will prove or disprove such theories. But one thing is certain — should Benítez’s replacement not live up to the kind of exacting standards laid down by the world’s best players, they will find a club that does boast such a manager. And, with José Mourinho’s Real Madrid pursuing Gerrard and Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea keen on Torres, Liverpool will have a big job on their hands convincing their crown jewels to stick around regardless of who is eventually appointed.
The ideal scenario would be for a benevolent billionaire who grew up with pictures of Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish adorning the walls of his Middle Eastern home to pop up and take the club off the hands of Hicks and Gillett, before paying off their £351 million debt and starting work on the new stadium in Stanley Park.
Unfortunately, it has been some time since Liverpool last inhabited an ideal world, so all their fans can do is limp on with anything but hope in their hearts. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that this is a nadir for a club who have been involved in two of the worst disasters in the history of the game, but, equally, it would be underplaying the situation if it is not described as one of the most painfully testing periods Liverpool have endured.
Blame for their present plight will be apportioned, fingers will be pointed and the recriminations will flow with all the incessant regularity of Torres’s goals — this, after all, is the new Liverpool way. Gone are the days when the chances of the club’s dirty linen being washed in public were slimmer than the hopes their rivals had of overhauling them.
That is unless a unifying force can emerge from the rubble of this decaying club and pull all of the factions together for the greater good. The presence of Hicks and Gillett makes it hard to see that happening, but the prize at stake — the salvation of Liverpool Football Club – is such that anyone who did so would be afforded legendary status.
For the past 20 years Liverpool have gone into each and every summer desperate to reclaim their status as English champions and each and every time they have failed in their mission.
This time around the situation they are facing is much more extreme and the challenge confronting them even more critical as they bid to reclaim both their soul and their sense of direction. Failure on these fronts does not even bear thinking about.
June 3, 2010
One battle has been lost. Now Anfield must begin fight for its very soul
Tony Barrett
The beginning of what appears to be the end for Rafael Benítez also marks the start of a summer that threatens to be one of the most painful — and will undoubtedly be the most pivotal — in the modern history of Britain’s most successful football club.
All that stands between an avalanche of obituaries on Benítez’s Liverpool career is the outcome of negotiations that will determine whether the club can muster the necessary financial muscle to convince the Spaniard to walk out of the Shankly Gates for one last time.
For once, their monetary weakness may prove their strength. Having had his purse strings tightened in the past three transfer windows, Benítez knows better than most just how scarce ready cash is at Anfield and he will have to pitch his expectations accordingly.
He also knows that support within the boardroom for his regime has evaporated and that there are those in the dressing room who have been so underwhelmed by his performance over the past year that they would not shed any tears if he departed.
Benítez often likes to talk of his love for a fight, a trait he admires in the people of Liverpool, but this is one battle that seems beyond him.
That discussions over a golden handshake have already taken place means that for Benítez to be in charge next season would require a comeback every bit as miraculous as the one that marked the greatest night of his career, when Liverpool defied logic and the might of AC Milan to lift a fifth European Cup in Istanbul in 2005.
The anniversary of that never-to- be-forgotten night passed last week and Benítez marked it by dancing on stage at a performance of the One Night In Istanbul show at the Liverpool Empire. At least now he will know that his days as a limbo dancer are almost at an end.
All that remains is for agreement to be reached on the terms of his departure and he will be free to take up a post at another club, with Inter Milan seeming the most likely destination.
It says everything about Liverpool’s present predicament, though, that even a change of manager will prompt more questions about a club who have lost direction and are in danger of losing their self-respect under the ownership regime of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.
The first conundrum is: who in their right mind would take the Liverpool job? It used to be one of the greatest positions in English football, but now a manager would have to be prepared to take on the running of a club riddled with debt, that are for sale, that have no significant transfer budget, a squad in need of an overhaul, and where the only certainty is endemic uncertainty.
Then there is the playing staff. It has long been mooted that the only way to guarantee that the likes of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will remain at the club would be if Benítez goes. The coming weeks and months will prove or disprove such theories. But one thing is certain — should Benítez’s replacement not live up to the kind of exacting standards laid down by the world’s best players, they will find a club that does boast such a manager. And, with José Mourinho’s Real Madrid pursuing Gerrard and Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea keen on Torres, Liverpool will have a big job on their hands convincing their crown jewels to stick around regardless of who is eventually appointed.
The ideal scenario would be for a benevolent billionaire who grew up with pictures of Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish adorning the walls of his Middle Eastern home to pop up and take the club off the hands of Hicks and Gillett, before paying off their £351 million debt and starting work on the new stadium in Stanley Park.
Unfortunately, it has been some time since Liverpool last inhabited an ideal world, so all their fans can do is limp on with anything but hope in their hearts. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that this is a nadir for a club who have been involved in two of the worst disasters in the history of the game, but, equally, it would be underplaying the situation if it is not described as one of the most painfully testing periods Liverpool have endured.
Blame for their present plight will be apportioned, fingers will be pointed and the recriminations will flow with all the incessant regularity of Torres’s goals — this, after all, is the new Liverpool way. Gone are the days when the chances of the club’s dirty linen being washed in public were slimmer than the hopes their rivals had of overhauling them.
That is unless a unifying force can emerge from the rubble of this decaying club and pull all of the factions together for the greater good. The presence of Hicks and Gillett makes it hard to see that happening, but the prize at stake — the salvation of Liverpool Football Club – is such that anyone who did so would be afforded legendary status.
For the past 20 years Liverpool have gone into each and every summer desperate to reclaim their status as English champions and each and every time they have failed in their mission.
This time around the situation they are facing is much more extreme and the challenge confronting them even more critical as they bid to reclaim both their soul and their sense of direction. Failure on these fronts does not even bear thinking about.
Code:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article7143026.ece
I still haven't lost hope in seeing hiddink in our bench! 
