Liverpool FC Forum

by **The Bench** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:49 pm

After all thats gone on, surely the man with the most credit is, once again our manager. Just quickly, the whole saga has left a bitter taste, but the lads staying and as kenny said, 35 mil wouldn't buy you another stevie G.

rafa said he wanted him to stay. He said we didn't need to sell(so no extra money required then.) He said he's still gonna be captain. He said he wants to build a team around him, he said they have a saying spain that you "don't sell the house to buy a window".

After all the speculation on sunday and monday he said he would like to see SG as asst Manager, manager or even chief scout if he wants(which I personally thought was genius!).

But my main point, and without knowing the full, behind the scenes story, is that within the next 30 seconds, after unveiling zenden, he had made every single one of us(players, and agents included) under no illusion as to who was running the club, who was running the team, and who would lead us to further glory.

I had total respect for the guy before this(obviuosly) but this moment for me defined it.

YNWA

by **matrix** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:30 am

the bench, that was a good post you are right rafa is a genius, the coments he made about stevie were verry warm, and people were saying he wanted stevie out, maybe when he went home he watched some of the reports and thought i cant leave this club.

by **neilE** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:36 am

Some "strong" managers would have gone on about being in charge, players who don't respect can leave etc(Souness and Bellamy ring any bells?) Benitez has stayed calm - he knows his job bloody well - get prima donna players to perform. Some might say he was weak to "give in" to Stevie, but he and Parry in particular made it possible for Gerrard to change his mind/come to his senses. The man is a people manager as well as a football manager, and there aren't many of those about - Things are looking very good for LFC!!!

by **The Bench** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:04 am

Think you're right that some other managers would've publicly declared their authority. Adding to my previous post, I believe Rafa's done it behind closed doors(the way it should be) and with more authority and respect you can ever achieve doing it in public. Lets hope the home truths which i think(hope) he's told SG have sunk in and that thats why he's staying and hopefully he will become the player most people(especially himself) think he already is.

by **66-1112520797** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:44 am

Agree with the benchs post that Rafa is a genius.

But the point im gonna make is about Stevie staying on to become :censored:

-manager and coach etc.

That was Rafas last card to play with by saying that .But im under no illusion that was done out of sheer desperation to keep him.
Mind you ,was it done so Rafa didnt look like a villain in all this ?
Did he really mean he wanted him to stay ? I hope so.

by **ALONSO_14** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:32 am

rafa is the man, the way he goes about everything is fantastic. hes definately "the special one" hes going to take us to the top i can see it and we will become a force again with stevie giving 100% in every game every season for the rest of his career. we will soon become great and win things

roll on the rafalution

by **stapo1000** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 3:59 am

Rafa deserves a lot of credit for how he's handled the situation. But lets not underestimate rick parry's contribution to stevie staying. Once again he's showed how commited he is to doing whats best for the club. He was the one who convinced gerrard to stay last night.

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