Well such is the factionism of the forum, it's no surprise that some are laughing teacakes while others are spitting blood. The best and most insightful post IMHO was Ciggy's one where she pointed out that what Rafa brings to the table as far as the owners are concerned is guaranteed Champions League football. That's spot on for me and the main reason why they've offered the new contract.
Just a couple of observations from me. Firstly the money. It's a bit of a giggle to hear somebody say "it's not about the money" and then sign a sixteen million quid contract. Not necessarily a criticism of Rafa here as it's the economics of English football, but it's an obscene amount of money and Heimdall is spot on here in that football is setting itself up for a fall. I'm not going to bother with a disclaimer at the bottom, but please any feckwits understand I'm not having a go at the manager for getting what he can, I'm merely pointing out the contradiction between the statement and the action.
It's a very long and lucrative contract IMHO given the amount of actual achievement over the previous four seasons.
We won the Champions League in Rafa's first season with a team which was mostly made up of what he was left. By any definition if we're honest it's fair to say we got a bit of the rub of the green in that competition (once again no disclaimers but please remember the "if we're honest" bit before going off on one). Since then he has rebuilt the playing side of the club and IMHO we are in a much stronger position than when he arrived. I do think we have made a few wrong turns along the way, perhaps sold some players we shouldn't have and certainly bought some we shouldn't have, but we have certainly IMHO progressed which is an achievement.
During that four year period, we also won the FA Cup, and had some good runs in the Champions League. We also qualified for the Champions League the following season by virtue of league position (with the exception of his first season where we qualified becasue they changed the rules to let us in). In his previous four seasons, we have finished I think 5th once, 4th twice and 3rd once. Previous to this season, we have never at any stage launched a title challenge of any description whatsoever.
From a youth setup point of view, we are yet to see any tangible benefits of the policy of scouring the World for the formost talent at under 15-16-17 level. We may yet do so of course, but so far it hasn't really happened.
From a transfer funding point of view, I think I'm right in saying that since Rafa has been at the club we have spent more money than Arsenal and Man Utd, and a little less than Chelsea. I'm definately right in saying we have spent a sh!tload more than everybody else. We have bought some great players who are worth more than we paid for them, some rubbish that is worth less, and some on whom the jury is still out. In general though, I would rate Rafa as decent in the transfer market based on his four previous seasons.
We have it's fair to say, had a good go at styling in the Premiership (now thankfully into the bin as a policy). We have proven absolutely conclusively that it doesn't work when you haven't got a squad which boasts top quality cover for each player. My biggest worry about the length of this contract and the power it therefore gives the manager is is that if we ever arrive at a situation where we have that top quality cover, we might have another go at proving that it would infact work with a stronger squad.
All that said though, this season we are going well. We aren't rotating "Rafa style" and are top of the league. Will it last, either the top of the league bit or the sensible selection? Time will tell, but on hearing the length of the deal and the renumeration offered, I am more convinced than ever that Rafa is a "lucky manager". Lets hope it all works out. If he lasts the contract out, he'll have been here nine years. Now how does the argument go again? Ah yes that's right, "remember it took Ferguson seven years to win the Premiership at Man Utd etc etc etc etc".