Oliver Kay Q&A in The Times

JimmyF · August 16, 2008

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle4546054.ece

From Times Online

August 16, 2008

Rafael Benitez Q&A

Oliver Kay answers our questions on where this leaves a troubled club

Following last night's revelation that Rafael Benitez came close to resigning as Liverpool manager after feeling undermined by the Gareth Barry transfer saga, Oliver Kay answers Times Online's questions about what this means.

Q: So Rafa Benitez seems to be intent on starting the new season as he spent much of the last -- in dispute with the Liverpool hierarchy. Are you surprised?

A: No. In fact, I'm surprised it has taken this long for things to blow up again. Benitez was told at the end of last season that he was going to have to wheel and deal in the transfer market due to the financial position at the club, which wasn't what he wanted. He has got on with that relatively quietly. Gareth Barry has been his top priority all summer long and here we are on the first day of the new Premier League season and still no deal.

Q: How close do you think he came to resigning?

Response to Benitez quit report

Just after the story about Rafa Benitez thinking of quitting was published on our website on Friday evening, I got a call from the Spanish manager. It was a frank exchange of words and one thing became very clear: Rafa's commitment to Liverpool Football Club is absolute.

Rafa said “I am not thinking of leaving. My commitment with the club, the fans and the players is so big that just because I can be disappointed about different things, I won’t stop trying my best to achieve all of the targets that we have established as a team."

" My family and myself are very thankful to the club, the fans and the city and we will never give up fighting to get the best for Liverpool,” he added

From those words every one of you can come to their own conclusions. I think it is quite obvious that there are conflicts at the club and also that it was probably not good idea to come out with that kind of story just before the beginning of the season.

However, as I see it, that fact,coupled with Rafa’s words, does not change the content of what I wrote on Friday - and I stand by it completely.

It seems to me that there are two different forces working at the club that are sometimes pulling in different directions: something that the owners choose to ignore.

It is only normal that the manager despairs some times and even thinks about quitting. In periods of bonanza (when the team wins titles or outside the transfer market periods) there exists a creative relationship between manager and key members of the board; but there are other times, like in recent weeks, where the tension grows and it appears as if they are working against each other.

There remain questions that need to be answered. If Rafa was happy to let Xabi Alonso go to Juventus, why hasn’t he gone? If Rafa wanted the arrival of Gareth Barry prior to Robbie Keane, why hasn’t he come - and how is it that it has taken months for Liverpool to tell Aston Villa that their valuation of the player is too high? Whatever the manager wants is not always what he gets. Is that good for the club?

http://www.guillembalague.com/interview_desp.php?id=19

A: He considered it, which is alarming enough for Liverpool's supporters, who will be aware that he left Valencia for similar reasons in 2004. He is clearly extremely frustrated not only by the board's failure to sign Barry but by the way they undermined him, agreeing a deal with Aston Villa, only to veto it on the basis that they did not share his view on the value of the player.

Q: What is the crux of the matter?

A: Essentially that he feels he cannot work with the people. Specifically he has a big problem with Rick Parry, the chief executive. There have been tensions between the two men for a long time. Rafa has frequently hinted at those tensions and he laid them bare at yesterday's press conference, blaming Parry for the failure to sign Barry and, it seemed, the "failure" to sell Xabi Alonso, who is no longer the apple of his eye.

Q: Why has this come out now and not last week?

A: Simply because last weekend Benitez and his allies were keeping their thoughts to themselves. Now it has come out of the Benitez camp -- though not from the man himself -- that he considered resigning. I should point out that the story was broken last night by www.guillembalague.com . Guillem is the journalist who knows Rafa and his inner circle better than anyone. I had no doubt when I heard about this story that it was correct, as subsequent enquiries confirmed.

Q: Do you think Benitez will be worried that the story has come out now?

A: I'm told that he will look to play down the situation when he is interviewed at Sunderland this evening. But he is a real political animal these days. He will not be distressed that these stories have come out. He will probably welcome the pressure that the revelations put on Parry, who was urged to resign late last season by Tom Hicks, the co-owner. Knowing Benitez, he will hope and expect that Parry comes under more pressure now. It is not a pleasant situation.

Q: What is the likely outcome in all of this?

A: It is impossible to predict anything at Liverpool right now. There is huge distrust between the manager and the chief executive, between the two owners (Hicks and George Gillett Jr), between Hicks and Parry, between Gillett and Benitez. The supposed alliance between Hicks and Benitez is only a marriage of convenience to suit their agendas. Literally anything could happen. Parry will be feeling the heat more than anyone, particularly if the transfer window closes without a deal for Barry or an equivalent player who meets the manager's requirements.

Q: Finally, what is the latest with Hicks and Gillett?

A: I still expect them to sell up sooner rather than later. The takeover talk may have quietened down, but it is about to resurface. From what I am hearing, there are changes ahead, but it is far from clear what form they will take. Sorry if that sounds vague, but right now, with so many rumours flying around about possible investors (and some of the names are quite shocking), no one can say with the slightest certainty what will happen next.

Looks like the stuff on the pitch will be taking a back seat again ffs. I think the best thing that could happen for us this season is the f'ing yanks sell up otherwise this is just going to go on and on year on year