Rafa in blast at American Cowboys

[Chewie]

there's the title I've yet to read on any of the headline news over the past few weeks and it's likely I'm not going to read it either...

 

why's that then?

 

why is it that the only man holding the club together refused to stand up on the side of the long-wearied and beleagured supporters against those who are tearing it, and who tore him, apart...?

 

I've said it elsewhere - I for one am given to thinking that Rafa has more than got what he wanted out of this move professionally, even if it is a change of life for himself and his family. £6 million in the bank out of a contract that was succesfully negotiated at a time when G&H were at total odds and against the backdrop of whisperings of yet another Italian team interested in luring Rafa to Serie A (always around December time when the league looked out of sight or the Champs league was reaching a mke or break moment), a new job that was virtually guaranteed...and all with a promise to say nothing. If Rafa had walked he would not have got a penny. If he'd been sacked he could have claimed the full whack and the Rafa-rant could have aired itself once again...but by mutual consent means keeping the mouth quiet...

 

In all of this I'm not saying that I actually blame the guy. He's been shrewd and professional many times in his tenure. There's no fault in that and he knows that one way to make other owners fearful is have a guy who won't keep his mouth shut in slamming his bosses....

 

...but whilst we're all worked up on how we can cope without the only man who truly understood us he is currently applying his understanding of a confidentiality clause with 6 million and an international reputation firmly in check.

 

So I don't blame him but I stop short of thinking that somehow Rafa is going to be the embodiment of the 12th man, the one who will believe in the club through the wind and the rain, the one who will truly get burned with things go awry. It's the fans left with the kick in the teeth at every level of the debacle these past few years. Betrayed by lying owners and sucked in to providing unequivocal support to a manager who, lets face it, has walked without so much as a whimper.

 

As for where we go next - well then it gets even worse. We walk straight into the pitiful and laughable position of having one of our recruitment panel seeking to recruit himself - complicating enormously the appointment process and rendering it virtually impossible for himself to stay in position if he doesn't get the job as well as leaving whoever does get it as being considered inferior to a legend and a yes man to the vultures running our club. No manager worth his salt would touch this appointment. Kenny is playing high risks with the future of this club and I hope, not for his sake or for the sake of any player for that matter, that for OUR sake his high risk strategy is because he knows that if he loses we ALL lose. It is not his appointment or any other appointment that I fear the most in all of this. It is that, being privy to the sorts of conversations behind the scenes, Kenny has felt the need to intervene at all.

 

Somewhere deep within me lies the hope that actually all with the club at their heart knows more than we do and that our patience is being tested because they know that better days lie ahead. That new owners are in the pipeline, that they and we needed a new man at the helm, that Kenny can stabilise things for a few months to see us through... or that a mjor breakthrough will happen in the next few weeks and appointing Roy now would be premature...(if they really wanted him he would be here by now. Without any arrogance the facts are that he manages Fulham. Its a no brainer in terms of worldwide prestige if not current cirumstances...)

 

Rafa is gone and we are none the wiser...I want to thank the man for the memories, for the donation to the HJG, but I see that he seems to have moved on without too many difficulties. Its a pity we can't seem to do the same,

 

Chewie

Edited June 17, 2010 by Chewie

[The Hitman]

Does this really warrant a new thread?

[richwilks]

Does this really warrant a new thread?

 

I'm all for new threads for people to bitch about each other in.

[JonShar]

It's bulls*** like this that would make me punch someone if I was standing next to them in a pub.

 

I for one am glad that Rafa isn't dragging the club's name through the mud.

[honourablegeorge]

His contract prevented him from speaking, you can be damn sure the terms of his payoff do the same.

 

 

Nothing he could say would be as damning as the facts anyhow.

[cymrococh]

His contract prevented him from speaking,

This was never confirmed.

[Cunny]

His payout to leave probably stipulated no criticism of owners or board in the media.

[Frosty Jack]

Not confirmed but silence regarding the owners from the moment he signed that contract til the present, make it likely to have been the case. I'm still convinced it was in there, would be stranger if it wasn't.

[San Diego Red]

This was never confirmed.

But it's safe to assume that this is virtually 100% true.

[Gunga Din]

Not confirmed but silence regarding the owners from the moment he signed that contract til the present, make it likely to have been the case. I'm still convinced it was in there, would be stranger if it wasn't.

 

it would be impossible to police such a clause after he has left the club

[Bailo]

it would be impossible to police such a clause after he has left the club

Not necessarily. He could open himself to losing the compensation if it was deemed he broke a contract like that. Not sure a contract like that could last for ever though.

[Gunga Din]

Not necessarily. He could open himself to losing the compensation if it was deemed he broke a contract like that. Not sure a contract like that could last for ever though.

 

like i said, it would be practically impossible to police. he could tell a trusted journo, journo could run the story, Rafa then denies saying anything. whatcha gonna do?

[Frosty Jack]

it would be impossible to police such a clause after he has left the club

 

yes depending on the conditions of his compensation but more likely he's at a new club and wants to put clear distance, and maintain a bit of dignity by not talking about the former club.

[RedBilledChough]

He's moved on. Not his problem anymore.

[Gunga Din]

yes depending on the conditions of his compensation but more likely he's at a new club and wants to put clear distance, and maintain a bit of dignity by not talking about the former club.

 

thats the likely reason why he has said nothing, moreso than he has some sort of clause forbidding him to do so.

[Frosty Jack]

thats the likely reason why he has said nothing, moreso than he has some sort of clause forbidding him to do so.

 

a contract of that value, with american employers, it would be very unusual not to include some kind of NDA.

 

however I assume now he just wants to put it behind him, he knows it's not going to help the club if he speaks out.

[Zoob]

a contract of that value, with american employers, it would be very unusual not to include some kind of NDA.

 

however I assume now he just wants to put it behind him, he knows it's not going to help the club if he speaks out.

 

And high profile players or managers generally wait until they are no longer in the game before spilling the beans, when enough water has passed under the bridge, and there is no chance of jeopardising one's career (for example, if he dishes the dirt on former clubs now, he becomes less attractive to employ, as all clubs know he will leave eventually, and don't want him dishing the dirt when he does)

 

I do think speaking out could help the club long term though - if he said "they told me we had to sell at least 40 million worth of players, and I would only be able to spend 10 million", it would further fuel support of things like match boycotts etc.

 

Wonder if the likes of Mauricio Pellegrino could dish the dirt if / when they leave (since they're not as high profile as managers, so maybe don't have as much to fear re future careers...)

[DonRafa]

What a f***ing stupid thread

[Billy Dane]

Parry was on the radio the other day and he said the terms of his departure meant he couldn't talk about all things LFC, so I can't believe Rafa hasn't got the same stipulations in his severance deal. I also agree with the point that he needs to have a professional approach to the situation. There will come a time in the future when he will spill the beans on what happened.

[CarraLegend]

He'd look a right knob going on a tirade against Liverpools owners just days into his reign at Inter. Couldnt see that going down well with their fans or Moratti and co.

 

Thats if he's even allowed to talk about it anyway without getting his a*** sued.

[Redray]

What a f***ing stupid thread

 

Why pick on this thread in particular?

[downunder]

Why pick on this thread in particular?

 

What happens if Rafa says the owners are awful, that' what s caused all the problems for me, then When Torres and Gerrard leave they say I hated most my time under Rafa etc....

 

It's far better that people say nothing. Us speculating is far more fun.

Edited June 17, 2010 by downunder

[Redray]

What happens if Rafa says the owners are awful, that' what s caused all the problems for me, then When Torres and Gerrard leave they say I hated most my time under Rafa etc....

 

It's far better that people say nothing. Us speculating is far more fun.

 

My point was that all active threads on here are no better than horses*** freshly laid.

 

I agree with your post though.

[downunder]

My point was that all active threads on here are no better than horses*** freshly laid.

 

I agree with your post though.

 

I didn't mean to quote you directly, sorry. But at least you agree with me.

[Chewie]

Not being one to irrationally defend a position just because I made it I take on board some of the comments made. In fact I alluded to them by referring to the likely 'keep your mouth shut' clause and also it would not work very well for him professionally if other owners saw him mouthing off at his previous club.

 

Other points still stand though which I shall come back to. One grey area though is whether or not speaking out harms us or helps us. It could be harmful if all of a sudden it is crystal clear that the club is in a mess and obviously any other prospective managers would not come anyweher near is (not that they're knocking down the door). It could also harm any potential sale if we are expressly stated to be a financial shambles, forcing player sales with the threat of administration (new owners would just wait for the knock down price...) These things are practically points of record anyway however and would the voice of someone so internationally respected as Rafa lend weight and pressure for this all to be brought to an end. The pride in Rafa not dragging us through the mud is interesting as it's indicative of how, right now, we are not anywhere near being clear as to how far we are willing to go to rid the club of its parasites. Boycotting games, burning flags, pressurising banks - these are not things that can be done without attracting public profile which ironically is the fuel this fire needs if its to burn the house down and get rid of the owners. Would Rafa saying something help or hinder this? At the end of the day severance agreements with confidentiality clauses work both ways. Confideniality costs, which means the person keeping quiet prefers taking the money to speaking out. I don't blame Rafa for taking the money...but...

 

...I stand over the intimations that in the past few years Rafa has shown himself to be a very shrewd operator in using the in-fighting on the board to strengthen his position at the club - most notably at times when on the pitch things were on-ice. Even up until recently it was Rafa's agent speaking out about the attractiveness of Juve...weeks before Rafa declares himself very sad to be leaving the club. When that new contract was negotiated it was a game of bluff between Rafa and the owners who couldn't sack him cos they were not speaking to one another, and who couldn't finance new signings so having very astutely gotten the fans right on his side the board backed the manager.

 

So I am not beyond thinking that Rafa has played his way out of the club very well, and that same man who felt able to pass comment on the poor furniture purchases of the Valencia board has yet to speak a word about the restrictions placed on him at Liverpool.

 

I also stand over the later comments in the original post which are that we are now in a shambolic state. As soon as Kenny threw his hat into the ring it became impossible for the club to appoint anyone else who would not be perceived as being a puppet of the owners. I really hope that Kenny knows what he's doing because if a new man comes in and takes the job he wanted then he has to go. If I was a new manager I would demand it. You can't work with the spectre of a living legend who wanted your job sitting in the Directors box taking the plaudits from the fans as soon as things start going awry.

 

As for the quality of this or any other thread...well, I reckon the easier thing would be to close the forum down, appoint (or allow themselves to self-appoint) a few wise gurus who can enlighten us all so that we can all share the same opinion...sorry, I mean information as opinions (one has to presume) will no longer be necessary....

 

The rest of the idiots can do online what fans in pubs, homes, buses, trains, radio stations and so on have been doing for the last 100 years plus.... talking about the game we love from the perspective of being privy to 0.01% of the information needed to actually state something that is a fact....so the next time someone tries to shout me, or anyone else for that matter, down I'll thank them for their opinion, acknowledging that their right to have it...which allows me to do the same...