openPR Logo
Press release

Liverpool FC: A footballing 'Phoenix' set to rise from the ashes

01-08-2008 04:50 PM CET | Sports

Press release from: Liverpool-Kop

Liverpool FC: A footballing 'Phoenix' set to rise from

The death knell is sounding for Rafael Benitez, and the ominous drums of inevitable fate are banging louder and more frantically with each passing day.

It is increasingly clear that Rafa is on his way out of Liverpool. Reading between the lines over the last few months, it seems obvious that the club is conspiring and scheming behind the scenes, laying the groundwork for the future and preparing for the Spaniard’s exit.

I write this with genuine sadness as I can see, like so many others, that Rafa is a fantastic manager and fantastic man – exactly the type of character Liverpool need and deserve. He embodies everything that a Liverpool Manager should and shares many of the same personal qualities as Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish.

Despite his qualities, this season has, so far, been an unmitigated disaster on and off the pitch. Rafa’s perceived faults have been ‘discussed’ to death all over the net, so I won’t explore them here, but it is these faults (and in some cases limitations) that have played a major part in all the negative aspects of Liverpool’s season so far.

Gone are the triumphant cries of ‘Hail the Rafalution!’. Save for the blinkered blind-faith brigade, the relentless optimism that defined the first couple of years of Rafa’s reign has all but disappeared, and the club is in turmoil both on and off the pitch, plagued with public recrimination, transitional uncertainty and maddening inconsistency on the pitch.

Rafa has to take much of the blame for many of the negative things both on and off the pitch. Whether it’s press conference petulance, public warfare with the owners, incessant rotation, formational inconsistency, poor team selection, depressingly negative tactics, persistence with mediocrity, refusal to consistently play the best XI or failure to utilize deserving players, everything negative that could possibly happen this season, has happened.

The only thing negative that *hasn’t* happened is Rafa’s dismissal.

And if this *was* to happen, it would be the worst possible decision imaginable. I am a fervent critic of Rafa, but he does not deserve the ignominy of a mid-season sacking.

This is not the Liverpool way. The club has *never* sacked a Manager in mid-season, even when they deserved it! That’s left to the likes of Newcastle United, who will never understand the concept of Managerial consistency – something which explains why they have never and probably will never win the league.

It’s a well-worn cliché, but sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. I truly believe that, right now, things are as bad as they are ever going to get under Rafael Benitez.

The same slide into the abyss happened under Gerard Houllier, but the difference is tat with Rafa, I genuinely believe things *can* get better. I never felt that with Houllier, which is why he had to go.

Rafa has the skills and the ability to win Liverpool the league, but he is sabotaging himself with his stubborn refusal to change his managerial philosophy.

People can keep going on about what he did with Valencia, but that is IRRELEVENT now. Liverpool are not in La Liga – the Premiership is massively different to the Spanish League, and Rafa cannot just import the same methods, stick to them stubbornly and hope for the best.

It is clear that whatever Rafa is doing in the league is failing on a grand scale and this needs to change. One thing is certain beyond a shadow of a doubt: The league is beyond reach this season.

As such, Liverpool fans should just write-off the league for this season. Forget about it. Accept the title dream is gone and just deal with it. The mistakes have been made and the club has suffered as a result. There’s no point feeling angry about it. What’s done is done.

There is still so much to play for though, and I for one am excited about the possibility of winning the Champions League again. Of course, this is not how any Liverpool fan wants it to be, but this is the reality.

There is an old Chinese proverb that is especially relevant to Liverpool’s current predicament:

‘A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials’.

In Liverpool’s case, the ‘gem’ is the team and the man who cannot be perfected without trials is obviously Rafa.

Rafa has to learn from this season’s ‘trials’ and come back next season with a different footballing philosophy. Yes – I believe that Rafa should be given one more season, but only if he is willing to address his flaws that have been so painfully apparent this season.

I genuinely hope Hicks and Gillette have some patience and faith, and grant Rafa a second chance for next season. If Rafa learns from this season’s mistakes, then the sky could be the limit for Liverpool.

If, after being give another chance, Rafa persists with his stubbornness and does not make the changes required, then he will have no one but himself to blame when he ends up on the Liverpool scrapheap.

Come on, Rafa! Just swallow your pride and learn from your mistakes! The majority of Liverpool fans want you as the Manager, but you have to earn that loyalty. And to do that, you need to accept that you’ve strayed from the path and led the club in the wrong direction.

Everything is still possible.

Liverpool are like the mythical bird, the Phoenix. At the end of its life-cycle, the Phoenix builds itself a nest and sets itself on fire. Both the nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, regenerated phoenix arises.

Liverpool’s season is burning, but next season, Liverpool and Rafa can be like the Phoenix and rise triumphantly from the ashes.

www.liverpool-kop.com
Critical realism about Liverpool FC

Site - www.liverpool-kop.com
Contact - Jaimie Kanwar
Email – editor@liverpool-kop.com
Tel - 07779 210994

Liverpool-Kop is a news and opinion portal offering hard-hitting views on Liverpool FC. The site was set up as a rejection of the cliched, sycophantic, biased approach of the mass media when it comes to reporting about LFC.

This release was published on openPR.

Permanent link to this press release:

Copy
Please set a link in the press area of your homepage to this press release on openPR. openPR disclaims liability for any content contained in this release.

You can edit or delete your press release Liverpool FC: A footballing 'Phoenix' set to rise from the ashes here

News-ID: 34947 • Views:

More Releases from Liverpool-Kop

Rafael Benitez needs to stop criticising players in public
02-08-2008 | Sports
Liverpool-Kop
Rafael Benitez needs to stop criticising players in public
Rafael Benitez needs to learn that club affairs, whatever they may be, should always be conducted behind closed doors, writes Jaimie Kanwar, Editor of Liverpool-Kop.com. The recent public spat between Benitez and Tom Hicks made the club a laughing stock and made a mockery of the Liverpool way of doing things. Benitez should have learned from that farcical situation, but his latest comments about Xabi Alonso prove that he hasn’t learned
Liverpool FC's winning mentality has been eroded by a team of weak-minded losers
02-07-2008 | Sports
Liverpool-Kop
Liverpool FC's winning mentality has been eroded by a team of weak-minded losers …
There is a sickness shrouding Anfield, and it is not the anti-football, technical ineptitude and perennial underperformance in the league – it is the death of Liverpool’s winning mentality, writes Jaimie Kanwar, Editor of Liverpool-Kop.com... Quite simply, the current Liverpool team is full of defeatist, whining LOSERS. Bill Shankly once said: “A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that
Peter Crouch has scored/created 38 goals in the last 44 starts.  Stop ignoring him Rafa
02-06-2008 | Sports
Liverpool-Kop
Peter Crouch has scored/created 38 goals in the last 44 starts. Stop ignoring h …
Rafael Benitez’s illogical and infuriating refusal to regularly start Peter Crouch is an abuse of his position as Liverpool Manager, especially since the statistics prove that Crouch almost guarantees a goal or an assist when he starts games. Just what does Peter Crouch have to do to be treated fairly by Benitez?. As Liverpool’s top scorer last season, Crouch was an integral part of the team that got to the Champions league
When will people WAKE UP and realise that Liverpool FC need a new Captain?
02-06-2008 | Sports
Liverpool-Kop
When will people WAKE UP and realise that Liverpool FC need a new Captain?
Liverpool’s abject performance against West Ham on the 30th January 2008 contained the usual mix of technical ineptitude, creative paucity and predictable anti-football, but one thing stood out more than anything else: The total lack of leadership on the field. My feelings about Steven Gerrard are well known – I do not believe he is world class and I do not rate him as a Captain. I have been criticized all

All 5 Releases


More Releases for Liverpool

Serviced Apartments in Liverpool - Helping Mitigate COVID-19
We are all trying to navigate difficult circumstances occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the industries that has been hit most is the hospitality industry, but there is one alternative to hotels that is standing tall and has remained stable - the serviced apartment segment. Serviced apartments have also come up as a way to live a more managed lifestyle as has been necessitated by the pandemic, and they
Windsor Smith Westfield Liverpool
Windsor Smith has everything you need in a huge amount of styles, colours and array of sizes that will suit your every need and event! Our on-trend selection of shoes online is your go-to location to make your online shopping experience convenient and fun. In styles for both women and men, we have something to suit everybody, in luxurious materials that will have you coming back for more. Windsor Smith Westfield
11-21-2018 | Sports
NordVPN
Liverpool FC secures new partnership with NordVPN
Liverpool FC has today announced a new global partnership with leading cyber security company, NordVPN, to highlight the increasing importance of online safety and security. NordVPN will now become the club’s Official Cyber Security Partner and will work with Liverpool FC to provide fans with robust internet security solutions across their devices. The partnership will focus on protecting online fans across the world, as the club’s global digital fan community continues
SEO Liverpool – SEOMATIK
SEO Agency in Liverpool SEOMATIK is a SEO Agency which is based in Liverpool. To guarantee the best results for our clients we use our own tools for analyzing and our international network system with different agencies for additional information exchange. Consequently, the SEO Liverpool agency SEOMATIK is one of the leading online marketing agencies worldwide. The Liverpool SEO Agency Our team will help you to improve the statistics of homepages and webshops.
SEOMATIK – Liverpool SEO
SEO Agency in Liverpool For our customers, we offer professional: SEO, SEA/PPS, banner and affiliate marketing, conversion marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimized web design. Putting all services together, the number of visitors and with that, the number of sales can increase significantly. The SEOMATIK team will help every client with his website or online shop. Therefore, we place an online marketing manager at his side who is his
PIFA tie up with Liverpool International Football Academy.
Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) are proud to announce their association with Liverpool International Football Academy Soccer Schools. This association will help PIFA organise camps in the Liverpool facilities and an opportunity to bring coaches from Liverpool to India. The association will also help PIFA to adopt the latest traininig methods employed by Liverpool. Some of the graduates from this academy are Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard. PIFA has organised