Should Rafa go to Juventus?

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Now before you roll your eyes in despair, and snort derisively seeing as that question has been thrown about only a few hundred times since the Italian club’s interest in him became public knowledge, hear me out.

I am a Rafa fan. In the sense that I think that he should be given a chance to make things right, and in the sense that people are quick to disregard his qualities because his weaknesses are being highlighted thanks to the ravenous lynch-mob that is the tabloid press.

The guy, over the last few months, and indeed at certain parts of the last couple of seasons or so has got an unbelievable amount of stick. Some of it warranted yes, because we are playing poorly at the moment, but it has reached an all new level of abuse. It is one thing to criticize your manager. In some ways, it is good to criticize the manager (depending on how you do it), but now it is just full-on abuse. You only have to look at some of the message-boards to what extent the fans have turned. Most of the stuff I can’t write on here, but the one slant on the guy that absolutely makes my blood boil is the ‘Fat Spanish Waiter,’ remark. It isn’t altogether insulting on its own, but the ‘poisonous’ barb it carries is where it comes from. You see, the ‘Fat Spanish Waiter,’ line has always been something that was thought up by rival fans, and it is something leveled at him by rival fans. To know that our fans are using it against him to me make them just as bad as Everton/United/Chelsea etc fans. Fans criticize, not abuse.

Anyway, all this leads me to think that maybe Rafa is better off without Liverpool? I know his family is well settled in to the city, and his daughter by all accounts has a Scouse accent and all that so it is always going to be hard for him to leave this club and this city. To an extent, it depends on what Rafa experiences at the matches. The match-going Reds (I don’t class myself as a regular match-going Red unfortunately) in general seem to still be on his side. If those crowds either start to disappear on a regular basis or turn on him then maybe his mind will be changed. After all, he is still a World-Class manager, regardless of what people say. Lets face it, there will be more clubs scrambling over each other to sign him than there will be managers scrambling over to take over his position at Liverpool. Rafa doesn’t need Liverpool for his career, he is here because he cares. He could walk out that door, and live happily ever after, whilst we are left with two dubious owners and a plot of land where our new stadium might or might not be – oh and Ryan Babel.

So should he just do it? I don’t for a minute think that he wants the £20m that he will get if he is sacked. I do believe that if he genuinely thought that he couldn’t do it anymore, he would just bid us all farewell and sail off into the horizon to greener pastures. So should he do it? I seem to recall a year or so ago him saying that he would like to manage in Italy one day. He has that opportunity now to work at one of Europe’s finest Italian’s clubs at a top stadium with top players. Should he just do it? Get rid of some of our fans, and get shot of this media (although I’m not sure if the Italian press is any better) and forge a new life in sunny Turin. I know that if I were him, and I saw some of the comments floating about my love for the club would be tested.

So either way, I do believe that Liverpool need him more than Rafa needs Liverpool. So to anyone who abuses the guy on message-boards and phone-ins (as opposed to criticizes him) – be careful what you wish for, because for this club, the grass might not necessarily be greener on the other side.

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16 Comments

  1. Very good read, it’s true that we need him more than he needs us. Who are we gonna get in to replace him? Guus Hiddink? No chance. Jose Mourinho? Dream on. We’d end up with someone who can’t hack the pressure of one of the biggest teams in football in one of the worst runs of form in recent years. Rafa should stay.

  2. he deserves better than LFC, but he is the manager of OUR club. and he has promised to stay. So cmon rafa, kick some of our players in their sacks, and get some gut into them!

    YNWA

  3. It’s very sentimental in areas but I have to disagree with certain areas. Rafa is getting richly renumerated by LFC and it’s fans so lets not make out that he’s doing us a favour.
    Babel hasn’t had enough chances either.We all witnessed how a certain irishman was so harshly treated too.
    Strings of poor purchases.
    Strings of bad results.
    Strings of bad tactics.
    Strings of negative games.
    And no sign of any turnaboutface by the coach despite all of the feedback. The fans are the best judges- they watch the team week in week out. I admit though that some of the abuse is awful and should be stopped.
    I know as a fan though, whom works hard to fund his season ticket that I am very unhappy with the continuous decline in the standard of our game.
    And finally, Rafa has spent big. We have to agree on that. Maybe we have to face up to it that in a crazy climate we are the poor relative of man city and cheslea.

  4. Bu Tim, that is exactly what it is – a string of bad performances.

    If it were consecutive seasons of bad performances, then yes there would be call of wanting him to be sacked, but at the moment, it is just a string.

    I respect your opinion because you get to go to more games than I do, but the point of that article was that he shouldn’t have to deal with abuse from his own supporters – no manager or player should.

  5. I’m not in the mood to explain why but my opinion in a nutshell is: the sooner the better. If only he can go yesterday.

  6. Rafa will not go to Juventus, definitely not before the summer. The italian press says that Rafa has been ‘offered’ a Euro 3 million a year contract which is less that he is getting at Liverpool where he is the undisputed boss. In Italy you get crucified and thrown out in a matter of weeks and the Juve supporters do not have the same tolerance that the Liverpool fans have.
    Furthermore the italian giants are just as tight when they come to effect big money transfer as H&G are!
    I feel Rafa should bring himself and the team out of this dip in form, win a major title or trophy, and then, if he so desires, he may leave. This way he would have repaid the faith of the Club and especially the fans for the long wait and the heartache!

  7. I actually sent Antoine a message a few days ago with regards to how things were going- name calling, swearing, offensive names etc. The post re- Juve has lit the fuse again amongst people. It’s bad. I sincerely hope it is just a major blip and nothing more but I am deeply disturbed by the quality of our play and tactical approach. It has to get better, I think we all agree with that. I’m not Rafa’s biggest fan but I wouldnt abuse him.

  8. It’s a buying &selling game to find the right players so give the guy a break god help us if he is forced out! Most of the anti comments are being posted by mancs and chelski fans so need to be ignored our fans however need to have a bit more respect for the manager and the club.

  9. I’m quite drink right now, so I think I’, in the best position to comment on this.

    Basically, people need to realize that Rafa loves the club almost as much as we do, and our pisition in th league hurts him as much as it does us.

    The Rafalutoin has just hit a bump is all. It will soon be back on its way. Rafa has his faults, but to let him go to Juventus woudl be a massive mistake as we don’t know what we have until it is gone…

  10. Rafa should stay. He is the right man for the job. 1 Bad season does not mean sack the gafa! This pisses me off greatly and I feel the Sooner we all Back the CLUB (Players/Rafa), The better we will be. Get behind our beloved LIVERPOOL..
    Stand up and be counted!!!
    Y.N.W.A

  11. I agree with MR. Bone..RAFA should know even if he left for Juve that JUVE is even stricter on appraising coach’s performances..They would blame coaches for everything..(very soon they will blame them for own goals and even why he accepted the offer to coach when he could not give them an unbeaten season !!!)….As eager they seem to sign someone ..they grow 10 times more eager to find their substitutes or replacements..
    HOWEVER RAFA AND LIVERPOOL FC have rubbished the rumours and that is so far so good as it stands for the cause of Liverpool fc…

  12. Why do the Liverpool board always do the wrong thing?

    I mean from not building a new stadium in nineties to selling the club to the yanks and giving Rafa almost total free reign at the club.

    If Rafa did leave(which he wont) then most of the infractstructer of the club would.crumble.

    Nearly every backstaff member of the club have been brought in Rafa.

    He is in control from grassroots all the way up to the top of the club except the finance.

    Nobody is bigger than the club and never should be.

    The reality is by Rafa having this much control at the club,then it is heading towards Rafa F.C.

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