Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez is either insane or trying really hard to get fired. After masterminding one of the worst collapses in form in recent memory, the Spaniard is requesting £60 million in additional funds for player acquisitions. Under normal circumstances, his assessment of the team’s needs would be warranted. However, there is nothing normal about Liverpool’s play this season. With every passing day, it seems that Rafa is looking to deflect blame for the team’s dismal performance. While there is plenty of blame to go around, much of the blame belongs to Rafa.
Prior to the start of last season, Rafa was eager to offload midfield maestro, Xabi Alonso. Fortunately for the team, he didn’t get his way and the team finished second, four points behind Manchester United. Much of the team’s success was attributed to the play of Alonso, who was able to hold the midfield together while Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres scored the goals.
Instead of keeping the team together and adding to the squad, Rafa was left with no other option but to honor Alonso’s transfer request to Real Madrid. A Glen Johnson and Alberto Aquilani later, Liverpool is on the outside of the Big Four looking in.
To add insult to injury, Rafa is now requesting £60 million in additional funds to strengthen the team. The man either has no shame or he has lost all his marbles. I’m starting to think that it’s a bit of both. Surely Rafa knows that the funds are not available. Like most clubs in the Premier League, Liverpool is cash-strapped and over-leveraged. We’ve all heard the stories of the owners’ ineptitude. However, Benitez has compounded the situation by trying to keep up with the Joneses. It is imperative that Liverpool finishes in the top four. Anything else would be financially devastating and would hamper the owners’ efforts to raise additional funds from an outside investor.
It is not so much the lack of available funds, but Rafa’s questionable dealings in the transfer market that have hurt the club this year. It was bad enough that his actions lead to Alonso leaving, but he compounded the issue by not signing able-bodied replacements. He was offered the services of former Real Madrid players Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben and passed. As luck would have it, both players are playing well for their new clubs Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. As a matter of fact, both clubs are fighting for the top spot in their respective leagues and are in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
So, what can Liverpool do?
The club’s American owners, Gillet and Hicks, are clearly in over their heads. The Royal Bank of Scotland is breathing down their necks because of their mounting debt payments. As a result they are looking to refinance the debt and ultimately sell the club. Things between the two are so bad that they are rumored to be on the verge of making British Airways chairman Martin Broughton, a life long Chelsea fan, an independent chairman of Liverpool. Although a fan of a title rival, I’m sure Mr. Broughton wouldn’t have allowed Rafa to get a five -year contract extension worth £20 million. Even Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, two of the best in the business, aren’t awarded contract extensions longer than three years.
When the wheels started to fall of the LFC wagon this season, ownership should have acted in the best interest of the club, but they were hesitant to fire Benitez because of the financial implications of terminating his contract. But what about the financial implications of keeping him on board? Nothing Benitez has done this season has helped to improve the team’s fortunes. Should Liverpool fail to finish in the top four (which looks likely), the club will be forced to sell assets (players) in order to service their debt. Should that happen, it would be difficult to justify Rafa’s continued existence at Anfield.
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