Rafa Benitez’s future is said to be cleared up within the week amid reports that he could leave Liverpool for Juventus on a £3.5 million a year contract. This so called meeting with the new chairman Martin Broughton, has been delayed twice in the past two years which suggests that, thankfully, Benitez is on his way out of Merseyside.

Admittedly he has had trouble with the Icelandic volcano ash and the ridiculously long houred trip to Spain via road and rail, but surely since he has been back from Spain he could have met with Martin Broughton? Benitez has had many an opportunity to quell speculation of his leaving and verbally pledge his future to Liverpool through the press.

Benitez’s track record with Liverpool hasn’t been particularly astounding considering the amount of talent he has had at the tip of his fingertips! Owen, Carragher, Gerrard, Torres, Reina, Mascherano, Alonso, Johnson, Fowler. All this talent and yet only a return of 4 trophies, 2005 Champions League, 2005 Super Cup, 2006 FA Cup, 2006 Community Shield and a runner up medal in the 2007 Champions league final. Admittedly 4 trophies in 5 years is a great return for any manager, but really with the amount of quality Benitez has had at his disposal, he should have won more including the 2009 Premiership.

Only until his outrageous burst at Fergie, Liverpool looked like they could really win the Premiership for the first time in almost 20 years! But again, his unpredictable behaviour came into question, as the Liverpool team seemed to be playing with nerves and fragility from then on until the end of the season. That’s a huge shame, as believe it or not, I am a big Liverpool fan myself and would have relished the crown of the Premiership back in Liverpools trophy cabinet!

During the off season, Benitez for some unknown reason to me, dismantled that team with the loss of one of the most fundamental player in our team! Xabi Alonso. Okay, if you sell Xabi Alonso then yo uhave to replace him with another player that can effciently get the job done! Signing Lucas, was not the answer. I would reccomend Jimmy Bullard!

Furthermore, spending £20 million on a talented player such as Alberto Aquilani, who you don’t seem to play even though he is fit, until the final stretch of the Premier League. This decision is beyond me, and of course this decision isn’t helped with the childishness of owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks refusal to speak to each other, and plunging the club into further debt!

I have recently read the autobiography of Ian Rush, also I like to add that I know him on a personal level, and he commented, that during Liverpool’s most succesful years, the managers were chosen from the “promote from within policy”. This means that, when Bill Shankly stepped down, the job was appointed to Shankly’s right hand man, Bob Paisley and when Bob stepped down, the job was handed down to Joe Fagan who again worked very close to Bob. Under this policy, Liverpool were unbeatable! This system rewarded Liverpool with 31 Trophies! This included 11 League titles and 20 cup trophies! This is an unbeliveable record to have and therefore I believe it should be instilled again.

Should Rafa leave Merseyside for the Italian sunshine, then I believe the managers to replace him should be:

Roy Hodgson
Harry Redknapp
Mark Hughes
Martin O’neill
Alex Mcleish.

These managers all have pedigree, a good principle of football and are proven in the transfer market. The style of play, I think, would suit the style that would get the best out of the current players, should there not be enough money in the transfer kitty! They would build the team around their assets; Gerrard, Torres, Reina, Mascherano and Carragher to form a potentially title winning side, that would bring more glory back to the Red side of Merseyside.

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