by maximus » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:18 pm
An article from Bill Urban (afc turkish on RAWK), reproduced from Square Football.....
In an era where spiraling wage packets and extortionate ticket price increases seem to drive deeper wedges between supporters and their clubs, on the night before a vital away match in the one remaining competition left for Liverpool to contest this season, on the back of a Carling Cup Final loss to Chelsea and internecine strife between club and supporters over the status of the talisman Steven Gerrard, Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez...
went to the pub.
In an incident sure to provide fodder for the growing legend known as the Rafalution, Benitez and his assistant manager Pako Ayesteran went to an Irish pub in Cologne, ostensibly to catch the Chelsea/Barcelona Champions League tie. Instead, El Jefe walked into a bit of supporter legendry, the pub packed to the rafters with Liverpool support. To his immense and ever-lasting credit, Benitez stayed for a while, chatting with the supporters, who by all accounts, were simultaneously stunned and overjoyed at the manager walking and talking in their midst.
Rigorous scientific testing in the Sandon has yet establish a direct link between Benitez’s visit to the pub and the following evening’s performance, but one might make a reasonable supposition that both the good feeling and raucous singing and chanting radiating from the away stand at the BayArena, and the comprehensive over-running of the patch-work Leverkusen back four by a rampant Liverpool side was in some small way influenced by the willingness of Benitez to mix with his side’s support. Certainly, given the horrible run of injuries and constant speculation about Gerrard’s future with which Benitez has had to contend, his readiness to make himself available to the supporters who had taken the time, and not inconsiderable expense to travel to Germany for the second leg of the Champions League tie will stand the Liverpool manager in good stead with the Anfield faithful.
Inconsistency has been an unfortunate by-word of Liverpool’s season this year, with the aforementioned injuries, Gerrard’s uncertain future, an inability to perform away from home in the Premier League and the normal difficulties of a new manager trying to instill a different system and tactical approach all combining to maximize frustration for players, staff and supporters together. With the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the League Cup all eliminated from consideration for the Anfield sideboard, the Champions League and a fourth place finish in the Premiership are the two remaining goals left for Liverpool to achieve.
And Benitez has in for some criticism, in relation to his tactics and preference for a 4-5-1 system, and also for his moves for some players, Nunez, Pellegrino, and Garcia in particular, who have yet to convince the local support, although Garcia’s brace of goals against Leverkusen may be the first small repayment of the manager’s faith in his repeated selection. Through all the turmoil, doubt, and struggle, Benitez has remained calm, composed, and committed to the task of trying to establish Liverpool as legitimate contenders for Premiership and European honours.
And when contrasted with Jose Mourinho’s repeated aggressive stances against the media and other clubs, and the unedifying spectacle of the continual bad blood between Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the simple act of Rafael Benitez "hanging out" for a bit in a pub with the Liverpool traveling support makes an ever-so eloquent counterpoint to much of the negativity, perceived and real, that has punctuated so much of the Premier League and Champions League campaigns of 2004-05. As Premier League clubs price themselves further from their loyal local bases of support, and the league chases a pile of mythical pounds which will inevitably shrink from the heady days of huge piles of television cash, the fact that a manager, the visible face and focal point of any football club, was willing to spend a little quality time, quality for the Liverpool supporters for certain, mixing with fans in their element, on their terms, rather than in a stage-managed photo-op designed for maximum marketing purposes, makes a wonderful statement that the values which underpinned the game’s growth and pervasiveness in Britain have not been completely eradicated by the frantic scramble for money at all cost.
A wonderful human gesture, re-paid in full by a scintillating performance the following evening, and a memorable occasion for the players, the supporters, and surely Benitez himself. Clearly, in the eyes of the Liverpool supporters...
Rafael Benitez es un hombre de la gente...
by 