Dear Phil: Please stay away from Merseyside. We will hurt you if necessary.
So Liverpool canned Rafa Benitez before the weekend, and he’s already got a new job, unveiled/reviled as he’ll be at Internazionale tomorrow morning. It makes you uneasy to see your derided coach run out of town, only to be snapped up within 72 hours by the current European champions. Maybe there’s some parallel to Ian Holloway’s speech about taking home a girl at the end of the night, but I can’t quite pin it.
Benitez negotiated himself a £6m settlement (£3m now, £3m in installments because we’re broke, ha) to leave Anfield and is set to sign a three-year, £4.1m-per-season deal at Inter while dragging most of the backroom staff along with him. Not bad for a long weekend’s work, which makes me wonder: why on earth couldn’t he use that kind of nous to sign better players?
On the other side of the earth—well, across the Pennines—I hear that Phil Brown has figured out an “amicable departure” from Hull City and is already looking for his next job. Dear God, no..
His statement, via the League Managers’ Association, in full: “I am very sad to be leaving Hull City. My three and a half years at the club were a fantastic experience for me and I am extremely proud of the club’s achievements during that time. I would like to thank the players, my coaching staff and of course the fans for their magnificent support and commitment during my time as manager and I wish them well for the future. Now that we have reached a resolution, I can look forward to returning to management in the not too distant future.”
Though the Rafa article linked above mentions that the club will make a move on Fulham’s genius Roy Hodgson this week, offering somewhere in the region of £2.5m per year, the Brown announcement fills me with such dread. After all, there’s surely nothing worse than trading one goatee in for an even worse one.
“He is expected to take the Liverpool first‑team coach Mauricio Pellegrino.”
Thank f**k for that.
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I would imagine that until the replacement is named… the ratio of names thrown out there “that scare you” vs. “that get you excited about the possibilities is going to be very high”. Which is the state that LFC’s board would be in if they hired The Tanned One.
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Only one I’ll miss of the backroom staff is Valero. Glad Sammy stays but who knows if he comes on as an assistant to the new guy.
Either way the number two backroom issue should be to get Pako back ASAP.
Surely he cannot be given serious consideration from Liverpool. Can you imagine the reaction of a Gerrard or a Torres if he tries to pull a power trip like he did with Hull at Arsenal?
The idea of him coaching the Reds should be too ridiculous for us to even be worried, “should” being the operative word.
Quick! Throw Sammy Lee to the Manager’s Office!
You guys forget that Liverpool is broker than broke. Hodgson probably would have a bigger transfer kitty if he stayed put. So then you are looking at Alan Pardew journeyman types until Hicks sells.
Mark Who?’s is sitting at home in Newport twiddling his toes in front of the Telly.