During his time at Anfield, former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was regularly involved in niggling spats with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, with the most infamous example being his ill-advised 'rant' (as it became known) in January 2009. In a recent radio interview, Benitez revealed more about the mind games between him and Ferguson, and downplayed the impact of Ferguson on Man United's success.
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside, Benitez observed:
"To be fair, I didn’t like it when the press was talking about mind games because I was just focused on my team, and the things I had to do for the team".
"If you say something in a press conference I can guarantee you that it has no impact on another manager. It can happen perhaps one in one hundred times, but the press likes to talk about mind games, but what they don’t realize is that you cannot win mind games if you have a bad team".
Benitez seems to be arguing that Ferguson's comments about Liverpool never really had any impact on him. Whether that's really true though is a different story. Benitez then added:
"You can be the best in the press conference, but after, if you have a bad team you will lose. It’s easy to talk about mind games when he [Ferguson] has a good team and he has won, and that was the case".
The interviewer then argued that Ferguson "appears to be one of the big reasons that United have been successful; it's the power of personality, if you like".
Benitez bristled at this suggestion, arguing that Ferguson's celebrated 'mind games' have nothing to do with Man United's success on the field:
"No, I think it’s the money they [Man United] were spending. If you analyse the transfer record and the history...Rooney, or Ferdinand, for example...£30m! £30m for a young player or a centre back. Every year they [Man United] are very well-off. It’s not just because of the interviews or the press conferences; it’s because they had money".
It's clear that Benitez still harbours some resentment towards Ferguson and Man United, but to be honest, who can blame him, especially when Ferguson persists with tiresome, unprovoked comments about the man, including, most recently, his graceless comment about Benitez being 'jobless and not my friend'.
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside, Benitez observed:
"To be fair, I didn’t like it when the press was talking about mind games because I was just focused on my team, and the things I had to do for the team".
"If you say something in a press conference I can guarantee you that it has no impact on another manager. It can happen perhaps one in one hundred times, but the press likes to talk about mind games, but what they don’t realize is that you cannot win mind games if you have a bad team".
Benitez seems to be arguing that Ferguson's comments about Liverpool never really had any impact on him. Whether that's really true though is a different story. Benitez then added:
"You can be the best in the press conference, but after, if you have a bad team you will lose. It’s easy to talk about mind games when he [Ferguson] has a good team and he has won, and that was the case".
The interviewer then argued that Ferguson "appears to be one of the big reasons that United have been successful; it's the power of personality, if you like".
Benitez bristled at this suggestion, arguing that Ferguson's celebrated 'mind games' have nothing to do with Man United's success on the field:
"No, I think it’s the money they [Man United] were spending. If you analyse the transfer record and the history...Rooney, or Ferdinand, for example...£30m! £30m for a young player or a centre back. Every year they [Man United] are very well-off. It’s not just because of the interviews or the press conferences; it’s because they had money".
It's clear that Benitez still harbours some resentment towards Ferguson and Man United, but to be honest, who can blame him, especially when Ferguson persists with tiresome, unprovoked comments about the man, including, most recently, his graceless comment about Benitez being 'jobless and not my friend'.
Jaimie Kanwar
You fucking fat Kop, you should shut your ass like mouth and keep it tight for your gay father
ReplyDeleteMakes it hard to respect the red nosed one doesn't ti!
ReplyDeletesuch a sore loser...
ReplyDeleteAnother failed anfield manager,,,daglish next up.
ReplyDeleteI often feel that Jaimie Kanwar persists with tiresome, unprovoked comments about Rafa, but it generates massive debate so there is a reasonFergie obviously dislikes Rafa, maybe because Rafa was the one person to stand up to him. Rafa was playing the role of David vs the Goliath of Fergie and his media cohortsConsider Rafa's point of viewHe arrives at a Liverpool that has toiled for years, rarely even getting close to Man Utd in the leagueHe then has less to spend over the next 5 years than Fergie, therefore destined for failureFergie was in a Formula 1 car with a headstart versus Rafa in the Race Steward's Merc. How could he possibly overtake them? Only a huge slice of luck, Why do people struggle to see that a net spend of £55 million in 5 years, £11 million per year, is an almost irrelevant figure when you look at the task in hand?Chelsea and Man City have spent many multiples of that amount to immediately change entire squads. It took Rafa years of diligent work for years to attempt the same outcomeRafa has been riled by a biased media who have never truly represented the difficulty of his postionLies, damned lies and statistics.............
ReplyDeleteI often feel that Jaimie Kanwar persists with tiresome, unprovoked
ReplyDeletecomments about Rafa, but it generates massive debate so there is a
reason
Fergie obviously dislikes Rafa, maybe because Rafa was the one
person to stand up to him.
Rafa was playing the role of David vs the
Goliath of Fergie and his media cohorts
Consider Rafa's point of view
He
arrives at a Liverpool that has toiled for years, rarely even getting
close to Man Utd in the league
He then has less to spend over the next 5
years than Fergie, therefore destined for failure
Fergie was in a Formula
1 car with a headstart versus Rafa in the Race Steward's Merc. How
could he possibly overtake them?
Only a huge slice of luck, Why do
people struggle to see that a net spend of £55 million in 5 years, £11
million per year, is an almost irrelevant figure when you look at the
task in hand?
Chelsea and Man City have spent many multiples of that
amount to immediately change entire squads. It took Rafa years of
diligent work for years to attempt the same outcomeRafa has been riled
by a biased media who have never truly represented the difficulty of his
postion
Lies, damned lies and statistics.............
IMRAN-
ReplyDeleteEvery other manager respects FERGIE and speaks well about what he has achieved in his 25yrs as manager , it only makes 1 wonder why only RAFA has a problem. Oh no i realize ,he is bitter because his medicore teams achieved nothing while he was manager and he does not have anything to show when compared to the Best FERGIE.
Something wrong with the comment engine, didn't recognise spaces in first post
ReplyDeleteEvery other manager "respects" Fergie like everyone "respected" Don Corleone
ReplyDeleteDoes Rafa forget he spent more money than Ferguson while he was at Liverpool?
ReplyDeleteDo you read other people's comments at all??
ReplyDeleteLiverpool were miles behind United when Rafa took over and Man Utds net spend was higher than Liverpool's during Rafa's reign
Liverpool's net spend may actually be slightly higher during Rafa's reign, oops, although if we give Rafa some credit for profit on Torres, it brings it back level
ReplyDeleteAlex ferguson is a TWAT!
ReplyDeleteAll man utd player plus his manager is TWAT!
ReplyDeleteBenitez is such a sore loser ...
ReplyDelete"To be fair, I didn’t like it when the press was talking about mind games because I was just focused on my team, and the things I had to do for the team".
Really?? What about claiming that fergie has the refs in his pocket an all that in the 'facts' rant which idiot fans think was 'standing up to fergie'. Its hilarious.
Fergie just tells it like he sees it. Rafa IS jobless and not his friend. Whats wrong in that. Its a FACT ? Innit ??
Every other manager respects FERGIE and speaks well about what he has achieved in his 25yrs as manager , it only makes 1 wonder why only RAFA has a problem. Oh no i realize ,he is bitter because his medicore teams achieved nothing while he was manager and he does not have anything to show when compared to the Best FERGIE. Achieved Nothing? 2005 CL Winners with a mediocre side. If your gonna post something at least post something that has a little bit of substance you muppet!
ReplyDeleteAchieved Nothing? 2005 CL Winners with a mediocre side. If your gonna post something at least post something that has a little bit of substance you muppet!
ReplyDeleteWhen Ferguson's son was sacked from Preston,he immediately withdrew all his loanees from the club . He also influenced his big mate Tony Pullis to do the same. That is the calibre of the man. Whatever he wins What ever he achieves he will never be respected
ReplyDeleteFerguson had already been splashing the cash on Rio,Van Nistelrooy and Rooney £19 million plus while it took till 2007 and Torres before we matched them.
ReplyDeleteRafa is wrong in what he says Ferguson has been doing it now for 20 years nearly, you still need to spend right and keep your best players and one of his teams is from the youth set up Beckham,Scholes,Nevilles and Butt.
The day Fergie retires the better and lets see what legacy he has left and will it match Shankly with Paisley,Fagan,Evans and Dalglish who have learnt directly or indirectly from Shankly and were deemed good enough to manage Liverpool.
people forget that Rafa and Fergie were friends when Rafa first arrived and when he was trying to get Liverpool to catch up. Rafa has mentioned how they even shared a bottles of wine. but it changed as soon as Liverpool were re-awakened and threatening Fergies 'perch'. fergie has shown his twistedness towards Liverpool, but yet as soon as Rafa stands up for his team he is castigated for it and continues nearly 2 years on !!
ReplyDeleteplease oh please, would everyone just give it a rest !
Kenny Dalglish is the manager now.
More like 18 years don't give him too much credit!(1993 first league title took over in 1986)
ReplyDeleteThey nearly sacked him in 1990!!!!!!
That's just ridiculous from benitez. Liverpool and man utd spend broadly comparable amounts of money, it's just that man utd were better a picking which players to sign, and integrating them better into the squad, and getting the most out of them.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool just kept chopping and changing, buying a player, discovering he wasn't right, and moving him on, with cash leaking out of the club at every stage, and the team not progressing as it should on the pitch. Benitez talks about rooney and ferdinand. But ferguson built the backbone of a new team between june 2005 and jan 2006 when he signed Van der sar, Park, evra and vidic, for less than 20 million and signed ben foster who they sold for a 6 million profit, and sold phil neville for £4.5 million.
That wasn't all about the size of the cheque book, that was identifying what the team needed, and sending out scouts to find cheap, talented, experienced players in the 23-25 age bracket, signing them and integrating them into the team. That is outstanding management. With those players in place, he was able to take more speculative gambles on young players like anderson and Nani.
If it was just about the money, then chelsea, and latterly man city would have won just about everything, and real madrid would be in every champions league final.
oh and something that benitez forgets is that man utd have all this money to spend because of ferguson. It's easy to get big commercial deals, if you have a manager that wins 12 out of 19 titles and gets to 12 cl quarter finals. That's what paid for and fills the huge stadium. He provided consistently successful, attractive football over 20 years on a budget, that let them reinvest in the club, to give them such huge revenues.
ReplyDeleteBy consistently keeping man utd at the top of english football as it exploded in wealth, ferguson has completely transformed man utd. Yes he's an arsehole, but the way that he keeps building new, successful teams every six years is astonishing. The man has had his best period in management since he turned 64, and celebrated by signing vidic and evra.
I have a lot of respect for rafa benitez, even though I think he's a very strange and complicated person, but talking like this just has the effect of making him look small. He should steer clear.
Let's forget about Whiskey nose shall we, he's time is up and retirement is looming fast. All we care about is beating the Mancs on Saturday that's the game we're good at winning and its worth more than 3 points as victory over the REd Devils is really sweet, specially after we completely outplay them for it
ReplyDeleteCould it be that, JK, (alias's) is posting anti-Rafa comments here, himself,???, to justify his obsession, wiyh Rafa Benitez?. I can quite easely believe that!.Eh JK?.
ReplyDeleteDifference was Fergie had already spent fortunes when Man Utd were floated before Rafa came,so in effect Fergie already had his jigsaw complete,rio £30m,Rooney £30m Veron £28m Van Nistlrooy £20m even paying £16m on a young Ronaldo as a gamble knowing he could because the money was there.Lately over £30m on a 30 year old Berbatov.When Rafa came in he had to sell to buy first year in come Alonso and Garcia out go Murphy and Owen net spend zero.Most Rafa ever spent was £20.3m on Torres and he at one point could have sold him for £70m to man city he made him so good.Alonso £10m sold aged 29 for £30m.Back Rafa with money he always delivers,wanted David Silva for £12m Hicks and Gillette wouldnt give him the money so got Riera instead. give him no money he must take gambles on free transfers then gets slated when they dont have an impact.Voronin,Maxi,Kyriarkoas, bought for a combined £1.5m.
ReplyDeleteGuys the bottom line is football is a warlike mentality for fans and for teams, Ferguson spending money, youth team investment, mind games, influence on loan deals... Its all relative. Ferguson is a strategist, you think if he had been a military commander he wouldnt be as successful, his mindset is obvious, yes man utd are wealthy and do spend, but their model is buying young, often selling players for vast profit and reinvestment in youth. Utd wealth creation has also been cemented by fergusons continued ability to build great teams, fashion champions and essentially bolster utd global appeal. Also Ferguson has been successful most of his managerial career, european cup and league success in scotland that everyone seems to forget, not to mention having to cope with the english games terrible youth system at FA level which meant european cup success with utd in the early 90s was all but impossible factoring in the 3 non domestic player euro rule. With the set-up that exists in spain and italy at national development level are we really truly shocked? Lets get real Rafa is a decent manager, his side that won the european cup, but remember played a juventus side in the semis that gave up had 3 men sent off and a few days later where found to be involved in a match fixing scandal that would rock world football.. Me thinks Juve lay down that nite with the foresight of the inevitable. Fergusons Dynasty has been coupled with the most dramatic changes in football ever documented, and he has risen to every challenge and continued to deliver success at all levels... There is simply no place for rafa comments on fergie, so what if he is a cunt? Does he have to be a nice guy? Is his job making people feel warm? No his job is to win wars, and long may it continue
ReplyDelete"To be fair, I didn’t like it when the press was talking about mind games because I was just focused on my team, and the things I had to do for the team".Focused on your team when you were having a rant at Fergie? Focusing on your team while you were to busy getting involves in club politics everyday? Focusing on your team while you were to busy scrathing rubbish in your little notebook trying to figure out how to draw a match instead of winning it? Focusing on your team by wanting to replace Barry with Alonso?Good luck to your next employer, if that is going to be any time soon...Good riddance.Long live THE KING.
ReplyDeleteThe author is clearly obsessed by Mr Benitez, even though left Anfield 16-17 months ago. This is laughably sad. Surely it's time to move on from this oft regurgitated story...
ReplyDeleteComebackRafa, It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of judgement. Rafa bought far too many players that were not liverpool quality players. Andrei voronin may have been free, but he was one of the worst players to pull on a liverpool shirt. His hits were great signings, but there were far too few of them. There seemed to be a real failing when it came to getting players to bed in, and to improve when they were at the club.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, i'm not sure that any of the new signings other than suarez and maybe enrique are liverpool quality players either.
If it's down to the money, how are man utd the top ranked team in europe over the last five years, (a win, two finals, a semi final and a quarter final) on only the seventh biggest budget?
Rafa should be proud of doing a rather good job. There were some low points and problems, but he Won a Cl and got to a final, and put together one really good league season, but it's no shame to not win the league, when the teams against you were in the champions league final the year before. Benitez is not making himself look better by trying make ferguson look smaller.
Simon - You are wrong, Liverpool's net spends were higher than United's during Rafa's reign. The difference is Fergie spent his money wisely, whereas Rafa bought guff.
ReplyDeleteKanwar still holds resentment towards Rafa , but has he got the balls to slag him off to his face on Sunday (if it wasn't lies about him going to Liverpool to go to the audience with Benitez)?
ReplyDeleteJamie Kanwar why dont you leave Rafa alone? Are you Liverpool supporter or a Sly Fox who likes to stir the poop? Rafa has moved on,so have LFC. We have KD at the helm now the future starts with Sat against That Lot. Rafa YNWA.
ReplyDeleteRafa spent 'more' than Fergie. Fact.
ReplyDeleteRafa's 'net' spend was him recouping some of the money he'd already spent on so many dud players. His 'actual' spend was higher than Ferguson's because he clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool's selling of Torres for £50 million was the best piece of transfer business this century. He's clearly crocked.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool have consistently outspent United since the early 90s. In 1999 LFC spent 'treble' the amount United did. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteTO be fair - if anyone of us could get a chance to kick Ferguson up the hoop then you would. The whole country is up for it (bar Devon and Cornwall)
ReplyDeleteyour name should be backpassage,because your dribbling it out . go follow another team u joke
ReplyDeletefergie is the biggest pile of shit to be knighted, the bloke thinks his shit dont stink and hes untouchable. how does a bitter foul mouthed jumped old whisky slurping joke get that honour?? id like to see fergie go to spain and achieve wat raffa did.no chance. the bloke is just horrid. before chelsea and city, united had the pleasure of 20-30 million pound players a season, raffas right. i dont think the youth system at united was down to fergie either, ie scholes becks giggs etc, fair enough he played them, but wat else was he to do?
ReplyDeleteit was there time, simple. partly luck. not genius
dude you are lunatic obviously know FA about football and even less about Man Utd....the academy was a shambles took it by the scruff of the neck and made it what it is today...he built from the bottom up...and if you took the time to do some research you woudl know this...
ReplyDeleteevery manager has success and failure in buying players. for every voronin there is a berbatov for every berbatov there is a veron or birtles or nigel clough or julien dicks. There is no guarentee for any player however there is more chance of success if you shop at harrods as opposed to the corner shop if you get my meaning. Had Rafa inherited a squad as strong as man utds at the time he would have been as successful as Fergusson. Liverpool invested poorly in players and some of the rot set in with Kenny - does anyone remember Speedie, Carter Etc. this was added to by souness with oh god where to start ........ evans didnt fare much better and houlier with diao diouff pongolle etc etc etc. The LFC squad was in disarray when rafa took over FACT
ReplyDeleterafa is just a washed up joke that wants to make someone the scapegoat for his profligate spending. Total rubbish saying its down to money, he spent more than Fergie. Rafa is such a flog. Poor man.
ReplyDeletewt happened last season talked about ref and finally got punished
ReplyDeleteGOD DOES THIS AUTHOR EVER SHUT UP ABOUT RAFA
ReplyDeletelook i hate people blaming Rafa for Liverpool down fall.So since KD took over with money to spend,where are we?man U,Man city,Chelsea are spending big times and u are talking about peanuts cash here? until we Liverpudlians can appreciate Rafa efforts,we are still doom.Can u see it?KD IS STILL USING HALF OF Rafa players that we claim are waste.All i want Rafa to do now is to give a helping hands to KD and together they can push us forward.
ReplyDeletePatrick
no they didnt, get your facts right
ReplyDeleteJK has gon into hiding?.........get out that hole JK.
ReplyDeleteWill Calder: How many players has Ferguson bought and how many has Rafa, with his limited budget bought? FACT but as always you scum try to twist the truth
ReplyDeleteHis facts are right gB get yours right!
ReplyDeletefergie has been at united over 20 years so obviously hes signed more players. But during benitez' stay he spent more than fergie!
ReplyDeleteget your facts right imran
ReplyDeleteEarly 90s?Whats has that got to do with Rafa?
ReplyDeleteI am writing about the big Marque signings Man U made before Rafa arrived which had a direct effect on Rafa £90 million plus (Rio,Nistelrooy,Rooney and Ronaldo) in the 3 years before Rafa arrived! Do you call £10 million on Alonso a Marque signing and the £14 million on Cisse who Houllier had brought.
Not to forget £30 million on the flop Veron.
He arrives at a Liverpool that has toiled for years, rarely even getting close to Man Utd in the league. And proceeds to toil for years, rarely even getting close to Man Utd in the league. Am I missing something? Were Liverpool severely outspending everybody in Europe under Houllier, and then the bank was just suddenly closed as soon as Benitez arrived?
ReplyDeleteBenitez definitely played a part in moving our club forwards, but people act like he was some sort of miracle worker that did a job no other man could possibly have done, when in fact over the 6 years we only marginally improved from where we were before he arrived!
I think that the heading is slightly misleading again here, and not entirely related back to the content of the statements. In this argument I definitely agree with Benitez that ‘mind games’ are totally over-rated and that the quality of the players is far more important. But I doubt even Benitez would attempt to discredit Ferguson from being a major cause of Man U's success.
ReplyDeleteManchester United's success is down to money, not Alex Ferguson's mind games. That ties in effectively with the comments imo...
Took Fergie FOUR YEARS TO WIN A TROPHY!
ReplyDeleteRAFA INSTANCE SUCCESS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS in his FIRST SEASON:)
SECOND SEASON FA CUP WINNERS!
FERGIE SEVEN YEARS to win the LEAGUE and THIRTEEN YEARS TO WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!
How long do you think Fergie would have lasted at Man U in the present day with a record like that.
RAFA FIRST SEASON CHAMPION LEAGUE WINNERS:)
ReplyDeleteRAFA SECOND SEASON FA CUP WINNERS:)
FERGIE FIRST SEASON NOTHING!
FERGIE SECOND SEASON NOTHING!
FERGIE THIRD SEASON NOTHING!
FERGIE FOURTH SEASON FA CUP!
FOUR YEARS TO WIN A TROPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RAFA ONE SEASON TO WIN A TROPHY.
ReplyDeleteFERGIE FOUR YEARS TO WIN A TROPHY!
THAT IS A FACT.
TOOK FERGIE FOUR YEARS TO WIN A TROPHY!
ReplyDeleteRAFA ONE SEASON:)
FACT 4 YEARS FOR FERGIE TO WIN A TROPHY!
ReplyDeleteRAFA ONE SEASON :)
FACT:)
7 YEARS TO WIN THE LEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!
Rafa - sacked from Inter within 6 months. Now jobless. FACT.
ReplyDeleteFergie won number 19. FACT.
Fergie working with the like of cleverly,Jones,Rooney leaving behind a legacy. FACT
Rafa is sitting on his ass writing a website. A WEBSITE. FACT.
19? TOOK HIM LONG ENOUGH:)
ReplyDeleteLEGACY?
FERGIESLIVERPOOLFIXATION! TO SELFISH and SCARED TO HAVE ANY REAL CONTENDERS IN HIS STAFF!
WHERE IS HIS PAISLEY,FAGAN,EVANS,MORAN and DALGLISH?
MIKE PHELAN?
ONLY JUST STARTED TO TRY AND PLAY PASS and MOVE ONE TOUCH FOOTBALL AFTER 26 YEARS OF MANAGEMENT TO BEAT BARCELONA:)
SOMETHING RAFA DID MANAGE TO DO IN THE NOU CAMP :)and HOULLIER:)
5 TIMES;)
Do you mean when Houllier was team building?
ReplyDelete9 players out 8 players in Hamann £8 million
United 3 players in 3 out Stam £10 million and Yorke £12 million 22 million on 2 players?
trophies talk B.S. walks...jog on loserpool
ReplyDeleteWANKER!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd what about in the 90's when we hardly signed players? we had to depend on Giggs scholes neville and beckham so how is it down to money? plus isnt every clubs success down to that anyway? Chelsea City Liverpool there all at it so shut up you fat prick
ReplyDeleteWhere is he now then? exactly
ReplyDeleteFACT We have 1 more
FACT You havent won a premier league title for over 20 years
FACT RAFA is just a fat jobless idiot that can't talk about facts because it proved to be his downfall
FACT he cant blame the owners look at uniteds owners there not exactly the best and we still get the money and win things
Here is what makes me laugh Liverpool spend 35 Million on Andy Carroll 23 Million on Suarez 20 Million on Downing 16 Million on Henderson and they are trying to say that we have spent too much money. the fact is without fergie we would have had about 30 different managers by now like all other teams...
ReplyDeleteRafael Benitez:
ReplyDeleteChampions Leauge. Great job.
A good football team over a period of 5 years. Not bad.
Alex Ferguson:
Aberdeen- Won the European Cup beating REAL MADRID.
Best Aberdeen team in its history.
St.Mirren.
His success BEFORE Manchester United itself tells you about his managing ability. Manchester United is another story....its not even worth defending against people who have the audacity to compare it to Rafael Benitez's tenure.
Its one thing to be a good manager, but please dont pretend to be better than any manager who has been at a consistently successful club for 25 years.Rafa cannot hold a candle to Fergie's achievements. Money or no money. I am a huge Manchester United fan, but I respect Liverpool. They have a glorious history themselves. I just hope Liverpool fans stand above such stupid arguments and respect a manager who has achieved a great deal. Just like Shankly had done for Liverpool.
BUT....if anyone wants to continue comparing Fergie to Rafa then well...haha.
As someone mentioned above, everyone respected Fergie liek they did Don Corleone. He/She is right. He was the king of mafia and Fergie is the king of Football Management.