Dom2

That first season Rafa brought in Alonso and Garcia, two important and great players during '05. Lil Luis was frustrating at times but boy he could be magic, loved him. He also brought Nunez and Josemi. What I came to learn about Rafa was that those first two players were keepers, the other two were cheap and wanted just so he had enough bodies. These are the two he would upgrade next season and so on. He went on like this even through the first years of Hicks and Gillet bringing in some great players like Torres etc. Of our midfield at the time we used to sing about them being the best midfield in the world...'W"e've got Xabi Alonso Momo Sissoko Gerrard and Mascherano, it was hard to see a better. Have to say as well, the Spanish players that Rafa brought to our club had fantastic atitudes, good ethics and always likeable. Then H&G started acting like Ashley, taking money out of the club, telling Rafa he had to sell to buy. We were luckier than you in as much as we had a better squad to drop down with, and also, H&G were looking for refinancing. Having fans all over the world helped in our campaign to get rid of them in as much as whenever they entered a finance establishment one of our fans would see them and let everyone on RAWK know. We fans would then send thousands of emails protesting and block their email accounts up. Usually the bank didn't want that bother. I suppose the well supported protests of many kinds that we staged against H&G came easy to us, as we'd been campaigning for Hillsborough justice for a few decades. I love Klopp as a manager but Rafa Benitez will always be a very special person for me. As a man and manager he was one of the best we've ever had. Good luck with your fight against that greedy fat man and hope you get to keep Rafa.

Rafa was like that with most players, you'd often see him laughing with players on the training pitch. He's still not an arm around the shoulder man though. What NUFC don't have, and we did, were local players who thought they deserved to be told continually how good they were (ala, Houllier). You'd probably have a problem if Shearer was still there. You've seen it for yourself now anyway, when the players have played well Rafa will tell them where they went wrong, ever the perfectionist. It's early days yet, hopefully your players will still feel the same two years down the line. Players like Mascherano, Hamman, Reina, Luis Garcia, and others, all loved Rafa. Even Xabi Alonso loved Rafa until Rafa tried to sell him.

I agree, and it's very pleasing to see Rafa get appreciated by another set of English fans, no recriminations from me. I used to keep up with the thread, that's how I knew how badly he was thought of

The stand is absolutely fantastic. A few teething troubles with obscure seats but all will be sorted, more so when they replace the Anny Road. A bit cringy in some of the hospitality lounges but I'm a fan so love the cringiness.

There were a few fans who hated him the last season or so, but the vast majority loved him. Xabi Alonso was put up for sale because he was a player who could command a large fee, he had also gone a bit stale the previous season. Our Yank owners were draining the club, and Rafa constantly had to think of ways of raising money. As it was, Xabi stayed that season and played out of his skin, and was sold, by mutual consent, the following season for a larger fee than would have been got previously. Rafa would have been gone had it not been for his bond with the fans. He it was who kept us informed about what the two tumours were up to, giving us a chance to try and stop it. As for the football, yes he was cautious at times but we also played some really fantastic football at other times. We played his Valencia in pre season a couple of times and they were a class side beating us easily, so when Moores decided to replace Houllier, Rafa was the man he wanted. He and Parry went over one Sunday morning to sell the club to him, no agents or anything. If your team were playing Barca in a CL match I'm sure you'd be more than happy with a great defensive display. No English club fans liked Rafa, including your own, (I've read the LFC thread) nor did the media or the usual boring English managers. None had a good word to say about him, but we knew we had a diamond of a man and coach within the first week, just by watching his interviews.

Who at LFC badly wanted him back? He engineered a cut price deal to RM, they offered him back after a season for nearly double the price. Rafa would never have paid that, and nor was Rafa, via the club, going to pay him anywhere near the wages Newcastle were willing to pay him. Even David Moores wasn't bothered about Owen in the way he had been about Fowler. At the time quite a lot of fans wanted him back, but equally as many didn't. He was never loved here like, say Robbie Fowler, because we knew from he was a young lad that he'd love to play for one of the big European Clubs. I remember seeing him being interviewed at 17 saying that he expected to be playing for Liverpool until he was at least 26, so no, LFC didn't 'badly' want him back.

Rafa Benitez has explained his reasons for sitting cross-legged during Tuesday's penalty shoot-out. The Spaniard's unusual pose caused quite a stir after the semi-final victory against Chelsea. However, the Reds boss today told liverpoolfc.tv that he decided to sit simply so the supporters could see.

Read a Keegan book last night, and that exact quote "Just get out there and drop grenades" were word for word given to Keegan by Shankley early in his Liverpool career. Pretty sure Keegan used that phrase when talking about Scholes as England manager, too. Aye, it's a Shanklyism, but if it fits, why not use it? To Kevin Keegan: "Just go out and drop a few hand-grenades all over the place, son." http://myliverpoolfc.org/quotes.htm

[. Your quote refers to the team he 'inherited' in 1985, the one I referred to as continuity. You didn't mention his second stint in your post, but for the record he got us to two finals and won us a trophy in his second stint. I wouldn't say his second time as manager was successful as far as the league goes, but he did bring Luis Suarez in whose sell on fee of 75 million more than makes up for Carrolls fee. Oh hang on Carroll was bought from Torres's 50 million move to Chelsea. His last league title was 1990 and nobody here expected him to do the same when he came back, we were just grateful to get rid of Hodgson. The continuity was broken when Souness was appointed after Kenny left in 1990. *** 'Your quote refers to the team he 'inherited' in 1985, the one I referred to as continuity.' it does, and extensively comments on his second stab as well. You've already claimed that Kenny 'more than carried on' the 'tradition' of 'taking the team forward' only now you've actually decided he didn't... Anyway, you've picked the wrong place to argue that black is white. By all means cling onto the fantasy that Dalglish provided 'continuity' in his two managerial stints if it pleases you but we're way off topic. Maybe start a separate 'Hail! Dalglish!' thread here to see if anyone else is interested? He certainly made a c*** of managing my club and your little caveats, weasel words and downright fantasy won't change that. I mean, you seem to think that Dalglish first left LFC in 1990; that you can't get the basics right it makes it even harder to take you seriously. More than happy to leave it now. I didn't extensively comment on his second stint at all until you brought it up. You seriously need to look up what continuity means. The Souness appointment ended the LFC continuity. Yours is the fantasy, you don't like Kenny that's fine, but don't try to re-write his history. My apologies for joining in taking the thread off topic. He left in February '91, you're right, sorry I was a few weeks early........

Very 'him' sort of behaviour. He did it again after stinking the place out in his 2nd stint at Liverpool, then returned to the club a a NED. A nasty piece of work by many accounts as borne out by his performance re: Suarez. I also hear that there are significant differences between his reported post-Hillsborough behaviour, and the reality. Oh, and the blatant cowardice needs a mention as well. I could have managed the LFC side he inherited in 1985 to the double, and its subsequent successes but the very instant (4-4 v. EFC in the cup in 1991) it became obvious that his side was ageing and needed a complete overhal, he didn't see him for dust - citing unspecified 'health problems' (which had cleared up by October, he pitched up at Ewood Park. Throughout his (managerial) career, he's been very well rewarded (and very litigious) for very little return. Whatever he did or didn't do at NUFC I can't comment about, but don't speak for Liverpool. Kenny was magnificent after Hillsborough, if you don't want to believe that then fine. You'll find very few Scousers who agree with you, including Evertonians. In the words of Margaret Aspinall only a few weeks ago...“Kenny’s always been there for the families and he didn’t in any way shape or form let us down.” As for his 'inherited' team (always makes me laugh), that he built (Barnes Beardsley, Aldridge, McMahon etc.......They were the best English side I've ever seen play in this country. What you call inheritance, we at Liverpool used to call continuity. It worked for us because each manager took the team forward and Kenny more than carried on that tradition. Carried on that tradition, did he? You've not won the league since. He had another crack, of course, please tell us what tradition was the legacy of his 2nd stint..? The only things I can think of were spunking £35m on Carroll, and the t-shirts for the racist biter. If that's progress, what you at Liverpool call 'continuity', then you're welcome to it. Your quote refers to the team he 'inherited' in 1985, the one I referred to as continuity. You didn't mention his second stint in your post, but for the record he got us to two finals and won us a trophy in his second stint. I wouldn't say his second time as manager was successful as far as the league goes, but he did bring Luis Suarez in whose sell on fee of 75 million more than makes up for Carrolls fee. Oh hang on Carroll was bought from Torres's 50 million move to Chelsea. His last league title was 1990 and nobody here expected him to do the same when he came back, we were just grateful to get rid of Hodgson. The continuity was broken when Souness was appointed after Kenny left in 1990.

Very 'him' sort of behaviour. He did it again after stinking the place out in his 2nd stint at Liverpool, then returned to the club a a NED. A nasty piece of work by many accounts as borne out by his performance re: Suarez. I also hear that there are significant differences between his reported post-Hillsborough behaviour, and the reality. Oh, and the blatant cowardice needs a mention as well. I could have managed the LFC side he inherited in 1985 to the double, and its subsequent successes but the very instant (4-4 v. EFC in the cup in 1991) it became obvious that his side was ageing and needed a complete overhal, he didn't see him for dust - citing unspecified 'health problems' (which had cleared up by October, he pitched up at Ewood Park. Throughout his (managerial) career, he's been very well rewarded (and very litigious) for very little return. Whatever he did or didn't do at NUFC I can't comment about, but don't speak for Liverpool. Kenny was magnificent after Hillsborough, if you don't want to believe that then fine. You'll find very few Scousers who agree with you, including Evertonians. In the words of Margaret Aspinall only a few weeks ago...“Kenny’s always been there for the families and he didn’t in any way shape or form let us down.” As for his 'inherited' team (always makes me laugh), that he built (Barnes Beardsley, Aldridge, McMahon etc.......They were the best English side I've ever seen play in this country. What you call inheritance, we at Liverpool used to call continuity. It worked for us because each manager took the team forward and Kenny more than carried on that tradition.

Thatcher expected Lord Chief Justice Taylor to toe the party line. He didn't, he was an honourable man and a footy fan to boot. He was born in Newcastle and supported NUFC growing up.

'But Mrs Thatcher did voice concern that a 1989 report into Hillsborough constituted a “devastating criticism” of police. The comment came in a handwritten note in the margin of a civil servant’s memo informing her that the Home Secretary planned to welcome the broad thrust of Lord Taylor’s interim report on its publication in August 1989. Mrs Thatcher had already been warned the interim report was “very damning” of police but attached “little or no blame” to Liverpool fans. She was told in a memo from a senior civil servant the interim report found the chief superintendent in charge at Hillsborough “behaved in an indecisive fashion” and senior officers infuriated the judge by seeking to “duck all responsibility when giving evidence” to his inquiry. The memo made clear Home Secretary Mr Hurd thought South Yorkshire Chief Constable Peter Wright would have to resign, adding: “The enormity of the disaster, and the extent to which the inquiry blames the police, demand this.” It added: “The defensive, and at times close to deceitful, behaviour by the senior officers in South Yorkshire sounds depressingly familiar.” The interim report would “sap confidence in the police force” and could encourage aggressive behaviour by fans towards officers, said the memo, adding: “Liverpool fans will feel vindicated.” But Mrs Thatcher made clear in her handwritten note she did not want to give the government’s full backing to Lord Taylor’s criticisms, only to the way in which he had conducted his inquiry and made recommendations for action. She wrote: “What do we mean by ‘welcoming the broad thrust of the report’? The broad thrust is devastating criticism of the police. Is that for us to welcome? Surely we welcome the thoroughness of the report and its recommendations – M.T.”

I wouldn't have said Garcia was lazy at all, but he was inconsistent. A fantastic little player who could produce sheer breathtaking brilliance at times, scored some stunning goals on the way to Istanbul. He was always a team player and in one derby he played the last half hour with an injury because all subs had been used. Rafa must have thought a lot of him because he bought him twice, even though Luis went off piste at times. He and Alonso were the first two players Rafa brought to Anfield and they were great players, but also appeared to be great people, very popular with the other players and the fans. Rafa didn't buy Cisse, Houllier did. Rafa wouldn't have bought him but, unfortunately, Liverpool felt they couldn't go back on the deal.

This IS pre-organised on Reds websites, and there are thousands of fans who arrive early and line the streets with their banners and scarves, singing our songs and just showing the team that we are behind them, and it's not just outside The Albert. It's happened about 5 or 6 times over the last 6 or 7 years, just important times like when we need to win a match getting to a final. In 2010 when Rafa was getting a lot of stick, and all the press and media were saying the fans were fed up with him and wanted a change,we turned out for him in the same way. It was the only way to let him know that the media were being briefed with lies, and that we still trusted him. Rafa was very appreciative of it. Tonight's was to give the team a lift in the hope that we'd get the goals to go to another final. Sometimes you have to ask yourself what you, as a fan, can do to try and help your team, this is one way. The foreign players are usually taken aback at first but then say how much they loved it. It must mean something to them because they keep coming back if they've got a break, Luis Suarez was over only a few weeks ago visiting Melwood.