Your guess is as really as good as mine! I am getting sick and tired of this! Who are we to blame: Rafa or the American Owners? I think it has now boiled to the fact that Anfield is no longer big enough for both Rafa Benitez and Rick Parry. One of them has to leave and I hope it is Parry. There is no way we can afford to loose Rafa. Just look at what he has done for us over the years, I really can not see or want any other manger to come and take over our club right now. I want to see Rafa have the full support of the board and to be allowed to do things his way (to a certain degree) and have him stay on for many years. There is no point in us loosing him now and then getting another new face who is going to want to start to rebuild the team and give us another 5 years before we start challenging again.
Granted that Rafa may be demanding too much control in the new contract and thus the reason he does not want to sign it if his demands are not met. I have no idea what is contained in the new contract offered to him or what Rafa wants but surely Rafa can not be asking for anything more than what the other managers in the Premier League have? What is wrong with Rafa wanting to control the transfers within a budget? Rafa knows what the team needs and not Ricky Parry who sits in his office all day.
The youth setup is also considered to be another sticky point. Why not give Rafa control of this too if we want him to stay for the long term. If Rafa setups a successful youth system then maybe in the next 3 or 4 years we would not need to buy big names and the youth will be the ones playing for the first team. Fair and fine, I will be the first to admit that Rafa has not made the most of the youth at his disposal and that worries me. We have not seen the likes of Nemeth, Pacheco, Spearing and Darby be given a fair crack at the first team yet.
Reports over the weekend suggested that Rafa was ready to quit Liverpool and walk away in the summer. I do not see why the owners are being impossible here. This is the exact same way Rafa left Valencia. Surely they can see Rafa quitting coming and they are able to stop it.
If Rafa leaves this summer you can be sure the majority of the Spanish players he signed will want to leave too. The likes of Reina, Alonso and even Torres could just pack their bags and decide to head back to Spain with their boss. I will not even talk about possible replacements for Rafa as I do not want to even think about the scenario.
Yes Rafa has had his flaws at Anfield. He has at times picked wrong teams and players and most recently his outburst on Fergie has been dubbed by many as the moment that lost us the title. We have to stick by Rafa. He will do it for us!
Its possible that Rafa may not actually want to stay ? Maybe by imposing too many unrealistic demands on his contract knowing that they may be unfufilled is his way of ensuring he has a reason to leave without losing face ? …. Im sure deep down he can hear Madrid calling and they do say ‘Home is where the heart is’ !