WHEN Kahka Kaladze helped AC Milan topple Liverpool in last May's Champions League final, little did he know that six months later he could end up playing an unwitting role in Rafa Benitez's potential downfall.
The Georgian defender might have frustrated Benitez in Athens but to nothing like the same extent as the failure to sign him has infuriated the Liverpool boss in the last week.
Benitez wanted to snap Kaladze up to provide defensive cover for Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia but when Tom Hicks and George Gillett refused to even discuss potential transfers before December 16, the chance to sign him was lost and the Reds boss reacted angrily.
Having been ordered to concentrate on “coaching and training”, Benitez saw this as evidence that Liverpool’s American owners were not prepared to back him in the transfer market and, brimming with indignation, used a Melwood press conference to let the world know that all was not well at Anfield.
Despite being unceremoniously slapped down and told to “quit talking” by Dallas-based Tom Hicks following his outburst, Benitez refused to give any ground in the aftermath of Saturday’s resounding 3-0 win at Newcastle.
He claimed the Americans had not yet had time to develop an understanding of the intricacies of the transfer window – and that the club needed to conduct business as promptly as possible.
The battle lines had been drawn and there was precious little sign of either side backing down from the fight.
But today, the mood music coming from Benitez’s direction changed.
Gone today is the outspoken criticism of the club hierarchy and the seemingly kamikaze confrontational approach which had the bookmakers frantically cutting their odds on him being the next Premiership manager to be ousted.
Instead, the language has a more conciliatory tone as an olive branch is held out to Hicks and George Gillett and, by way of reciprocation, sources close to the Americans have dismissed talk that they have already decided to sack the manager at such a crucial stage of the season.
Whether this means Benitez will remain in position for too much longer is another matter entirely.
His recent outbursts have upset the Americans greatly and they came at a time when they were privately questioning his ability to lead Liverpool to the title.
Watching from afar, they have been disappointed by the way their most recent sporting acquisition has struggled in this season’s Champions League and the lead Arsenal have built up over them in the Premiership.
Even an unbeaten run in the league has failed to overly impress them, so Benitez was on the thinnest of ice when he decided to take them on over transfer strategy.
Today, that ice remains just as thin but at least Benitez has given himself a chance of not falling through it by making a tactical withdrawal from battle and intimating that he is now prepared to put his misgivings over the club’s transfer strategy to one side until that all-important meeting on December 16.
Although his future remains open to question, what seems apparent is Benitez’s commitment to the club and his desire for it to be successful.
As those closest to the manager have intimated, it is this hunger and desire to be the best that makes the Spaniard so frustrated when things do not go as he would expect them to.
With Daniel Agger currently injured and Sami Hyypia entering the twilight of his career, the proposed acquisition of 29-year-old Kaladze for a fee of around £4m was seen as crucial to his ongoing squad building.
But with transfer talk banned at Anfield until mid-December that deal died a lingering death last week and Benitez was left with nothing to console him but a swift return to the drawing board.
For a manager whose entire transfer philosophy is built on getting deals done quickly to save money, stopping latecomers from snaring his targets in the process, this was too much to bear, hence his coded attack on the club’s owners that he would now concentrate only on coaching as they had ordered him to.
But Benitez it seems recognises that, like politics, football is all about the art of the possible and the fact that the Americans are not going to change policy to suit him means, in the short term at least, he must either accept their authority and way of doing things – or face the sack.
He could carry on fighting what is a losing battle with a pair of all powerful, American multi-millionaires – or keep his head down until they finally reveal their hand in a couple of weeks time.
The fact that he now seems to have taken the latter course suggests his desire to remain at a club he loves is stronger than any selfish hunger for battle.
Significantly, Benitez will also be aware that he has the backing of the club’s fans, as evidenced by the continued chanting of his name at Newcastle on Saturday and the outpouring of support on internet forums in the wake of a report that his time as Liverpool manager is about to come to an abrupt and undignified end.
But the inescapable fact is it could all be too little too late and the man who has taken Liverpool to two European Cup finals in three years – winning one in the most spectacular fashion possible and narrowly losing the other – with FA Cup glory sandwiched in between, could soon be looking for another job.
The statement released by Tom Hicks yesterday afternoon stopped a long way short of saying Benitez has the backing of the club’s owners and there has been no official public denial from either co-owner that the Spaniard is heading for the Anfield exit door.
Unbeaten in the Premiership, with their Champions League fate still in their own hands and a squad of players which is the envy of most clubs in Europe, it says everything about how badly the relationship between Benitez and the American owners has broken down that they could even consider giving him the sack.
Whether the fans will accept this situation is another matter entirely.
Their devotion to Benitez and his love for them means they share a strong bond and it is entirely possible there will be a show of support for the Spaniard at the crunch game with Porto at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Most supporters simply cannot understand how the manager who delivered Liverpool’s fifth European Cup just two seasons ago and took them to the brink of another one last May can now be fighting for his managerial life, especially when there have been no real indications of malaise since then.
At St James’ Park on Saturday, the fans chanted the manager’s name time and time again.
So, as understandably affronted as they are, if Tom Hicks and George Gillett are about to load the gun that will ultimately fire Rafa Benitez, it looks like they may have to take on the Anfield crowd first.
As so many have found to their cost on a European night, that is easier said than done.
原來轉會傳聞中既主角係 AC既後衛 Kaladze (卡拿迪斯 ?? )
基本上老闆唔係因為錢既問題唔比錢 Ben sir買人﹐ 而係距地懷疑 Ben sir既領軍能力 (主要因為歐聯成績差)﹐所以要
到12月中睇下到時成績點先算 。 依家 Ben sir仲好受 Fans們既支持﹐所以老闆暫時唔會郁阿 Ben sir住作者: canz85 時間: 2007-11-27 11:13 PM
