Liverpool boss finds out with power comes responsibility

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Rick Parry

The departure of former Anfield Chief Executive Rick Parry means that Benitez has more power than ever before

With power comes responsibility and few managers in Europe have the power Rafa Benitez enjoys at Liverpool.

He played hardball and won when it came to the renegotiation of his contract
back in March, gaining control of all transfer business in what proved a particularly bloody power struggle.

Rick Parry went after 11 years as Anfield’s chief executive and 16 members of the backroom team followed. Not even personal tributes from players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher could save certain members of the academy coaching staff. Benitez wanted them out - and that was pretty much that.

But it means that when things do go wrong, the responsibility rests heavier than ever on his own shoulders. When the season starts to unravel, a season that is supposed to bring an end to Liverpool’s 20-year wait for another championship, the Spaniard carries the can.

Benitez could point to problems that have remained beyond his control. The injuries to key personnel while away on international duty and the prolonged absence of Alberto Aquilani; the financial crisis that has brought a halt to plans for a new stadium and the divisions in the boardroom; and, in the opinion of some, the dead hand of Parry in the transfer market.

When Benitez is blamed for a lack of depth in his squad, he could point to Parry’s failure to close the transfer deals that would have secured the quality players who the club so clearly need.

But it is no good blaming Parry when he is no longer there and the former chief executive of the Premier League could just as easily point to the 76 players Benitez has managed to sign since arriving at Anfield in the summer of 2004. He could also argue that if the absence of Fernando Torres means David Ngog has to lead the attack against Lyon, it is down to a Spaniard who has spent more than £220million in the transfer market.

Parry did deliver exactly the kind of players Liverpool could have used on Tuesday night, but Benitez decided he no longer needed Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane and Craig Bellamy and rejected the opportunity to bring Michael Owen back to the club, too. ‘I think Michael would have worried the Lyon defence a bit more than Ngog,’ observed one of Benitez’s predecessors yesterday. ‘Ngog clearly isn’t good enough.’

But what do Liverpool do now? Follow the example of Chelsea and sack the manager because they think allowing him to continue could leave them counting the considerable cost of a season without Champions League football?

Well, whatever we might have thought of Luiz Felipe Scolari, there are few people at Stamford Bridge beyond Roman Abramovich who think it was a good idea to get rid of Jose Mourinho. The players still miss him and so do many of the fans.

There are those at Liverpool who would regret losing Benitez, too, especially when this is still the manager who guided them to that glorious Champions League triumph in 2005, the FA Cup a year later and a second Champions League final a year after that.

If he has recruited too many mediocre players, he has signed some wonderful ones as well. Torres is probably the finest centre forward on the planet, Pepe Reina is among the best goalkeepers in the world and Javier Mascherano, Dirk Kuyt, Glen Johnson, Yossi Benayoun, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger do pass Liverpool’s quality control test.

Xabi Alonso certainly passed it - he passes everything beautifully - and quite a void has been left by the Spaniard’s departure to Real Madrid. Some would argue that there is nothing Benitez could have done to keep him. That a move to Madrid proved impossible for Alonso to resist. But Gerrard twice turned down Chelsea and Torres appears as committed as ever to the Merseysiders.

Alonso might have felt the same had Benitez made him feel more wanted. Benitez’s coolness towards Alonso was something the Anfield dressing room could never fully understand. Not when he was such an important player.

Yesterday, the Anfield hierarchy were said by one club insider to remain fully behind Benitez. He still has the backing of managing director Christian Purslow as well as American owners too busy fighting among themselves to start another fire.

But then they probably realise that getting rid of Benitez could cost as much as a season without the rewards of the Champions League anyway. According to their most recent financial results, Europe is worth about £20m a season to Liverpool - not much different to the expense involved in paying off the remaining four-and-a-half years of Benitez’s contract and the staff he has recruited in the wake of that mass exodus in the summer.

Hazard dodging: Rafa Benitez is facing a critical stage in his career as Liverpool boss

Time is also an issue. Liverpool need to win in Lyon in less than a fortnight and a manager of the required quality is not going to become available that soon. Mourinho might be an option in the longer term, but not before the close season.

Benitez deserves until then. Especially when a victory against Manchester United on Sunday remains possible, as does gaining three wins from the remaining three Champions League group games. Nobody gave Liverpool a chance when they met Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals in 2005, never mind after 45
minutes of a final that was memorable only for the sight of AC Milan scoring three first-half goals.

But results need to improve and they need to improve fast, otherwise Benitez will have to pay the price for failure and his failure to strengthen a side that pushed United so close in last season’s title race. He accepted that responsibility when he seized total control.