By Michael Owen
This was always going to be a hard summer for Liverpool Football Club, but it’s just been made a lot harder by the ousting of Rafael Benitez from the position of Liverpool manager.
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Whilst Benitez’s last season in charge of LFC will be one most Liverpool fans will want to forget his defiant attitude towards the clubs renegade owners throughout his time at Anfield is something the former Valencia boss has to be commended for.
Whilst the club was crumbling under the pressure of a mountain of debt the Liverpool manager was the solid foundations that acted as the final barricade between the disease running through Anfield and the very soul of the club.
Despite what some pundits may say, Benitez’s departure will not make things any better at Liverpool, in fact it’s likely to make things a whole lot worse.
Some would justify the removal of Rafa from his position as boss, but no one could justify the timing of the decision, with less than a month to go before the opening of what is set to be a pivotal transfer window in the history of England’s most successful football team.
Whilst the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and to a lesser extent Manchester United will be chasing after some of the biggest names in Europe the Reds will once again be wheeling and dealing in the markets in an attempt to bring in bargain bin-price players to further add to Liverpool’s wage bill and their troubles.
That is of course presuming that even those available for free want to come to Anfield. Who could blame any player for cautiously avoiding a moneyless, chaotic and potentially manager less club such as Liverpool?
But adding players to the squad is a relatively minor problem in comparison to keeping hold of what the club have. Yossi Benayoun is already expected to head for Chelsea whilst the rumours linking Steven Gerrard with Real Madrid seem to have legs. LFC already look likely to lose a number of big name stars and the removal of Benitez may make the problem even worse.
Talk of a temporary manager in the form of Kenny Dalglish won’t help the situation either. Although the Liverpool legend had an incredible time as manager of the club in the 80’s he has been out of the game for fifteen years, a time which has seen unprecedented change in England’s top flight.
Even the favourites for a permanent role at the club aren’t exactly impressive. Martin O’Neil has failed to break the top four despite a huge transfer budget throughout his time at Aston Villa whilst Roy Hodgson has no experience at a major club in the Premier League.
But the most important thing Liverpool fans have lost with the departure of Benitez is the one voice inside the club who stood up for what the fans think, a man who tried his hardest to keep the Liverpool Way intact whilst the board tried their best to destroy it.
Without Rafael Benitez the owners have the ability to do what they want when they want without being concerned about the thorn in their side kicking up a fuss. If there was ever a time when LFC may be faced with a fire sale of major stars, this is it.
The future of Liverpool Football Club is gloomy, despite what the media may say.
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