Rafa Benitez

[Rayvin 5319]

Just now, Happy Face said:

 

He's already said himself he's never been given an amount that the club can spend.

 

His concern isn't the transfer kitty.  Loan signings and free transfers have gone begging when we have one of the lowest wage bills in the division.

 

Fine, if that's true then your theory fits. But it makes Rafa an idiot, unfortunately.

 

EDIT - unless Rafa knew this was coming as much as Ashley did, and the whole sorry affair has just been about posturing for the inevitable fallout; fans and football be damned.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Rayvin

[Park Life 71]

I think Rafa was hoping it wouldn't go to the wire. That management would see sense.

[TheGingerQuiff 2412]

It's not really comparable to the Keegan situation given that Carr has done one. Prices are mental and we need half a dozen signings. A couple of those at least will be short term cheap options, either loans or frees. Until we know what we can pick up cheap we're stuck knowing where to put our eggs. The market will start moving more soon. Nothing to be concerned about really. It might make for a shaky start us doing late business but Rafa will sort it out

[adios 717]

38 minutes ago, Happy Face said:

 

Ashley's been very consistent that NUFVC has to wipe it's own nose.

 

The club hasn't got much money.  He put £15m in last year, so the bank balance is zero if he had to make up the losses.

 

Income this year is spread over the whole season.

 

He told rafa that money would be available though.  He had to in his mind.  If Rafa had walked in the summer then Season Ticket saless would have bombed.

 

 

3

So he's forward thinking enough to consider this season's ticket sales but not next season's?

 

What makes him think in that time frame?  How do we know this?

[adios 717]

15 minutes ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

It's not really comparable to the Keegan situation given that Carr has done one. Prices are mental and we need half a dozen signings. A couple of those at least will be short term cheap options, either loans or frees. Until we know what we can pick up cheap we're stuck knowing where to put our eggs. The market will start moving more soon. Nothing to be concerned about really. It might make for a shaky start us doing late business but Rafa will sort it out

I wouldn't be concerned at all but for the noises Rafa's making.

[Rayvin 5319]

10 minutes ago, adios said:

I wouldn't be concerned at all but for the noises Rafa's making.

 

Really don't think Rafa has said anything here that we need to be unduly concerned about. He's had the same position all summer.

[Happy Face 29]

15 minutes ago, adios said:

So he's forward thinking enough to consider this season's ticket sales but not next season's?

He'll worry about next season next season.  Drop prices again if he has too.  Mags are daft, they'll keep coming.

 

What makes him think in that time frame?  How do we know this?

History

 

[adios 717]

I would hope his thought processes are a little more complex than that.

[Rayvin 5319]

And yet, a club policy surrounding the concept of wiping one's own nose is actually a long term, sustainable approach.

[Happy Face 29]

32 minutes ago, TheGingerQuiff said:

It's not really comparable to the Keegan situation given that Carr has done one. Prices are mental and we need half a dozen signings. A couple of those at least will be short term cheap options, either loans or frees. Until we know what we can pick up cheap we're stuck knowing where to put our eggs. The market will start moving more soon. Nothing to be concerned about really. It might make for a shaky start us doing late business but Rafa will sort it out

 

It's not about mental prices at all.  We can't pick up any cheap deals either.  Rafa is raging we've missed out on loans and free transfers as much as the brinkmanship with Murphy over a couple of million.

 

In what world do prices drop and better players become available (3rd and 4th choices) as the window wears on?

 

I can't believe how delusioanal some fans remain after 10 years of this shit.

[Happy Face 29]

Just now, Rayvin said:

And yet, a club policy surrounding the concept of wiping one's own nose is actually a long term, sustainable approach.

 

Spot on.  Never had a problem with it.

 

Ashley makes his bed by lying to managers, rather than being able to bring them along with that vision.

 

"Rafa, you'll have to sell to buy this summer, but in January and next summer, there'll be cash raining about you.  You can see we gave McClaren £80m so there's evidence of this."

[Park Life 71]

Ashley will do just enough to stop Rafa walking. Barely.

[Rayvin 5319]

Just now, Happy Face said:

 

Spot on.  Never had a problem with it.

 

Ashley makes his bed by lying to managers, rather than being able to bring them along with that vision.

 

"Rafa, you'll have to sell to buy this summer, but in January and next summer, there'll be cash raining about you.  You can see we gave McClaren £80m so there's evidence of this."

 

Couldn't you argue then that Ashley is just trying to keep Rafa sweet for as long as possible, knowing that if we can make it to next season, we can have a proper go in the following year? Maybe even Rafa knows that.

[Happy Face 29]

1 minute ago, Rayvin said:

 

Couldn't you argue then that Ashley is just trying to keep Rafa sweet for as long as possible, knowing that if we can make it to next season, we can have a proper go in the following year? Maybe even Rafa knows that.

 

Lying to someone never keeps them sweet in the long run.  If Rafa knew it he wouldn't have to name the owner as being the problem when it came to transfer delays. 

 

There's clear discord with Rafa and Ashley fighting each other to protect their own interests.

 

Looks like rafa has won this round with Murphy though, so that's great news.

[TheGingerQuiff 2412]

21 minutes ago, Happy Face said:

 

It's not about mental prices at all.  We can't pick up any cheap deals either.  Rafa is raging we've missed out on loans and free transfers as much as the brinkmanship with Murphy over a couple of million.

 

In what world do prices drop and better players become available (3rd and 4th choices) as the window wears on?

 

I can't believe how delusioanal some fans remain after 10 years of this shit.

 

I can't see any incentive whatsoever for Ashley to deliberately cause us to miss out on a free transfer or loan deal. Those types of deals are his wet dream 

[Rayvin 5319]

45 minutes ago, Happy Face said:

 

Lying to someone never keeps them sweet in the long run.  If Rafa knew it he wouldn't have to name the owner as being the problem when it came to transfer delays. 

 

There's clear discord with Rafa and Ashley fighting each other to protect their own interests.

 

Looks like rafa has won this round with Murphy though, so that's great news.

 

Rafa could have come out saying the things he is to set a face saving stance ahead of the season. If he knows it's going to be tough, by doing what he's doing, he'll protect his reputation.

 

Moyes did it at Sunderland last year.

[Park Life 71]

http://www.newstalk.com/rafa-benitez-interview

[PaddockLad 17711]

Is it fair to say that there was, back in the heady days of May, a school of journalistic thought that stated Rafa wouldn't be happy to be an also ran in the Premier League?.....  am thinking that the window so far has pretty much blown that out of the water. The level of player we're recruiting is for stability and consolidation rather than an assault on 5/6/7.

 

I don't have a problem with that, any club owned by Ashley will be subject to major financial constraints compared with our competitors. I think I'm a tiny bit surprised that the manager has settled for this level tbh, that for me suggests a couple of conflicting things though; one is that Rafa is here for the long term and can put up with Ashley's shenanigans in return for being able to mould the club into precisely what he wants, however long the process takes due to the owner's well documented "thriftyness". The other is simple, he's one fraught phone call away from telling fatty to shove it. His comments from Dublin strike the same realistic tone as earlier statements but seeing the pond in which we are fishing it's him who's taking them most literally. Just hope he can carry the more histerical elements of our support with him. 

[The Fish 10972]

4 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Is it fair to say that there was, back in the heady days of May, a school of journalistic thought that stated Rafa wouldn't be happy to be an also ran in the Premier League?.....  am thinking that the window so far has pretty much blown that out of the water. The level of player we're recruiting is for stability and consolidation rather than an assault on 5/6/7.

 

I don't have a problem with that, any club owned by Ashley will be subject to major financial constraints compared with our competitors. I think I'm a tiny bit surprised that the manager has settled for this level tbh, that for me suggests a couple of conflicting things though; one is that Rafa is here for the long term and can put up with Ashley's shenanigans in return for being able to mould the club into precisely what he wants, however long the process takes due to the owner's well documented "thriftyness". The other is simple, he's one fraught phone call away from telling fatty to shove it. His comments from Dublin strike the same realistic tone as earlier statements but seeing the pond in which we are fishing it's him who's taking them most literally. Just hope he can carry the more histerical elements of our support with him. 

 

Couldn't it also be that he's buying the players he needs for this season, knowing that because we've less money than most clubs (thanks to missing out on the 15/16 tv money) and because this is the first window where fees have really gone nuts, we can't afford to buy the kind of player we'd need for a top half finish. Sigurdsson having a £50m price tag is mental. And we'd need a few players of his caliber to get where Benitez ultimately wants us?

 

So, while we're taking a small step this year, Benitez's aim is still to take this club back up where he think it belongs eventually?

[trooper 940]

seems  like survival is the target & i was hoping for a middle table finish.

[Ayatollah Hermione 14069]

You could be 18th in February and 10th in April. The league is shit, lads

[Rayvin 5319]

Aye, really think people are overstating the quality of the PL...

[trooper 940]

"We are not signing top class players in the Premier League"

“We are signing the players we can and the players who can do a job for us"

i understand what Rafa's saying but there must be enough in the funds for a decent CM to partner Shevey & a proven premiership striker. Maybe's Shearer & Rob Lees comments of needing £150 million to overhaul the team weren't being unrealistic. 

[StoneColdStephenIreland 74]

The league is utter shit from 8th downwards. We'll coast to safety. 

[Rayvin 5319]

1 minute ago, trooper said:

"We are not signing top class players in the Premier League"

“We are signing the players we can and the players who can do a job for us"

i understand what Rafa's saying but there must be enough in the funds for a decent CM to partner Shevey & a proven premiership striker. Maybe's Shearer & Rob Lees comments of needing £150 million to overhaul the team weren't being unrealistic. 

 

The new TV deal came in last summer, and clubs were still spending fairly modestly. It's only this year that we're seeing them spend massive sums. Stands to reason that this is about as early as most clubs could do so - which means we're just going to have to accept that we're a season behind the others.

 

So yeah, we'll be consolidating - but this is where Rafa should be able to make a difference. We'll be a tough to beat side who play on the counter, with an experienced manager who has a good record for taking points off teams who are 'better'.

 

We'll be fine.