Wednesday Football

25 February 2009

By Jerrad Peters

Has Benitez coached his final Liverpool match?

If Liverpool needed a further distraction ahead of Wednesday's Champions' League encounter with Real Madrid, they got it late Tuesday when various reports claimed Rafael Benitez was just days away from quitting the club.

            The rumors surfaced after two prominent bookmakers—Skybet and William Hill—accepted sudden and substantial bets that the Liverpool boss would be the next Premier League manager to either resign or get the sack. A statement on Skybet's official website confirmed that they had "cut Rafa Benitez's odds of vacating the Liverpool hotseat by the start of next season following a flurry of bets on the Spaniard's departure." The company proceeded to install Kenny Dalglish as the favorite to succeed Benitez on a permanent basis, followed by Jose Mourinho, Frank Rijkaard and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

            Benitez has been at loggerheads with club co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. over an extension to his contract for several months. The 48-year-old is demanding increased control of Liverpool's academy and more of a free hand in the transfer market. Hicks and Gillett, however, would prefer to retain much of that power in the hands of chief executive Rick Parry. As a result, Benitez and Parry have engaged in a tug-of-war over player transactions. When Parry spearheaded the July move for Tottenham Hotspur striker Robbie Keane, Benitez was incensed. He had hoped to make Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry the centerpiece of the club's summer maneuverings. He responded by benching Keane until Parry was forced to sell him back to Spurs.

            Hicks and Gillett would prefer to keep both men at Anfield, with Benitez handling coaching duties and Parry overseeing player transactions and development. Similar arrangements are the norm in North American professional sports, where both owners have extensive experience.

            That said, their strategy does not appear to be working in English football. They have already submitted five drafts of a contract extension to Benitez, each of which has been immediately rejected by the Spaniard. It's thought that Benitez has made at least one verbal agreement with Hicks in the past, only to be presented with a written version of the agreement that differed entirely from the verbal.

            That the latest conjecture over Benitez's position at Liverpool came as his side prepared for their Champions' League match against Madrid in the Spanish capital was hardly a coincidence. Benitez has long used speculation that he might make a move to the Bernabeu as leverage for a new deal at Anfield. But with no extension forthcoming, that speculation is moving more and more into the realm of possibility.

            Benitez came up through the coaching ranks at Madrid, first with the youth setup and then with the reserves. In all, he spent six years at the club and developed a reputation that launched him to management jobs at Osasuna, Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia and eventually Liverpool.

            His career could come full-circle as early as next season. With interim manager Juande Ramos unlikely to be appointed on a permanent basis, Benitez is being touted as the long-term successor to Bernd Schuster. Several of the candidates in Madrid's upcoming presidential election have already attached his name to their campaign platforms.

            It's with some irony that Benitez's final match in charge of Liverpool might have come at his future home. Unless Hicks and Gillett can sign him to an extension within the next 48 hours, he will approach next season as a lame-duck coach in the final year of his contract. He won't wait that long. And given the mounting criticism of his work this season, he might well be tempted to make a quick exit—before Saturday's match at Middlesbrough—and bide his time as he waits for his next appointment.

 

jerradpeters@gmail.com