I recall that as well Jim, quite a few of us remember that here, not everyone though.

I don't remember that, but they should bring it back.

Well the Rafa period in charge of Real Madrid has begun, let's see how long he lasts, one perhaps two years tops I think.

Excellent. We should get our bids in now, seeing as all of the players will want to leave.

I don't know about all of them wanting to leave, but I can well imagine a fair few having second thoughts about this appointment.

If we can take advantage of this, then we definitely should.

A 2 year spell at Madrid is probably the average of any Manager that goes there to be honest.

They have appointed multiple managers with worse records than Benitez without players ****ing off as a result.


Only Mourinho and Del Bosque have managed more than two seasons in the last 25 years. Think a 2 year spell would be above average there.

Come on, that former Liverpool manager is doomed to fail and all the players will leave because he used to manage Liverpool

If that is your opinion, fair enough, but that is not my rationale.

It clearly is though. There is absolutely no basis for the idea that players might consider leaving because of Benitez unless you have a ridiculously negative view of Benitez that doesn't fit with reality. I'm not his biggest fan but christ, you'd think they had appointed Steve Kean by the reaction.

When Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema joined Real Madrid, the manager was Pellegrini, a man whose only trophy in Europe was an Intertoto Cup 5 years before. And yet you think De Gea would reconsider because they appointed Benitez instead of Ancelotti...

RM players must be used to constant change of managers by now. Rafa is from Madrid isn't he? He might be a man reborn

It clearly is not, I am allowed to hold an opinion of a manager without it having anything to do with spite/hatred/rivalry (call it what you wish) just because he managed Liverpool.

Am I allowed to include his time as manager of Liverpool into my thinking, yes, but that doesn't mean that I have to hate him because of that, it just means that like any other manager, I am looking at his career as a whole, it would be pretty hard to try and judge him or hold an opinion of his time as a manager without looking at his time as Liverpool's manager.

Nobody said ignore his time at Liverpool.

that time he won the champions league and got to another final a few years later?

What are madrid thinking?!!!!!

No-one said discount his time at Liverpool for god's sake.

But your view that De Gea might reconsider joining Real is laughable. As I pointed out, three of the worlds most wanted players joined Real Madrid just after they appointed a manager who had an Intertoto Cup to show for his record in Europe. It clearly didn't bother them. Yet you apparently think that De Gea might be put off joining Real by them appointing a manager with 2 La Liga titles, 2 Europa Leagues/UEFA Cups and a Champions League on his CV.

And your view that other players might have "second thoughts" as a result of his appointment is also bizarre. Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo etc. had no qualms staying past the appointments of the likes of Quieroz. Nor was there a mass exodus later when Schuster, Ramos or Pellegrini were appointed. So why on earth would the players revolt over a man of the stature of Benitez coming in. I'm sorry, but I can see absolutely no rationale for your claims other than a petty dislike of Benitez.

No that's normally Heysel stuff isn't it?

Excellent post!!

One of the things you have to take into account for when teams like Real and Barca come knocking is whether or nor you'll get another chance to sign for them. De Gea is a brilliant goalkeeper, but if he declines to go to Real because Benitez is the manager who knows how long he would have to wait if Real went and bought another keeper or Casillas went back to being the best at Real Madrid.

You have to remember, the players at Real and Barca have a lot of power, some more so than the managers, if you choose to go to either club, it's because you'll be playing along side the likes of Messi, Suarea, Ronaldo, Bale etc as well as the prestige of playing for them. There aren't too many big players in the past who have gone to either club because of who is the manager, possibly Pep and Jose aside.

No, Heysel was a horrible event, that I wouldn't wish to happen to anyone at anytime ever.

Don't most 'proper' managers hate it at Madrid? If you're there just for a pay day and do nothing of note before or after then I'm sure you love it but generally aren't you either there for a year or end up hating it?

Why were you tweeting offensively about it then?

Does retweeting someone else's tweets, (of which I subsequently unretweeted) count as myself tweeting something personally?

Either way whichever way you want to describe things as being, it was a horrible event, and one that I hope is not repeated in the future.

You do appear to be tacitly agreeing with the sentiments expressed in said post. Why else would you have retweeted it?!

Ever since the circus at Real Madrid, which started when Del Bosque was sacked, only Carlo Ancelotti seems to have had success but was also was liked by the players and fans. The rest seem to have been driven out by the players (including Jose) or weren't good enough to take on Pep's Barcelona (Schuster, Ramos and Pellegrini, who actually did really well in the league in his year in charge.)

I deleted/unretweedted the two posts when they were brought my attention that they were not posts that I thought they were.

I don't quite know how much more clear I can make myself, all events like this event, Bradford etc are bad and I hope that nothing like that ever happens again in the future.

I hope that is the end of the matter now.

I think the problem is that you display your hatred and blinkered views about Liverpool and all things Liverpool very very clearly on here so when someone uncovers such horrible retweets its not going to look good.

Obviously Id hope for your own sake that it was a genuine error. I'm not sure how you accidentally retweet something about Hysel without realising but I'm sure the people who know you better will be happy to accept it was a mistake.