Hicks throws a spanner in the Anfield works

Times are changing. There used to be a time when the manager of Liverpool was the most important person at the football club. There used to be a time when he was the man with the power. Whether it was picking the team, selecting and negotiating new signings, or even choosing the colour of the shorts…..But it’s a long time since Bill Shankly decided his side would look more formidable if they sported an all-red strip, and Rafael Benitez must wish he was faced with a worry as trivial as that when he walks into Melwood.

Today, Benitez must go to work knowing that the men who pay his wages, the men who hold the keys to his future at Anfield, had held secret talks with former Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann about a job……HIS job. Benitez’s very public disappointment with the owners’ transfer policy back in November had looked set to spell the end of his three-and-a-half-year reign on Merseyside, but a “positive meeting” in mid-December seemed to have smoothed things over – at least temporarily.

And when he was given £6m to sign Slovak defender Martin Skrtel from Zenit St Petersburg last week, Benitez could have been forgiven for taking it as a sign that he had regained the trust of his superiors and could look forward to a prolonged relationship.

But this week’s open revelation from one of those superiors, Tom Hicks, will surely force the fiercely proud Spaniard to reconsider his position. Hicks told the Liverpool Echo that the approach to Klinsmann was made as “an insurance policy, to have him become manager if Rafa left for Real Madrid or other clubs that were rumoured in the UK press. Or in case our communication spiralled out of control for some reason”, yet many respected men within football are convinced that Klinsmann would have replaced Benitez as early as this month had Liverpool not ummed and aahed long enough for Bayern Munich to nip in with an offer the 42 year old could not refuse.

Benitez said publicly after his side’s somewhat fortuitous 1-1 draw at League One outfit Luton Town in the FA Cup that he was ready to stay at Anfield “for a long time”, but the timing of this revelation from Mr Hicks, coupled with the disappointing way his side’s “title challenge” has tailed off since they lost at Reading in early December, may just convince him that his footballing future lies elsewhere.

When quizzed by Sky’s Geoff Shreeves after his side’s Steven Gerrard-inspired 5-0 victory over Kevin Blackwell’s struggling Hatters in the Cup replay on Tuesday, Benitez refused to be drawn on the topic of his future. He praised Shreeves for his persistence, whilst simultaneously keeping him very much at arm’s length. It bore a certain similarity with his now-infamous pre-match press conference back in November when he answered every single question with the words “I am concentrating on training and coaching my team”, although on this occasion his monotonous response was far more sensible and understandable.

And yet events such as these should not come as a surprise to him.

After all, his arrival at Liverpool in 2004 was preceded by an eerily familiar falling out with the then-Valencia Director of Sport, Jesus Garcia Pitarch, over Benitez’s lack of control with regards to new signings, and the quality of the players that were signed for him (”I asked for a table and they bought me a lampshade” was one famous quote). On that occasion, Benitez walked away from the Mestalla and into the Anfield hotseat – albeit with a hefty compensation package of €2.4m in his back pocket.

His current struggle with Hicks and Gillett bears striking resemblances. The Americans believe that he has had sufficient resources with which to form a squad capable of competing with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, pointing to the £35m+ Benitez spent on Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun and Lucas Leiva in the summer. They also believe it is a manager’s job to coach the players he has, rather than worrying about players he may or may not be able to bring to the club.

Benitez it appears disagrees on both fronts.

The Spaniard will point out that Liverpool’s net spend in the summer was far less than the papers would have you believe. The sales of Luis Garcia, Craig Bellamy, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Djibril Cisse recouped around £20m, and he offloaded two relatively big earners in Jerzy Dudek and Bolo Zenden. If Gillett and Hicks cast their eyes to Old Trafford (and I’m sure they do), where Manchester Utd finished 21 points clear of Liverpool last season, and still went out and spent around £40m on Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves (albeit recovering around £15m of it from selling Giuseppe Rossi, Gabriel Heinze and Alan Smith), it puts Liverpool’s investment into perspective.

It’s all very well spending big to catch up, but if your rivals do the same, then it’s as-you-were. Benitez has already identified one new player he feels will make a difference to this Liverpool squad, Javier Mascherano. The £17m fee has already been agreed with the Argentine’s management company – MSI – and the player himself has stated his desire to remain at Anfield after his current loan deal expires at the end of the season.

Yet still the Liverpool owners seem reluctant to stump up the funds. With Skrtel signed for a new club record fee for a defender, it is unlikely that the Mascherano deal will go through in this window, even if Mohammed Sissoko and/or Peter Crouch depart the club. Mascherano is a fine player, one of the best in his position in the world, yet Gillett and Hicks could argue that he isn’t a match winner, and therefore should not command such a high fee.

With a player like Torres, his goals prove his value for money. Mascherano’s quiet efficiency is harder to spot (although arguably equally important). Benitez has already seen moves for Kakha Kaladze and Gabriel Heinze blocked by the board, although in fairness that was before clear-the-air talks took place following the defeat to Manchester Utd, and this hesitancy to sign a player whom he regards as one of his most important is clearly rankling with both him, and the player.

So where will this lead? Benitez’s pride may well be wounded by the news that his bosses wanted a man with no previous club management experience to take over his job, and rightly so.

Klinsmann is a man with a growing reputation within football, and he did lead Germany to a World Cup semi-final in 2006. But when you hold up their respective management CVs, Benitez’s is a paperweight, whilst Klinsmann’s is paper-thin. The Spaniard needs to ask himself some big questions.

Does he feel comfortable working under men who consider a manager who spent two years coaching a national side that never had to qualify for the World Cup, and had home advantage (and a fair slice of luck – i.e. the Argentina quarter-final) in the tournament, to be as impressive as a man who delivered two La Liga titles and a Uefa Cup to Valencia inside three years, and has already delivered a Champions League and an FA Cup at Anfield, as well as a separate Champions League final last season?

Can he truly trust men who admit to going behind his back, and justify it by suggesting that they feared Benitez himself would do the same, despite the manager consistently distancing himself from reports linking him with other clubs?

Can he deliver the sort of instant success that the owners want, without serious further investment in the first team squad? Do his players feel his position has been undermined? Will he be any better appreciated at another club (e.g. Real Madrid)?

Right now there are more questions than answers. Such as who would replace him at Anfield if he left? Jose Mourinho’s name of course would appear should Benitez jump, or receive a push. His name gets linked with just about every job going at the moment. But would he want another Premier League job, especially this one, given his chequered history with regards to his relationship with both the Kop, and interfering owners? Has Martin O’Neill proven himself more capable than Benitez as a world class manager? Would Mark Hughes forsake both his Manchester Utd roots and his chance of getting in Sir Alex’s big chair when he steps down? Is a thoroughbred Serie A coach like Marcello Lippi the best bet for a thoroughbred Premier League club?

At the moment there isn’t an obvious candidate for replacing Mr Benitez. Although at the moment, there isn’t a need for one. At the moment.

Will Benitez be at Liverpool next season? Can he deliver the Premier League?
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