Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Rafael Benitez



In bringing the European Cup back home to Liverpool in May, Rafael Benitez might have achieved what the late great Bill Shankly never could but the Spaniard insists fans are wrong to ever compare him to the man from Glenbuck.

Such has been Benitez's astonishing start to his Anfield career, supporters from all over the globe have been quick to draw comparisons between the Spaniard and Liverpool's greatest ever manager but the former Valencia man believes that while it's an honour to be mentioned in the same breath as Shankly, he's his own man with his own ideas.

"Shankly is beyond anything," stressed Benitez ahead of the Champions League qualifier against FBK Kaunas. "He was above all the creator of an ideology. He changed the mentality of the team and produced an ambitious club with a new mentality.

"Bob Paisley won more titles, but Shankly laid the foundations as everybody knows. Those are big words - foundations, ideology - and I am miles away from that. In football everything changes at a fast pace. I am very pragmatic. I think day to day, I prefer to concentrate on improving things progressively and that is your real inheritance - to have the conscience that you have done your job. That is all. If you get the results and people thank you for it, then so much the better."

When quizzed about comments attributed to Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon on Monday morning claiming that the London club's rivals are all jealous of the Stamford Bridge outfit, Benitez laughed and said: "I don't waste my time worrying about other clubs and what other people say. We will see what happens over the course of the season. I'm only concerned with my team and what we achieve.

"I will try to do my best in the Premiership and we will see what happens. I don't think I am better now than I was six weeks ago. I prefer to concentrate on the job in hand rather than worrying about how people see me or what they say about me. I'd won two titles and the UEFA Cup before I joined Liverpool and just because I've added one more trophy to that list, it doesn't mean my job is done. It's only just started."

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I am in Toronto Tues - Sat this week. Is the Liverpool Kaunas game on live anywhere ??????????

7:20 PM  

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