Rafa Benitez wants to manage Liverpool FC again, he tells Liverpool Empire audience
FORMER Liverpool FC boss Rafa Benitez has reiterated his desire to return to LFC one day as manager.
The Spaniard gave an interview at The Empire theatre last night reflecting on his six-year stint at Anfield.
And the 51-year-old admitted his dream of once again taking the hot-seat after Kenny Dalglishâs stewardship ends.
Benitez told a packed audience: âI was really proud to be Liverpool manager and I want to be manager in the future.
âI will wait. I donât want headlines tomorrow, but I want to support Kenny. But in the future, if I have to wait three, five, 10 years.
âI was really pleased and happy at Liverpool and hopefully they will win a lot of trophies. But when Kenny retires . . . Iâve had two or three phone calls from China, Russia and Mexico, but for me, the priority is the Premier League.
In a intriguing two hours, Benitez revealed how:
former American owner George Gillett told him his son Foster was to make key club decisions like transfers;
former chief executive Christian Purslow was involved in âtoo many football decisionsâ;
his final tenure at Anfield would have been transformed without the ownership of Hicks and Gillett;
the famous âfocused on training and coachingâ press conference was prompted by the same words being emailed to him by the clubâs irritated American owners.
Benitez was scathing towards the ex-owners, and recalled: âGillett told me after the game with Tottenham, âRafa, I want to back you and back you ÂŁ50m, so we will go to the draftâ [American sporting term].
âAt this point, I thought, âthey [Hicks and Gillett] havenât got a clue.â
âHe said I will decide the plan. My son Foster Gillett will be in charge.â
Exemplifying how the relationship between Benitez and his bosses had broken down, he added: âThey were sending emails and I was sending emails back.
âBefore that press conference, I received an email that said âkeep focusing on training and coaching my teamâ.
The Spaniard also paid tribute to the Liverpool fans, singling out supporter union Spirit of Shankly (SOS) for their backing of him, from the time it emerged the Americans were trying to secretly line up JĂźrgen Klinsmann to replace him.
He said: âI knew this was around and I could realise something was wrong inside.
âI could not say too much, but thanks to SOS. History will say this was a crucial time. Their [the fans] research and they were in the street and were pushing, pushing, and thanks to them and the rest we could change the situation.â
In a final swipe at Christian Purslow, with whom Benitez had a frosty relationship, he said: âThe proof that the owners [Fenway Sports Group] were quite smart was the first thing they did was to move aside Christian Purslow.â
And, alluding to the clubâs worsening financial state, he said: âIan Ayre said we nearly went into administration, that was the situation we had and I could be in now.
âI couldnât understand or see why I wasnât getting money when we were selling players.â
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