Love Rafa to bits, much more than I like BR personally. Not just as a manager and tactically, but as a person. But there's a couple of key differentiators between the two.
1) Rafa happened to be a Spanish manager, during a time where the Spanish national team was about to explode with success and become capable of fielding two or three full teams worth of players that could compete with anyone. He also was appealing to South Americans. Therefore, we - through Rafa - gained access to that entire market and signed some of the best quality young players. Xabi, Reina, Morientes, Garcia, Arbeloa, Torres, Masch, Lucas, etc.
2) He also came in when Stevie was hitting his prime, a homegrown player who was world class, that could captain and lead the team through thick and thin and was beyond reliable.
Regardless, end of the day one of these managers pales in comparison to the other in my humble opinion. My one hope is that by the time Brendan is done, we're still capable of attracting top managerial talent, like Rafa who can turn things around if we end up having a repeat of last season.
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