I don't see why my giving my opinion on Rafa should antagonise anyone. Its my honest opinion, I am not trying to wind anyone up.
You may not be deliberately trying to antagonise people st@in, but when you continually spout bollocks about a former manager the general consensus is that you will, all managers make mistakes Rafa was no different, the fact is he was railroaded by H&G, Purslime etc and a regime totally against making the team successful, hence, the lack of funding, especially after we finished 2nd.
He (Rafa) got hounded out because he stood up for what he and we fans believed in, the only thing H&G believed in was how much could they screw out of the club, that was their agenda, money not success was their passion, and they made sure any profit from any sale went their way not Rafa's.
As for Alonso, he wanted to leave, he ws 29yrs old, Real Madrid one of the biggest clubs in world football wanted him, Barry was not targeted as a Alonso replacement, Rafa wanted both in midfield, with Barry playing leftside, Gerrard rightside and Masch and Alonso in between, Rafa got good money for Alonso £30m, but he got virtually F**k all of it to spend.
As much as i loved Rafa he did annoy me at times but don't all managers piss you off at times, its part of the game, Hodgson was a major disaster from start to finish and proves that the ambitions of the then custodians were hardly inspiring, every week Roy pissed me off, Rafa's interview speaks a thousand words you or i will never ever find out about, what he said to players or what he didn't say, Benyaoun was not a regular starter thats what pissed him off, Rafa didn't think he was worthy of a regular 1st team start, but benny did, tough sh*t Benny, Benny who ? yeah right another who thinks he went to a better club.
Personaly, i think Rafa could end up at Ewood, Blackburn have money to spend and owners willing to spend it, the Boy Kean in charge at the mo, will be moved in the summer and who else better suits that post, you heard it here first guys....i wonder what the bookies will offer ??