‘I got nothing from him’: Ex-Red shares honest thoughts on Rafa Benitez’s time at Liverpool | OneFootball

Rafa Benitez will forever be remembered by Liverpool fans as the man who helped deliver the Champions League trophy in 2005 but not all of his former players hold totally positive memories of him.

Speaking on ‘The Football Historian Podcast’, David Raven spoke about his former manager: “When he first came in, he’d seen me play and I always remember I was sitting on a physio bed, might have been injured.

“And he came in and said, ‘When is your contract up?’ and I said, ‘It’s up (whenever it was), at end of the year.’

“And he said, ‘Right, we’ll get a new contract for you’ and I was like, ‘Brilliant!’

“So, a week goes, two weeks go, three… and I still haven’t heard anything, so I went and knocked on his door.

“And and he said, ‘Come in’, I said, ‘Remember that contract that you mentioned, is it still on the cards?’

“He just said, ‘Yeah, just sign it and shut up’ and they were his words and I was like, ‘Right, okay.’

“As a young kid, I’m like 18, so I just jumped up and walked out the door.

“I think the coldness of that, it was just his language barrier. I just think it’s his language barrier, that’s it.

“A young lad coming in and he’s just like, ‘Yeah, just shut up as I’ve got so much going on here, I don’t need you coming in asking about this.’

“Because he couldn’t get that across in English, I reckon a lot of the time he does come across cold because of that.

“But I got nothing from him, no real coaching from him I can remember, it was just like build up to games that I was involved in, he’d say the odd thing for the tactics and stuff, he was more that sort of manager.”

This review of the man management style of the Spaniard certainly isn’t unique to the Wirral-born defender speaking here.

Rafa Benitez has a mixed reputation among his former LFC players

(Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Stephen Warnock labelled the now 64-year-old ‘ absolutely horrendous’ at speaking with the players at this time too, another youngster who was battling to impress.

Peter Crouched voiced similar confusion at his treatment after being benched for three games in case he got ‘too carried away’ with a run of good form for England.

You can’t argue with the trophies that the former Everton boss won during his time as a Red and some of the players who were attracted to the club showcase his ability to keep the biggest stars happy.

Perhaps those on the fringes of the squad were less willing to deal with his treatment, as it never resulted in on-field opportunities for them.

To be fair to the 39-year-old reflecting on his own career, there has been careful attention paid to the difficulties attached with conversing in a different language.

Whatever the reason, it’s safe to say that this contract negotiation certainly could have been dealt with better.

You can watch Raven’s comments on Benitez (from 9:55) via The Football Historian Podcast on YouTube:

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