Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
I love this time of the year. It's always mid-July when you first start to feel those tingles of anticipation.. It only ever takes something small to set you off on a glorious meander around the inside of your head, fantasising about the new campaign. The realisation that the first pre-season friendlies take place this weekend or the unexpected arrival of French youngsters that you dimly remember taking a chance on in 'Football Manager 2007'. More often than not though, it's men like Rafa Benitez. You always know that the new season is getting closer when he starts to get angry.
This week, Benitez chose a nice, easy topic to get warmed up on. Ranting about Gareth Barry being greedy is like playing Tranmere Rovers in a pre-season friendly. It's just a bit of a run-out to get your fitness back. Was Barry's move to Manchester City all about money? Well, of course it was. Even Barry's mum wouldn't try and tell you that a season of domestic football in a mish-mash eleven will be more challenging or rewarding than a tilt at the Champions League. But we know all that, we knew it at the time. So why was Benitez lashing out now? It's old news.
Could it be that Manchester City's money is bothering him? After all, the biggest priority for any top four manager is not winning the title, it's staying in the top four. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are in debt up to their eyeballs. The debts are serviced, only just in some cases, by the conveyor belt of money clunking its way out of the Champions League. Failure to keep your snout in the cash-trough won't just mean the end of European football, or even the end of your job. It would mean the end of the football club as we know it. Liverpool simply could not cope with finishing fifth, they'd explode in a puff of unpaid bills and final reminders.
City, on the other hand, have a bottomless well of money to throw at anyone who can do more than 10 keepy-ups, which is great because it means that I'm just 9 away from signing professional terms. Logic suggests that a dressing room filled with disparate mercenaries can only ever be doomed to failure, but would you be that confident if you were Benitez, or for that matter Arsene Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti? There is at least a chance that City could exploit any weakness on the part of the elite. And then there's Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham to worry about as well.
English football, at either end of the table, is no longer about winning. It's about not losing. Barry's arrival at Eastlands has not made Benitez's life any easier, especially as the Spanish clubs continue to circle Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Chasing Manchester United to the wire for the first time last season was an encouraging achievement for Liverpool, but it will mean nothing to the board and the fans if the club takes a step backwards this year. A second place finish on the CV didn't help Gerard Houllier when the rot set in.
When Benitez lashed out at Sir Alex Ferguson midway through last season, we all knew why. In a long and arduous campaing, frustration and stress was building up to breaking point. But to start the attacks now, six weeks before the start of the season, is intriguing. If he's angry now, what on earth is he going to be like by Christmas?
This week, Benitez chose a nice, easy topic to get warmed up on. Ranting about Gareth Barry being greedy is like playing Tranmere Rovers in a pre-season friendly. It's just a bit of a run-out to get your fitness back. Was Barry's move to Manchester City all about money? Well, of course it was. Even Barry's mum wouldn't try and tell you that a season of domestic football in a mish-mash eleven will be more challenging or rewarding than a tilt at the Champions League. But we know all that, we knew it at the time. So why was Benitez lashing out now? It's old news.
Could it be that Manchester City's money is bothering him? After all, the biggest priority for any top four manager is not winning the title, it's staying in the top four. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are in debt up to their eyeballs. The debts are serviced, only just in some cases, by the conveyor belt of money clunking its way out of the Champions League. Failure to keep your snout in the cash-trough won't just mean the end of European football, or even the end of your job. It would mean the end of the football club as we know it. Liverpool simply could not cope with finishing fifth, they'd explode in a puff of unpaid bills and final reminders.
City, on the other hand, have a bottomless well of money to throw at anyone who can do more than 10 keepy-ups, which is great because it means that I'm just 9 away from signing professional terms. Logic suggests that a dressing room filled with disparate mercenaries can only ever be doomed to failure, but would you be that confident if you were Benitez, or for that matter Arsene Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti? There is at least a chance that City could exploit any weakness on the part of the elite. And then there's Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham to worry about as well.
English football, at either end of the table, is no longer about winning. It's about not losing. Barry's arrival at Eastlands has not made Benitez's life any easier, especially as the Spanish clubs continue to circle Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Chasing Manchester United to the wire for the first time last season was an encouraging achievement for Liverpool, but it will mean nothing to the board and the fans if the club takes a step backwards this year. A second place finish on the CV didn't help Gerard Houllier when the rot set in.
When Benitez lashed out at Sir Alex Ferguson midway through last season, we all knew why. In a long and arduous campaing, frustration and stress was building up to breaking point. But to start the attacks now, six weeks before the start of the season, is intriguing. If he's angry now, what on earth is he going to be like by Christmas?
