FOOTY FAIR

5 Interesting Manager Facts - Rafael Benítez

2016-03-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

With news of Spanish manager Rafael Benítez due to take over reigns at yet enother EPL club, this time relegation battling Newcastle United, here are a few interesting facts about "Rafa".

Real reserve

Benitez spent the first 7 years of his playing career with Real Madrid Castilla, which is essentially the reserve or 'B' side for Spanish giants Real Madrid. Although it is mostly for the benefit of developing young talent to become the future of the senior squad, Rafa managed to stay with the reserve squad from the age of 14 to 21 before leaving for AD Parla in the third division of Spanish football.

Rafa the champ

As a footballer Benitez did not enjoy a lot of glory and even split time between playing football and studying in University. But before he retired from professional playing at the age of 26, Rafa won one trophy in 1982, that the title for the Tercera División which is the fourth tier in Spain.

Last manager to...

Currently Rafa Benitez holds the recognition of being the last to win many different trophies with the various clubs he had coached. He is still the last manager to have club Extramadura promoted to LaLiga. He is the last to win the FA Cup, the UEFA SuperCup and the Champions League with Liverpool. Last to win the Italian SuperCopa with Inter Milan and the last manager to win LaLiga and UEFA Cup with Valencia.

Only Spaniard for Reds and Blues

Simple as that; Rafa Benitez has so far been the only Spanish coach to take charge of Liverpool or Chelsea. Neither club has hired a Spanish manager before or after Benitez.

Madrid in the blood

Born in Madrid, Rafa Benitez's father was a die-hard Real Madrid supporter. That is a bit surprising considering that Rafa's grandfather (the Father's father) was an Atletico Madrid fan.

The Revolving Door of Real Madrid

2016-01-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Few were surprised when Real Madrid announced on Monday that they have terminated the contract of manager Rafa Benitez with immediate effect and have appointed Zinedine Zidane to manage the first team squad for at least the rest of the season.

Given Real Madrid's history under President Florentino Perez this hardly qualifies as news, as he's shown little patience with managers during his time with the club and Benitez always seemed like a strange appointment to begin with.

Despite Benitez's fine record at Valencia in the early 2000's and his improbable UEFA Champions League title with Liverpool in 2005, Benitez has not managed a side to a league title in over ten years.

In fact over the past ten seasons, Benitez has only managed to guide a club as high as second place once (Liverpool, 2009), which is hardly the CV of someone taking on one of the most pressurized job's football.

After going through managers with the pedigree of Manuel Pellegrini, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, it seemed as if Benitez was appointed because Madrid had run out of options.

With Benitez's ouster, Zidane becomes the 47th manager in Madrid's 114 year history, but their 19th in only 20 years.

Interestingly enough, across Perez's thirteen seasons across the club (2000 to 2006 and 2009 until the present), the colourful president has gone through eleven managers. Just falling short of one per season.

This absurd instability at the Bernabéu has seen what is one of the richest clubs in the world capture only one league title and one Champions League crown in the past eight seasons. For an institution like Madrid this can only be seen as a staggering underachievement.

Zidane, the first Frenchman to manage the club, was one of the greatest players of his generation and has been groomed for this role for some time. His most recent post has been that of managing the club's "B side".

Whether he can emulate the success of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, who himself worked his way up from managing his club's second team, remains to be seen, but at some point Madrid are going to have to show a little more patience with one of their appointments.

Amateur Hour at Real Madrid

2015-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Getting knocked out of a cup for fielding an ineligible player is a mistake a pub league team would make, but it's been that sort of season for Real Madrid.

On Friday it was announced that the club had been expelled from the Copa del Rey for fielding the suspended Russian winger Denis Cheryshev against Cadiz on Wednesday night.

Cheryshev had even scored the opening goal in the 3-1 win.

Following the match, Cadiz filed a complaint with the Spanish footballing authorities stating that the player had three booking in the competition a year ago, while on loan at Villarreal, and should have therefore been suspended.

Although Real Madrid president Florentino Perez yesterday pledged to fight this case, claiming the sanction was "not applicable" because Cheryshev had "not been personally notified" that he was suspended, as of today Madrid are left with egg on their face.

So the next time you're playing in the chicken wing and beer invitational 7-a side league, be sure to check on the status of all of your players and not get punted out on an avoidable technicality like Real Madrid.

5 Times That Jose Mourinho Has Acted Like a Jackass

2015-08-15T12:00:00.000-04:00

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has hit the headlines for all of the wrong reasons again this week after his classless treatment of club doctor Eva Carneiro after she rushed on the pitch, with physiotherapist Jon Fearn to tend to an injuries Eden Hazard in the closing stages of the Blues draw with Swansea.

Carneiro had seemingly been summoned onto the pitch by the referee Michael Oliver, was blasted by Mourinho for reducing his side to nine men and has been told she will no longer have a place on the bench for future Chelsea matches.

It seemed, for the outside looking in, to be a bout of childish anger by the Special One. With Mourinho, you are almost certainly guaranteed results but another thing you can count on with the Portuguese boss is a few bust ups along the way.

The following are a few examples of when he's acted liked an utter jackass:

The Anders Frisk Incident

During an explosive first leg encounter at Camp Nou between Chelsea and Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 in 2005, referee Anders Frisk sent off striker Didier Drogba after two book able offences. The home side dispatched Chelsea 2-1 and afterwards Jose Mourinho claimed that referee Anders Frisk had met with then Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard at halftime to decide the outcome. It was a baseless accusation, but Frisk received a number of death threats from irate Blues fans and decided to end his career in officiating as a result. Mourinho was later branded an "enemy of football" by UEFA referee chief Volker Roth.

Gouging Tito's Eyes

During the 2011 Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona a bust up on the sidelines culminated in Mourinho gouging Barca assistant Tito Vilanova's eyes. He later claimed to not know who Vilanova even was.

Arsene Wenger vs The Special One

Besides his long running feud with Barcelona, Mourinho's career has been marked with his many run ins with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Besides a pushing match earlier this year and then snubbing each other after the season opening Community Shield, Mourinho has called Wenger "a voyeur who likes to watch other people", he's also labelled him "an expert in failure", and he was famously fined for an illegal approach to Arsenal's then left back Ashley Cole back in 2006.

Jose Still Hates Pep

While Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid the rivalry between his side and Barcelona was perhaps nastier than any other time in recent history. Much of that was fuelled by Mourinho casting an envious eye at Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola's all conquering side. Unlike his battles with Wenger though, the Portuguese manager was never able to really get under Pep's skin. Despite them not having managed against each other in several seasons, with Pep eventually moving on to Bayern Munich, Mourinho couldn't help but be a dick when he said:

"When you enjoy what you do, you don't lose your hair, and Guardiola is bald," Mourinho said in September 2014. "He doesn't enjoy football."

Mourinho Giving Rafa Benitez's Wife Some Advice

"Real Madrid are the third of Jose Mourinho's old teams Rafa has coached," Montserrat Seara Benitez reportedly said in an interview earlier this summer, before adding: "We tidy up his messes."

In fairness she was probably out of line with that comment in the first place, but the Chelsea boss could have been professional and brushed this off, but this is Mourinho after all.

He blasted in response: "The only club where her husband replaced me was at Inter Milan, where in six months he destroyed the best team in Europe at the time," Mourinho said. "For her also to think about me and to speak about me, I think she needs to occupy her time, and if she takes care of her husband's diet she will have less time to speak about me."