The end of an era - the highs and lows

In some was it was inevitable. But there was a great deal of surprise when Liverpool's board of directors finally pulled the trigger and ended Rafael Benitez's six year spell in charge of Liverpool. In a frighteningly similar twist of fate to that which befell his predecessor Gerard Houllier a slow start was followed by some remarkable success, the hope of a return to the glory days, before it became apparent the bar had been set too high and expectations could not be met.
Benitez still holds a lot of affection among the Liverpool fans, who still remember great days at Istanbul, Cardiff and Old Trafford. There were protests when his exit was confirmed outside Anfield, with banners saying 'gracias Rafa' used as a vehicle for yet more prtests about the American ownership. He departs Anfield with the club £350m in debt, having been put up for sale by George Gillett and Tom Hicks. But the amicable nature of this parting is probably best for both parties. Liverpool get away with paying Benitez just a £3m severance payment as opposed to paying up the remainder of his contract. The club had gone stale and a change of direction is necessary. For Benitez, he has the chance to enhance his still strong reputation. He will not struggle to get a top job. Two of the major jobs he has been linked with, Real Madrid and Juventus, have already been filled, but the Inter Milan post is sure to interest him, while if the Spain national team job is vacant after the World Cup, he will certainly be a contender. I equate it to a amicable divorce. Things started well, both parties were happy and there were some great memories. Things looked like they were going from strength to strength an it looked like a match made i heaven. However, towards the end, the relationship started to go sour, and it was decided a parting of the ways was best for both to move on.
It's only fair to look at the successes he enjoyed to realise why it all went so wrong. Who can forget the first season of the Benitez era. Fifth in the league, 37 points behind Chelsea, losing to the likes of relegated Southampton and Crystal Palace, knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Championship Burnley thanks to a comical Djimi Traore own goal. Liverpool were also on the verge of exiting the Champions League in the group phase, until Steven Gerrard rescued them against Olympiakos. And the rest, as they say, is history. Bayer Leverkusen, and memorably, Juventus and Chelsea, were dispatched to book a final date with AC Milan, in Istanbul, on May 25. 45 minutes later and 3-0 down at half-time, many fans wished they had not bothered to make the huge journey. But there was a shift at half-time. The Milan players were celebrating, but the Liverpool fans roused their players with a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' And at half-time, we saw either a tremendous slice of luck or an inspired managerial change. Right-back Steve Finnan picked up a groin strain, so rather than bring on like-for-like replacement Josemi, Benitez brought on Dietmar Hamann. He switched to three at the back, with three in centre midfield - Hamann playing behind Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. Vladimir Smicer and John Arne Riise switched to converted wing-backs, with Luis Garcia playing off Milan Baros. This cut out the space afforded to Kaka, who had destroyed Liverpool in the first half. Goals from Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso later, it definitely looked inspired. It was 3-3 and it went back to Milan dominating. Jerzy Dudek made a fabulous, miraculous double save from Andriy Shevchenko, and it was to penalties. Jamie Carragher had a word in Dudek's ear - what was he saying? When Serginho stepped up to take the first kick, and Dudek's legs started shaking, it became apparent. In scenes similar to Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 European Cup final, Serginho blazed over, and saves from Anrea Pirlo and Shevchenko completed a remarakable triumph.
This was always going to be a hard act to live up to, and so it proved.
The next season brought Benitez's only other trophy at Liverpool - the FA Cup. The league season was more productive, finishing third and much closer to Chelsea, but Liverpool ultimately paid the price for starting their season in the third qualifying round for the Champions League. They looked like paying the ultimate price in the FA Cup final, when again Liverpool flirted with defeat - and were again rescued by Gerrard. West Ham raced into a 2-0 lead, but were pegged back by Djibril Cisse and Gerrard. But Paul Koncheskey's fortuitous cross-shot looked to have won the game. As the game approached stoppage-time, Liverpool's players looked spent. Gerrard was struggling with cramp. Riise's cross was cleared towards the half-way line, and Gerrard gave it one last push. Surging onto the ball, he speared it from fully 40 yards into Shaka Hislop's bottom corner. What a goal, and we were into extra-time and penalties again. Another Liverpool keeper (summer signing Pepe Reina) was the hero this time.
The next season saw another Champions League final, but Milan got their revenge in Athens for the events in Istanbul. There was an amazing win at Barcelona, becoming the first English club to win in the Nou Camp. Chelsea were dispatched in the semi-finals again, in another penalty shoot-out. Liverpool were getting rather good at those! In the final though, they were undone by two goals from Pippo Inzaghi, who wasn't even on the bench in Istanbul. Dirk Kuyt's late header was merely a consolsation.
The next summer saw a momentous moment in Liverpool's history - the signing of Fernando Torres for a club record £20m. But boy was he worth it, from the moment he scored a fantastic individual goal in his home debut against Chelsea. An improved league performance, which saw Liverpool push Manchester United and Chelsea closer, was coupled with another run to the latter stages of the Champions League, but this time, Chelsea got the better of Benitez and his men at the third time of asking.
The next season, however, is one which will forever be looked upon as what might have been. Two defeats in the league all season, scored the most goals, only Manchester United conceded less, did the double over Chelsea and Manchester United. Which begs the question - how didn't Liverpool end 20 years of hurt? Well, simply, too many draws - Stoke City twice, West Ham United, Manchester City and Fulham at home. Hardly title winning form. The best Liverpool team in decades would have won the league with slightly more luck. There were plenty of late goals - two from Torres at home to Chelsea, Kuyt at home to Wigan, Gerrard at home to Middlesbrough. The turning point could have been the game at Old Trafford. When Ronaldo gave the hosts the lead from the penalty spot, we all thought here we go again! Or maybe not. Five minutes later a long punt from Martin Skrtel was allowed to bounce by Nemanja Vidic, which was all the invitation Torres needed. He was on it in a flash, nicked the ball away, and finished confidently into the bottom corner. Just before half-time, the away fans were in dreamland. Gerrard and Torres played a cute one-two, and the former got to the ball before Patrice Evra, drawing the foul and winning the penalty. He picked himself up to dispatch it into the bottom corner. Second-half goals from Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena completed a extraordinary turnaround. The next weekend, Man United lost at Fulham while Liverpool thrashed Aston Villa 5-0, and the gap was down to one point. Liverpool went top in their next match, thanks to a 93rd minute winner from Yossi Benayoun. This piled the pressure on Man United, who had a home match against Villa the next day. With ten minutes to go, Villa led 2-1, only for the hosts to come back and crush Liverpool's hopes. In a way, this is as good as it got for Benitez. They kept winning for the rest of the season, but so did their rivals from Manchester. They came so close but so far, and never even came close to scaling those heights in the season just gone.
Which brings us to where it all went wrong for Benitez. It can probably all be traced back to the new American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, when they took over in March 2007. It had all started off so promisingly, with promises of big transfer funds, a lack of interference and the promise of a brand spanking new stadium. Fernando Torres was signed in the summer of 2007 for a club record fee, and everything seemed rosy. Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun and Lucas Leiva But there were concerns over the future of Benitez, who was constantly being linked to big clubs. And this is when the owners admitted sounding out Bayern Munich manager Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Benitez, in November 2007. The relationship was never the same again. This started a power struggle between the owners and the manager, and overshadowed anything that happened on the pitch. A regular theme had been started. The American owners have proved to be no-one's cup of tea. But the confrontational nature of Benitez had come to the fore before, and it was to help hasten his downfall. A nasty disagreement with long-term right hand man Pako Ayesteran led to a parting of the ways, and Sir Alex Ferguson was to feel his wrath in the next season.
Surprise surprise, the summer of 2008 saw more disagreements between manager and board. There was some investment in the squad, but was there enough? Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena and Albert Riera were brought in, but it had become apparent the depth of the American's pockets had been vastly over-exaggerated. The main arguments stemmed over the failure to back a proposed move for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry. Benitez proposed to sell Xabi Alonso to Juventus to raise funds, almost trying to force him out the back door. Neither of these transactions occurred, but this messy situation would play a keen role in the eventual downfall of Benitez. The season started well, but a succession of draws saw Liverpool slip behind Man United in the title race. But the real action was off the pitch, both internally and externally. Internally, there was a massive argument between Benitez and Chief Executive Rick Parry, which led to the latter agreeing to leave the club at the end of the season. Although he stated this had nothing to do with his dispute with the manager, it is thought Benitez prioritised the signing of Barry over the £20m purchase of Keane, but Parry overruled him. When Keane was sold back to Spurs in January, for an £8m loss, this was the final straw. Mind you, Parry's £4m severance payment probably helped. Benitez also refused to counternance singing a contract extension until the summer and demanded more control over transfers. Externally, Benitez choose a curious moment to pick a fight with Ferguson. Before a crucial game at Stoke in January, he launched into a furious tirade in the pre-match press conference about how Man United get the majority of decisions going their way, and then started to talk about 'facts' for five minutes. Liverpool drew 0-0, and Man United pulled away in the title race in the next few weeks. Although Liverpool ran them close, this moment (along with Gerrard's behaviour in a Southport nightclub a couple of weeks earlier) was key in the ultimate failure.
From the summer of 2009, there has been one disaster after another at Anfield, making Benitez's role pretty much untenable. And I refer you back to last summer, when he tried to force Alonso out the door to replace him with Barry. In 2008/09, Alonso was Liverpool's player of the season, even ahead of the outstanding Gerrard and Torres. So, instead of Juventus baulking at the £18m price, Real Madrid slapped a £30m bid in for the midfielder. And of course, after the way he was treated, he wanted to leave. To be replaced by - £20m Alberto Aquilani. He never played more than 29 league games in a season for Roma, and he brought these injury problems to Anfield. Which left Lucas partnering Javier Mascherano! And the purse strings were well and truly being tightened. Alvaro Arbeloa followed Alonso to Real Madrid for £3m, to be replaced by Johnson for £18.5m. In effect this was just £8.5m as debt-ridden Portsmouth still owed Liverpool £10m for the purchase of Peter Crouch the previous summer. The only other signing was Sotirios Kyriagos for a modest £1.5m from AEK Athens, and that meant there was virtually no net spending. The squad was not strong enough, and if Torres were to get injured, there was no adequate back-up. Take your pick of the most embarassing moment of the season that followed. Losing two of the first three games after expectations had been so high; losing at Sunderland courtesy of a goal by a beach ball; being knocked out of the Champions League before the final round of matches; being knocked out of the FA Cup, at home, in the third round to Championship Reading; limp defeats against the likes of Wigan Athletic meaning Liverpool never came close to realising Benitez's 'promise' of Champions League football before finishing an inglorious seventh; and, perhaps most painfully, losing on away goals to Atletico Madrid in the Europa league, ending any chances of a first piece of silverware in four years, thanks to a goal from former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan.
It was a slight surprise the decision to dispense of his services was not taken at the end of the season. But it was really only a matter of time. Liverpool were unprepared for the season, and that was partly down to Benitez and partly down to the board. And in light of almost three years of constant disagreements, there was only going to be one winner. It would have been impossible for the owners to force him out when things were going well - much easier after a desperately disappointing season where Liverpool underperformed in every competition they entered.
If there had been more luck with decisions, circumstances and injuries, maybe things would have been different. But that's football, and Benitez will come back a stronger man and a stronger manager. It should not be forgotten what he has done for Liverpool - Istanbul and Cardiff will be forever etched in the memories of fans. And it is debatable whether top Spanish speaking players like Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano and of course, Fernando Torres, would have joined the club. Kenny Dalglish has ruled himself out of the running, but will help in the selection of the Spaniard's successor. The board seem happy for assistant Sammy Lee to take the reins until after the World Cup, when the majority of players will be with their countries anyway, and some quality coaches could become available. Two things could delay the appointment of a permanent successor - the uncertainty over the club's ownership, and doubts over the finances at Anfield. It is hoped these facets won't put over top quality potential managers, but watch this space. A fresh start will do Liverpool and Benitez the world of good.

Stay tuned as I will go through potential replacements for Benitez, looking at the positives and negatives.