Rafa Benitez is the man West Ham want if they decide to sack Slaven Bilic claims the Daily Mirror today. West Ham were within hours of signing Benitez as West Ham manager before Real Madrid came in for him in 2015.
David Sullivan previously told the London Evening Standard: “Rafa Benitez was within three hours of signing for us, every clause in his contract was agreed and then he went to Real Madrid. It was a real blow because he is a really experienced manager in England and done really well in Italy. We had an agreement in place but you have to pick yourself up, look who else is available and pick the best you can. Whoever you take is a gamble. The bottom line is we have a manager. He has our 100 per cent support. We will support him in the transfer market. We like him.”
Last week David Sullivan gave a vote of confidence to the manager by confirming the board is solidly behind the manager.
He told us on Tuesday: “There simply are are no crisis talks. That is not true – just not the case at all. We have a regular Monday morning phone call to each other and that was again the case today.It was a little longer than usual as we are both extremely worried about things, BUT the board is solidly behind the manager.”
I don’t personally want Rafa, all accounts of him say he has no man management skills, his track record in the transfer market is atrocious and other than some cups he hasn’t been very successful anywhere without spending a fortune. If we do have to swap at least go for a management history of developing players and at the same times the fortunes of the club. Imho we need a modern manager with modern training methods, that is who we should be scouting I don’t care where they come from as long as they can improve us as a team and help us attract the best talent COYI !!!
Or we’re getting viewed as a club run by a couple of wide boys who promise countless millions to spend but end up with some freebies and loan players all the while selling your ground and eradicating your history?
Neither of these two would look at us. We are now being viewed yet again as a yo yo side. All the credit built up by several mid table seasons and the new stadium has gone, so it is back to the bargain basement. Championship managers, or another ‘interesting’ overseas recruit with no experience of a relegation battle. Our options are very limited.
With Newcastle looking at getting promoted straight back to EPL why would he bother?
Just hope we don’t pass them on the way down?