When Rafael Benitez first arrived in England to manage Liverpool, I heard somebody refer to hlm as ‘The Fat Waiter’. The gag was completely lost on me. Firstly because not the slightest thing was known about Rafa, and secondly, I’d never seen an episode of Fawlty Towers.
Thankfully both issues have been positively resolved in the interim. And the likeness could be spotted and understood immediately. Manuel, the well-meaning but blunder-prone chaos merchant from Barcelona, and Benitez, the successful and well travelled manager with a gift for shooting himself in the foot on a par with that of Elmer Fudd.
Maybe not to the same extent as Mikel Arteta – it’s impossible to see a scenario where jettisoning Pierre E. Aubameyang won’t come back to bite him in the ass – but letting Luca Digne leave the club and condemning Gylfi Sigurdson to the dustbin hardly did the club’s prospects or his own popularity any good.
Bill Kenwright gives the impression of being one of the better Chairmen in top level football in that he’s not as trigger-happy as many of his contemporaries. As evidenced by the relatively lenghty tenures at the club afforded to David Moyes and Roberto Martinez. His patience has, to be fair, allowed his club to punch above their weight for several seasons.
However, at this juncture it’s worth noting that the Toffees were the beneficiaries of significant overseas investment not all that long ago and, while that can never count as a bad thing, it does bring with it expectations that are expected to be delivered upon within more truncated trimeframes. Allied to that, Benitez was always going to be a tough ‘sell’ to the effort faithful given that he was once domiciled – to some acclaim – on the other side of the mersey.
Anybody leaning towards an in-house solution would probably be put off by Manchester United’s attempts at doing same with both Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Michael Carrick. Though the failure of those two ventures had more to do with the ineptitude of those in control of the boardroom at Old Trafford than those involved on the touchline.
On the other hand, in Everton’s case, they would appear to have an ideal candidate in-house in the guise of Duncan Ferguson. The former firebrand forward is a cult hero around Goodison Park. With good reason too. Not only because he was a key player in the Everton team that just about avoided relegation, but that he has already had a couple of stints as assistant and/or caretaker manager.
At the time of typing, Paddy Power reckon it will be another case of a former manager resuming his seat in the blue and white corner, having installed Roberto Martinez as 4/6 market leader for the position. However, sources close to the Liverpool-based club indicate that it may, in fact, be Wayne Rooney who is favoured by the Brains Trust of the 1995 FA Cup winners.
The former Everton, Manchester United, D.C. United and Derby County forward has done a commendable job in his first managerial position with the latter, in the face of extenuating circumstances at Pride Park, faced with multiple points deductions and transfer embargoes. From Rooney’s own viewpoint, the lure of the job is obvious. It would represent a homecoming for him, to a fanbase with a very high percentage of at least, he would still be held in the highest regard.
If I were in the boots of the Rams boss at this moment, he would be well advised to thread softly as he may end up threading on his own future ambitions. Sometimes, no matter how unpalatable it may be – at the very least – it may be best to take heed of the old dictum about not being considered a poet among your own people.
Inference being that somebody at a bit of a remove may be slightly more appreciative of what you have to offer to a given role or whatever or it happens to be rather than those nearest and dearest. Regrettably, we have that exact scenario playing out very close to home. For the second time in as many seasons, a potential dream management ticket was passed over in favour of a group of dark horses.
Rooney’s appointment would certainly be from the left of field category in one sense, as would that of Ferguson from another angle. Come on Bill, put the two of them together and keep us rightly entertained!
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