It saddened me greatly that in a week which saw the 20th Anniversary of Hillsborough marked poignantly by people far and wide, a dishonest and frankly ridiculous accusation was hurled in the face of Liverpool’s manager Rafa Benitez. Not only that, but the attack also appeared to have been pre-arranged by new best buddies Alex Ferguson and ‘Big’ Sam Allardyce, a pair who have had a less than romantic history with Benitez during his tenure in England.
The most galling and sickening thing is that both men knew exactly what they were doing: they had decided to launch a pointless and finally fruitless attack on a club which was essentially mourning the loss of 96 of its fans. Ferguson perhaps wanted to do it to put Liverpool off, to distract us even further from the title race; and that he sunk so low, unfortunately, does not surprise me one bit.
But Allardyce, whose worst run-in with Benitez came when Rafa rightly accused his Bolton team of being a bullying, rule-breaking troupe which relied on dirty tricks for its victories, genuinely shocked me by going public with his ‘concerns’. OK Sam, so Rafa never turns up for your post-game drink at Anfield; get over it. He doesn’t like you. If anything, you proved him right by ludicrously playing Chris Samba, a lumbering giant of a centre-back, in the striker’s role in order to physically out-do our defence. Benni McCarthy would surely have been disgusted by such antics from a supposedly top-flight football team. And your complete lack of tactical nous was exposed when Agger and Carragher dealt comfortably with your ingenious little ploy.
Allardyce’s shocking stint at Newcastle ended prematurely because their fans were appalled at how little football he was happy for his team to play. He is a no-mark, as both a manager and a person, as was proved by his outburst about Benitez’s hand gesture – which, by the way, was very clearly to his own player. It was actually one of the most animated things he has ever done after a Liverpool goal; normally what you see is a man attempting to work out what to do next, because if there’s anything Benitez always does, it is respect the ability of the opposition.
I’m glad that Rafa sent Sammy Lee to talk about Allardyce at the subsequent press conference, although the Blackburn boss had yet another moan about that fact in the newspapers the next day. Benitez has been too involved in the media this year and how much it has helped the team’s progress has to be questioned.
But if there’s one thing we know for sure after the ‘gesture’ row, it is that Allardyce has written himself into a place alongside Ferguson as a hate figure with Liverpool fans – and as he’ll soon find out, we don’t forget things like this lightly.
Fergie has always been arrogant, provacative and underservedly a Sir. He has treated his players and referees with contempt and abuse. Becks and Stamps know best.
He is no where near Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly.
The only thing big about Big Sam Allardyce is his big mouth. He has no guts to say it in front of Rafa and Sammy and had to wait a couple of weeks before being prodded into action. Allardyce is just a puppet of Fergie. He obviously suffers from inferiority complex and has an equally small brain to boot. Hope Blackburn sacks him too. I would rate the despicable Big mouth small brain Allardyce the same as the other whinging sore-loser Warnock.
Used to really quite like Big Sam, but he seems to have become bitter and twisted since he wasn’t given the England job.
This very silly ploy was so obviously planned between him and Fergusson and will be a black mark for many of us neutrals for ever.
If there’s one reason why I would absolutely love it if Liverpool win the title it’s to shut AF’s mouth for good. Watching the clip over and over again where AF accused Benitez of arrogance and contempt was almost surreal. How could someone like AF who is the epitome of arrogance and contempt bring Benitez into it is beyond the pale. Of course this smacks of conspiracy. AF knows that Benitez is no push over and that sooner or later the fall will come. And how happy we will all be to witness that moment when the PL becomes a level-playing field once again.
Well written piece.
It was such an obviously pre-planned attack on Rafa, who is a gentleman and treats people as they treat him. To make sure it was done at the time they chose was abhorent, but it sums up the quality of both ‘men’.
Tactless, unpleasant scum.
The heysel disaster was conviniently forgot about by liverpool fans, who never stop moaning about anything that ever goes against them. SIR Alex ferguson and (SIR) Sam allardyce clearly didnt say what they said to be disrespectful! if you are ever going to be respected by anyone, you need to stop the constent moaning and winging, ferguson has got under brafa’s skin and played mind games on him to win the premier league, which may i add your club have never done but allardyces club have!
At a time where we mourn the 96, at a time where we want football to unite (and they did), why try and pick a ridiculous fight?
Managers do silly things, they drop Gerrard, they bench Torres, they make gestures, they respond to gestures, they make outbursts.
I dont get the point in linking it to the 96. It simply isnt.
JFT96
Instead of criticizing Ferguson, try to convince him to manage Liverpool fc. That is the only way you could win the league.
why would Liverpool want to take on ferguson, the Whisky bill alone would kill off the new stadium plans
Good article.
Unless people read this, unfortunately most will forget. I forgot until I read it lol