Rafa Benitez is fireproof Liverpool wont pay 20million to axe under-fire manager
22 Oct 2009 - 12:23:50
Rafa Benitez's future at Liverpool is secure for now - because the troubled club cannot afford to sack him.
Not even the prospect of missing out on Champions League football next season would persuade the owners to dismiss him.
While failure to reach Europe's premier competition would cost Liverpool around £20million, the bill for ditching Benitez and his staff would be even more.
The Spaniard has four-and-a-half years to run on the £4.5m-a-season contract he signed in March. Sacking Benitez alone would cost in the region of £20m, while getting rid of the staff he brought in after sacking 16 members of the back-room team in the summer would add considerably to the overall cost.
Chelsea paid more than £23m in compensation when they dismissed first Jose Mourinho and then Avram Grant - plus members of their back-room teams.
Liverpool's owners last night confirmed their manager was safe despite calls for his head from angry fans after a fourth successive defeat, against Lyon on Tuesday.
Lyon's injury-time winner condemned Liverpool to their worst sequence of results in 22 years and sparked sporadic squabbling in parts of the ground between Benitez's supporters and detractors, as well as demands for a change of manager on radio phone-ins.
George Gillett put a brave face on the crisis as Liverpool prepare to face Manchester United on Sunday and insisted he and co-owner Tom Hicks were solidly behind the manager.
Gillett said: 'The recent run of results has disappointed everybody. It disappoints the fans and it disappoints Rafa. I have seen his television interview and I know he is disappointed. But we are in this together.'
Gillett would not be drawn on further transfer backing for Benitez in January, though it is understood a modest budget will be available.
Explaining a policy on signings that has often looked flawed, and his view on the constant bickering between Hicks and Gillett, Benitez said: 'You have to buy players you know, or there will be a margin for error. You can't take risks. I was looking for a type of player I could incorporate into the system successfully.
'As for the owners, you have a situation you must try to accept and not think of too negatively. Sometimes you manage that, sometimes not. You have to manage with what you have but the relationship between myself and Gillett is good.
'We just have to concentrate on football but a change in owner would be a very big deal for everyone at the club.'
Midfielder Javier Mascherano attempted to deflect blame from Benitez by claiming he and his team-mates had failed to follow instructions against Lyon.
'It's not the manager's fault,' he said. 'It's the players' responsibility. The manager can say how to play but on the pitch it's down to us. We were not intelligent.'
