Source: Daily_Mail
Rafa needs his new ground to shake up the superpowers
Rafa Benitez says Liverpool will struggle to compete with Manchester United and their others rivals at the top of the league until they havea new stadium.
The project to build a new 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park has stalled because the American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have been unable to borrow the £350million required to construct it owing to the credit crunch.
Benitez, whose team play at bottom-club West Bromwich Albion knowing second place is the best they can hope for after United clinched the title yesterday, believes Liverpool will have to work extra hard to make up for the financial gap between themselves and the other teams in the so-called 'big four'.
The manager said: 'On an economic level we cannot fight with the other big teams, at least for now, in particular because of the stadium. Old Trafford has 76,000 seats, the Emirates has 60,000, Chelsea can count on Abramovich. Until we have a new stadium, we will not be able to compete economically. In the meantime we'll have to do things very well to be competitive.'
Benitez believes that his decision to sign a new five-year contract will give him and the club the opportunity to build on their improvement this season and challenge on a regular basis for the Premier League and other trophies.
He added: 'Believing in your manager, in his project, allows you more success as you can see when you look at Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
'However, there are new owners arriving in England and they don't necessarily understand that tradition so well. For them, clubs are just businesses and the risk is that there is less stability. The role of the manager can give you that stability.
'We have to first consolidate the level we have reached. We have a better squad now, a structure that works better with very capable people that have a huge amount of desire. That will bear fruit in the future. I have a five-year contract with the power to take decisions, to do things the way I think they should be done, which guarantees, despite the difficulty of the English league, the possibility to be in the race for titles.'
Despite pushing United almost all the way this season, Benitez warns the Premier League is the toughest competition to win.
He said: 'As for winning things, it's very easy to say that Liverpool have to win things but very complicated to do it, because the best teams in the world and the richest, as we've seen this year in the Champions League, are here in England.
'Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are among the four best European teams, which shows that the Premier League is the toughest league to win. But we have an obligation to be among them and to be a team always looking to win things.'
