Benitez: Fergie success down to money
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Benitez: Fergie success down to money
October 13, 2011Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has played down Sir Alex Ferguson's role in the success of Manchester United, insisting that money has been the decisive factor in the club's triumphs and not the Scot's management skills.
PA PhotosRafa Benitez finished behind Ferguson's Man Utd in all of his six seasons at Liverpool• Preview: Liverpool v Man Utd
• ReadHernandez pens new United deal - agent • United keen on Krasic - agentBenitez and Ferguson were Premier League rivals for six seasons, with the pair's relationship in that time somewhat tempestuous.
And ahead of this weekend's clash between United and Liverpool, Benitez has opened up old wounds by questioning Ferguson's influence on the Red Devils' success in an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside.
After it was put to him that Ferguson's personality has been critical in driving United forward, Benitez responded: "No, I think it's the money they were spending. If you analyse the transfer record and the history ... Rooney, or Ferdinand, for example ... £30 million for a young player or a centre back.
"Every year they [United] are very well-off. It's not just because of the interviews or the press conferences; it's because they had money."
Benitez and Ferguson's troubled relationship came to a head during the 2008-09 season, when Liverpool ran United close before the Red Devils pipped them to the Premier League title.
During that campaign, Benitez delivered a pre-prepared critique of his opposite number, listing a series of "facts" that suggested Ferguson influenced both the Premier Leage fixture list and choice of match officials.
But Benitez has once again dismissed the notion that the infamous "facts" press conference was responsible for Liverpool's failure to beat United in the title race.
"To be fair, I didn't like it when the press was talking about mind games because I was just focused on my team, and the things I had to do for the team," Benitez said.
"If you say something in a press conference I can guarantee you that it has no impact on another manager. It can happen perhaps one in one hundred times, but the press likes to talk about mind games, but what they don't realize is that you cannot win mind games if you have a bad team.
"You can be the best in the press conference, but after, if you have a bad team you will lose. It's easy to talk about mind games when he [Ferguson] has a good team and he has won, and that was the case."
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Ha! Ha! He's spent a bomb himself over the years and yet the gall to say this.
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which teams doesnt use money? tell me how to run a team without money?
Barcelona spent a lot buying David Villa, so are you saying Barcelona bought its successes?
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Jealous much
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Bad case of sour grapes.
It's true that Man U needed a lot of dosh to get the likes of Berbatov. But then again, Park Ji-Sung and Chicarito were bargain buys.
I would have given Benitez's rant a lot more credence had he been talking about Mancini.
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It's Benitez. Blame Fergie, blame lack of funds, blame 'poor team', mind you, Liverpool during his tenure wasn't exactly the weakest.
His 6-month stint of Inter Milan has pretty much proven as much. -
yes it is sour grapes by rafa, no doubt.
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benitez should say real madrid ....
and man city -
He spent lots of money to buy players.. lots of unknowns too..
think there was an article about it..
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In March 2009, Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson got into a war of words about how much money they had spent in the transfer market.
“They [Liverpool] are well ahead of us in spending in the last five years,” Ferguson, the United manager, said, insisting that Liverpool had outspent United by £24 million during Benítez’s 5½-year tenure.
“Check the figures,” Benítez said.
So, we decided to heed Rafa’s advice and took a look at the numbers thanks to the help of football web site,Transfer League. The findings were quite revealing.
Let’s look at the numbers since the Premier League was founded in the 1992-93 season up until the end of the 2008-2009 season:
The table is ranked from the highest to the lowest by net spend — taking into consideration the amount of money the club has spent minus the amount of money the club has received from transfer sales.
No surprise, but Chelsea is top of the list having spent more than half a billion pounds — approximately £147 million more than the closest big spender Manchester United, who spent £391 million since 1992. The Red Devils spent more than Liverpool but, importantly, generated more money for the club in players sold. Liverpool, by netting £2 million more than Manchester United, finished in second place.
Of the clubs featured in the above chart, West Ham United is the only one to generate a profit in the transfer market earning the club £24 million over 17 years.
More importantly, let’s take a look at the 2004-2009 season to see how Rafael Benitez and Fergie did. Remember Benitez became Liverpool manager in 2004.
As you can see, Chelsea leads the pack in terms of net spend — just under a quarter of a billion dollars. Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool, meanwhile, spent approximately £40 million more than Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United. Based on the number of trophies either club has won since 2004, Manchester United is the obvious winner and have spent less money to boot.
Liverpool have earned more money from transfer sales than Manchester United during these past five years. But note that the above figures do not include the $131 million transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid.
Interestingly, Tottenham Hotspur have spent more than Liverpool and Manchester United during the past five years. And to think they were perilously close to relegation under Juande Ramos at one point this past season.
While West Ham United earned a profit from 1992 to 2009 in the transfer market, they haven’t earned a profit between 2004 and 2009. That badge of honour goes to Blackburn Rovers who made a £190,000 profit.
While the Benitez v Ferguson war of words is far from over, at least we have evidence above that shows that Benitez is definitely the bigger spender of the two. But, of course, we now have this summer’s transfer market to deal with so it’s quite possible that the numbers may change quite significantly.
There are tons more interesting observations that could be made from the above numbers. What strikes you as interesting?
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So wtf he talking bout?