Michael Ball: Rafa Benitez should have clarified his Everton “small club” comments earlier
Rafa Benitez is expected to become Everton next manager any moment from now, but the fans are hoping the deal falls through.
The former Liverpool boss dubbed the Toffees a small club back in 2007, and has since attempted to clarify the comments on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football in December 2019 [ECHO].
That has done very little to change the minds of the Everton faithful, though, and former Toffees star Michael Ball believes it came too little, too late.
“He’s already spoken about the lost in translation about the small club, but that’s not going to wash,” Ball told Football FanCast.
“He could have corrected himself at the time.
“He meant a small team that was struggling who would sit back, [but] that doesn’t wash.”
Words cannot be unsaid
Benitez would never have seen himself accepting to become Everton manager 14 years ago, and probably still regrets calling us a small club.
He never made a public attempt to correct that impression until 2019, and that is not particularly convincing.
If a lot of the fans had their way, the Spaniard would never step foot into Goodison Park, but owner Farhad Moshiri is not interested in how the majority feels about this appointment.
Time will tell whether it would prove to be the right one, but the best we can do is get behind the team regardless of who is in the dugout next season.
Antagonising the team after Benitez’s appointment would not do anyone any good, and we can only wish our club all the very best under him.
If appointed, the Spaniard would not be Everton manager forever, and hopefully, he leaves the club in a better place than he met it.
The former Reds boss would be more than keen to prove everyone wrong as soon as possible, and with everything going on expected to spur him on, that could prove to be a good thing for us.
In other Everton news, Toffees are set for July negotiations with Euro giants over Blues star transfer.
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