Richard Keys launches attack on soon-to-be Everton boss Rafa Benitez
Former Sky Sports host Richard Keys has launched an astonishing attack on Rafa Benitez with the Spaniard close to being hired as the new Everton manager.
According to The Telegraph, Benitez’s appointment is imminent after he verbally agreed a three-year contract at Goodison Park.
However, the ex-Liverpool manager’s impending arrival has been met by a lot of hostility from fans and from Keys, who’s taken to his personal blog to take a massive swipe at Benitez and share what Everton legends have told him about the hire.
Keys said: “Evertonians are growing used to the idea that the PL’s most ruthlessly, selfish, ambitious individual will be their next manager – so I suppose the plan has worked to some degree. But the real issues are once again beneath the surface. It will end in tears. Benitez will once again pursue his own agenda – while wrapping it up as ‘in the club’s best interests’. That’s how he managed to con the paying customers at Newcastle – by creating a phoney war with Mike Ashley that he knew he would never win. When the time came – he left – for a ‘long term’ project in China.
“Never mind that he managed Liverpool. His best days are long since behind him – and for me there are many better options. Moshiri has badly misjudged this one. It’s not the die-hard Evertonian that he’s [swear] off – it’s hard-working staff at the club who don’t want to work with Benitez – and worse – legends from different eras at Goodison – who’ve recently been saying to me ‘I’m done’. That’s sad. That’s deeply sad. Trust me – it won’t be long before Moshiri is looking for the seventh manager he’s employed since arriving at the club. In many ways – this is going to prove a ‘costly‘ mistake.”
Shut it, Keys
Keys has an agenda against Benitez, let’s get that out there first and foremost.
Going back to his time at Newcastle, Keys even told Benitez to spend money out of his own pocket to improve the squad when Mike Ashley wouldn’t release the funds to do so.
Keys has a weird obsession with the Spaniard and Everton fans only need to reach out to those who support Newcastle to learn more about it.
Based on that, it’s hard to take any of what he says as more than a grain of salt.
Are the staff at Goodison opposed to Benitez arriving? We very much doubt it and even if they were, we don’t think they’d be mouthing off to a disgraced former Sky Sports host who now works in Qatar.
Andy Gray regularly works alongside Keys still, he’s probably the only Everton connection the beIN Sports host has.
Gray may be against the idea of having Benitez at Goodison Park – but is he really “done”, as Keys says so? We also doubt that.
In other Everton news, Alan Myers has responded to a question about whether Frank Lampard is on Everton’s radar.
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