Simon Jordan trashes Rafael Benitez at Everton
Simon Jordan has torn into Rafael Benitez’s management of Everton ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Hull, accusing the team of having “no bravery”.
The pundit also took aim at the former Newcastle boss’ overall career record and ability to perform at the top level now.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Friday (7 January 11.45am) the former Crystal Palace chairman said: “You’ve got more resource at Everton than you had at Newcastle so you can’t run the same argument.”
Responding to Martin Keown’s defence that Benitez is the right man for the job due to his quality and past record Jordan said: “Why do you think he can do it? Because he did it once 15 years ago?”
“He got kicked out of (Real) Madrid because he couldn’t cut it there.”
He went on: “I think it’s universally accepted within football that Benitez… is a back-channel manager.
“The moment that he doesn’t get what he wants he becomes a very difficult manager to deal with.”
Harsh words
The truth between Jordan’s complete dismissal of the Spaniard and Keown’s full support is somewhere in between.
A man who has won a Champions League with Liverpool, a Europa League with Chelsea, and two La Liga titles plus a UEFA Cup with Valencia clearly knows how to manage a football team.
But at the same time he has had some notable failures at Madrid and Inter and his last major trophy was a Coppa Italia with Napoli back in 2014.
His popularity at Newcastle seemed to stem from a combination of sticking with them through a year in the Championship plus the unpopularity of then-owner Mike Ashley and his successor as manager Steve Bruce.
It cannot be overlooked however that he went from in charge at Real Madrid to being relegated at Newcastle in the same season, suggesting he is no longer the top-level boss he once was.
And Jordan is right in that currently Everton too-heavily resemble the perennially relegation-threatened Newcastle side to say he is doing a good job now.
In other Everton news, £25million squad member is slammed by Trevor Sinclair.