Michael Ball tears apart Rafael Benitez at Everton
Rafael Benitez was treating Everton like playing the Championship Manager video game and had a “frankly embarrassing” results, says Michael Ball.
Writing in The Liverpool Echo, the former Toffee did not hold back in summing up the Spaniard’s reign as a disaster from start to finish, and accused owner Farhad Moshiri of misreading the fans.
He feels that moves such as playing Salomon Rondon over Richarlison against Norwich justified the manager’s removal alone.
The ex-Rangers and Manchester City left-back wrote in The Echo: “Rafa had started putting himself before the club, and when you look back on his time at Goodison Park, he is probably the worst manager in the club’s history.
“And then to add insult to injury, he puts out a statement following his sacking that for me lacked class, especially after he was more than happy to take the financial package offered to him in the summer.”
Complete mess
With the way this season has gone it does appear that the only people around the club who felt that the appointment of ex-Liverpool boss Benitez would be a good idea were the ones in charge of making the move.
As Ball suggests, it appears that there are worrying signs coming out of the club that lessons have not been learnt from the painful way the last few months have gone, with Roberto Martinez a preferred candidate to return as manager.
It is particularly damning to suggest that the manager of the club was no longer working with the team’s interests as his main priority, and if that tag sticks to Benitez he may be struggling to land work in future.
There does seem to have been an element of the 61-year-old insisting his view must stand regardless of the long-term consequences, considering his period in charge saw the exit of backroom staff, director of football Marcel Brands, and most obviously full-back Lucas Digne.
While none of that reflects well on Benitez, one has to assume he had some sort of long-term plan no matter how successful it was likely to be.
It will not inspire confidence among supporters that those who must be held equally responsible are not only still at the club, but in charge of making the big decisions.
How the owner Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright can have sanctioned so many moves which entrenched the departed-boss’ power, despite his tenure in charge appearing doomed as results and fan mood deteriorated, only to then sack him anyway, makes little sense at all.
That sort of decision-making has to improve if the club are to avoid walking from one mess to another.
In other Everton news, these two PL legends are reportedly set to be interviewed at Goodison.