By Sean Fisher

20th Sep, 2022 | 10:04am

Rafa Benitez reveals how Liverpool loyalties contributed to his struggles at Everton

Rafa Benitez lasted just six months at Everton before being sacked and the Spaniard has revealed that his ties to rivals Liverpool made the job impossible.

Despite having previously spent six years as manager of Liverpool, Benitez was handed the reins at Goodison Park last June.

However, the Spaniard never settled in with the blue half of Merseyside, and he left in January with the Toffees sat down in 15th.

The 62-year-old has since opened up on his time at the club, and revealed that his loyalties to Liverpool made his time at the club extremely difficult.

“I knew that it could be more or less difficult, but because I was red – maybe I couldn’t make some decisions,” said Benitez to Sky Sports News.

“It was very clear for us since the beginning. So I realised we had to change things inside, but I couldn’t do it straight away because I was a former Red and it could be seen as ‘oh, he’s come in to change our club’.”

A disastrous appointment

Whatever way you look at it – Benitez never should’ve been named Everton manager.

From the moment he was linked with the vacancy at the club, fans made their thoughts clear with banners, chants and letters to the owners.

After his time at Liverpool, Goodison Park was never going to take to Benitez as one of their own, and he was never going to shake the label of being a former Reds boss.

Benitez’ tenure went exactly as expected – terribly. Not only did his time at Liverpool stain his relationship with the fans, but his outdated tactics and reckless decisions at the helm left him helpless.

Benitez arrived looking to repair and build his reputation with Everton supporters, but all he did was leave it in tatters.

Thankfully the club survived the drop last season and look to be rebuilding under the guidance of Frank Lampard, but Benitez’ appointment remains as a lesson learned to the club to steer well wide of anyone associated with the Reds.