I rest my case when it comes to research.

Credit to SAF for all his success and building a team that has dominated English football for almost 2 decades. I can't fantom though where he got the notion that Rafa splurged to bring us success. First question I have is,"what success"? Secondly if he is referring to Istanbul which was a one off so far, we didn't exactly splurge on star players like Traore, Biscan, Smicer, Finnan, Hyypia, Dudek, Carra, Gerrard, Alonso, etc. The most expensive signing in our squad at the time was Djibril Cisse at what? $14 mil?

There were not top 4 back in early 90's...If i m not mistaken, the terms top 4 comes after RA bought chelsea, no?

Ya, that was one hell of a joke. 30 million on Berbatov and he build success??? LOL Don't start on the crap that he build Man Utd from an average club to a world class club now. Gv a manager the same time as SAF does and most of them can do it also. Just look at Martin O' Neill's Villa. They are challenging for top 4 place tis season without multi millions funds those big clubs hv. And he only took around 2 years time to do it. SAF is great but that THAT GREAT. He is seriously overated.

Seriously, imo, a lot of people seems to underrated rafa benitez...People speak of how well AW, his 49unbeaten run and so on, his young team but a lot of people seems to forget rafa bring the not-doing-so-well Valencia to La Liga title...and of cos the 2 "lucky" trophies of Fa cup and CL for Liverpool...

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Added on January 7, 2009, 5:28 pmI wouldnt say that he is overrated...TBH, he is one of the better managers around but certainly not the best. But one thing for sure, he is the best manager that comes out with the most excuse/accusations and blame after losing a game/get a player sent off...

This post has been edited by solstice818: Jan 7 2009, 05:28 PM

correct that term come out only when chelsea got new owner..before that just top 2 haha... but part that important Sir Alex did build success during the 90's... with the money involve in BPL right now..hardly team pay attention to homegrown players... where all owner demand instant success with the money pump in... think among the top 4 now, aston villa have less foreigner..

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Added on January 7, 2009, 5:50 pmoh boy.. Sir Alex over-rated? why dun u go n become man utd manager n see wat u can achieve..

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Added on January 7, 2009, 5:56 pmare u sure about that? does he complain when man utd lose to liverpool, arsenal? he openly admit liverpool n arsenal deserve to win.

talk about coming out on accusation n excuse u need to look at mr wenger... no one beat him

This post has been edited by Reddy818: Jan 7 2009, 05:56 PM

Liverpool maybe not...But arsenal games, yes...

For example?
Don;t spill sh*t from your mouth if you don;t know.

Delivered.

"I did not see it" is an excuse or accusation? . If it's an excuse, it's an excuse for? Losing a game?

Moving to a new stadium can be a factor though. Just like the home and away thingy.

3. Is that an excuse or accusation?

4. The truth is the pitch is not in a very good condition.

5. The truth is the players are young.

6. I remember some famous and 'best' manager complained about the fixtures as well.

2) Moving to a new stadium can be a factor but don't forget that your opponents are playing in the same stadium as well. What unfamiliarity?

3) That is an excuse.

4) Same point as no. 2

5) He chose to build his team his own way. Why the excuses now? No one forced him into nurturing a whole team of under-21s.

2) It's about the psychological factor. Well, you know the 'fear' that instill at Highbury? Used to be a fort for the gunners for years. We are not optimizing the home advantage here.

3.) Excuse for?

4.) Home advantage for Wigan there.

5.) Is that an excuse? He is just saying the team is young. Did he mention that the bad patch we are having now is because the players are young?

"They will be better in two or three more years because they will be even more experienced - and they will still be very young then."

Scrolled back and found this... ROFLMAO!!!

No Offence...I just cant help....LMAO~~~~~
(yo solstice818 i borrow your word.. )

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Added on January 8, 2009, 12:36 amthat word was said about two or three years ago....now after that what happen???

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Added on January 8, 2009, 12:44 ambtw...suddenly this thread become the manager bashing thread...lol.....

This post has been edited by skystrike: Jan 8 2009, 12:44 AM

i wouldnt know how to rate SAF.To say he builds success,he buys almost every players for every position but certainly not all given the most under rated best CM in the world scholes follow along giggs,beck,neville were from MU youth academy.While,to say he buys success,no one ever can deny he won trophies with kids with the legends i mention just now.

But for one thing for sure,i like the gameplay he set.beautiful flow passes along with exciting offense.Win is priority but if a team just play for the sake of win..thats gonna bore the football world like some clubs now in BPl.U know which team im mentioning.

I nv say I'm or would be a decent manager, did I? I did say SAF is a great manager. Yeah, a great one. Just not the greeeeeaaaatest manager ever like SOME of the MU fans claims he is. I said he is seriously overated, not way overated. There's a diff to it. He is great, but some ppl tends to overates him. If you don't agree with me, it's fine. Just pls avoid making those stupid assumptions or statement like you did there.

Is it?
If you think 24< is consider old already, then it's fine. Whatever. But he didn't use that as an excuse when losing games though.

Back to topic, domestically i think Brian Clough deserved to be mentioned here. Best manager for me, Marcelo Lippi.

Arsenal has been in a self proclaimed "transition period" for like ... 5 years already?

I don't think SAF is overrated but at the same time, I don't think he is a straight choice for best manager off ALL time, certainly in my time time though. It's arguable if Wenger, Scolari or Benitez will achieve the same amount of success if they were given 20 years but since I've started watching football, Man Utd have emerged champions more times than I can remember. Attaining success is one thing but more importantly SAF has managed to maintain success which is arguably tougher. Arsenal and Chelsea have threatened to break the dominance of Man Utd but neither can lay claim to having dominated the league. A title here and there is no indication that the Man Utd stranglehold is broken. I don't care how many years he took to win the title before 1988 (which is when I first started watching football) because that was before my time. In my time, he has won more league titles than any other manager I know.

What irks me is when certain posters claim that I dispel any notion that SAF is the best. How many times do I have to repeat myself? We all agree that it is a subjective matter so what is wrong in me defining it in my own terms. In a recent post I based it of winning ratio and just because SAF didn't come up tops, that means I'm shooting him down? Please. I'm just opening room for discussion. Instead of making false accusations, why don't you refute what I posted with an argument? Here's a good example: I'm pretty sure that if one were manager of Celtic/Rangers for 20 years, he would have an awesome win ratio. Therefore, winning ratios may not be a good benchmark. See, this is a counter argument.

If you guys are suggesting that SAF is the best manager due to his long-serving career with the titles, then this guy should be it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Maley




Put in a more solid argument please.

well...his record is very good....but its not fair to compare him with saf because they live in different era....football in that time involve less money unlike football in this era....

Mmm but that should mean the same thing, Poorer clubs v Poorer clubs as opposed to Richer clubs v Richer clubs. They cancel one another out.