Looks like Rafa.
He'd sort out the poor service in catering too.If you can get him, that'd be the best thing to happen to your club in years. And he'd win you a cup, coz that's what he does.
I can't see Benitez fairing any better than McLaren, both of similar ability imo, Benitez has just worked with a much higher calibre of player.
My concern would be that Saudi Sportswashing Machine have a few players ignoring the playbook, in all his time at Liverpool he couldn't keep that Cnut gerrard in check and they suffered for it, also he'll happy play the incompetent village idiot at CB to keep the fans on side, although in this case, that's probably not going to make things worse.
Surely Rafa will have better suitors than Saudi Sportswashing Machine?
Benitez is head and shoulders above McLaren on every level.
Though Benitez and Ashley will probably have a falling out somewhere between the signing of the contract and the press conference to announce his arrival.
I disagree, if you grade their performance on what they have had to work with I see very similar trajectories. We also can't overlook Mclaren's involvement at Manchester United.
Has been reported that Benitez is fairly desperate to return to England.
In the current table I'd say pretty much the top 10 clubs wouldn't sign him in the summer primarily because they're happy with who they got. Maybe an outside shot of Southampton upgrading from Koeman. He obviously won't go to Everton even if they do pull the trigger on Martinez.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine (assuming he manages to keep them up) looks about as good a prospect as any of the remaining clubs. Except for the Ashley factor of course.
You'll have to back that one up a bit more...
What has McClaren done post-Middlesborough that's impressive? One league win at Twente when Ajax were in a slump?
why doesn't his time at Boro count as well?
i'd say he's done a reasonable job within the context of his situation in every role, just like Rafa, they have both had exceptional domestic success, Shteve in Holland, Rafa in Spain, and both massively overachieved in Europe, with Boro and the dippers
I think perhaps we differ on our appraisal of Benitez rather than McClaren, I think his palmares masks timing and deficiencies quite well
His time at Boro counts just fine. But I would expect more from someone being compared to Benitez.
Benitez brilliantly at Valencia and Liverpool. Neither club has been close to replicating that since he left. He failed at Inter and Real was a big meh. But his spell at Chelsea under difficult circumstances was fine and he did well at Napoli too. I just don't see how that stacks up to McClaren's Boro and Twente performances with a host of failures following that.
His time at Boro counts just fine. But I would expect more from someone being compared to Benitez.
Benitez brilliantly at Valencia and Liverpool. Neither club has been close to replicating that since he left. He failed at Inter and Real was a big meh. But his spell at Chelsea under difficult circumstances was fine and he did well at Napoli too. I just don't see how that stacks up to McClaren's Boro and Twente performances with a host of failures following that.
McClaren <did> brilliantly at Boro and Twente. Neither club has been close to replicating that since he left. He failed at Wolfsburg and Forest was a big meh. But his spell at Derby under difficult circumstances was fine and he did well with England too. I just don't see how that stacks up to Benitez' Valencia and Liverpool performances with a host of failures following that.
If rating them both on a resources to performance scale they both get the same graph in my opinion.
If Benitez does end up in Saudi Sportswashing Machine, we'll have a more level field for comparison.
Boro performance for McClaren was good, but he also spent a lot of money. Twente was one year, when he returned he failed to replicate that. To me what Benitez did with Liverpool and Valencia is more impressive.
When Benitez has failed it's been failing at a not getting a team to perform above it's level kind of failing, apart from Inter. McClaren has failed to bring teams up to the level one would expect from them on several occasions.