The answer to your particular question is that he has been smeared by associations with Liverpool FC as a man who would stand up to Sir Alex Ferguson to his very face.

Add to that the generally right-wing London media delighting in the transparently North-West bias, & you have there a perfect thunderstorm to shaft the most successful manager of Britain's most successful Club for 20 years – but I'm sure you probably knew that, didn't you?

Rafa Benitez, Leyenda, Nunca Caminarás Solo...

Looks like Liverpoold didn't appreciate what they had until it was to late .

The reason #Benitez is out of work? Politics. He fought with the board at Valencia, Liverpool & Inter. Chairman don't want the headache. The way Benitez turned Liverpool fans against H&G, pleading poverty when they did nothing but back him in the transfer market (in which his record is shoddy) was a masterclass in subterfuge.

MBM is bang on, if Rafa had spent less time on internal politics and more time concentraing on the team he would probably still be at Liverpool.

Inter couldn't put up with his antics and got rid after 6 months.

He and Pablo were great together but as is often the case not so good on their own.

YNWA

Rafa was honestly useless @ liverpool taking his weaknesses to the fans covered by the owners ! Literally he was and is useless !!

George – I couldn't disagree more, it was Benitez who flagged up the epic swindle that hicks and Gillette were trying to hide. He was the whistle blower who brought the chronic state of liverpools finances to light and if the money had been in place would have been able to build on the second place we secured in 2009. Instead the gradual decline that now has us around the relegation zone picked up pace the moment he left and there is no doubt that he was the best Liverpool manager of the premier league era.

Looks like Rafa will be out of job for quite a few years but his work with the spanish national team is to be remembered.

Is he running out of money? I thought he earned that will be sufficient for the rest of his life? Maybe still earning as Pundit ?

(mbm and )george, are you real?

this is the classiest man in football. the man who fought for us against the incompetence of moores and parry and the shadiness of purslow and you two would rather he kept out? add to that his work with hillsborough and the families.

what janzh said. the only man who manage to scare fergie and everyone in the jingoistic ingerlund media ganged up on him (why is it zonal rafa? (he owned a sky reporter); why are you a flop in transfers? (well, try to have owners who managed to even do worse than moores and YET, YET, managed to earn more than he spent- but hey he was a flop at transfers). cause you know, he's arrogant and he doesn't play along with the press and isn't chummy like Harry Redknapp.

i said it once, i'll say it again. he never had to fight for us. he could have had closed his eyes and said give me whatever players screw lfc and its future. he didn't have to get involved not only with lfc, not only with hillsborough but the whole city as well. but he didn't.

the classiest man in football. period.

so george, don't you use ynwa. there's a bandwagon in the other half of manchester, in cska fulham, and in paris. go there. you do not deserve liverpool fc. please go support another club.

any fan who speaks ill of this man isn't a real liverpool supporter. the shanks of our time. he fought for us.

kenshinobu, well said. i cannot believe that some of our fans turned against him when the going got tough. I guess they rather we play man marking, non rotational squad, manager who sucks up to the players and the media and of course, no champions league football.

Rafa, you are one of us. Thank you for the good memories.

Toatally agree with Kenshinobu
I dont understand why so called Liverpool suporters dont like him. They have no stats to back their stupid arguments, because there are none, and probably are the ones who listen to the press, buy the sun, and just dont like the man. Is it because he is spanish?
Looks at the facts look at what we achieved and the love he has for the club. They talk about his spending which was a net spend of £70m during his period which is about £15m /year but we also had some had world class players. Which previous managers has or will be able to do that?
He was desperate to win the title and if he had got the players he wanted he would have won the title. No other Liverpool manager in the last 18 years has managed to get a team to that position. Also regular champions league QF and beyond

The season after coming 2nd was bad but that was almost expected as it is always hard to raised your game when you have lost it afterng so close to winning the title. Thats assuming all his critics have ever played football.

Now we are a bottom half team, usually one of the last matches on Match of the Day and CH5 Europa cup football. LOL

There's no doubt that Rafa was and is a thoughtful, meticulous and dedicated coach with a better than average track record, but he's not a people person, and that's why he's still out of a job. As far as I can gather he's fallen out with people at every club he's been to, and he seems to have a morose air about him win or lose. Throughout his tenure at Liverpool he looked like he was sucking a lemon, and he's so convinced of his own infallibility that he bristles at any other opinion, however well meaning, even when it comes from his employers, who obviously have the right to comment as it's their money he's playing with. Even so, I'd imagine any club with a vacancy has Rafa on the shortlist, but then they look at his history of creating aggro wherever he goes and decide life's too short.

Experienced Rafa will come back. He has plenty of footballing techniques and strategies to pass on. Wishing him all the best.

Benitez will always be special to liverpool supporters no matter where he goes and what he does. He fought against the american owners and stood up against what he felt was a betrayal of the values of the club.

He built a great team but it was a pity he missed out on the league title...so close yet so far.

Brits are Brits.. Everything the Brit does is good, because this is their soil and if foreign coaches don't kiss up their rear end, they will smear them... People who turns against Benitez are not Liverpool Supporters... Also people are kind of silly to keep saying Rafa brought all the wrong players, perhaps they should look at King Kenny and Roy, see who they bought, Liverpool can't even handle Northampton, good luck on Southampton... Under those Brits, Liverpool has to labour the full 90 min with the help of penalty just to beat Cardiff, with their first 11, and King Kenny smiles like he won the Champions League.. Embarrassing.. The whole Cardiff side, costs less than Andy Carrol alone. Benitez under minimal piggy-bank owners got guys like Alonso, Morientes, Mash, Lucas, Crouch, Fowler, Garcia, Skrtel, Agger, Torres.. And look at these Brits, Adams costs more than Lucas, Henderson, Downing, costing more than 10 Mill... Carrol costs almost double of Torres, and Suarez... What a bloody disgrace... No wonder they got nowhere, and now look at guys Rafa brought in for the youth, like Sterlings, he did brilliantly. The Brits are saying Benitez sxxks, they sxxk big time...Under Rafa limited funds, his squad can handle Chelsea, and Man U, and even top Real Madrid..Back then, the funds he got was so limited, Liverpool was Champions League contender... Now, look at those silly Brits... They simply cannot admit that foreign coaches who stood up against Ferguson is also just as good, they have to smear him... What a loss to Liverpool.. Supporters should raise another Rafalution.. Liverpool needs him, if Rodgers fails. Lets hope he won't fail..

Its funny... Rafa may be gone, but Liverpool still relies on his leftovers, the Brits even have to borrow the youth squad which was put in place by Rafa. The way that people don't give Benitez those credits are truly disgraceful... Put it this way, the only reason Liverpool still floats in Premier League is due to those guys who Rafa acquires.... We all miss them.. No more Alonso, Mash, Kuyt... But luckily, we still have Lucas, Agger, and Skrtel.. Look at BR.... he's good, but if Benitez was managing right now, and gets BR's kind of results, Rafa will be deader than dead.. Rodgers is lucky because he is a Brit... he gets the support.. Face it, the guys that want Benitez out saying he is a troublemaker, now gets their own kind of karma... More than 100 mill gone with no rewards, and still has to deal with future write-downs because of Andy Carrol.. They agree to destroy the fine squad Rafa built, and brought in their so called Liverpool calibre players like Konchesky, Adams, Christian Paulson, Carroll, Henderson, and Downings.. These are English coaches vision.... No wonder...So as long as the owners of Liverpool willing to accept non-competitive football, we will most likely stuck in the mid-pack of the table at best. Forget Champions League and even Europa League..they should only aim at Carling Cup, because that will be their only realistic target.

Rafael Benitez is a well re known manager.He have well experience to manage team.He have well history to manage a club since he was in Liverpool for 6 years.He is now the team manager of Chelsea.Chelsea team is now in fired situation already three coaches have been changed.I hope Benitez will be able to change the condition of the team chelsea.Best wishes for him.