Simon Jordan has slammed Rafael Benitez for making it clear his failures at Everton weren’t his fault.
Benitez – who managed the Toffees for the first half of last season – said his legacy with fierce rivals Liverpool had prevented him from implementing the changes he wanted at Goodison Park.
After winning the Champions League, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup with the Reds between 2004 and 2010, Benitez said he feared Toffees fans would think his desired changes would be seen as an attempt to change the fabric of the club.
But former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan didn’t have Benitez’s justification for the poor job, saying he knew exactly what he was getting into.
“One of the things I hate in life is people who trotted out tropes with no substance behind it,” Jordan began on Wednesday’s White and Jordan show.
“If you’re going to say you weren’t able to make decisions, name the decisions you weren’t able to make rather than making them ambiguous.
“So in this situation, Rafa Benitez is releasing this statement on ‘all the reasons why it wasn’t my fault’.
“Your team stank. They were awful at times, Everton. Now, you might have known that was a poisoned gift because you would be gone the moment you lost a game.
“You saw the reaction when you got the job, there was going to be this backfire.”
After many fan protests in reaction to Benitez’s appointment before the start of last season, the Spaniard’s tenure at the club went from bad to worse.
The Toffees have won just 19 points in 19 Premier League games, meaning the former Newcastle, Chelsea and Real Madrid manager left the club with a 31.8 per cent win rate – his record the lower at the head of an English club.
Since leaving Goodison Park, Benitez hasn’t had another managerial role since.
And when asked by co-host Jim White why Benitez suddenly came out and made those claims about Everton, Jordan simply replied: “Because he wants a job.”
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