Retired English international and television pundit, Danny Murphy has revealed how current Manchester United coach, Jose Mourinho, was disappointed on not being offered the Anfield job in 2004. According to reports in British media, Danny Murphy spoke of how the Portuguese lost out on the job to Rafa Benitez.
Murphy stated that he “knows for a fact” that the Portuguese was devastated after not being offered the job after the dismissal of Frenchman, Gerard Houllier. Mourinho at the time was the coach of Portuguese side Porto having led them to the Champions League and the erstwhile UEFA Cup in successive seasons before being offered the Chelsea job in the same summer as Benitez.
Murphy went on to state how at the time, the Spaniard was the better choice given his then recent success with Spanish side Valencia. Benitez had won the Spanish league title and was one of the most successful coaches having pedigree and experience.
As was reported in The Sun, Murphy was heard telling, “Liverpool basically went with Benitez, because he’d just won the Spanish league title and UEFA Cup with Valencia and they thought that was more solid an appointment than someone who had only done it in Portugal.”
At the time, Mourinho announced himself at Stamford Bridge as the “Special One” having belittled Chelsea’s wealth earlier on in February. At the time, Mourinho was of the view that a club like Liverpool is of interest while Chelsea was not the most attractive project given the uncertainty of the owner, Roman Abramovich.
Benitez took over Liverpool in the summer of 2004 and led the club to the Champions League only 9 months after taking charge. During that summer, Benitez brought in Spaniards Luis Garcia and Xabi Alonso to shuffle the midfield – as a result letting go of the English international, Danny Murphy.
Danny Murphy began his career at Crewe Alexandra before making the move to Merseyside in the year 1997. He was a part of the treble-winning squad in 2001, which won the League Cup, FA Cup, and the UEFA Cup. Benitez’s arrival marked the departure of the Englishman to London-based side Charlton before he moved to Tottenham Hotspurs.
In his heydays, he was the nemesis of Manchester United against whom he scored the decisive goal in three games over the course of four seasons during the period 2000-2004. Murphy also made 9 appearances for the English side, scoring once. He is currently an analyst with BBC.
