The Luckiest Man in Football

It's hard, offhand, to think of another manager of a major European club who has; a) spent tens of millions in the transfer market to no apparent purpose b) vastly underperfomed expectations in the league for three years running; c) failed to win any of his last five games; d) just had the club's only decent defender admit that fourth place might be a stretch this year.

But it's even harder to imagine another club at which this self-same manager would not only avoid being the object of baying crowds, but actually be defended by the club's fans against owners who - not unreasonably - would actually like the team to win a match or two.

It is simply luck that Rafa's latest spell of Houllier-fication (he still insists on playing Dirk Kuyt, for Chrissakes) has coincided with the news that Liverpool's absentee landlords have - shock, horror, this was completely unforseen, etc. - foisted a lot of debt on the club. Scouser fans, whose logic escapes me somewhat, seem to have decided that thw way to get back at their vicious American overlords is a) to demand new, kinder Arab overlords and b) back their Spanish coach come what may, even though the team clearly can't play its way out of a paper bag right now.

In this situation, through no skill of his own, Rafa can literally do no wrong. Which is good, because he ain't doing much right at the moment.

Lucky Bastard.