• Sam Allardyce says Benítez sent DVD to referees chief
• Disc alleged to have documented Spaniard’s grievances

Sam Allardyce has rekindled his feud with Rafael Benítez by accusing the Liverpool manager of sending a DVD to the referees’ chief Keith Hackett in protest at his rival’s methods with Blackburn Rovers.

There has been no love lost between the managers since Allardyce, then in charge of Bolton Wanderers, inflicted the first league defeat of Benítez’s Anfield tenure in August 2004 and prompted the first in a series of complaints about his perceived direct, physical approach. The animosity deepened last season when Allardyce and Sir Alex Ferguson accused Benítez of showing contempt for Blackburn with an alleged dismissive gesture during Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Rovers at Anfield.

And their manager has continued his criticism of Benítez ahead of Rovers’ return to Liverpool tomorrow. Allardyce said: “I have no worries about what he thinks of me or my team. The most important thing to me is we can beat them on any given date and we know we can beat them because I did it at the Reebok.

“Because he didn’t like it he found an excuse about how we played. [Arséne] Wenger did it, [José] Mourinho did it; they all do it when they get their backside smacked. That will get him moaning about me again but I am not bothered. He even went as far as putting a DVD together and sending it to Keith Hackett. He doesn’t know I know that, but I do. I got on to Keith Hackett and told him I didn’t want it to influence what refs do because it is all a load of rubbish. He had a bee in his bonnet for a while.”

Ferguson and Allardyce claimed Benítez dismissed Blackburn with a hand gesture after Liverpool’s second goal last April, even though the Rovers manager did not witness anything at the time and everyone else inside Anfield that day suspected it was aimed at Xabi Alonso for taking a quick free-kick against his manager’s instruction.

But Allardyce said: “I won’t get an explanation for that. He is his own man and he does things his own way. I didn’t particularly like it. We were finished then because they got the second goal. They were terrific that day. Based on how well they finished last year I am very surprised they have gone through the turmoil they have in the past few months.”

Sam AllardyceBlackburn RoversRafael BenítezLiverpoolPremier LeagueRefereesAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Aston Villa have similar feelings, Allardyce says
• ‘Football is about glory and cup finals’

Sam Allardyce feels the Carling Cup now represents the only chance of a trophy for clubs of Blackburn Rovers’ stature, though he could not help noticing Aston Villa also sent out a weakened side in Saturday’s FA Cup dress rehearsal for tonight’s semi-final first leg at Ewood Park.

“It was obvious on Saturday that both teams felt the Carling Cup semi-final was the real priority,” Allardyce said of the 3-1 defeat in the senior competition. “You don’t get many chances to get among the medals any more.”

One could understand Blackburn feeling that way, with due respect to their record in knockout contests, though for Martin O’Neill to rest players in the way he did suggests Allardyce is on to something when he says the secondary competition is coming back into favour.

“You only have to look at the clubs who are still left in it to realise that,” he said. “The competition is right up there again, no matter what anyone says, because it is an opportunity to win something and that’s what football is all about. I think there’s a danger, now that the same teams tend to win the big trophies year after year, of the fun going out of football.

“It is easy to forget what got you excited about the game in the first place. I don’t think the big boys enjoy a cup run as much as we do, because most of their players have probably played in five or six finals already. We haven’t, and we’re so close now we can almost taste it.”

Much as it grieves some Blackburn supporters to be reminded of the club’s smallness and to be praised for punching above their weight when the club have reached their sixth semi-final in eight years, it is an undeniable fact that with the Jack Walker era now a fading memory, only good management is keeping Rovers in the top flight.

Allardyce has proved himself extremely adept at extracting the most from modest resources, though even he admits life is not getting any easier. “A club like ours has to regard cup competitions as our only chance of glory, because what we do for the rest of the season is worry about our finances and try to do everything in our power to stay in the Premier League. That’s the name of the game for a club of our size now that Jack Walker’s money isn’t there to make us more competitive.

“As other clubs have moved forwards financially we have stood still, and handling the pressure that brings is not an easy task. You can get brainwashed by that sort of thinking, though. Football is not about finance, it’s about glory, and cup finals. The games you used to watch on the telly are what you do it for.

“Getting into Europe is also a real achievement for smaller clubs such as Blackburn and Bolton, and I’ve had a taste of that, but when you have qualified for Europe you don’t wake up the next day feeling thrilled about it. You don’t get a medal for playing in Europe, there’s no walking out at Wembley on the big day. This semi-final is a very big deal for us, and Martin will feel the same way, there’s no doubt about that.”

Blackburn have already beaten Villa at home in the league this season, though Allardyce is full of praise for the way O’Neill has steered his side into the top six.

“Villa have been magnificent since the start of the season, and when I watched them against Liverpool last month they were very unlucky to lose,” he said. “They deserved something from that game and I’m sure they will be coming here with the same sort of spirit and self-belief. That’s why I need my players to be as fresh as they can be. The FA Cup might be older than the Carling Cup, but for me the greater competition will always be the one where you have reached the semi-final.”

Carling CupBlackburn RoversAston VillaMartin O’NeillSam AllardycePaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk