• 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
