Spaniard Rafael Benitez admitted that his tenure at Everton as coach was doomed from the start due to his previous relationship with Liverpool.
The 62-year-old Spaniard had coached the Reds for six years, winning the Champions League in 2005, but took over at Everton in June 2021 amid fierce opposition from fans.
Benitez, who was sacked as Everton coach in January 2022 after nine defeats in 13 games, spoke of the difficulties he faced.
“At first I thought we could improve everything in terms of staff, departments, team and things like that,” Benitez said in comments reported by the Daily Mail. “I thought we could help improve things. It was an experience and a shame at the same time.”
“I knew the fans would say ‘I was at Liverpool’ and that would be a problem, I have a lot of friends who knew I would give everything and try my best to improve things at Everton.”
He continued, “I knew that it might be difficult because I was a coach for the opponent (Liverpool) in the previous period.”
Benitez got off to a good start with Everton as he went four games unbeaten and was nominated as a coach a month, but when the results started to slip, fans expressed their displeasure, chanted slogans and waved banners against the coach.
He continued, “I didn’t feel like everything was going well, when the fans and the owners are not happy, nothing can be perfect.”
He continued: “I knew we had to change things on the inside but I couldn’t do it right away because I was one of the Liverpool team, I wanted to improve and I couldn’t do it.”