Your use of the word “probably” just went to show how little effort you put into making it, so before you make that correction you mentioned you might want to read this first:

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/david-maddock/For-all-Rafa-Benitez-s-moaning-about-money-only-a-new-stadium-will-allow-Liverpool-to-win-the-Premier-League-title-The-David-Maddock-Column-article309305.html

where you’ll see- “where do Liverpool stand in wage spending? Currently, they are fourth, with an annual spend of just over £110million on wages. Arsenal are third at around £130million, Manchester United second with £160million annual wage spend, and Chelsea top with a spend of £180million”

actually a very interesting article relating success not with total transfer spends but with wage bills, also covers a few of the other points people are debating here

I wish you well.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAdTpAzQ0MU/SyjZGblTGcI/AAAAAAAABXM/rAFmVtmBzD0/s1600-h/Benitez+NET+SPEND.png

And as Matthew would tell you, Paul Tomkins is constantly quoted confirming that Rafa’s net spend is “over £90m”…

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/7675751/Rafael-Benitezs-transfer-dealings-during-his-six-year-reign-at-Liverpool.html

Peace.

- Kevin, I have scrutinized O’Neill’s record on my blog site. It looks pretty impressive

- Anon, I’m sorry but Martin O’Neill has not spent more (net) in 4 years than Rafa has in 6

- Matthew, i’m actually already a keen follower of Paul Tomkins’ work

- Eamonn, I’ll make a correction then: Arsenal “definitely” spend less. And Liverpool still accumulate the 4th highest revenue in the league, £100m more than Villa (who finished above them) do

- Conall, the £19m was a reference to what could have been bought each year.

The article is not an attack at Benitez, it is a critique of his transfer performance.
I appreciate the comments

“Each year, the Spanish jester has had £19.16m available to spend on wasted transfers – the same price Martin O’Neill acquired both Ashley Young and James Milner for … FACT”

19.16 million per year is peanuts for a top 4 club, especially considering out of the top 4 Liverpool were by far the weakest and are also in a shocking financial state.

Also, what does comparing that amount to two O’Neill signings prove? Absolutely nothing. It’s anecdotal at best. Equally true could be this statement:

Liverpool have 19 million to spend per summer….2/3rd of what Sir Alex spent on Berbatov

That doesn’t make 19 million all of a sudden a small amount, nor does it make sir alex a terrible manager in the transfer market. It’s simply shows that 19 million can be construed any which way to show any point that any hack journalist wishes to show for any given cheap point. A largely unsubstantiated point devoid of any balance whatsover and littered with bias at that.

You somehow forgot these two facts?

Rafa Benitez has performed better in the league than any other manager we’ve ever had since the Premier League’s inception. FACT

Rafa Benitez has performed better than any other manager we’ve ever had in the Champions League since its inception. FACT

And I don’t just mean one off seasons like when we won the thing, Houllier didn’t qualify for the CL every year like Rafa has every season (until this year), and also we generally get through to the latter stages of the qualification (until this year).

If i’m not mistaken, a couple years ago Liverpool were second only to Milan in the UEFA co-efficient rankings table?

A means based, time spanning, unbiased statistic for you there. Persuasive isn’t it?

This season marks the first time where Rafa can be rightfully criticised, it’s been a shocking season to be fair – our league finish also ensures that next season will undoubtedely be a bad one as well. However prior to this season I think Rafa’s record speaks for itself…if you look at his record as a whole and don’t single out individual misleading parts. He is an excellent manager and in the absence of stable, financially sound ownership I’d much rather have him than Roy Hodgson because not all fans are as fickle as the narrative of this article.

While Benitez most certainly has his shortcomings as a manger, I feel that some of the hype surrounding him of late has become far too much. I do believe that he cannot bring Liverpool any further and should step down but people should not denigrate the success he has managed to achieve before now. Especially since his predecessor Houllier, was anything but “mercurial” as you described him.

A lot of this piece is extremely misinformed. Whatever about Lucas (jury is still out, not as bad as some people make out but not as under rated as others claim either), labeling Kyrgiakos and Skrtel “duds” is completely unjustified and symptomatic as to how Benitez has been subjected to all sorts of wild criticism recently. While some of his transfers (okay, a lot) have not worked out there has been many that have been successful.

Furthermore, Liverpool’s wage bills are lower than Arsenals, aswell as Chelsea’s, United’s and City’s. To say that Arsenal “probably” spend less was poor.

Also, Javier Mascherano a “West Ham “eject”. Are you serious? The next time West Ham make £19m off a “reject” Freddie Sears will be Trevor Brookings age.