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Torres backs Benitez to stay at Liverpool "for a long time"

14/04/2008

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres expects manager Rafael Benitez to remain at the club "for a long time".

Torres' comments come as the public showdown between members of the Liverpool board continued today.

Co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have fallen out over the role of chief executive Rick Parry after Hicks demanded Parry's resignation last week.

Hicks insists it was Parry who set-up meetings with former Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann which upset Benitez before Christmas.

But despite the former Tottenham and Bayern Munich star still being linked with the club Torres believes Benitez will remain as manger beyond this season.

The striker says the Spaniard starting to get used to the demands put on English managers, which he says is different to his homeland.

"Rafa [Benitez] has coached in Spain and England and his ideas are the same," he told Spanish radio station Marca FM.

"The difference is in Spain he was a coach and here he is a manager, coach, in charge of signings, in charge of the youth teams, the man who chooses the coaches who he thinks are the right ones for the reserve team."

Torres believes the Liverpool hierarchy would do well to follow the example of Manchester United and Arsenal who have retained their managers for over tens years as he thinks the stability breeds success.

He said: "[Alex] Ferguson or [Arsene] Wenger are the examples that show that in England even when you're not winning trophies clubs give time to their coaches.

"I think that Benitez is going to be at Liverpool for a long time," he concluded.