It was more a roll of dishonour than a lap of honour. As the Liverpool players and their families congregated on the Anfield pitch after their final game of the season, Dirk Kuyt marshalled a troop of blond children, a couple seeming to share his aptitude for covering every blade of grass, and a solemn Steven Gerrard looked a man apart. Jamie Carragher was in his club suit, Fernando Torres in civvies.
All were applauded, despite the awful season. The biggest cheer, however, was reserved for Rafael Benitez. That may surprise, but the paying public do not hound managers out at Anfield. This was an appreciation for his efforts over six years, not 12 months. It was an acknowledgement that he remains a Champions League winner. This did not just feel like the end of a season at Anfield but it is, in all probability, the end of an era.
Benitez has displayed an obstinate refusal to be budged from his position on Merseyside. He has avoided answering questions before, but, behind his attempts to dodge queries about next season, there seems to be a sea change in his views over the past fortnight. He is due to talk to Martin Broughton, the chairman, this week, but his decision looks made. Adios Anfield, hello Turin: Juventus appear to beckon for Benitez. A parting of the ways would suit both parties, For Liverpool, it would save a vast compensation payment, for the Spaniard, it would save face. He could join a select group to have managed elite clubs in the world's three major leagues. For a student of Arrigo Sacchi, the former AC Milan and Italy coach, Serie A has an obvious appeal.
Amid claim and counter-claim, it is a fact - a word that has an unfortunate association with Benitez - that Liverpool have regressed this season. The Europa League and the Premier League, in the pursuit of silverware and fourth place, offered straws Liverpool could clutch at: they held on to neither. As Alan Hansen, one of their greats, noted, it is easier to go from second to seventh in the league than make the opposite journey. It amounts to a huge rebuilding job.
Liverpool may have been beaten by Chelsea the moment Gerrard's disastrous back-pass arrived at Didier Drogba's feet. They may have been beaten when Diego Forlan scored Atletico Madrid's decisive goal in extra time of Thursday's Europa League semi-final. Less than 72 hours on, it was no wonder Liverpool were tired. But then they are tired. The whole club is, of arguing and in-fighting, of waiting for new and improved owners and the bigger and better stadium that was promised, of wrangles over players and budgets.
Once issues are raised at Anfield, they rarely disappear; the reliance on Gerrard and Torres, the lack of spending power, the lack of strength in depth, the years without a trophy, the divisive manager. In every setback, and there have been 19 this season, at least one is pertinent. Sometimes all are. Perhaps, too, Liverpool and Benitez are tired of one another. A manager capable of staging improbable comebacks has seen that knack desert him this season, a group of players who mounted a charge for glory in last year's title race have endured a crawl to ignominy this time around.
Not that an Italian job is necessarily any easier. By their illustrious standards, both Liverpool and Juventus are in a mess. But Benitez would start with a clean slate and a considerable spending power while the Agnelli family would be preferable as employers to Tom Hicks and George Gillett. But amid the crowing from his critics, there should be an essential sadness about his departure if he leaves without realising his aim of winning the Premier League. And that was recognised by the Liverpool fans saluting Benitez on Sunday.
Beautifully taken with the outside of his right foot, Nani's winner for Manchester United at Sunderland was not just a second superb goal in as many weeks: it was also a second, vital, intervention in the title race. The Portuguese has often flattered to deceive in his three seasons at Old Trafford but has developed a knack of producing when it matters. It is both a sign of his ability and his growing maturity. The contrast was supplied by Dimitar Berbatov, whose hat-trick of garish misses reinforced his unwanted reputation as the man who errs when he needs to excel.
For sheer drama, the Premier League was outclassed by the Championship relegation decider on Sunday. It was supplied by Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace, their 2-2 draw saving the Londoners and condemning the Yorkshire club to League One. Theirs is a historic decline: the other clubs of that stature to have fallen so far in recent years - Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Leeds - have only been demoted there once, whereas for Wednesday it will be a second stint in the third tier.
For Palace, docked 10 points when they entered administration, it is salvation of sorts; they still required a moneyed owner to continue in existence. And for Paul Hart, their manager who displayed a quiet dignity in charge of Portsmouth, it is a deserved reward for his understated efforts with troubled clubs. @Email:sports@thenational.ae
