LAST week I said that Rafa Benitez was eyeing up the opportunity of taking over at Aston Villa in the summer.
Well, things have moved on since then.
Apparently Villa are going to stick with Paul Lambert even if they go down. They like the way he is working with the club's promising youngsters and want to give him time to turn things around.
That has prompted a new slant on Benitez's hopes of employment after his interim role comes to a conclusion at Chelsea next month.
It seems Tony Pullis may be leaving Stoke - and that Benitez is one of the leading candidates to take his place.
That suits Stoke and the Spaniard. He gets a job where he can go home every night (his family are based near Liverpool) and they get a manager who can bring a different style of football to the Britannia - but still keep them in the Prem.
About Me
- Frank Worrall
- is a Fleet Street journalist who has written regularly for The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Mail on Sunday, FourFourTwo magazine, Melody Maker/NME and many other newspapers and magazines. The subjects of his critically-acclaimed books include Gareth Bale, Roy Keane, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Ferguson and Rory McIlroy.