Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph football correspondent, has come in for a lot of criticism amongst Liverpool fans recently. Here’s just a flavour:
“Henry Winter is a poncey gobshite who watched football from the study window as a child rather than playing it.
“He is the Martin Tyler’s Monkey of Sports writers. He’s in with the old boys club and that includes Liverpool players. Nothing is every the fault of Gerrard or Carragher.
Juan Loco, Red and White Kop
“Henry Winter is a fairweather friend to us. It was cold and foggy tonight, therefore he’s being a c*nt again
macca888, Red and White Kop
“Everyone from Collymore to Hansen to Merson to to Lawrenson to Bright to Cascarino to Henry Winter are spreading lies and making false accusations against our number one.”
Captain-Carra on RAWK
So I’ve looked back at Henry Winter’s track record to try and assess whether he’s a journalist Liverpool fans can trust.
I’ve no doubt that Henry Winter respects Liverpool Football Club. He wrote last season:
“walking up to Anfield is always one of the most emotive match-day experiences possible in English football.”
and
“If Robbie Keane and Andrea Dossena do not appear £27m well-spent, Benitez’s overall record is good. It is too premature to turn against him.”
He also has a track-record of association with the club. Henry Winter was the ghost writer of Kenny Dalglish’s autobiography and co-wrote Steven Gerrard’s excellent autobiography. It’s inconceivable that those two, in particular, don’t trust him and whilst they may not have his number on speed dial, I’m sure that he gets more private insights into the club from them than many other journalists do.
Last season, he was occasionally critical of the club’s performances – although none more so than many fans. Whilst Winter didn’t cover himself in glory by declaring in February:
“Another year wasted, another title campaign in ruins and another blow to Rafa Benitez’s reputation: Liverpool’s credibility this season now rests on progress in the Champions League – and that’s a fact.”
Henry Winter has a strong track-record of saying nice things about Liverpool’s star players: Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.
“In an age of change, Gerrard’s devotion to one cause is remarkable.
“Steven Gerrard has all the trappings of fame but he will never be trapped by them.
“Not many footballers have Cup finals named after them. Gerrard has two: the Champions League epic of 2005 and the FA Cup climax the following year.
And when Gerrard dived to win the last minute penalty against Athletico Madrid in the Champions League, Winter made no reference to Gerrard’s embarrassingly dramatic dive but focussed on the Madrid players ‘losing their discipline’.
It’s not that Henry Winter thinks Liverpool is a team man team. He praised Mascherano and Alonso for a couple of performances last season. He also wrote:
“The question has never been about whether Liverpool boasted the spine to win the title, certainly not with a backbone of Reina-Carragher-Gerrard and soon Mascherano and Torres. The problem has been the supporting cast. The arrival of Martin Skrtel, a mixture of the no nonsense and nimble, and, more recently, the indefatigable Robbie Keane and promising Albert Riera has given Anfield reason to hope.”
Unfortunately he also wrote: “Ryan Babel could emulate [Ronny] Rosenthal – if used through the middle. Liverpool have options.” But it would be wrong to hold that against him; many Liverpool fans have thought something similar from time to time.
However, Winter has never been particularly complementary about Benitez. Last season he produced a full-range of subtle criticisms of El Gafa:
“When Benitez eventually quits these shores, his leaving do will feature few members of the managerial community.
“Jose Mourinho is 1,000 miles awaybut remains at the forefront of Benitez’s thoughts.
“So no more rotation please and it is known that Liverpool’s players have held inquests into why they dropped points at home to lesser foe.
“Maybe all the “negative Liverpool’’ jibes made him loosen up, eschewing his usual caution” [After the Real Madrid second leg].
“When assessing whether Anfield’s love affair with Benitez has soured because of some crazy tactical decisions by the Spaniard in domestic combat, certain realities need remembering. There will always be Istanbul 05 when Liverpool played poorly (but won), always be the memory of his tactical destruction of Barcelona in Camp Nou, always be the reality that he also reached Athens 07 when Liverpool actually played well (but lost) . . . Any Kop dissent towards Benitez may come only if the coach fails in his usual European Cup trick of outwitting distinguished opposition. Real Madrid lie in wait and passage to the quarter-finals would reinvigorate Benitez’s standing.
“Keane’s treatment simply exposes the reality that Benitez is a cold manager, clearly an individual raised at icy Real Madrid rather than in Liverpool’s more compassionate, family-driven atmosphere. Gerrard’s famous lament about Benitez, that his career ambition remained a desire for a “well done off Rafa”, has never rung truer. Benitez’s approach to man-management has always been a hand at the throat not an arm around the shoulder. Cold, cold, cold. Benitez is a one-man cold snap.
Winter has occasionally resorted to statements that are just inaccurate:
“Then the murmurs of disapproval towards Benitez might become a chorus. Then the annoyance over why on earth he takes off Gerrard and Torres will spill forth . . . Benitez has erred with his substitutions, with not drilling the players enough in combating corners, corners and free-kicks and with that naïve outburst at Sir Alex Ferguson.
That, after we’d just beaten Real Madrid in the Bernabeau, Portsmouth away and were yet to lose to Middlesbrough.
That notwithstanding, there has been no inaccurate transfer speculation (although he urged the club sign Emile Heskey last winter), no inaccurate quotes about zonal marking, substitution by numbers, resting Torres or rotating more than other managers.
One of Winter’s most controversial articles this season was ‘Rafael Benítez will blame everyone but himself for Liverpool’s plight‘, which triggered my exchange with Gareth Roberts. In that article, he claimed that:
“some people tire of the self-absorbed Spaniard. We’ve heard all the excuses before. We’ve seen the utter reliance on Gerrard, Torres and, for all his recent woes, Carragher.”
And the passage that concerned me:
“Liverpool can afford to sack Benítez. Compensation would be less than £5 million under the “mitigating the loss” principle if he found employment, but no desire can be detected within the club for a regime change.
“The impressive managing director, Christian Purslow, is not the type for knee-jerk reactions. But it is known around Anfield that Purslow has talked to Benítez about his style of management, notably his cold detachment from the players.
“Sensible businesses plan for succession and any defenestration of Benítez should take place only in the close-season. Who knows? Benítez might win the FA Cup.
That particularly worried me – it sounded like a passage that could only have been written after a private chat with someone senior in the football club.
Henry Winter might not be your favourite journalist – and I haven’t written about the nice things he’s said about Everton and Manchester United. But he’s not antagonistic towards Liverpool Football Club – and apparently has good relationships with key figures inside the club. Although he is a Benitez-sceptic he stops short of the foolish uninformed criticisms that others make.
Verdict: Henry Winter is no Benitez fan but has good enough relationships with the club to respect what he has to say.