In hindsight, Rafael Benítez can identify the moment when he should have realised that he was about to be replaced as Liverpool manager. In the aftermath of a 1-0 away defeat by Lille in the Uefa Cup, Benítez boarded the team bus to the airport and Christian Purslow, the club’s then chief executive, sat down next to him. As conversation about the game and the forthcoming second leg subsided, Purslow asked him for his thoughts on another manager – Fulham’s Roy Hodgson.

Five months later, Hodgson was confirmed as Benítez’s successor and the Spaniard belatedly realised that he had effectively been asked to provide a reference for the man who took his job. It is an anecdote from the past but one which has resonance