It was ten years ago to the day since Rafael Benitez’s departure from Liverpool and it’s fair to say that the club have been through many ups and downs since.

Benitez’s legacy was assured within his first season at the club thanks to the miracle of Istanbul as he led Liverpool to their fifth European Cup.

The Spaniard mastered a team with a blend of genuine world-class talent and some players who some deemed not good enough and he got them to win such a huge trophy.

The style of play Rafa implemented was perfect for that campaign in Europe, although did have its problems on the domestic front. Liverpool went to both Stamford Bridge and away to Juventus and battled for 0-0 draws, and generated the power of Anfield to blow them sides away at home.

Benitez also collected the club’s seventh, and most recent, FA Cup in dramatic fashion, this time relaying on his most key attribute during his reign, Steven Gerrard, who has stated that Benitez sometimes frustrated him with his handling of situations, but admitted that also got the very best out of the captain.

The 2008/09 title race saw Rafa’s Liverpool side gain 86 points, a tally that would have won the league on many different occasions. After the arrival of Fernando Torres, Liverpool seemed to have their identity back across Europe. Between the miracle of Istanbul to the end of the 2009 campaign, Liverpool defeated most of Europe’s top sides reached another European cup final.

Yet a year late,r Benitez was sacked as Liverpool manager at the end of a campaign which saw the Reds finish outside the Champions League places as things took an ugly tune off the pitch.

Benitez had fallen out with owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who had bled the club dry. The owners had seemingly relied on the club to pay for their takeover, and there was increasing momentum for the option of bankruptcy and administration.

How was Britain’s most successful football club about to bow down to this, when in 2007 and 2008 they had the best midfield in the world and one of Europe’s best strikers?

Chaos reigned at Anfield and Liverpool were suffering defeats, yet the supporters stood by their manager.

I remember being at a march outside Anfield, to protest against the owners and the song sung was “They don’t care about Rafa, they don’t care about the fans, Liverpool Football Club, is in the wrong hands”.

Weeks later, a banner on the front of the Kop read, “Liverpool FC, built by shanks, broke by Yanks”.

Throughout the downfall, Rafa stood by the supporters and called out the owners for what they had done to the club. He backed the marches led by the Spirit of Shankly before he was sacked.

Liverpool went from a great tactician in Rafa and players such as Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano to Roy Hodgson, Christian Poulson and Milan Jovanovic.

However, a decade later Benitez will always be remembered for the great things he did for Liverpool. The miracle of Istanbul, the great European nights against Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus and more, for the great work he contributed and for the support he gave to the families of the 96.

Benitez has come back as an opposing manager and has always been guaranteed a great reception because, quite simply, he was a man who stood by Liverpool through the good days and the bad during his six-year spell as manager.