With Everton’s spending in the last few seasons under FFP he would have no budget, possibly Villa had already offered to buy Digne , then to protect him from injury he was sidelined . I think Benitez was always on a hiding to nothing.
Used to go in the scratching shed, with the combination of the terracing being lower than the pitch and the camber of the pitch it was it was guess work what was happening on the far side. Remember the unique fragrance of boveril, old spice and piss from the urinals 😀
Good decision by the board, he was given a mandate to play attacking football and didn’t. With the relegation places down to three and with Bolton nailed on there was no excuse not to go for it.