IF EVER there was a natural end to a management reign, Rafael Benitez has reached it with Liverpool.

It’s not about picking apart his record or blaming some of the decisions he has made during this harrowing campaign. It’s about looking at the overall position after six years and agreeing that the best thing to do is move on.

It seems that the manager has his exit strategy sorted already. He has refused to state any sort of long-term commitment to the job, he has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the owners and the resulting obstacles he feels have been put in the way of him doing the job he wants to do at Anfield, and it appears that there’s a top job waiting for him if he wants it.

Surely it’s time to sit around a table, thrash out a deal with Juventus that’s financially acceptable to everyone, and move on.

The alternative? Benitez carries on as manager. And I don’t see how that can be the best way forward for the club.

He would basically have to rebuild a team yet again and would his heart really be in that? The longer the wait for the sort of investment he needs to bring Champions League football back to Anfield goes on, the longer Benitez would have to rely on players of the calibre of Babel, Kuyt, Ngog and Aquilani – and as has been proven this season, that’s just not adequate.

If Benitez feels dissatisfied with what he is working with it just increases the resentment and the disunity in the club. It can’t be allowed to linger on any more.

The debate about who would take over is one we ca explore at another day, but looking to the immediate short term, it’s time to pray tomorrow night.