Long before miracles were completed in Istanbul Liverpool Football Club had not merely a tradition but an expectation that no game was ever lost and no result ever certain until the referee blew his whistle. No prize ever out of reach until mathematically certain.
Often clubs either playing host to The Reds or visiting Anfield would hold out for 80 minutes but fall just short by switching off as the line approached assuming the job was all but done while Liverpool plugged away. More often than not finding a route through as a direct result of the opposition already having an eye on the sanctity of their changing room - even the next and often more winnable game than an encounter with The Reds.
Late goals which won games or at the very least earned a point were not matters of legend or exaggerated tales. It all happened as did some superb returns from the brink of humiliation let alone defeat. One of the earliest cases came at Anfield in December 1909 when Newcastle United established a 5-2 lead at the break. Jimmy Howie headed pat Sam Hardy in the first minute and though James Stewart managed a quick equaliser Bert Shepherd notched four times. Liverpool were far from outclassed but enjoyed less luck going forward until the resumption. Jack Parkinson who scored the second pulled another back before former Magpie Ronald Orr managed a brace and drew the scores level at 5-5. Arthur Goddard hit the winner and set the seal on a remarkable game.
Liverpool had won a few league titles by that stage in their history but were not a force in the game when compared to others at the time. They may not have been able to hint just what the club may become in the future but such a turnaround scared other clubs and it was not isolated.
Quickly turning the clock forward to the first leg of the 1976 UEFA Cup final played at Anfield Liverpool were two down to FC Bruges within a dozen minutes and in truth didn‘t look like they could pull so much as a goal back until the third quarter of the game. Backed by a roaring Kop who proved Bill Shankly’s adage that they could suck a ball in Ray Kennedy and Jimmy Case who came on for John Toshack netted to level before Kevin Keegan completed an unlikely looking victory with a penalty. All three goals were scored in a five minute spell.
Over in Belgium for the second leg Bruges pulled the aggregate scores level with another early strike soon after and played out more than an hour without further scares to win the trophy for the second time in four seasons.
May 1985 and though Everton had secured the league title and The Reds were keen to complete the league programme and therefore focus on the upcoming European Cup final giving Watford a 2-0 start at home wasn’t in the script. Just 24 hours before an FA Cup final which could see Everton create history and become the first club to win the double as well as a European trophy it was a bitter pill for most in the crowd to swallow. Juventus manager Giovanni Trapatonni was at Anfield casting an eye over the opposition in preparation for the game in Brussels. He witnessed not only a remarkable but high scoring game and will have been impressed by Ian Rush and for the visitors John Barnes. It was rumoured that a number of Italian clubs had run the rule over the Watford winger while Rush was said to be a direct target for the side known as the Old Lady of Turin who were prepared to offer up to £4 million.
Watford took a deserved lead but it was gifted by Jim Beglin putting through his own net after John Barnes had him turned in knots. Colin West headed the second for the visitors after a cross from Barnes. That advantage was held until half-time. Rush and Kenny Dalglish were instrumental in a thrilling comeback. Rush pulled one back shortly after the resumption then his partner equalised five minutes later. In the next attack Wilf Rostron brought Steve Nicol down. John Wark slotted the penalty home to put The Reds ahead for the first time but John Barnes levelled with a sublime free-kick. It seemed a share of the points was in the cards but Rush struck again when the ball next went into The Hornet’s half pouncing on a blocked shot from Dalglish nine minutes from time.
The list is far from exhaustive though there was of course that most eye-catching of returns from the brink in that 2005 Champions league final. Even when down to a team on fire the towel was never thrown in and the fans believed a comeback was at least a possibility. To a lesser extent the big occasion brought out the same instinct the following season in the FA Cup final.
Regardless of the odds Liverpool fans still believe and still harbour that faith that their team can dig itself out and emerge triumphant. It was no different against Reading at the weekend when the score hit 3-1 nor on the evening of 24 October 2007 after defeat at the home of Besiktas’ Inonu Stadium which had witnessed a first ever win over an English club.
There was to be no resurgence at the Madejski and with just one point from the opening three games Rafa Benitez’s men were staring at the very real prospect of exiting the Champions League at the group phase. There was no margin for error the games which remained all had to be won and maximum points were taken with 16 goals scored in the process.
Unlike that situation two years ago Liverpool are relying heavily on others but there could be one special night at Anfield in a fortnight’s time.
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Friday 13 November 2009
Liverpool Football Fancast - Difficult second podcast now available
Episode 32 -the difficult second podcast of the all new Liverpool Football Fancast - is now available online and via itunes.
The panel look at the disappointing start to the month and look forward to our upcoming games at home to Manchester City and away to local rivals Everton.
There is also an exclusive interview with Empire of the Kop founder and passionate Red Antoine Zammit, who keeps us up-to-date with the latest views from Liverpool supporters across the pond.
Got any feedback or a question for the panel send it to liverpool@footballfancast.com and include the title ‘question’.
http://podcasts.footballfancast.com/liverpool_fancast/296742/liverpool-football-fancast-032/
The panel look at the disappointing start to the month and look forward to our upcoming games at home to Manchester City and away to local rivals Everton.
There is also an exclusive interview with Empire of the Kop founder and passionate Red Antoine Zammit, who keeps us up-to-date with the latest views from Liverpool supporters across the pond.
Got any feedback or a question for the panel send it to liverpool@footballfancast.com and include the title ‘question’.
http://podcasts.footballfancast.com/liverpool_fancast/296742/liverpool-football-fancast-032/
Thursday 12 November 2009
More than just a fall guy
Received wisdom has it that minus Fernando Torres Liverpool are devoid of a goal threat. The other strikers on the books are deemed too poor - Andriy Voronin, too fragile and lacking in belief - Ryan Babel or simply unproved - David N’Gog.
Below that are a host of other youngsters still to show their worth at anything higher than reserve level. There is plenty of promise in the likes of Danny Pacheco, Nathan Eccleston and Krisztián Németh who is gaining experience and plaudits in Greece but as yet nothing more.
For Liverpool Voronin has been worth something in the region of his fee. Absolute zero. Something of a lumbering beast complete with a ponytail which can make him a figure of fun amongst his own fans let alone others. He often seems to believe the world is against him and is a man no longer happy in his surroundings. Someone simply going through the motions.
Many ask just how he can have performed with such apparent distinction for Hertha Berlin and be so well considered in Germany. The answer is somewhat straightforward. The Bundesliga is nowhere near being the best league in Europe. Below a certain level the standard on offer is quite poor certainly lacking the Premiership’s depth. It is behind Serie A plus a host of others and certainly La Liga. The most satisfying for those who like to see a consistently high technical grade of football.
Hertha were a team who held a specific brief under Lucien Favre relying largely on their resilience and ability to frustrate. A deep sitting counterattacking outfit for whom the broody Ukrainian exploited a huge benefit from due to drills on the training ground. He knew the places to run and how the ball would be played.
Against Lyon he had a gilt edged opportunity to grab an early and what could have proved a crucial lead. He accelerated away from Jeremy Toulalan to reach Javier Mascherano’s throughball. It was the type of chance he snaffled with Berlin but his shot lacked not just confidence but conviction making the block far easier than it could have been.
Babel cannot be considered any sort of replacement for Torres. His strengths lie in the support role but in that and other areas his ability only flickers at times. It’s fair to point out - as others have done - his Liverpool career is summed up by his appearance from the bench away to Lyon. A thunderbolt from 25 yards followed a intuitive step away to make room with virtually 11 men behind the ball. A few minutes later rather than swing a free-kick into the box he arced it out for a throw-in.
N’Gog can at times look like Bambi skinny legs pumping and feet untidy but has shown a certain amount off composure in front of goal.
Putting his controversial winning of the penalty against Birmingham to one side during that same game in order to get into the area he skipped past challenges travelling somewhere in the region of 30 yards to put himself in the perfect position for a pull back. In addition to taking his goal well he sought to lay on chances which is certainly an area of his game not opened to much scrutiny.
Maybe those who offer opinion on the game should simply watch and question what they think they know.
Quite clearly able to perform in the top flight not to mention Europe where he has often looked equally well equipped he is too good to be considered anything other than a bona fide member of the first team.
Liverpool’s bench has come under great scrutiny this term and along with those youth team products who have gained a seat recently there is so often a clamour to see N’Gog lumped into the list of weaknesses available as replacements. Based on nothing more than his age, some poor control, a sometimes awkward style as the arms flail out and £1.5 million fee. One which should seem paltry and highlight what a fine piece of business his recruitment has been.
Keeping scrutiny on a theme of substitution, which is where N'Gog's immediate Anfield future lies, though he lacks the impact Babel can but so often rarely provides the young Frenchman’s ability to attune to the rhythm of a game - no matter when he is introduced - bodes well for the future.
Below that are a host of other youngsters still to show their worth at anything higher than reserve level. There is plenty of promise in the likes of Danny Pacheco, Nathan Eccleston and Krisztián Németh who is gaining experience and plaudits in Greece but as yet nothing more.
For Liverpool Voronin has been worth something in the region of his fee. Absolute zero. Something of a lumbering beast complete with a ponytail which can make him a figure of fun amongst his own fans let alone others. He often seems to believe the world is against him and is a man no longer happy in his surroundings. Someone simply going through the motions.
Many ask just how he can have performed with such apparent distinction for Hertha Berlin and be so well considered in Germany. The answer is somewhat straightforward. The Bundesliga is nowhere near being the best league in Europe. Below a certain level the standard on offer is quite poor certainly lacking the Premiership’s depth. It is behind Serie A plus a host of others and certainly La Liga. The most satisfying for those who like to see a consistently high technical grade of football.
Hertha were a team who held a specific brief under Lucien Favre relying largely on their resilience and ability to frustrate. A deep sitting counterattacking outfit for whom the broody Ukrainian exploited a huge benefit from due to drills on the training ground. He knew the places to run and how the ball would be played.
Against Lyon he had a gilt edged opportunity to grab an early and what could have proved a crucial lead. He accelerated away from Jeremy Toulalan to reach Javier Mascherano’s throughball. It was the type of chance he snaffled with Berlin but his shot lacked not just confidence but conviction making the block far easier than it could have been.
Babel cannot be considered any sort of replacement for Torres. His strengths lie in the support role but in that and other areas his ability only flickers at times. It’s fair to point out - as others have done - his Liverpool career is summed up by his appearance from the bench away to Lyon. A thunderbolt from 25 yards followed a intuitive step away to make room with virtually 11 men behind the ball. A few minutes later rather than swing a free-kick into the box he arced it out for a throw-in.
N’Gog can at times look like Bambi skinny legs pumping and feet untidy but has shown a certain amount off composure in front of goal.
Putting his controversial winning of the penalty against Birmingham to one side during that same game in order to get into the area he skipped past challenges travelling somewhere in the region of 30 yards to put himself in the perfect position for a pull back. In addition to taking his goal well he sought to lay on chances which is certainly an area of his game not opened to much scrutiny.
Maybe those who offer opinion on the game should simply watch and question what they think they know.
Quite clearly able to perform in the top flight not to mention Europe where he has often looked equally well equipped he is too good to be considered anything other than a bona fide member of the first team.
Liverpool’s bench has come under great scrutiny this term and along with those youth team products who have gained a seat recently there is so often a clamour to see N’Gog lumped into the list of weaknesses available as replacements. Based on nothing more than his age, some poor control, a sometimes awkward style as the arms flail out and £1.5 million fee. One which should seem paltry and highlight what a fine piece of business his recruitment has been.
Keeping scrutiny on a theme of substitution, which is where N'Gog's immediate Anfield future lies, though he lacks the impact Babel can but so often rarely provides the young Frenchman’s ability to attune to the rhythm of a game - no matter when he is introduced - bodes well for the future.
Sunday 8 November 2009
Liverpool's Rouge Rogue XI
The Rogues XI
Charles Itandje
Bob Pursell
Tom Fairfoul
Larry Lloyd
David Burrows
Jackie Sheldon
Graeme Souness
Jermaine Pennant
Tom Fairfoul
Stan Collymore
Michael Owen
Though Liverpool fans are prepared to back any player giving their all this largely tongue in cheek assessment of a possible Rogues XI may provide a little food for thought about those who have perhaps not served the club as diligently as may be expected.
Charles Itandje
Since the club was formed in 1892 Liverpool FC have placed some of the finest goalkeepers in the game between their posts. Consequently there have been few flops and even fewer rogues. Finding a keeper who went bad is consequently not an easy task.
Prior to April just passed Sander Westerveld signing for Everton is as close as it’s possible to say a man who wore a green or any other colour of jersey went bad. However, the one time French under-21 international caused controversy with some inappropriate not to say disrespectful behaviour at the memorial service held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster.
The keeper who was on the cusp of making France’s senior squad in 2006 a year prior to joining the Reds in order to become Jose Reina’s deputy. his arrival allowed Scott Carson a chance to be loaned out to West Bromwich Albion and a chance of cementing his place in the England national side. Almost 200 appearances for RC Lens under his belt Itandje seemed an able stand in but struggled in the seven domestic cup games he was able to muster. Far from the solid keeper he had looked in Ligue 1 he could have pointed a finger at always having the strongest defence Rafael Benitez could have selected ahead of him but was disappointing in successive FA Cup games against Havant and Waterlooville and then the shock Anfield defeat by Barnsley.
Diego Cavalieri’s arrival in 2008 pushed him further down the pecking order but a move to Galatasary which seemed certain to go ahead in that summer’s transfer window broke down at the 11th hour. He failed to so much as make the bench for any game during the 2008-09 season. Other switches during January which followed were similarly thwarted. It was felt that some personal details were the issue. If the stopper had been able to agree a loan he would not have been present at Anfield on 15 April 2009 when he was seen mimicking a dance and laughing during a song.
The club suspended him for 14 days once his actions came to light - the maximum allowed under his contract - and his fate effectively became sure from that point. It was only a matter of where he would go. There were links with clubs in France and Italy but Greece with Kavala FC proved his destination on a season‘s long loan. Though he will have a season of his deal with Liverpool remaining there is no prospect of a return.
Bob Pursell
A full back whose time at Anfield saw both highs and lows after his signing in September 1911 and he sparked controversy from the outset with The Reds receiving a £250 fine for irregularities relating to his transfer - namely not approaching his club, Queens Park, first. There was a scramble for his services around the time and rather than lose out the Liverpool board cut a few corners.
Despite a fairly impressive start to his career missing just 10 of the games he was eligible to play after his capture was completed he was in and out of the side over the next couple of campaigns but was able to play a full part in Liverpool reaching a first ever FA Cup final in 1914.
However, he was heavily implicated in a match fixing scandal less than a year later when players from Liverpool and Manchester United were found to have conspired to arrange a United win by two goals to nil and thereby pull off a betting coup for those in the know. Pursell conceded a penalty which was missed much to the characin of many on the field
He had made just over 100 appearances before he was prematurely retired and although the ban was lifted in recognition of his war service he decided to leave the club after just two more appearances - defeats against Manchester United and Everton over successive days during the Christmas period - and join Port Vale where his brother was also playing. However, after just over a season a broken leg suffered in April 1922 in a match with Leicester forced him to hang up his boots as the season closed.
Larry Lloyd
Bill Shankly identified Larry Lloyd as the eventual successor to Ron Yeats' mantle and as ever the Liverpool boss was proved right for after earning his place in the side towards the end of the 1969-70 season he retained it for just over three seasons. A £50,000 fee secured his services from Bristol Rovers in April 1969. He made a fleeting debut early in the following campaign.
There were many of the basic skills a defender may rely upon missing at this stage but displaying a confidence which belied his youth Lloyd proved there was far more to his game than aerial power and for a man standing over 6 feet tall he was good on the ground. Pace was not a keen asset but he was strong in the tackle and capable of using the ball he'd won well. A burst from the back would usually encourage his colleagues to team forward such was his surety in possession and their confidence in his ball skills. Distribution with his trusty left foot was another asset.
At the other end of the field his goals to games ratio was poor. Just five strikes were amassed from 217 outings although one of that albeit small number proved to be the winner against Borussia Moenchengladbach in the 1972-73 UEFA Cup final. He also earned a championship medal in the same season as an ever-present member of the squad and found his efforts justly rewarded by a place in the England team.
He was hungry to earn more honours and would have earned a FA Cup winners medal but for a seemingly innocuous thigh injury marked the end of his Anfield career as although the knock wasn't a serious set back it did keep him out long enough to allow Phil Thompson who had been operating in midfield to establish his place in the side paving the way for a £225,000 transfer to Coventry City in the summer of 1974. Just a couple of years later after suffering from a few injuries was loaned to Second Division Nottingham Forest eventually striking a permanent deal and gaining readmission to the top flight when Brian Clough’s side finished the 1976-77 season in the promotion places - taking the third and final place was no indication of how Forest would do over the next few seasons.
Clough guided his side to a Football League Championship and then successive European Cup wins. There was also a couple of League Cup victories the first of which was recorded over Liverpool in a controversial game. The teams had fought out a 0-0 draw at Wembley with youngster Chris Woods performing well between the posts and denying the Reds countless times. Liverpool were just as good value in the Old Trafford replay but were beaten by a controversial penalty awarded for Phil Thompson’s trip on John O’Hare. John Robertson converted.
Referee Pat Partridge may be a better figure to placed in the Rouges XI than Larry Lloyd as he also denied a perfectly good Terry McDermott goal for a handball when the midfielder clearly took the ball on his chest but the nod goes to the huge Bristolian due to his efforts in assisting denying Liverpool not only this trophy but possibly standing in the way of more League titles being added to the club’s haul. Not only that ‘Old Big Ears’ may have been won five times before Istanbul. Forest put Liverpool out in the opening phase of the 1979-80 European Cup.
Tom Fairfoul
An experienced right half signed from Third Lanark in 1913 who helped Liverpool reach a first ever FA Cup final at the end of his first season. He was a tough player to beat with a steely demeanour and a stiff tackle which would often see him win the ball cleanly which he then managed to use well thanks to his sure passing. He suspended for his part in the betting scandal that rocked the game just before the outbreak of World War One.
It may seem hard to believe that any Liverpool player would want to lose to Manchester United but Fairfoul was one of four Anfield players who were found guilty of arranging for that to happen in 1915. Advancing in years the Scot was one of the many players who realised that if hostilities lasted six months or six years his days as a professional footballer could be numbered. Others connected with both clubs realised that a long war could end their careers and consequently some decided to gain as much money as possible before the inevitable adjournment of the Football League. For Fairfoul it capped a 71 game career over two seasons.
Liverpool were safe in mid-table while United were languishing far too close to the foot of the table for comfort and the points would aid their bid to stave off relegation. With the result already known before a ball was kicked it was suggested that the vital two points meant little to anyone than the Old Trafford club. The Good Friday fixture ended 2-0 to the hosts who had fairly long odds on recording that precise score despite enjoying home advantage. Such a result was reasoned not to appear too outlandish to the casual observer or the authorities. However, those inside the ground could see a farce was being orchestrated.
George Anderson put United ahead and a penalty was expected to double the advantage meaning nothing more had to happen until the close. Patrick O’Connell the regular United penalty taker and someone with a good record from the spot took responsibility but blazed his shot well wide.
Liverpool’s Fred Pagnam who was not in on the fix hit the bar and was openly remonstrated by some for the effort. Anderson grabbed a late second to get the desired final score. A reward was publicly offered for information leading to the identification off those involved by bookmakers. The Sporting Chronicle said it had evidence of a conspiracy to concoct a result and a Football League enquiry set up declared that a betting coup had been arranged. Four players from each club were identified to be the culprits and immediately banned for life. Although the sentences were lifted when the war finished in recognition of service to King and Country Fairfoul was 34 by the time life returned to normal never returned to the game becoming the proprietor of a taxi business in the city.
David Burrows
Though a teenager when he signed for Liverpool with many tactical rough edges David Burrows became a regular choice not too long after his debut against Coventry City in October 1988. Although recognised as a left sided player he could play in either full back berth and brought comparisons early in his Anfield career to Steve Nicol in terms of his versatility, playing style and composure. Like Nicol he linked up well with John Barnes and got forward as often as possible and to great effect.
His tough tackling and strong running style also made him a crowd favourite. However, it highlighted one drawback of his game. David wound up in the referee's notebook far too often and thus missed a number of games through suspension. Without those he may have topped he 200 appearance mark he fell just shy of when joining West Ham United in September 1993 as part of the deal which brought Julian Dicks to Anfield. Graeme Souness had maintained Burrows in his side and allowed the challenger or his preferred spot in the team Steve Staunton to join Aston Villa. It seemed the manager wanted something and someone different in the role.
A single season at Upton Park was ended by a swoop from Everton who fashioned a deal which allowed Tony Cottee to go in the opposite direction and return to West Ham with whom he spent six months before a return to his native midlands with Coventry City. Over four years at Highfield Road injuries restricted his appearances as they did at Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday before he retired in 2003.
There is it would seem little other than a spell at Goodison Burrows could be reproached for and that would be the case but for gestures made when on a return as an opposition player he decided to punch a fist towards The Kop which having been supportive and respectful to a well regarded ex-player reacted badly.
Jackie Sheldon
Before joining Liverpool in November 1913 Jackie Sheldon had played deputy to the Billy Meredith at Old Trafford. Meredith was a legend on the right wing for Manchester United and was a tough player to keep out of the side. However, Sheldon managed that for a short period of time in his last season. That being so he eventually went back into the shadows and was a clear target for the Reds once Arthur Goddard was deemed to have given his best service to the club. He was placed straight into the fray and did well helping his new club to a narrow home win over Tottenham Hotspur. A trip to Aston Villa a week later saw him register his first goal for the club - a penalty in a 2-1 defeat. He kept his place and managed to find the scoresheet without the aid of the dead ball four more time before the season ended and capped his first season with an FA Cup final appearance. Although Liverpool lost by a single goal it wasn't for the lack of effort on Sheldon's behalf who sent in a number of high quality crosses which the forwards particularly Tom Miller failed to capitalise on.
He was justifiably the first choice down the right flank and missed just three games throughout the entire season. However, one of the matches he played in that term caused one of the biggest scandals in the history of English football. Liverpool met his old side Manchester United on Good Friday and with the league set to be suspended due to the Great War it was alleged that a number players uncertain whether they would ever play again decided to stage a betting coup and conspired to fix the result. United who were facing the prospect of relegation beat mid-table Liverpool 2-0. A result with odds of 8-1. A lucrative return for those in the know.
Sheldon the usually sure fire spot kick expert who had converted two efforts to that point missed a penalty and given his status as an ex-United player was deemed to have been one of the key movers in the plan. Claims that he purposefully allowed the keeper to save? were reinforced by the woeful effort put in and the fact that he scored twice from the spot in the immediate weeks after that tie. He was suspended from the game along with other players for life but saw his ban and that of the others lifted immediately after the war due to his service.
That one blot on his record apart he always gave full commitment on the field playing for two more seasons and was again established in the side before losing his place just a season before Liverpool claimed the first of two league titles in the early 1920s to Bill Lacey. Though still on the Anfield books during that initial championship season he had lost any chance of making the side once more due to bad injuries including a broken leg which eventually forced his retirement.
Graeme Souness
One of the finest and most influential players ever to have graced Anfield gave Liverpool's midfield not just a touch of steel but a fair degree of silk. A creative force as well as someone who could dominate a game Graeme Souness has a fair claim to be prime amongst the many dominant midfielders Liverpool have had. Strong in the tackle, on occasions too strong, and with a shot to match his temperament. Not that aggression was the only feature of his game. When called upon he could lay off the subtlest of balls as highlighted by the delicate pass which set up Kenny Dalglish for the only goal of the 1978 European Cup Final win over Bruges. It all highlighted that there was as much grace as there was anger in the Souness game.
His departure following Liverpool's dramatic penalty shoot out win over Roma in the 1984 European Cup Final coincided with The Reds' first trophy less season for ten seasons. Some didn't see it as a coincidence. They saw Souness's absence as the prime reason for The Reds, by their own high standards, having a poor season. His desire to win was almost obsessive and was never better illustrated than in his managerial career.
Free spending Glasgow Rangers, backed by an ambitious chairman intent on bringing glory back to Ibrox, tempted him away from Sampdoria. With Souness as player/manager and then just manger Rangers swept all before them domestically. Although more or less promised a job for life and a club director when the invitation to make his return to Anfield as the new boss came his way there was no hesitation in replacing Kenny Dalglish. A common view was that the Scot's appointment would continue the glut of trophies that had come Liverpool's way in recent years.
However, his return to the club marked the beginning of one of the most tumultuous periods of the club's recent history. A three year reign was as controversial as it was turbulent. The teams under his stewardship played some poor football during his reign but more importantly the players seemed to step out of the winning habit. Souness was a winner and was prepared to give his all in the drive for victory. He expected no less from those around him. It wasn't forthcoming. A fact which frustrated him as much as the Liverpool fans.
Players were bought and while some had great effect others seemed to have nothing if little to offer. These were usually offloaded at a reduced fee or simply dropped from the starting line-up never to return. Rumours of training ground and dressing room bust ups were rife. The ultimate effect being an unsettled camp which even saw some players, usually although not always in private, express dissatisfaction with their manager.
As a club Liverpool drifted backwards in its ability to challenge or honours finishing sixth in each of the full seasons Souness was at the helm for.
The manager wanted to make changes and do so with the same fervour he displayed as a player. Unfortunately he replaced some skilled if admittedly ageing players with ones of lesser ability than those they replaced. When injuries hit - and at times Anfield’s list of the walking wounded was extensive - there was simply not enough quality to replace those who were missing. There was also a feeling that an introduction of new training methods aggravated if not created fitness problems. The extensive nature of the setbacks leant weight to the argument.
Senior professionals were said to be unhappy with the new style. A growing clamour for his resignation reached its peak when a photo of the manager kissing his fiancée after Liverpool's cup semi-final win over Portsmouth in 1992 as he recovered from hear bypass surgery appeared in a newspaper reviled on Merseyside on the 3rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. The photograph appeared courtesy of an exclusive deal Souness had negotiated with the title which carried scurrilous lies about the cause of the disaster and its aftermath. A subsequent apology and a donation from the agreed fee to a local children's hospital justifiably failed to appease his critics.
Poor results and the worst start to a season in almost four decades followed. Championship challenges which were then demanded rather than expected at Anfield were over before the autumn leaves started to fall. An FA Cup exit at home to Bristol City at the 1993-94 competition’s first hurdle hastened a departure which many felt had been inevitable since his dealings with the newspaper reviled on Merseyside. An apology issued relating to the episode only mentioned sorrow at an exclusive deal being signed with a tabloid newspaper or which much money hand been handed to good causes.
Souness’s resignation was solemnly announced by a club with no record of dismissing managers but results along with other factors made his position wholly untenable.
Jermaine Pennant
Having something of a chequered career let alone difficulties in his personal life Jermaine Pennant would seem something of an obvious addition to any list of rogue footballers. A great shame given his undoubted ability. Snapped up by Arsenal as a 15 year old for a record £2million fee he left Notts County without playing a first team game. A testy beginning to his stint at Highbury and with England’s under-21s saw him disciplined for the odd violent moment on the pitch as well as breaking curfews. He was however the youngest ever player to make an outing for the Gunners when making his bow in a League Cup game with Middlesbrough. There was also a hat-trick on his full Premiership debut though he was a regular late attendee at training which was a problem for Arsene Wenger as were events off the field - a string of driving offences plus public order issues.
Loans at Watford, Leeds United and Birmingham City came with the latter club eventually taking him on a long term contract which Liverpool had to pay an initial fee of £6.7 million to break. Pennant who confessed to being a Reds fan in his youth and wanting to sign for the club as soon as he left Arsenal signed in July 2006. Initially impressive when given a run and arguably Liverpool’s Man of the Match in the 2007 Champions League final it seemed he may just have a future at the highest level and even claim an England call-up. There was another good start to the 2007-08 campaign but there remained substantial room or improvement and a tendency to drift in some games.
An ill-tempered and huffy offence saw him sent off in a game with Porto and in many ways contributed to him beginning to feature less and less in Rafa Benitez’s plans. Form when he did appear was at best patchy and a succession of possible loans or permanent deals looked likely in January 2009. Real Madrid were set to make an offer until Juande Ramos insisted his president drop the interest. Portsmouth was his eventual destination for the last few months of his Liverpool contract. When a free agent in the summer he join Real Zaragoza.
In October 2009 he gave an interview suggesting Rafael Benitez’s managerial style had held him back. Though he acknowledged that his former boss was a good tactician and as astute as of his contemporaries there seemed more than a touch of sour grapes in the comments that one partuicular player Dirk Kuyt was picked week in week out to justify fees, a lack of competence in the role they were bought for. Quite simply Pennant often only put half a shift in and often failed to look interested in the plans worked out in training drills and ever so rarely tracked back. Where as the Dutch international he named was winning many of his critics over through work rate as well as the vital goals he was grabbing.
Tom Miller
The Reds swooped for the centre forward in February 1912. He was not the breed of striker that was popular at the time and was thought to be rather on the small side to cope with the rigours of the game at that end of the field. But he made himself indispensable due to an ability to play well in any of the forward berths.
His pace was a key asset and usually pulled him past defenders. He was the club's top scorer in the league for the 1913-14 season but was one of a number of usually reliable players who played poorly during the same year's FA Cup final. He spurned a number of decent opportunities and as a result left The Crystal Palace with nothing more than a runners-up medal to show for their efforts. Another game in which he played badly was a league contest with Manchester United the following Good Friday. Liverpool for the large part looked totally uninterested a getting a result with Miller in particular failing to inspire. He like the others involved Jackie Sheldon, Tom Fairfoul and Bob Pursell was suspended from the game for their respective parts in the match fixing scandal which ensued when players from both sides were held to have contrived a result.
War was brewing with Germany at the time and with nobody sure just how long any conflict would last some were said to be keen to make money before their careers probably ended as a result. Service of all those involved was held to be enough to see the suspensions lifted after life returned to normal. He spent a season and a bit at Anfield before leaving. Ironically heading for Old Trafford after almost 150 games which saw him score 58 goals and win a international call up for Scotland. His stint with Manchester United lasted a single term before he went back to his homeland to join Hearts. Part of a large footballing family his brother John also played for Liverpool and four of his cousins also played league football at various levels.
Stan Collymore
Nottingham Forest's decision to give the precocious yet controversial forward a chance at the highest grade reaped rich dividends in the summer of 1995 when they saw their £2.2million investment become the subject of an £8.5million domestic record transfer to Anfield. A strong striker with an ability to run powerfully at defenders and unleash powerful shots as well as mop up chances closer in he became an instant hit with The Kop netting the only goal of the game with an impressive 30 yard curler on his debut. There were more memorable early strikes which resulted in recognition by England. His positional play was also keen and led to him striking up a telling partnership with Robbie Fowler in particular who he set up a number of goals for. 61 appearances for the Reds yielded 26 goals possibly one of the most memorable being the late winner in the first thrilling 4-3 home win over Newcastle United.
However, there were sour moments. An attack on the tactics used by the man who signed him Roy Evans in a magazine article soured his relationship with the manager and caused much press controversy. Rumours that he skipped training sessions or failed to do what was expected of him during drills were widespread. In addition there was what many saw as a tendency to rest on former glory and fan adulation rather than attempt to demonstrate ongoing commitment to the cause. He quickly fell out of favour as other striking options in the shape of a fully fit Ian Rush and then promising youth teamer Michael Owen came to the fore.
Further spats with the Anfield hierarchy some public some not so open saw him linked with a quick departure as his place at the club in the eyes of those wielding power became virtually untenable. He joined Aston Villa for £7million with whom he caused an air of controversy by kissing his badge after scoring against Liverpool. As far as Reds fans at Villa Park that day were concerned there had been no ill will towards the player.
There were few highs with his boyhood club and a bout of depression for which he earned deserved plaudits or being open about saw him miss a couple of months of the 1998-99 season which he end on loan with Fulham. John Gregory decided to allow the striker to leave and join Leicester City. He left Filbert Street under a cloud after an incident in a Spanish training camp. Brief and largely unproductive stints at Bradford City and Real Oviedo concluded a career he called to an end at the age of 30. Ovideo manager Radi Antić questioned his fitness and limited him to just a couple of substitute appearances. The La Liga club threatened legal action when the decision was announced.
There were offers to make a return but Collymore rebuffed each pursuing careers in the film and music industries. He gained more notierty for striking his one time girlfriend Ulrika Jonsson in a Paris bar during the 1998 World Cup finals and being exposed for participating in the practice of ‘dogging’ in a tabloid expose. It was a scandal for which he lost his contract with the BBC.
He has since returned to the media as a newspaper and radio pundit. A role in which he has caused controversy by suggesting the Premier League’s current smaller clubs should be replaced by those with more storied histories. Many Liverpool fans believe his comments about the club are just as inane and attention grabbing. With no small measure of justification.
Michael Owen
The rise of Michael Owen at a domestic and international level was nothing short of meteoric. His goal scoring prowess was obvious from any early age as he broke all the Welsh schoolboy records Ian Rush had once held. He was a hot property but with Liverpool's impressive scouting network having already picked him up there was no question of any other side nipping in to snatch the striker away. Gradually and carefully developed by Steve Heighway during his early teenage years he was an integral member of the side which won the FA Youth Cup in 1996 and made his first team debut within the calendar year snatching a goal after his introduction as a substitute against Wimbledon. He notched at least once on his debut in each domestic competition and in Europe in both the UEFA Cup and
England boss Glenn Hoddle had little option but to put him in his senior England set-up and as may be expected he also notched on his international bow. Despite doubts being cast over his ability by the international boss he went from strength to strength scoring one of the most talked about goals of the 1998 World Cup finals - a feat which catapulted him to worldwide stardom.
Anfield hosted the player's first game as captain of England when the national side took on Paraguay. At 22 years and 124 days he was the second youngest player to skipper his country trailing only Bobby Moore who was appointed to the job 76 days younger.
As a world class player Michael would have wished to have been challenging for domestic and European honours. Liverpool's somewhat poor results over the seasons since the cup treble was secured saw his position constantly debated. Though still in his early twenties Michael was regarded as one of the premier strikers in the world meaning his name was always mentioned when teams like Real Madrid searched for their yearly capture of a Galatico. It meant virtually every summer became a hotbed of speculation especially when his contract had anywhere less than two years to run. However, up until the summer of 2004 regular deals were struck between player and club. There was nothing other than mild encouragement that the then 24 year old would extend an 11 year association with the club who signed him as a promising schoolboy.
Many fans hoped that Liverpool was in the boyhood Evertonian’s blood but Owen joined Real in a £8 million cash plus player deal just weeks after Rafael Benitez took over as manager. With extensive machinations and delay over a new contract which had just a season to run before expiring and just a matter of months before a pre-contract agreement could be signed with a foreign team it seemed he was ready to walk out the door before the new man walked in. if that wasn’t bad enough the seeming pre-occupation with England rather than the club grated with many who saw Liverpool as a nation in itself and only standing on the UK mainland by quirk of geographical fate and failed to see how club matters could be relegated to second place.
A selfish nature of the striker’s play was also identified. The team had to be built around him and his strengths. Balls were played up to him which relied on his ability to beat the defender whose shoulder he had been sitting on. Owen far more often than not got the better of his man and claimed a plenty of goals though his methods required the midfield to sit deep in case the ball was sent straight back. That meant players but particularly Steven Gerrard often had to play within well himself. The discipline holding a world class player back or years. The change in an already influential Gerrard after Owen left was immense and helped lead to the skipper becoming little more than an inspiration.
When Michael was allowed to leave Madrid Liverpool were amongst the runners to capture him but wouldn’t compete with a £17 million offer from Newcastle having received just half that fee. There was a disappointment that the player didn’t dig his feet in and insist that Anfield would be his destination and nowhere else forcing Real to accept the lower fee on offer rather than just commit himself to a four year deal at St James Park. A willingness to join Manchester United was seen as justification for those angry with his initial departure. Many of those who continued to hold a bond with the ex-player who did find goals and his role in turning the 2001 FA Cup final in Liverpool’s favour broke their emotional ties at that point.
Charles Itandje
Tom Fairfoul
Larry Lloyd
David Burrows
Jackie Sheldon
Graeme Souness
Jermaine Pennant
Tom Fairfoul
Stan Collymore
Michael Owen
Though Liverpool fans are prepared to back any player giving their all this largely tongue in cheek assessment of a possible Rogues XI may provide a little food for thought about those who have perhaps not served the club as diligently as may be expected.
Charles Itandje
Since the club was formed in 1892 Liverpool FC have placed some of the finest goalkeepers in the game between their posts. Consequently there have been few flops and even fewer rogues. Finding a keeper who went bad is consequently not an easy task.
Prior to April just passed Sander Westerveld signing for Everton is as close as it’s possible to say a man who wore a green or any other colour of jersey went bad. However, the one time French under-21 international caused controversy with some inappropriate not to say disrespectful behaviour at the memorial service held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster.
The keeper who was on the cusp of making France’s senior squad in 2006 a year prior to joining the Reds in order to become Jose Reina’s deputy. his arrival allowed Scott Carson a chance to be loaned out to West Bromwich Albion and a chance of cementing his place in the England national side. Almost 200 appearances for RC Lens under his belt Itandje seemed an able stand in but struggled in the seven domestic cup games he was able to muster. Far from the solid keeper he had looked in Ligue 1 he could have pointed a finger at always having the strongest defence Rafael Benitez could have selected ahead of him but was disappointing in successive FA Cup games against Havant and Waterlooville and then the shock Anfield defeat by Barnsley.
Diego Cavalieri’s arrival in 2008 pushed him further down the pecking order but a move to Galatasary which seemed certain to go ahead in that summer’s transfer window broke down at the 11th hour. He failed to so much as make the bench for any game during the 2008-09 season. Other switches during January which followed were similarly thwarted. It was felt that some personal details were the issue. If the stopper had been able to agree a loan he would not have been present at Anfield on 15 April 2009 when he was seen mimicking a dance and laughing during a song.
The club suspended him for 14 days once his actions came to light - the maximum allowed under his contract - and his fate effectively became sure from that point. It was only a matter of where he would go. There were links with clubs in France and Italy but Greece with Kavala FC proved his destination on a season‘s long loan. Though he will have a season of his deal with Liverpool remaining there is no prospect of a return.
Bob Pursell
A full back whose time at Anfield saw both highs and lows after his signing in September 1911 and he sparked controversy from the outset with The Reds receiving a £250 fine for irregularities relating to his transfer - namely not approaching his club, Queens Park, first. There was a scramble for his services around the time and rather than lose out the Liverpool board cut a few corners.
Despite a fairly impressive start to his career missing just 10 of the games he was eligible to play after his capture was completed he was in and out of the side over the next couple of campaigns but was able to play a full part in Liverpool reaching a first ever FA Cup final in 1914.
However, he was heavily implicated in a match fixing scandal less than a year later when players from Liverpool and Manchester United were found to have conspired to arrange a United win by two goals to nil and thereby pull off a betting coup for those in the know. Pursell conceded a penalty which was missed much to the characin of many on the field
He had made just over 100 appearances before he was prematurely retired and although the ban was lifted in recognition of his war service he decided to leave the club after just two more appearances - defeats against Manchester United and Everton over successive days during the Christmas period - and join Port Vale where his brother was also playing. However, after just over a season a broken leg suffered in April 1922 in a match with Leicester forced him to hang up his boots as the season closed.
Larry Lloyd
Bill Shankly identified Larry Lloyd as the eventual successor to Ron Yeats' mantle and as ever the Liverpool boss was proved right for after earning his place in the side towards the end of the 1969-70 season he retained it for just over three seasons. A £50,000 fee secured his services from Bristol Rovers in April 1969. He made a fleeting debut early in the following campaign.
There were many of the basic skills a defender may rely upon missing at this stage but displaying a confidence which belied his youth Lloyd proved there was far more to his game than aerial power and for a man standing over 6 feet tall he was good on the ground. Pace was not a keen asset but he was strong in the tackle and capable of using the ball he'd won well. A burst from the back would usually encourage his colleagues to team forward such was his surety in possession and their confidence in his ball skills. Distribution with his trusty left foot was another asset.
At the other end of the field his goals to games ratio was poor. Just five strikes were amassed from 217 outings although one of that albeit small number proved to be the winner against Borussia Moenchengladbach in the 1972-73 UEFA Cup final. He also earned a championship medal in the same season as an ever-present member of the squad and found his efforts justly rewarded by a place in the England team.
He was hungry to earn more honours and would have earned a FA Cup winners medal but for a seemingly innocuous thigh injury marked the end of his Anfield career as although the knock wasn't a serious set back it did keep him out long enough to allow Phil Thompson who had been operating in midfield to establish his place in the side paving the way for a £225,000 transfer to Coventry City in the summer of 1974. Just a couple of years later after suffering from a few injuries was loaned to Second Division Nottingham Forest eventually striking a permanent deal and gaining readmission to the top flight when Brian Clough’s side finished the 1976-77 season in the promotion places - taking the third and final place was no indication of how Forest would do over the next few seasons.
Clough guided his side to a Football League Championship and then successive European Cup wins. There was also a couple of League Cup victories the first of which was recorded over Liverpool in a controversial game. The teams had fought out a 0-0 draw at Wembley with youngster Chris Woods performing well between the posts and denying the Reds countless times. Liverpool were just as good value in the Old Trafford replay but were beaten by a controversial penalty awarded for Phil Thompson’s trip on John O’Hare. John Robertson converted.
Referee Pat Partridge may be a better figure to placed in the Rouges XI than Larry Lloyd as he also denied a perfectly good Terry McDermott goal for a handball when the midfielder clearly took the ball on his chest but the nod goes to the huge Bristolian due to his efforts in assisting denying Liverpool not only this trophy but possibly standing in the way of more League titles being added to the club’s haul. Not only that ‘Old Big Ears’ may have been won five times before Istanbul. Forest put Liverpool out in the opening phase of the 1979-80 European Cup.
Tom Fairfoul
An experienced right half signed from Third Lanark in 1913 who helped Liverpool reach a first ever FA Cup final at the end of his first season. He was a tough player to beat with a steely demeanour and a stiff tackle which would often see him win the ball cleanly which he then managed to use well thanks to his sure passing. He suspended for his part in the betting scandal that rocked the game just before the outbreak of World War One.
It may seem hard to believe that any Liverpool player would want to lose to Manchester United but Fairfoul was one of four Anfield players who were found guilty of arranging for that to happen in 1915. Advancing in years the Scot was one of the many players who realised that if hostilities lasted six months or six years his days as a professional footballer could be numbered. Others connected with both clubs realised that a long war could end their careers and consequently some decided to gain as much money as possible before the inevitable adjournment of the Football League. For Fairfoul it capped a 71 game career over two seasons.
Liverpool were safe in mid-table while United were languishing far too close to the foot of the table for comfort and the points would aid their bid to stave off relegation. With the result already known before a ball was kicked it was suggested that the vital two points meant little to anyone than the Old Trafford club. The Good Friday fixture ended 2-0 to the hosts who had fairly long odds on recording that precise score despite enjoying home advantage. Such a result was reasoned not to appear too outlandish to the casual observer or the authorities. However, those inside the ground could see a farce was being orchestrated.
George Anderson put United ahead and a penalty was expected to double the advantage meaning nothing more had to happen until the close. Patrick O’Connell the regular United penalty taker and someone with a good record from the spot took responsibility but blazed his shot well wide.
Liverpool’s Fred Pagnam who was not in on the fix hit the bar and was openly remonstrated by some for the effort. Anderson grabbed a late second to get the desired final score. A reward was publicly offered for information leading to the identification off those involved by bookmakers. The Sporting Chronicle said it had evidence of a conspiracy to concoct a result and a Football League enquiry set up declared that a betting coup had been arranged. Four players from each club were identified to be the culprits and immediately banned for life. Although the sentences were lifted when the war finished in recognition of service to King and Country Fairfoul was 34 by the time life returned to normal never returned to the game becoming the proprietor of a taxi business in the city.
David Burrows
Though a teenager when he signed for Liverpool with many tactical rough edges David Burrows became a regular choice not too long after his debut against Coventry City in October 1988. Although recognised as a left sided player he could play in either full back berth and brought comparisons early in his Anfield career to Steve Nicol in terms of his versatility, playing style and composure. Like Nicol he linked up well with John Barnes and got forward as often as possible and to great effect.
His tough tackling and strong running style also made him a crowd favourite. However, it highlighted one drawback of his game. David wound up in the referee's notebook far too often and thus missed a number of games through suspension. Without those he may have topped he 200 appearance mark he fell just shy of when joining West Ham United in September 1993 as part of the deal which brought Julian Dicks to Anfield. Graeme Souness had maintained Burrows in his side and allowed the challenger or his preferred spot in the team Steve Staunton to join Aston Villa. It seemed the manager wanted something and someone different in the role.
A single season at Upton Park was ended by a swoop from Everton who fashioned a deal which allowed Tony Cottee to go in the opposite direction and return to West Ham with whom he spent six months before a return to his native midlands with Coventry City. Over four years at Highfield Road injuries restricted his appearances as they did at Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday before he retired in 2003.
There is it would seem little other than a spell at Goodison Burrows could be reproached for and that would be the case but for gestures made when on a return as an opposition player he decided to punch a fist towards The Kop which having been supportive and respectful to a well regarded ex-player reacted badly.
Jackie Sheldon
Before joining Liverpool in November 1913 Jackie Sheldon had played deputy to the Billy Meredith at Old Trafford. Meredith was a legend on the right wing for Manchester United and was a tough player to keep out of the side. However, Sheldon managed that for a short period of time in his last season. That being so he eventually went back into the shadows and was a clear target for the Reds once Arthur Goddard was deemed to have given his best service to the club. He was placed straight into the fray and did well helping his new club to a narrow home win over Tottenham Hotspur. A trip to Aston Villa a week later saw him register his first goal for the club - a penalty in a 2-1 defeat. He kept his place and managed to find the scoresheet without the aid of the dead ball four more time before the season ended and capped his first season with an FA Cup final appearance. Although Liverpool lost by a single goal it wasn't for the lack of effort on Sheldon's behalf who sent in a number of high quality crosses which the forwards particularly Tom Miller failed to capitalise on.
He was justifiably the first choice down the right flank and missed just three games throughout the entire season. However, one of the matches he played in that term caused one of the biggest scandals in the history of English football. Liverpool met his old side Manchester United on Good Friday and with the league set to be suspended due to the Great War it was alleged that a number players uncertain whether they would ever play again decided to stage a betting coup and conspired to fix the result. United who were facing the prospect of relegation beat mid-table Liverpool 2-0. A result with odds of 8-1. A lucrative return for those in the know.
Sheldon the usually sure fire spot kick expert who had converted two efforts to that point missed a penalty and given his status as an ex-United player was deemed to have been one of the key movers in the plan. Claims that he purposefully allowed the keeper to save? were reinforced by the woeful effort put in and the fact that he scored twice from the spot in the immediate weeks after that tie. He was suspended from the game along with other players for life but saw his ban and that of the others lifted immediately after the war due to his service.
That one blot on his record apart he always gave full commitment on the field playing for two more seasons and was again established in the side before losing his place just a season before Liverpool claimed the first of two league titles in the early 1920s to Bill Lacey. Though still on the Anfield books during that initial championship season he had lost any chance of making the side once more due to bad injuries including a broken leg which eventually forced his retirement.
Graeme Souness
One of the finest and most influential players ever to have graced Anfield gave Liverpool's midfield not just a touch of steel but a fair degree of silk. A creative force as well as someone who could dominate a game Graeme Souness has a fair claim to be prime amongst the many dominant midfielders Liverpool have had. Strong in the tackle, on occasions too strong, and with a shot to match his temperament. Not that aggression was the only feature of his game. When called upon he could lay off the subtlest of balls as highlighted by the delicate pass which set up Kenny Dalglish for the only goal of the 1978 European Cup Final win over Bruges. It all highlighted that there was as much grace as there was anger in the Souness game.
His departure following Liverpool's dramatic penalty shoot out win over Roma in the 1984 European Cup Final coincided with The Reds' first trophy less season for ten seasons. Some didn't see it as a coincidence. They saw Souness's absence as the prime reason for The Reds, by their own high standards, having a poor season. His desire to win was almost obsessive and was never better illustrated than in his managerial career.
Free spending Glasgow Rangers, backed by an ambitious chairman intent on bringing glory back to Ibrox, tempted him away from Sampdoria. With Souness as player/manager and then just manger Rangers swept all before them domestically. Although more or less promised a job for life and a club director when the invitation to make his return to Anfield as the new boss came his way there was no hesitation in replacing Kenny Dalglish. A common view was that the Scot's appointment would continue the glut of trophies that had come Liverpool's way in recent years.
However, his return to the club marked the beginning of one of the most tumultuous periods of the club's recent history. A three year reign was as controversial as it was turbulent. The teams under his stewardship played some poor football during his reign but more importantly the players seemed to step out of the winning habit. Souness was a winner and was prepared to give his all in the drive for victory. He expected no less from those around him. It wasn't forthcoming. A fact which frustrated him as much as the Liverpool fans.
Players were bought and while some had great effect others seemed to have nothing if little to offer. These were usually offloaded at a reduced fee or simply dropped from the starting line-up never to return. Rumours of training ground and dressing room bust ups were rife. The ultimate effect being an unsettled camp which even saw some players, usually although not always in private, express dissatisfaction with their manager.
As a club Liverpool drifted backwards in its ability to challenge or honours finishing sixth in each of the full seasons Souness was at the helm for.
The manager wanted to make changes and do so with the same fervour he displayed as a player. Unfortunately he replaced some skilled if admittedly ageing players with ones of lesser ability than those they replaced. When injuries hit - and at times Anfield’s list of the walking wounded was extensive - there was simply not enough quality to replace those who were missing. There was also a feeling that an introduction of new training methods aggravated if not created fitness problems. The extensive nature of the setbacks leant weight to the argument.
Senior professionals were said to be unhappy with the new style. A growing clamour for his resignation reached its peak when a photo of the manager kissing his fiancée after Liverpool's cup semi-final win over Portsmouth in 1992 as he recovered from hear bypass surgery appeared in a newspaper reviled on Merseyside on the 3rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. The photograph appeared courtesy of an exclusive deal Souness had negotiated with the title which carried scurrilous lies about the cause of the disaster and its aftermath. A subsequent apology and a donation from the agreed fee to a local children's hospital justifiably failed to appease his critics.
Poor results and the worst start to a season in almost four decades followed. Championship challenges which were then demanded rather than expected at Anfield were over before the autumn leaves started to fall. An FA Cup exit at home to Bristol City at the 1993-94 competition’s first hurdle hastened a departure which many felt had been inevitable since his dealings with the newspaper reviled on Merseyside. An apology issued relating to the episode only mentioned sorrow at an exclusive deal being signed with a tabloid newspaper or which much money hand been handed to good causes.
Souness’s resignation was solemnly announced by a club with no record of dismissing managers but results along with other factors made his position wholly untenable.
Jermaine Pennant
Having something of a chequered career let alone difficulties in his personal life Jermaine Pennant would seem something of an obvious addition to any list of rogue footballers. A great shame given his undoubted ability. Snapped up by Arsenal as a 15 year old for a record £2million fee he left Notts County without playing a first team game. A testy beginning to his stint at Highbury and with England’s under-21s saw him disciplined for the odd violent moment on the pitch as well as breaking curfews. He was however the youngest ever player to make an outing for the Gunners when making his bow in a League Cup game with Middlesbrough. There was also a hat-trick on his full Premiership debut though he was a regular late attendee at training which was a problem for Arsene Wenger as were events off the field - a string of driving offences plus public order issues.
Loans at Watford, Leeds United and Birmingham City came with the latter club eventually taking him on a long term contract which Liverpool had to pay an initial fee of £6.7 million to break. Pennant who confessed to being a Reds fan in his youth and wanting to sign for the club as soon as he left Arsenal signed in July 2006. Initially impressive when given a run and arguably Liverpool’s Man of the Match in the 2007 Champions League final it seemed he may just have a future at the highest level and even claim an England call-up. There was another good start to the 2007-08 campaign but there remained substantial room or improvement and a tendency to drift in some games.
An ill-tempered and huffy offence saw him sent off in a game with Porto and in many ways contributed to him beginning to feature less and less in Rafa Benitez’s plans. Form when he did appear was at best patchy and a succession of possible loans or permanent deals looked likely in January 2009. Real Madrid were set to make an offer until Juande Ramos insisted his president drop the interest. Portsmouth was his eventual destination for the last few months of his Liverpool contract. When a free agent in the summer he join Real Zaragoza.
In October 2009 he gave an interview suggesting Rafael Benitez’s managerial style had held him back. Though he acknowledged that his former boss was a good tactician and as astute as of his contemporaries there seemed more than a touch of sour grapes in the comments that one partuicular player Dirk Kuyt was picked week in week out to justify fees, a lack of competence in the role they were bought for. Quite simply Pennant often only put half a shift in and often failed to look interested in the plans worked out in training drills and ever so rarely tracked back. Where as the Dutch international he named was winning many of his critics over through work rate as well as the vital goals he was grabbing.
Tom Miller
The Reds swooped for the centre forward in February 1912. He was not the breed of striker that was popular at the time and was thought to be rather on the small side to cope with the rigours of the game at that end of the field. But he made himself indispensable due to an ability to play well in any of the forward berths.
His pace was a key asset and usually pulled him past defenders. He was the club's top scorer in the league for the 1913-14 season but was one of a number of usually reliable players who played poorly during the same year's FA Cup final. He spurned a number of decent opportunities and as a result left The Crystal Palace with nothing more than a runners-up medal to show for their efforts. Another game in which he played badly was a league contest with Manchester United the following Good Friday. Liverpool for the large part looked totally uninterested a getting a result with Miller in particular failing to inspire. He like the others involved Jackie Sheldon, Tom Fairfoul and Bob Pursell was suspended from the game for their respective parts in the match fixing scandal which ensued when players from both sides were held to have contrived a result.
War was brewing with Germany at the time and with nobody sure just how long any conflict would last some were said to be keen to make money before their careers probably ended as a result. Service of all those involved was held to be enough to see the suspensions lifted after life returned to normal. He spent a season and a bit at Anfield before leaving. Ironically heading for Old Trafford after almost 150 games which saw him score 58 goals and win a international call up for Scotland. His stint with Manchester United lasted a single term before he went back to his homeland to join Hearts. Part of a large footballing family his brother John also played for Liverpool and four of his cousins also played league football at various levels.
Stan Collymore
Nottingham Forest's decision to give the precocious yet controversial forward a chance at the highest grade reaped rich dividends in the summer of 1995 when they saw their £2.2million investment become the subject of an £8.5million domestic record transfer to Anfield. A strong striker with an ability to run powerfully at defenders and unleash powerful shots as well as mop up chances closer in he became an instant hit with The Kop netting the only goal of the game with an impressive 30 yard curler on his debut. There were more memorable early strikes which resulted in recognition by England. His positional play was also keen and led to him striking up a telling partnership with Robbie Fowler in particular who he set up a number of goals for. 61 appearances for the Reds yielded 26 goals possibly one of the most memorable being the late winner in the first thrilling 4-3 home win over Newcastle United.
However, there were sour moments. An attack on the tactics used by the man who signed him Roy Evans in a magazine article soured his relationship with the manager and caused much press controversy. Rumours that he skipped training sessions or failed to do what was expected of him during drills were widespread. In addition there was what many saw as a tendency to rest on former glory and fan adulation rather than attempt to demonstrate ongoing commitment to the cause. He quickly fell out of favour as other striking options in the shape of a fully fit Ian Rush and then promising youth teamer Michael Owen came to the fore.
Further spats with the Anfield hierarchy some public some not so open saw him linked with a quick departure as his place at the club in the eyes of those wielding power became virtually untenable. He joined Aston Villa for £7million with whom he caused an air of controversy by kissing his badge after scoring against Liverpool. As far as Reds fans at Villa Park that day were concerned there had been no ill will towards the player.
There were few highs with his boyhood club and a bout of depression for which he earned deserved plaudits or being open about saw him miss a couple of months of the 1998-99 season which he end on loan with Fulham. John Gregory decided to allow the striker to leave and join Leicester City. He left Filbert Street under a cloud after an incident in a Spanish training camp. Brief and largely unproductive stints at Bradford City and Real Oviedo concluded a career he called to an end at the age of 30. Ovideo manager Radi Antić questioned his fitness and limited him to just a couple of substitute appearances. The La Liga club threatened legal action when the decision was announced.
There were offers to make a return but Collymore rebuffed each pursuing careers in the film and music industries. He gained more notierty for striking his one time girlfriend Ulrika Jonsson in a Paris bar during the 1998 World Cup finals and being exposed for participating in the practice of ‘dogging’ in a tabloid expose. It was a scandal for which he lost his contract with the BBC.
He has since returned to the media as a newspaper and radio pundit. A role in which he has caused controversy by suggesting the Premier League’s current smaller clubs should be replaced by those with more storied histories. Many Liverpool fans believe his comments about the club are just as inane and attention grabbing. With no small measure of justification.
Michael Owen
The rise of Michael Owen at a domestic and international level was nothing short of meteoric. His goal scoring prowess was obvious from any early age as he broke all the Welsh schoolboy records Ian Rush had once held. He was a hot property but with Liverpool's impressive scouting network having already picked him up there was no question of any other side nipping in to snatch the striker away. Gradually and carefully developed by Steve Heighway during his early teenage years he was an integral member of the side which won the FA Youth Cup in 1996 and made his first team debut within the calendar year snatching a goal after his introduction as a substitute against Wimbledon. He notched at least once on his debut in each domestic competition and in Europe in both the UEFA Cup and
England boss Glenn Hoddle had little option but to put him in his senior England set-up and as may be expected he also notched on his international bow. Despite doubts being cast over his ability by the international boss he went from strength to strength scoring one of the most talked about goals of the 1998 World Cup finals - a feat which catapulted him to worldwide stardom.
Anfield hosted the player's first game as captain of England when the national side took on Paraguay. At 22 years and 124 days he was the second youngest player to skipper his country trailing only Bobby Moore who was appointed to the job 76 days younger.
As a world class player Michael would have wished to have been challenging for domestic and European honours. Liverpool's somewhat poor results over the seasons since the cup treble was secured saw his position constantly debated. Though still in his early twenties Michael was regarded as one of the premier strikers in the world meaning his name was always mentioned when teams like Real Madrid searched for their yearly capture of a Galatico. It meant virtually every summer became a hotbed of speculation especially when his contract had anywhere less than two years to run. However, up until the summer of 2004 regular deals were struck between player and club. There was nothing other than mild encouragement that the then 24 year old would extend an 11 year association with the club who signed him as a promising schoolboy.
Many fans hoped that Liverpool was in the boyhood Evertonian’s blood but Owen joined Real in a £8 million cash plus player deal just weeks after Rafael Benitez took over as manager. With extensive machinations and delay over a new contract which had just a season to run before expiring and just a matter of months before a pre-contract agreement could be signed with a foreign team it seemed he was ready to walk out the door before the new man walked in. if that wasn’t bad enough the seeming pre-occupation with England rather than the club grated with many who saw Liverpool as a nation in itself and only standing on the UK mainland by quirk of geographical fate and failed to see how club matters could be relegated to second place.
A selfish nature of the striker’s play was also identified. The team had to be built around him and his strengths. Balls were played up to him which relied on his ability to beat the defender whose shoulder he had been sitting on. Owen far more often than not got the better of his man and claimed a plenty of goals though his methods required the midfield to sit deep in case the ball was sent straight back. That meant players but particularly Steven Gerrard often had to play within well himself. The discipline holding a world class player back or years. The change in an already influential Gerrard after Owen left was immense and helped lead to the skipper becoming little more than an inspiration.
When Michael was allowed to leave Madrid Liverpool were amongst the runners to capture him but wouldn’t compete with a £17 million offer from Newcastle having received just half that fee. There was a disappointment that the player didn’t dig his feet in and insist that Anfield would be his destination and nowhere else forcing Real to accept the lower fee on offer rather than just commit himself to a four year deal at St James Park. A willingness to join Manchester United was seen as justification for those angry with his initial departure. Many of those who continued to hold a bond with the ex-player who did find goals and his role in turning the 2001 FA Cup final in Liverpool’s favour broke their emotional ties at that point.
Friday 6 November 2009
Our days are numbered
They all laugh at us,
They all mock at us ,
They all say our days are numbered,
This extract from the terrace chant ‘The Reds are coming up the hill boys’ has somehow always seemed appropriate but perhaps never more so than during a dark November for Liverpool fans. Though October was little better with just one ray of sunshine piercing through the autumnal skies.
As many old hands will tell those newer to the fold there was a time when loyalty was paramount on the terraces and stands of Anfield. It was also exercised without exception. The team was supported in a manner which befitted fans who were considered amongst if not the very best in the game.
We were certainly tagged as the most knowledgeable not just by those within our own club but those outside. Players, managers and our opposite numbers would go out of their way to heap on the praise.
It was very much part of the Liverpool Way that nobody connected with Liverpool ever walked alone and as many can testify it has remained the case. In thick or thin. Triumph or disaster. It has always been so.
Rafael Benitez took quotes from the club anthem and distributed them liberally in a press conference prior to the Lyon match. Some suggested it was with an air of desperation and little more than lip service to mutinous fans calling his position into question. Even the most loyal they posited where doing just that.
Unfortunately it seems a man born in Madrid who only joined the club a little over four years ago understands what it is to be a Liverpool fan better than most who claim to have spent their entire lives as dyed in the wool Reds.
Websites, newspapers, radio and even TV stations are busy running polls as to whether Rafa has lost the plot, possibly the dressing room and certainly whether he should lose his job.
Some of these plebiscites are perhaps predictably showing majorities in favour of someone else taking the helm but the actual malcontents who would see Rafa head back to Spain with a P45 are almost certainly in a minority as far as the Liverpool supporting population is concerned.
That they can tip the scales in such votes or at least what appear to be open phone-ins is down to selective editing of programmes and screening in the latter case.
Polls as open as they can often seem are couched to produce the desired result and the outcome will often depend on matters such as timing - there is no better time than now say compared to the end of last season - or the site they are linked to.
What they never do is address the aftermath or examine the path nor reasons as to why Liverpool’s season has so far been disappointing.
The resulting unscientific and almost certainly unrepresentative findings are then presented as fact and the majority opinion. However, any level of research amongst the multitude of fans sites and forums rather than just the assumptions which are being made from a vociferous minority would reveal an inconvenient truth.
It’s difficult for any manager the reader might care to name to actually manage a club in the febrile atmosphere created by the media storm further whipped up by reporting the solely malcontents who ignore that Arsene Wenger is without a trophy win in five seasons and may well not break that run by May.
Nor that Alex Ferguson took seven years to win a title and when he did it was largely by rolling over a meek opposition for most of the 1990s and some part of the early 21st century.
The internet exacerbates things as now it isn’t just pockets of Walton or Fazackerly airing its gripes or playing at being a club manger despite realising so little of what the job involves its now voices in places as diverse as Waltham Forest and Fiji.
Unfortunately much of what pours out though voluminous is at best misguided and fickle to an extent only the internet and the immediate interactivity our digital age can conjure up. It simply amplifies a knee-jerk reaction to events which takes no account of the need to build a successful club from the bottom up in a atmosphere created by greed and the need for instant gratification and a taste of glory.
All too often a chalice won on the quick fix - which isn’t even available given the financial position at Anfield - can be dashed from the lips while the drink has yet to pass the tonsils. Over in a relative instant while the deeper and by far sweeter taste comes from proper foundations. Dragging the analogy a little further a good grape hewn from the best soil.
Many forget that Manchester United built their recent dominance on that kind of groundwork and the 1960s was the bedrock of a Liverpool dynasty which stretched from the mid-1970s to 1990.
However, little of the Reds’ journey was easy.
From lifting the league title in 1966 until doing so again in 1973 Bill Shankly could only land one cup final spot and second place in the league. Often the football wasn’t great and some players were effectively allowed to go out to grass at Anfield rather than the lesser stage they might have expected as their powers waned. There were players bought who failed to produce the goods so were shipped out to various destinations and those with burgeoning reputations prior to their arrival left with no small measure of tarnish on their career.
Not claiming silverware was crushing for those who had experienced the FA Cup being held aloft for the first time followed by a championship win in successive seasons but team which had achieved promotion then added more needed to be broken up in order for a rise during the next decade.
Only when new players blended into a team virtually built from scratch was another era of glory, though one which dwarfed that which had gone before, established.
That second great team took a relatively short space of time to assemble and like so many it integrated superstars with grafters but the playing field was more level at that time.
There were no multi-billionaires looking at owning clubs and certainly no one who would ever considering lending against a one they wished to purchase. It was strictly a field for pork butchers and local magnates.
Bridging the gap was by consequence made an easier task than the one facing any modern day manager.
Compared to those days the current Liverpool team is far more star studded. More costly even accounting for well over three decades of inflation and as a rule has more talented individuals in the first XI and the much bigger squad needed for 2010.
Back in the days when Shanks bestrode the club’s corridors his decisions were looked at and debated but ultimately trusted. Despite errors along the way those decisions were in time not only proved to be correct but laden with foresight.
Those who accepted and trusted them were not by people who sat in armchairs nodding at the pundits’ offerings or at computer keyboards venting their spleen but those who attended games and despite seeing the rough edges knew just who they were plus their part in proceedings. They were supporters and would roar their team on. Not doing would only see the club go into reverse.
It’s a feature no DVD highlights, the club’s own channel nor any writing with the benefit hindsight will offer. The focus will naturally be on the genius and glory.
Little was diferent for Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. So too Kenny Dalglish whose tenure coincided with the change towards a globalised and all encompassing media.
Liverpool were still reaping the fruit of those years when Dalglish resigned but back-pedalled under Graeme Souness and were playing catch up along with some nice but ultimately fruitless football under Roy Evans while Alex Ferguson put walls and a roof on his solid base made the gap grow.
Gerard Houllier’s reign threatened to narrow the chasm which had opened up by the dawn of a new millennium but only really flattered to deceive. Never more than the 2001-02 season when a platform on which a challenge could well have been mounted crumbled after some poor signings over the summer which followed. The club careered further backwards and by the summer of 2004 a change was not just inevitable it was essential.
Rafa Benitez’s achievement in winning the European and FA Cups in his first two terms along with the fractious ownership situation is according to some observers in the media all that keeps him in a job. They cite those polls, radio phone-ins, texts and emails from the saturated coverage as their evidence of little backing from the fans and seem surprised when the opposite view is ventured.
As a view it is almost certainly one eyed and ultimately detrimental to the club as it gives the appearance of a crisis torn rabble tearing itself to bits. Meanwhile the man at the helm refuses to panic and steers the ship along its course as best he can while those aboard the armada at least every second week follow - not blindly as decisions are debated and weaknesses are poured over but in the right forums and context. Those discussions are certainly diligent and with any thoughts and fears considered opinion rather than impetuous judgment.
Managers who lose dressing rooms do not get players performing as they did against not only Lyon on Wednesday but also - albeit that one rose between a host of thorns - the win over Manchester United.
Liverpool have performed woefully at stages but also put in performances which have not earned a just reward. Even the Carling Cup a competition Rafa has been slated for not having the merest concern about was exited in the right spirit. On a good performance and with a full contribution to a fine match.
Nor would those players selected for duty act in the manner that they have - knowing their thousands of pounds a week are safe even if their win bonuses are not they would as so many do simply wave white flags.
Banners and flags still festoon stadia across the continent extolling the virtues of players plus Rafael Benitez. There is no doubt about the disappointment so many supporters feel at that start of this campaign following a very good showing last term. However, though there is a gap between Liverpool and those clubs at the domestic summit there remains everything to play for. Even the top prize itself.
The Reds will need to be virtually flawless but most people expect this particular season to be unlike many that have gone before. The eventual champions could lose as many as half a dozen games if not more with teams who have previously seen imperious performing badly and haemorrhaging points.
Progressing in Europe unless it is in the Europa League will be harder and requires a heavier reliance on the efforts of others and not making the last 16 will be a blow but the same one Manchester United suffered in 2006 when they finished bottom of their group. Even if the worst happens events at Old Trafford prove the situation is not irretrievable.
Rafa makes mistakes he is after all human but in football any error is magnified and currently examined in minute detail but to believe his errs outweigh his strengths and contribution to Liverpool Football Club is woefully flawed.
With very few exceptions outside fan literature the good done is largely ignored. Why? Simply because it doesn’t make good copy - it is a story readers would not necessarily want to have examined when the other angle is so more noteworthy.
Not only that so would the house of cards some thoughts and hastily cobbled together theories are based on.
Often they are using their own understandings and old data but worse than that are the statistics which often get repeated ad nausea are not just flawed but inexplicably wrong yet are paraded as fact. For some reason figures brandished in the hands of some old pro rather than those who meticulously research in order to provide articles or blogs are believed.
Even those who should know better after years of training and practice informing them that all sources and facts should be checked - journalists - are in the current climate which prevails at newspapers and broadcast media basing their pieces on the same principles. They seemingly eschew hard evidence and the importance of detail being behind every word they write. Instead they are prepared to pass off the same supposition, half-truth and lies.
As they are held to be independent with no axe to grind not to mention trusted and educated sources rather than just the basic newsmen which previously filled back pages their commentaries not only become part of the myth they exacerbate it.
Achievements such as the come backs against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final are put down to luck and the spirit of just a few players. For the 2006 FA Cup win Benitez of course had no one other than Steven Gerrard to be grateful towards who he, as has been related countless times, approached to examine some of the errors he made during the 90 minutes at the post game celebration.
It may have been an unusual time for most to raise such issues as the trophy sat still doused in champagne but rooting out and correcting problems is part of a manager’s job. For an obsessive like Rafael Benitez the timing is immaterial and along with his decision to join fans in a Cologne bar is just one reason why many Liverpool fans are happy to have a man so dedicated to improving the lot of a team they love in charge.
Focussing on that particular night in Istanbul the decision to pick Harry Kewell as a starter has been criticised during the past week without so much as a consideration as to whether it was tactically right given that PSV Eindhoven had stretched the Italians in the semi-final and exposed a weakness to pace from someone operating in the hole.
There were few available to the manager able to perform in such a role. That he was withdrawn due to injury had little impact on events and certainly didn’t change the pattern of the game. It was the reorganisation made at half-time which won the game and regardless of the enforced nature it was not as a BBC panel which further perpetuated the myths about net spend and squad size suggested down to circumstance rather than any form of managerial wisdom.
A right back was taken off and replaced with a central midfielder who helped change the complexion of the game but contrary to opinion often expressed a man obsessed with caution and numbers put three men at the back. They were protected by Dietmar Hamann whose introduction was crucial in giving Gerrard and Xabi Alonso license to roam a little more and the six minutes in which the deficit was pulled back were amongst the most remarkable ever witnessed on a football field but owed much to a manager who managed to pull the situation back.
It is alas a sad indictment of the current mindset in the media and there seems to be evidence of an anti-Benitez agenda when those who previously extolled the virtues of the manager are prepared to stick a knife in and edit facts to suit the angle taken. Their narrow-mindedness all the more galling considering these same names, without exception, have a free hand based on their reputations as columnists but appear content to take a line based on editorial influence.
Liverpool have rarely if ever received a sufficient amount of media acclaim for either past achievements or the more barren years which have followed heady decades. Knocking the club on top is perhaps always part of the media agenda - or at least that could be claimed if Alex Ferguson was not held in either awe or fear by a number of reporters who shy away from asking the pertinent questions.
The triumphs of yesteryear are now only given any precedence in order to beat the incumbent manager over the head with and suggest Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley would never have ruled over a run of one win in eight games. Both did have similar if not worse runs of results not to mention form - which even if a few other things are missing has been shown at times this season and even during the current lean period.
An unfortunate side affect is that some ex-players have jumped to the beat and unfortunately made critiques which inevitably get compared to their more glorious days in a red shirt.
Critics suggest cup wins and a fine 2008-09 season have contributed to papering over the cracks.
Maybe they should consider that Rafa has not so much covered cracks as a huge number of chasms in the wall and somehow stopped the whole house from falling down around our ears.
Just like most of the road to Istanbul Liverpool have been punching above their weight for a succession o campaigns and may continue to do so this term. Courtesy of some good guidance the Reds have worked their way up from prize fighter to somewhere like genuine title contenders even if the shot does not come until 2011.
Rafael Benitez who has not only delivered progress season after season but secured trophies and has Liverpool on the cusp of being a genuine force in the league will be following that back and white patent in a time when there is no black and white just shades of grey.
Rafa is somehow managing an unmanageable club. If he was to leave for whatever reason the Reds’ ability to build any sort of challenge before another new decade starts would be set back. Those who may have called for it may if they get their wish could only realise just what we had when he has gone.
They all mock at us ,
They all say our days are numbered,
This extract from the terrace chant ‘The Reds are coming up the hill boys’ has somehow always seemed appropriate but perhaps never more so than during a dark November for Liverpool fans. Though October was little better with just one ray of sunshine piercing through the autumnal skies.
As many old hands will tell those newer to the fold there was a time when loyalty was paramount on the terraces and stands of Anfield. It was also exercised without exception. The team was supported in a manner which befitted fans who were considered amongst if not the very best in the game.
We were certainly tagged as the most knowledgeable not just by those within our own club but those outside. Players, managers and our opposite numbers would go out of their way to heap on the praise.
It was very much part of the Liverpool Way that nobody connected with Liverpool ever walked alone and as many can testify it has remained the case. In thick or thin. Triumph or disaster. It has always been so.
Rafael Benitez took quotes from the club anthem and distributed them liberally in a press conference prior to the Lyon match. Some suggested it was with an air of desperation and little more than lip service to mutinous fans calling his position into question. Even the most loyal they posited where doing just that.
Unfortunately it seems a man born in Madrid who only joined the club a little over four years ago understands what it is to be a Liverpool fan better than most who claim to have spent their entire lives as dyed in the wool Reds.
Websites, newspapers, radio and even TV stations are busy running polls as to whether Rafa has lost the plot, possibly the dressing room and certainly whether he should lose his job.
Some of these plebiscites are perhaps predictably showing majorities in favour of someone else taking the helm but the actual malcontents who would see Rafa head back to Spain with a P45 are almost certainly in a minority as far as the Liverpool supporting population is concerned.
That they can tip the scales in such votes or at least what appear to be open phone-ins is down to selective editing of programmes and screening in the latter case.
Polls as open as they can often seem are couched to produce the desired result and the outcome will often depend on matters such as timing - there is no better time than now say compared to the end of last season - or the site they are linked to.
What they never do is address the aftermath or examine the path nor reasons as to why Liverpool’s season has so far been disappointing.
The resulting unscientific and almost certainly unrepresentative findings are then presented as fact and the majority opinion. However, any level of research amongst the multitude of fans sites and forums rather than just the assumptions which are being made from a vociferous minority would reveal an inconvenient truth.
It’s difficult for any manager the reader might care to name to actually manage a club in the febrile atmosphere created by the media storm further whipped up by reporting the solely malcontents who ignore that Arsene Wenger is without a trophy win in five seasons and may well not break that run by May.
Nor that Alex Ferguson took seven years to win a title and when he did it was largely by rolling over a meek opposition for most of the 1990s and some part of the early 21st century.
The internet exacerbates things as now it isn’t just pockets of Walton or Fazackerly airing its gripes or playing at being a club manger despite realising so little of what the job involves its now voices in places as diverse as Waltham Forest and Fiji.
Unfortunately much of what pours out though voluminous is at best misguided and fickle to an extent only the internet and the immediate interactivity our digital age can conjure up. It simply amplifies a knee-jerk reaction to events which takes no account of the need to build a successful club from the bottom up in a atmosphere created by greed and the need for instant gratification and a taste of glory.
All too often a chalice won on the quick fix - which isn’t even available given the financial position at Anfield - can be dashed from the lips while the drink has yet to pass the tonsils. Over in a relative instant while the deeper and by far sweeter taste comes from proper foundations. Dragging the analogy a little further a good grape hewn from the best soil.
Many forget that Manchester United built their recent dominance on that kind of groundwork and the 1960s was the bedrock of a Liverpool dynasty which stretched from the mid-1970s to 1990.
However, little of the Reds’ journey was easy.
From lifting the league title in 1966 until doing so again in 1973 Bill Shankly could only land one cup final spot and second place in the league. Often the football wasn’t great and some players were effectively allowed to go out to grass at Anfield rather than the lesser stage they might have expected as their powers waned. There were players bought who failed to produce the goods so were shipped out to various destinations and those with burgeoning reputations prior to their arrival left with no small measure of tarnish on their career.
Not claiming silverware was crushing for those who had experienced the FA Cup being held aloft for the first time followed by a championship win in successive seasons but team which had achieved promotion then added more needed to be broken up in order for a rise during the next decade.
Only when new players blended into a team virtually built from scratch was another era of glory, though one which dwarfed that which had gone before, established.
That second great team took a relatively short space of time to assemble and like so many it integrated superstars with grafters but the playing field was more level at that time.
There were no multi-billionaires looking at owning clubs and certainly no one who would ever considering lending against a one they wished to purchase. It was strictly a field for pork butchers and local magnates.
Bridging the gap was by consequence made an easier task than the one facing any modern day manager.
Compared to those days the current Liverpool team is far more star studded. More costly even accounting for well over three decades of inflation and as a rule has more talented individuals in the first XI and the much bigger squad needed for 2010.
Back in the days when Shanks bestrode the club’s corridors his decisions were looked at and debated but ultimately trusted. Despite errors along the way those decisions were in time not only proved to be correct but laden with foresight.
Those who accepted and trusted them were not by people who sat in armchairs nodding at the pundits’ offerings or at computer keyboards venting their spleen but those who attended games and despite seeing the rough edges knew just who they were plus their part in proceedings. They were supporters and would roar their team on. Not doing would only see the club go into reverse.
It’s a feature no DVD highlights, the club’s own channel nor any writing with the benefit hindsight will offer. The focus will naturally be on the genius and glory.
Little was diferent for Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. So too Kenny Dalglish whose tenure coincided with the change towards a globalised and all encompassing media.
Liverpool were still reaping the fruit of those years when Dalglish resigned but back-pedalled under Graeme Souness and were playing catch up along with some nice but ultimately fruitless football under Roy Evans while Alex Ferguson put walls and a roof on his solid base made the gap grow.
Gerard Houllier’s reign threatened to narrow the chasm which had opened up by the dawn of a new millennium but only really flattered to deceive. Never more than the 2001-02 season when a platform on which a challenge could well have been mounted crumbled after some poor signings over the summer which followed. The club careered further backwards and by the summer of 2004 a change was not just inevitable it was essential.
Rafa Benitez’s achievement in winning the European and FA Cups in his first two terms along with the fractious ownership situation is according to some observers in the media all that keeps him in a job. They cite those polls, radio phone-ins, texts and emails from the saturated coverage as their evidence of little backing from the fans and seem surprised when the opposite view is ventured.
As a view it is almost certainly one eyed and ultimately detrimental to the club as it gives the appearance of a crisis torn rabble tearing itself to bits. Meanwhile the man at the helm refuses to panic and steers the ship along its course as best he can while those aboard the armada at least every second week follow - not blindly as decisions are debated and weaknesses are poured over but in the right forums and context. Those discussions are certainly diligent and with any thoughts and fears considered opinion rather than impetuous judgment.
Managers who lose dressing rooms do not get players performing as they did against not only Lyon on Wednesday but also - albeit that one rose between a host of thorns - the win over Manchester United.
Liverpool have performed woefully at stages but also put in performances which have not earned a just reward. Even the Carling Cup a competition Rafa has been slated for not having the merest concern about was exited in the right spirit. On a good performance and with a full contribution to a fine match.
Nor would those players selected for duty act in the manner that they have - knowing their thousands of pounds a week are safe even if their win bonuses are not they would as so many do simply wave white flags.
Banners and flags still festoon stadia across the continent extolling the virtues of players plus Rafael Benitez. There is no doubt about the disappointment so many supporters feel at that start of this campaign following a very good showing last term. However, though there is a gap between Liverpool and those clubs at the domestic summit there remains everything to play for. Even the top prize itself.
The Reds will need to be virtually flawless but most people expect this particular season to be unlike many that have gone before. The eventual champions could lose as many as half a dozen games if not more with teams who have previously seen imperious performing badly and haemorrhaging points.
Progressing in Europe unless it is in the Europa League will be harder and requires a heavier reliance on the efforts of others and not making the last 16 will be a blow but the same one Manchester United suffered in 2006 when they finished bottom of their group. Even if the worst happens events at Old Trafford prove the situation is not irretrievable.
Rafa makes mistakes he is after all human but in football any error is magnified and currently examined in minute detail but to believe his errs outweigh his strengths and contribution to Liverpool Football Club is woefully flawed.
With very few exceptions outside fan literature the good done is largely ignored. Why? Simply because it doesn’t make good copy - it is a story readers would not necessarily want to have examined when the other angle is so more noteworthy.
Not only that so would the house of cards some thoughts and hastily cobbled together theories are based on.
Often they are using their own understandings and old data but worse than that are the statistics which often get repeated ad nausea are not just flawed but inexplicably wrong yet are paraded as fact. For some reason figures brandished in the hands of some old pro rather than those who meticulously research in order to provide articles or blogs are believed.
Even those who should know better after years of training and practice informing them that all sources and facts should be checked - journalists - are in the current climate which prevails at newspapers and broadcast media basing their pieces on the same principles. They seemingly eschew hard evidence and the importance of detail being behind every word they write. Instead they are prepared to pass off the same supposition, half-truth and lies.
As they are held to be independent with no axe to grind not to mention trusted and educated sources rather than just the basic newsmen which previously filled back pages their commentaries not only become part of the myth they exacerbate it.
Achievements such as the come backs against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final are put down to luck and the spirit of just a few players. For the 2006 FA Cup win Benitez of course had no one other than Steven Gerrard to be grateful towards who he, as has been related countless times, approached to examine some of the errors he made during the 90 minutes at the post game celebration.
It may have been an unusual time for most to raise such issues as the trophy sat still doused in champagne but rooting out and correcting problems is part of a manager’s job. For an obsessive like Rafael Benitez the timing is immaterial and along with his decision to join fans in a Cologne bar is just one reason why many Liverpool fans are happy to have a man so dedicated to improving the lot of a team they love in charge.
Focussing on that particular night in Istanbul the decision to pick Harry Kewell as a starter has been criticised during the past week without so much as a consideration as to whether it was tactically right given that PSV Eindhoven had stretched the Italians in the semi-final and exposed a weakness to pace from someone operating in the hole.
There were few available to the manager able to perform in such a role. That he was withdrawn due to injury had little impact on events and certainly didn’t change the pattern of the game. It was the reorganisation made at half-time which won the game and regardless of the enforced nature it was not as a BBC panel which further perpetuated the myths about net spend and squad size suggested down to circumstance rather than any form of managerial wisdom.
A right back was taken off and replaced with a central midfielder who helped change the complexion of the game but contrary to opinion often expressed a man obsessed with caution and numbers put three men at the back. They were protected by Dietmar Hamann whose introduction was crucial in giving Gerrard and Xabi Alonso license to roam a little more and the six minutes in which the deficit was pulled back were amongst the most remarkable ever witnessed on a football field but owed much to a manager who managed to pull the situation back.
It is alas a sad indictment of the current mindset in the media and there seems to be evidence of an anti-Benitez agenda when those who previously extolled the virtues of the manager are prepared to stick a knife in and edit facts to suit the angle taken. Their narrow-mindedness all the more galling considering these same names, without exception, have a free hand based on their reputations as columnists but appear content to take a line based on editorial influence.
Liverpool have rarely if ever received a sufficient amount of media acclaim for either past achievements or the more barren years which have followed heady decades. Knocking the club on top is perhaps always part of the media agenda - or at least that could be claimed if Alex Ferguson was not held in either awe or fear by a number of reporters who shy away from asking the pertinent questions.
The triumphs of yesteryear are now only given any precedence in order to beat the incumbent manager over the head with and suggest Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley would never have ruled over a run of one win in eight games. Both did have similar if not worse runs of results not to mention form - which even if a few other things are missing has been shown at times this season and even during the current lean period.
An unfortunate side affect is that some ex-players have jumped to the beat and unfortunately made critiques which inevitably get compared to their more glorious days in a red shirt.
Critics suggest cup wins and a fine 2008-09 season have contributed to papering over the cracks.
Maybe they should consider that Rafa has not so much covered cracks as a huge number of chasms in the wall and somehow stopped the whole house from falling down around our ears.
Just like most of the road to Istanbul Liverpool have been punching above their weight for a succession o campaigns and may continue to do so this term. Courtesy of some good guidance the Reds have worked their way up from prize fighter to somewhere like genuine title contenders even if the shot does not come until 2011.
Rafael Benitez who has not only delivered progress season after season but secured trophies and has Liverpool on the cusp of being a genuine force in the league will be following that back and white patent in a time when there is no black and white just shades of grey.
Rafa is somehow managing an unmanageable club. If he was to leave for whatever reason the Reds’ ability to build any sort of challenge before another new decade starts would be set back. Those who may have called for it may if they get their wish could only realise just what we had when he has gone.
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