I know that you're supposed to get behind the team and the manager and all that's associated with them when you support a football club; God knows I did that for over forty five years traipsing to Anfield at whatever ridiculous hour our masters at Sky deemed necessary, putting up with rip off food, uncomfortable surroundings, loutish behaviour (on and off the pitch) and all because I loved Liverpool. Those occasional wonderful, glorious nights like St Etienne and Chelsea somehow made everything worthwhile and made us forget being knocked out of the cup by the likes of Barnsley. But last year I made the decision that it was no longer worthwhile; I hated the way that the club was being run. The board sacrificed Hodgson and appointed King Kenny like some latter day Pontius Pilates bowing to the will of the mob and I resigned my allegiance.
Have I missed it? Not for a second. "But you must have" I hear you say. Rest assured I have missed absolutely nothing. How can I continue to love a sport that pays such scant attention to the paying customers? Last night 40,000 people put themselves out at great cost (at least £30 each) to get to Anfield to watch a reserve team play. That means that the club will have taken over a million quid in gate receipts alone (ignoring the sales of pies, programmes, beers, hospitality and everything else that's now involved). "But they're playing in the Cup Final on Saturday, they can't afford to risk injury to their key players". Okay I see that point and if the eleven players selected had run themselves into the ground in a brave attempt to offer the crowd some sort of recompense or entertainment for their time (and money) or even in a brave attempt to win themselves the chance of a seat on the bench for the final, I could reluctantly accept your argument. That didn't happen; by all accounts the team merely went through the motions. Liverpool FC took millions of pounds with little regard for their fans; their loyal supporters deserve better. On Saturday thousands of them will go through hell and high water to watch the team play at Wembley. I just wish some of them would ask themselves why they bother and realise that they are being taken for mugs.
Oh well, that's off my chest now but on the subject of football I was fascinated to see the reaction to Roy Hodgson's appointment as England boss. The general consensus seems to be that he's not good enough - mediocre, mid table, uninspiring - that could be a description of the players he has at his disposal so maybe the FA got the right man for the job. I notice that Roy's WBA have won only 13 times this season. Good job Liverpool sacked him as they've won er 13 times.
The following photo came courtesy of @Andrewbloch on Twitter. I love it.
Got to go now. It's Orange Wednesday and we're off to the matinee performance of Marvel Avengers Alliance. A good time to see it before the iphone wielding mob of kids turn up to the evening showing and spend the whole time talking or on their phones or both.
I'll resist the temptation to add the classic Python "but he's a very naughty boy", because, having been one of the greatest players and managers of my forty three years supporting Liverpool, it's difficult to criticise King Kenny Dalglish. Having said that, the moment that Kenny threw his hat into the ring as a potential manager last summer before Christian Purslow threw it back out again and chose the Manager Of The Year instead, the new appointment was going to struggle. Rejecting the people's (and most probably the players') choice meant that, at a club where the fans have become increasingly vocalised (or even politicised), in recent years, Hodgson didn't stand a chance. Had Kenny kept his mouth shut, Roy might have bought himself some time to build a team but instead he suffered the ignominy of chants of Dalglish within a few short months of his appointment.
My Kop season ticket now feels like more of a union membership card and, instead of going to the match to be entertained with some exciting football, we are now, week in week out, encouraged to show our support for Michael Shields, Justice for Hillsborough victims (an admittedly very worthy cause) or to encourage the last owners to "get out of our club". Once renowned for our sporting behaviour and for applauding winning opponents, Liverpool fans were this week heard to chant "you're getting sacked in the morning" to our own manager. Public ridicule of a decent man is not something that I would have ever expected to hear from our fans and, if Kenny had not been there in the background like an albatross on Roy's shoulder, I have to ask if it would have happened.
Far from being Roy's fault, the state that the club currently finds itself in began with the disastrous transfer of Alonso two seasons ago. The Reds had just enjoyed a successful season playing entertaining attacking football and even winning regularly away from home. Everything looked set for a serious assault on the Premiership but Xabi was sold in the summer and the team fell apart. A quiet man on and off the pitch, Alonso's contribution was recognised by the fans but not by the manager who, in selling him, started the rot that has continued to this day. Of the current squad, almost all are Benitez' signings and it is surely he, not Hodgson, who is responsible for where we are now. I'm not saying that Hodgson was a great manager, two of his signings, Paulson and Konchesky have been poor (although Meireles shows potential) but his players never played for him and his treatment by the fans has been despicable.
Now that the fans have what they wanted and Dalglish is in the hot seat, I wish him success but history has shown that fans' saviours don't have a hugely impressive record. Shearer at Newcastle and Maradonna with Argentina arrived in a wave of fan generated euphoria that soon dissipated when the teams failed to perform. The last Messianic second coming on Merseyside was Howard Kendall's return in 1990 to the Everton that he had lead to a league championship and other honours in the 80's. His second spell was one of mediocrity.
Dalglish has the perfect start. Playing away today to Manchester United, if the team loses it will be Roy's fault but if they win or draw it will be proof of Kenny's magic whereas in reality it will be evidence that the players let Hodgson down very badly.
