Liverpool FC Forum

[jonnymac1979]

Found this.  Good read.

http://www.thisisanfield.com/kopblog/

Updated a few times a week.

[jonnymac1979]

Have a read of this.  I love the last paragraph particularly.

One of the main problems with Liverpool this season is that you never quite know which Liverpool side is going to turn up, the one that put in an outstanding performance against Leverkusen or the one that performed so dismally against Blackburn. By drawing Juventus in the quarter-finals we have can be sure that the players will be well up for these games and need little motivation from Rafa to go out and give their all. Afterall the media (many of whom are still shellshocked that their beloved manc’s are out of the competition) have us firmly installed as underdogs to win this tie and all but written us off, just as they did when we played Bayer Leverkusen in the last round so we’ve nothing to lose and the pressure should be all on Juventus.

Many people would have preferred that we had drawn PSV or Lyon but I’m not so sure such a draw would have favoured us. I think people would have had us down as favourites against either of these teams and we don’t always perform well from that position our best performances this season have usually come when our backs are to the wall. I also think Rafa will learn a lot more about his current team and the make up of the one for next season from what he see’s in these game’s.

I know being involved in the Champions League brings huge money to the club but outside of the cash and unlike our manc friends who prefer handy draws and sneaking in by the back door, we want to see our team take on the very best which is why I’m so looking forward to these games against Juventus. The fact that these games also mark the 20th anniversary of the Heysel disaster will also add an extra element to these games. Both sides have built a lot of bridges since that time and maintained close links so I’m sure they’ll both be hoping for a tie worthy of the occasion.

As for the semi’s, should we make it past Juventus we would play either Bayern Munich or Chelski. I saw nothing to fear from Bayern when they played Arsenal in the last round and although chelski have beaten us three times this season, they’ve certainly rode their luck and we’re due a victory against them.

In other news this week the media were seizing on the news of the apparent interest of Real Madrid in our manager. A great manager such as our own Rafa is bound to attract the attention of such teams now and in the future. However, Rafa tells the press the next day that he is going nowhere and intends to win trophies with Liverpool. StevieG and my fellow blogger (his apologist) should perhaps take note of Rafa’s word’s, they are an example of how to kill a story, reassure the supporters and end speculation before it begins.

Finally, I see Andy has expressed a certain admiration for Jose Mourinho the closet homosexual manager of chelski, a man who while at Barcelona took the term “entering into management” quite literally. I wonder what it is about Jose that has endeared him so much to my fellow blogger? Could it be the petty after match tantrum’s he throw’s when things go against him, his active participation in the illegal approaches to players, the subsequent lies he tells to cover his tracks, the gestures he made towards the Liverpool fans at the Carling Cup final or the verbal abuse he threw from the touchline towards our own Jamie Carragher in the same game.

I have no admiration whatsoever for this Matalan shopping, egotistical little ba$tard. I look forward to the day when he will inevitably fall flat on his face and I only hope that day will come at the hands of Liverpool in the semi-finals of this years Champions League.

YNWA
Gerry
gerry@thisisanfield.com

[Judge]

cool

[jonnymac1979]

Click link in first post for latest views on Michael Owen and Carlos Alberto. 

[jonnymac1979]

Bump.

[the great one]

Nice read

[jonnymac1979]

7 - 0 view.

Not a big fan of the phenomenon known as blogging, but I've been reading this for a few months now and it does you no harm. 

[jonnymac1979]

[babu]

Thanks for the link to the Blog Jonnymac. Have been checking it out for the last couple of days. I like today's post for the not so subtle stab at Gerry by Andy.

I will post here.



6 July: The Day Football Won by Andy

You may think this an overly dramatic title for a blog, but read on…

There are many fans who, last night, were trying to come to terms with life after Steven Gerrard. Now I know the whole ‘no player is bigger than the club’ argument – and I agree with it. BUT…I have to confess that this was a very hard thing for me, and a lot of fellow Reds, to come to terms with.

Last Summer, I will confess to feeling ‘gutted’ for 2 weeks while the chances of Stevie going to chelski were very strong … you know how it feels, feeling like you have a lead weight sitting in the bottom of your stomach. So why did I feel this? Maybe it’s because Stevie, as a player, personified the Liverpool fan who had a dream – of putting on the Red shirt … touching the ‘This Is Anfield’ sign as we ran out in front of the roaring Kop … Scoring the goal that wins the game … and lifting the trophy as the Captain of Liverpool Football Club … Not only that, but when we dream, we don’t dream about scoring with limp headers or tap-ins…no, we dream of scoring with 30-yard screamers. Nearly every goal that our Captain scores is a goal that takes your breath away. To put it simply – Steven Gerrard was living the dream.

For me, there was one burning issue in my mind … How come manu have managed to hold on to Roy Keane after all these years? How come Vieira stayed with Arsenal? And how come Stevie Gerrard was leaving the club that he professed to loving so much?

Keane and Vieira have been the engine rooms for their teams for many years, but neither of them were born in either Manchester or London. Scouse blood runs deep, so how could Steven Gerrard even consider leaving Liverpool Football Club?

Ask yourself this question … could you suddenly change teams and start supporting chelski or manu? No, I didn’t think so. Could you imagine, if you had the God-given footballing talents that Gerrard clearly possesses, of playing for ANYBODY other than LFC? I know that I couldn’t if there was any kind of choice involved.

Ok, some will now argue that players change clubs all the time but this is LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB – we’re different from all the other teams out there. We are STILL the most successful football club that Britain has ever seen – by a long way, and we are now the third most successful team that Europe has ever seen. Many footballers HAVE to change clubs for financial or sporting reasons but why did Steven Gerrard have to? Was winning the Champions League not a good enough barometer of how far we’ve come in the last year and what we could well achieve in the future? Is £100,000 a week or £5.2 million a year not a good enough salary?

So what did actually go wrong? To sum it up with one word – COMMUNICATION. Stevie committed himself to the club straight after Istanbul – and he meant it. Rick Parry had a busy summer ahead of him and like any good business man – he prioritised. He got rid of the players that the club no longer wanted … he sorted out the futures of those players that were in the ‘Bosman’ zone and he began negotiations with the players that Rafa wanted. Now, rightly or wrongly, Rick thought that Stevie’s new contract was NOT the most pressing issue and therefore could afford to wait until pre-season training began.

Stevie, however, didn’t see it that way. Last summer, when he changed his mind about joining chelski at the eleventh hour, Rick had him in a press conference to confirm his future faster than you can spell a-b-r-a-m-o-v-i-c-h … This time though, weeks went by without any contract negotiations. Stevie saw plenty of transfer activity but no news on his own contract.

And then came the media campaign and his agents’ ulterior motives. The press, with all to report on in a very slow transfer market, chose an easy target – Stevie Gerrard. Stories were leaked to the Spanish press and the ‘Gerrard to Madrid’ stories hit the headlines. Gerrard had to only go out for a meal in a Spanish restaurant and that was seen as a sign that he was off. Stevie couldn’t understand this and his agents, SFX, saw this as a Parry/Benitez plan to get the skipper out of Anfield in return for a team-rebuilding £35 million.

SFX didn’t mind of course because blood hungry leaches will always go to where the blood is. 5% or 10% of £35 million would help pay the bills for a few months, wouldn’t it?

So, Rick and Rafa weren’t aware that anything was wrong until it was almost too late. Rick has clearly been busy this summer … 4 players signed this week and another 2 or 3 to arrive imminently … does anyone realise just how much work has had to be done behind the scenes for Rick to make these transfers a reality? Clearly, Stevie and his agents didn’t think that one through.

So what made Stevie change his mind only 24 hours after saying he was leaving? My fellow blogger Gerry and I were discussing matters last night and I said to Gerry that I hadn’t heard any mention about Stevie’s dad in any of this. When Stevie was a kid, it was his dad that took him to watch the Reds every other week and his dad has had a massive influence on his career. Last summer, it was his dad who played a huge part in his son’s change of heart – so I was surprised to hear no mention of him this time around. My guess is that it took another ‘family meeting’ for Stevie to wake up and smell the coffee.

So there we have it. He’s staying. You can use as many clichés as you like … “Good has conquered Evil” … “The best man won” … or any others that you can think of. But the fact is, he’s staying … and he’s staying because he wants to … because he IS one of us … because he loves the club. This is truly the day that football won.

Many Reds will be feeling very sore this morning and many will still feel betrayed. Open wounds, after all, are very painful. But next week we will see Stevie step out at Anfield and all will be forgiven because in the end … he made the right decision.

On a final note, “I told you so’s” are normally best left to the playground, but I can’t help feeling a little smug after Gerry’s “I knew I was right” rants from his blog yesterday. Gerry was last spotted hiding under his duvet and I know you’ll join me in wishing his bruised ego a speedy recovery…