Liverpool FC Forum

by **The Ace1983** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 3:11 am

Has anyone noticed any goat-headed, pentagram adorned, 8ft tall, hooved individuals hanging around the Kop drinking horses blood and having sex with chickens? That's a point. Has anyone seen Alex Ferguson these days?

by **Ciggy** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:31 am

The Ace1983 wrote:Has anyone noticed any goat-headed, pentagram adorned, 8ft tall, hooved individuals hanging around the Kop drinking horses blood and having sex with chickens? That's a point. Has anyone seen Alex Ferguson these days?

by **The Canadian Red Army** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 6:41 pm

Liverpool's worst injury fears have been confirmed with the news that Florent Sinama-Pongolle has suffered a serious knee injury.
Liverpool feared Sinama-Pongolle had sustained a serious injury and tests have now revealed he has suffered a cruciate ligament problem.
Sinama-Pongolle will now miss the rest of the season and will probably miss the start of the 2005/2006 campaign.

this season cant get any worse, but we are going to pull through.

by **116-1105728556** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:33 pm

Hello again, it has been nearly 3 days since I last came on here and I have a story for you from Slovenia. A lovely country.

From a Slovenian Liverpool Fan

This is the tale he told me:

He was so looking forward to visiting Anfield, he talked about nothing else, how he was looking forward to a visit , this was to be the greatest day of life so far. However nothing could be further from the truth when he eventually did visit Anfield last season. When he arrived home he became depressed, withdrawn and showed no further interest in the Liverpool memorabilia that brought home. His family was really concerned and it was only by chance that they finally got down to what was wrong.

A few weeks later there was a family party and during the night they heard his cousin and his mate having an argument. When they went upstairs the voices became louder and it was obvious that something was upsetting them. As they approached the bedroom, they couldn’t understand what they were saying but his friend noticed first then for some unexplained reason at the time he shouted in English, “Then you must tell Bobby”. They walked in at that precise moment to see him in tears and in a terrible state. It was a while later he told me his story through his friend and this is what I am relaying to you all on here.

When he approached Anfield on the tour bus, everyone was so excited, waving to the crowd, the anticipation of being at of the most famous grounds in the world was intense. Then he saw something that made him freeze with fear. As the coach pulled into the car park, he glanced at the gate and in a split second he saw what he described as a ‘sign’. This sign he had only seen once before in his life when his late father showed him a piece of paper before he passed away. As they got off the tour coach, he stayed stuck to his seat through fear. Only the intervention of other's managed to get him off the coach, but they were visible shaken by his state. As he was walking down to the front of the coach, he looked to the ground on his left, and in the shadows he saw a dark figure, the dark figure was holding one finger in the air and was rocking it from side to side as if to gesture a telling off or to stop. The movement of the hand was exactly the same as his late father and grandfather used to do when warning him. He eyes were so fixed on this figure, he missed a step on the coach and tumbled forward, when he regained his balance the figure had gone. This, along with the sign convinced him that he should not play on the ground he wanted to so much. He was also convinced that the figure was of his late father warning him of danger ahead.
Since his return to Slovenia he has never been the same.

The ‘sign’ he mentioned is a sign of a ‘terrible curse’. It was used widely in parts of Slovenia before independence and was used by gypsies for revenge. I found all this out on a later trip.

I spoke to him about this and it was decided that we should go into the country to visit an elderly relative, he was supposed to 95 years old. He was the brother of her cousin’s grandfather. His grandfather was a footballer himself, but his career was cut short through injury. His grandmother had died when his father was in his early teens, and he was brought up by various family members as his father could not afford to stay at home. He played for a team in the lower divisions and had several lady friends after his wife died. His wife’s sister did not approve of this, and placed a curse on the ground. Two games later his career ended prematurely after he broke his ankle. By placing this curse on the ground, she had to draw four ‘signs’ at each corner of the ground to entrap the curse. This was the same ‘sign’ that her cousin had seen outside Anfield that night.

We delved a little deeper through asking family members and reading papers in the library, but could only come across instances like this were gypsies used the curse on homes of people they disliked or wanted revenge on. We could only find another instance were it had been used on a football ground. In the early 30’s a team refused to play another after one player said that he had seen a ‘sign’ on the wall outside. The referee insisted that the game should go ahead as there was a very angry crowd waiting to see a game. Within the first five minutes the goalkeeper fell awkwardly and twisted his ankle, in the second another player broke his leg after a tackle. The team scared witless walked off the pitch and the referee faced the angry crowd. He was chased out of the ground, fell over and smashed his knee on the road outside.

It took an hour to reach his house, an old stone building on the outskirts of a forest. What was unusual about this house was that it was part wood and was different to those around it. On reaching the house I was instructed to wait outside whilst the others went in. I waited outside for what seemed ages when the door opened and this old man slowly walked towards me with the help of two sticks. Now I am nearly six foot tall, 16 stone and like to keep fit, this old man was just over 4 foot and frail. He looked every inch the 95 years old I was told beforehand. When he reached me he gestured for me to approach him. He stood at the top of these steep steps that led to his front door, when our faces were level with each other, he placed both hands on my shoulders, leant forward so our noses practically touched. He then placed both his hands on the sides of my head covering my ears, his grip defied his years. He then stared into my eyes, his eyes shifting from side to side as if looking for something. The mans eyes were not of a 95 year old, they were bright and clear and uneasy. For some reason I couldn’t move, in a flash he jerked back and spat in my face and pushed me away. I fell backwards down the remaining steps and landed flat on my back. I did not have a clue what was going on, the old man continued to stare at me, I just sat there on ground, and for some reason I didn’t even wipe away his spit from my face. I was confused and frightened. How could an old man push me to the ground?

He then roared with laughter and called my girlfriend, her cousin and his friend from the house and I got off the ground. I had passed a test ! The old man then reached out to shake my hand, gone had his vice like grip, and his eyes were glazed and fuzzy and not bright and clear as they were minutes before.

As the other three had been to his house before, he had already ‘performed’ the test on them. He needed to gaze into my eyes to search for demons, he needed to cover my ears to stop the demons from escaping ! He spat in my face to see if was a threat to him, if I had of wiped his spit away immediately that would have signalled to him that I was not a friend.

As we sat down for something to eat I was told tales that made my hair stand on end and my girlfriends cousin told the old man of his visit to Anfield. The old man did not flinch, it was as if he knew everything.

He went missing for a few minutes and returned with a locked black box, about the size of video case. He opened it up and unravelled a piece of paper. On that piece of paper was the ‘sign’ that her cousin has seen outside Anfield that night. The best way I could describe it was that it reminded me of the pirate’s scull and crossbones.

He went onto explain that gypsies used this sign as part of a curse for revenge. They would draw this sign on the four corners outside a house to ensure the curse kept within those boundaries, and anyone inside could be a victim. He said it was unusual to find such a sign on a sporting venue, but he never dismissed it. He also agreed with her cousin that the shadowy figure waving his finger would have been his father or grandfather warning him of danger. He asked if players had been injured at Liverpool lately, especially leg injuries as this kind of curse would only attack the legs ! When I read out the names of the players and their respective injuries, everything just fell into place.

We stayed overnight, but I never slept. It was a very nerve racking experience, especially for a non-believer in curses etc, but this old man convinced me that there is something out there that I did not understand.

Now for the good news. There is a cure to this curse, or rather two cures. The first cure is to get a ‘higher’ ranking gypsy to spit on each of the four signs, spitting on the most Northerly one first, then going around spitting on the others in turn in a clockwise direction. But with this we have a problem, the ‘higher’ ranking gypsy must share – as he put it, the same blood. Both gypsies must be related, and as we don’t have a clue who put the curse on Anfield, it is impossible to take away the curse this way unless someone owns up.

The second cure is to form a human ring around the building for 15 minutes. Everyone must face outwards apart from the people closest to these signs, those are the most important part of this ring. The ring must remain unbroken for 15 minutes and the four people closest to the signs must face inwards and stare at the sign and force the curse to leave by means of thought. There is no chanting or anything, no dancing, just an unbroken human ring around the building.

Can anyone living around Anfield have a look for these signs ? They are similar to the scull and crossbones flag of the pirates.

I do not know who or why they were put there, but if Anfield is cursed the injuries will not stop and it will be upto the fans to form a human ring to get rid of the curse, that is if you believe in such things.

Spooky !!

by **maximus** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:48 pm

intersting stats from RAWK, a lot to read, but certainly tells the tale:

Below this you'll find a list of all players, who have played this season and how many minutes they've actually played. I've calculated just how many '90 minute matches' that is and added the % of the 38 possible matches they could have participated in:

Jamie Carragher 3060 min = 34.0 matches = 90%
Sami Hyypia 2871 = 31.9 matches = 84%
John Arne Riise 2861 = 31.8 matches = 84%
Dietmar Hamann 2289 = 25.4 matches = 67%
Jerzy Dudek 2160 = 24.0 matches = 63%
Steve Finnan 2157 = 23.9 matches = 63%
Steven Gerrard 1990 = 22.1 matches = 58%
Luis Garcia 1911 = 21.2 matches = 56%
Milan Baros 1890 = 21.0 matches = 55%
Djimi Traore 1863 = 20.7 matches = 55%
Xabi Alonso 1716 = 19.1 matches = 50%
Harry Kewell 1678 = 18.6 matches = 49%
Josemi 1635 = 18.1 matches = 47%
Chris Kirkland 1260 = 14.0 matches = 36%
Florent Sinama Pongolle 1113 = 12.3 matches = 31%
Djibril Cisse 1061 = 11.8 matches = 30%
Stephen Warnock 880 = 9.8 matches = 25%
Neil Mellor 855 = 9.5 matches = 25%
Antonio Nunez 804 = 8.9 matches = 24%
Igor Biscan 707 = 7.8 matches = 21%
Darren Potter 455 = 5.1 matches = 13%
Zak Whitbread 360 = 4.0 matches = 10%
Mauricio Pellegrino 270 = 3.0 matches = 8%
Fernando Morientes 255 = 2.8 matches = 7
David Raven 203 = 2.2 matches = 6%
John Welsh 128 = 1.4 matches = 4%
Mark Smyth 20 = 0.2 matches = 1%

Pretty much speaks for itself, but here's my points:

a.) We've only got 3 players, who have participated in more than 75% of the matches.

b.) We've only got 11 players, who have participated in more than 50% of the matches.

c.) A total of 27 players have been playing this season.

d.) Our 'stars' or 'great players' or whatever you want to call them, have missed:

Steven Gerrard 15.9 matches = 42%
Luis Garcia 16.8 matches = 44%
Milan Baros 17.0 matches = 45%
Xabi Alonso 18.9 matches = 50%
Harry Kewell 19.4 matches = 51%
Djibril Cisse 26.2 matches = 70%

Here are the same stats for Chelsea - only 36 games, as they didn't need qualification for CL:

John Terry 2970 = 33 matches = 92%
Frank Lampard 2905 = 32.2 = 89%
Paulo Ferreira 2847 = 31.6 = 88%
Petr Cech 2700 = 30.0 = 83%
Claude Makelele 2700 = 30.0 = 83%
William Gallas 2411 = 26.8 = 74%
Damien Duff 2242 = 24.9 = 69%
Eidur Gudjohnsen 1883 = 20.9 = 58%
Ricardo Carvalho 1789 = 19.9 = 55%
Tiago Mendes 1776 = 19.7 = 55%
Arjen Robben 1628 = 18.1 = 50%
Didier Drogba 1625 = 18.1 = 50%
Wayne Bridge 1598 = 17.8 = 49%
Alexei Smertin 1246 = 13.8 = 38%
Joe Cole 1163 = 12.9 = 36%
Mateja Kezman 1043 = 11.6 = 32%
Glen Johnson 859 = 9.5 = 27%
Scott Parker 630 = 7.0 = 19%
Carlo Cudicini 540 = 6.0 = 17%
Ndjitap Geremi 408 = 4.5 = 13%

And the bluesh1te:
Okay - Stats for Everton - 29 matches:

Tony Hibbert 2384 = 26.4 = 91%
Kevin Kilbane 2338 = 26.0 = 90%
Alessandro Pistone 2333 = 25.9 = 89%
Alan Stubbs 2317 = 25.7 = 89%
Lee Carsley 2308 = 25.6 = 88%
Marcus Bent 1958 = 21.8 = 75%
Tim Cahill 1943 = 21.6 = 74%
David Weir 1915 = 21.2 = 73%
(Thomas Gravesen) 1915 = 21.2 = 73%
Leon Osman 1832 = 20.4 = 70%
Nigel Martyn 1755 = 19.5 = 67%
Joseph Yobo 1137 = 12.6 = 44%
Steve Watson 866 = 9.6 = 36%
Richard Wright 855 = 9.5 = 35%
James McFadden 777 = 8.6 = 32%
Duncan Ferguson 706 = 7.8 = 29%
Gary Naysmith 580 = 6.4 = 24%
James Beattie 327 = 3.6 = 13%
Nick Chadwick 146 = 1.6 = 6%

I'm not sure if Beattie's minutes are only for Everton, or Saints as well...?

To summarise:

Liverpool:
Players above 75% participation, a total of 8792 mins = avg. 2930 mins = 3 players playing 23% of all minutes
Players above between 50-75% participation, a total of 15'976 mins = avg. 1997 mins = 8 players playing 43% of all minutes
Players above between 10-50% participation, a total of 11'684 mins = avg. 730 mins = 13 players playing 31% of all minutes
(Last 3% fringe players)
Liverpool total minutes = 38 x 11 x 90 = 37'620

Chelsea:
Players above 75% participation, a total of 14'122 mins = avg. 2824 mins = 5 players playing 39% of all minutes
Players above between 50-75% participation, a total of 13'354 mins = avg. 1907 mins = 7 players playing 37% of all minutes
Players above between 10-50% participation, a total of 7'487 mins = avg. 936 mins = 8 players playing 21% of all minutes
(Last 3% fringe players)
Chelsea total minutes of play = 36 x 90 x 11 = 35'640

Everton:
Players above 75% participation, a total of 13'638 mins = avg. 2273 mins = 6 players playing 48% of all minutes
Players above between 50-75% participation, a total of 9'360 mins = avg. 1872 mins = 6 players playing 33% of all minutes
Players above between 10-50% participation, a total of 5'394 mins = avg. 674 mins = 8 players playing 19% of all minutes
Everton total minutes of play = 29 x 90 x 11 = 28'710

We've been very, very badly hit in the 'core', or where we have our class players - the players we expect to participate in at least 75% of out games or more:
Everton: 6 players
Chelsea: 5 players
Liverpool: 3 players

Which basically means that we've had to make changes to our team core again and again and again this season, so it's no wonder to me that we've been as incosistent as we have.....

by **dawson99** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:52 pm

maximus, i dont know if thats the mostfantastic thing ive ever read, or if u have outgeeked yourself... either way, great stats, its all there in black and white

by **maximus** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:55 pm

dawson99 wrote:maximus, i dont know if thats the mostfantastic thing ive ever read, or if u have outgeeked yourself... either way, great stats, its all there in black and white

I think the latter

by **LiverpoolMadman** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:09 pm

I think it's just a bad luck this season . Hopefully next season will be a better year for us.

by **LiverpoolMadman** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:17 pm

Maybe it's not a curse. We all inclu the players need to pray.

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