Damn right it isn’t. The media are howling for the boss to go – ‘fans’ are saying we’ve never had a worse manager – former players who have managerial experience limited to their kids Sunday team are up in arms.
It’s time for the manager to go and go now. ‘Sack the boss!’
Fortunately – it never happened. You see – twitter, email, websites, forums and 24 hour ‘we need a story right now’ sports TV channels and media didn’t exist back in the autumn of 1981 when a dysfunctioning Liverpool side – packed to the rafters with (what we look back at) quality players endured a thoroughly miserable spell spanning two seasons. Bob Paisley wasn’t sacked and went on to win the title that season and the following season.
Had Liverpool’s great manager Bob Paisley been under similar circumstances then today – then the media would have been insisting his team was full of internationals like Dalglish and Rush that had lost their focus. They would have said Paisley didn’t care about the league anymore and was focusing on Europe. Ian Rush who had recently signed for the reds at the start of Liverpool’s poor league forum would have been labelled a ‘waste of space’ and the media pundits would have been lining up saying how much we missed ‘Emlyn Alonso’.
Let’s fast forward 28 years and the media are attempting, and in some cases succeeding in, whipping some sections of Liverpool’s support in to a disturbing frenzy. (For the record – Rafa’s Liverpool have won 35 of their last 55 league games).
There can be no question that Liverpool’s start to the season has been stuttering. The same team that landed a record points haul last season and same close is arguably the same as last year – however in recent weeks the reds have been rocked by a horrific injury list – the likes of which I can’t remember at Anfield since Graeme Souness used to begin every Liverpool training session with an hour-long run blindfolded through the woods.
Tomorrow we face Lyon. No doubt this would be a tough test for a Liverpool first choice XI but I doubt any Premier League club would get a result with 6 or 7 of their best players out injured or struggling with injury. Yet if the result does not go our way – then the media will probably whip some people over the edge.
The Champions League is a fantastic tournament but anyone who believes it is Liverpool’s primary focus is on another planet. I don’t think it is, most Liverpool fans don’t think it is and despite what the anti-Liverpool media and world class managers like Ronnie Whelan say – Rafa doesn’t think it is.
In fact probably the only imbeciles who do rank the Champions League more highly than the Premier League are Hicks and Gillett. Why? Because it’s all about the money. Liverpool’s debt situation is such that the owners value it above all others. Pressure will be placed on Rafa to risk players that we all know should be given time to focus on Monday’s Birmingham game.
Two years ago we asked Is Rafa the Right man for Liverpool? 84% of supporters said Yes.
Two days ago we asked the same question to get a feel for the current mood. The result? 82.5% of fans believe Rafa is the right man for the reds.
So amongst all the panic and media frenzy whipped up by those with other interests to serve – just remember that most of you reading this are in the overwhelming majority. The silent majority. It’s about time the silent majority made a little bit more noise.
RAFA STAYS. HICKS AND GILLETT OUT.
yanks out. they are rippin the heart and soul out of liverpool fc. rafa is the man for the job yes we are going through a rough time at the moment mainly due to injuries but we will come good with a 100% fit squad. in rafa we trust.
Thank god I have just found this site. All comments rational and the original post well constructed and based on facts. These two things make the basis of any argument or debate and are two things missing completely from the majoritory of the media.
It’s not just football. the British media is the disease of this country, they all have hidden agendas and they all feel free to make up and print whatever they want to sell papers no matter how damaging to society, then they moan about which ever political party happens to be in charge for not doing enough.
Just watch what happens a few months after the torries get back in, they’ll be on their backs instantly but we will be stuck with them for four years!
I applaud you sir – what a great article. Some perspective is needed – and indeed some accuracy in reporting. When you have ‘pundits’ like Charlie Nicholas questioning Rafa’s subbing of Torres – we need perspective. Any fan with half a brain knows Torres is nursing an injury and can’t complete games at present.
As for the media – it’s shocking. The first really bad run of Rafa’s reign and they are calling for blood. For heaven’s sake, some of the stuff I have read is appalling. As for going out of the CL – well, many top teams have missed out in recent years – including Utd going out at the group stages in 2005. It would not be the end of the world – in fact, it would probably speed up new investment.
I also have to take issue with the poster above who suggested that the move for Klinsmann was sensible. I’m sorry sir, but in no way is Klinsmann a respected club manager. He has very limited coaching experience and alienated the Bayern squad with a lot of odd training methods (think crystal therapy and the like!). This is NOT someone who should EVER be associated with LFC. EVER.
YNWA in RAFA we TRUST.
Well said anfield online.
As for the crisis, we have all got to get behind Rafa, he is struggling with a nightmare of injuries and it’s not the Liverpool FC way to turn on him. We MUST support him and our fantastic club through these hard times.
These hard times will make the good times so much sweeter!
Red4life!
Class article. We’re a very strong team by both domestic and european standards. We’ve been decimated by injury so far this year and the players are allowed to have a few stinkers from time to time. It’s called being human.
Howdy,
sorry not a liverpool fan, i was just reading through newsnow to get an idea of liverpool fans’ reaction to the current situation you’re in. There seems to be a lot of blame laid at the feet of hicks & gillett – is this really warranted?
From an outside perspective, it doesn’t seem like they interfere in the day-to-day running of the club or team selection and they have, in previous seasons at least, provided funds for transfers. I’d accept that the debt they burdened the club with to complete its purchase is proving a substantial hindrence this season but that would exist unless an owner with bags of money came in, and they might well want more of a say in the running of the club. If the debt didn’t exist would liverpool fans still feel the same way about their owners?
I ask from a position of ignorance and my questions are meant as honest enquiries so please don’t consider them an attempt to wind up. Thanks in advance.
£300M debt, no new stadium which was promised to start within 60 days, undermining the manager, making us a laughing stock with their bickering in the press, attempting to replace Rafa with Klinsmann, comments suggesting Liverpool could fund baseball transfers, expense claims, £1M in interest payments every 9 days.
so the debt as I mentioned and a lack of stadium which is probably largely due to the debt. The klinsmann thing, from an outside point of view, seems like a sensible step from the owners given the situation with Benitez at the time. The bickering I can see as annoying but it doesn’t really effect liverpool too much and is almost certainly a product of the debt as well. The interest payments are also a product of the debt and it maybe should be better structured but given the current economic situation I can kind of accept this would be difficult.
I’m not aware of the expenses claims, if they’re reasonable then I wouldn’t feel that it would be too bad to make an expenses claim, on the other hand they might be taking this piss for all I know. Finally, the baseball comments are just plain stupid but ultimately such payments haven’t happened (that I know of) so surely have had no effect on the current team.
Again this is all from an outside point of view so please excuse any ignorance. From what you’ve said I can certainly see why you’d be thinking that the owners aren’t ideal but I am also hard pressed to see how they are responsible for the current situation, or how new owners would be a help, other than with regards to the debt situation for both aspects.
If you don’t know enough about Liverpool football club you shouldn’t comment. If you follow the club from on a day to day basis and not just one off you will understand why. Enough reasons mentioned above.
Ok rite well when these guys came in they promised allot and havn’t delivered on any of their promises. Instead of investing their money into the club they financed a deal to buy the club with banks money which meant…..
A ‘ They didn’t have the money to but the club in the first place’
B ‘ in turn were unable to sustain the type of financial and commercial growth the club needs to compete’
C ‘ Didn’t make good on their promise for a new 60- 70 thousand seater stadia which would have brought in increased revenue’
D ‘ refused or delayed funding for the teams transfer interests which meant ether loosing out on targets all together or having to settle for third, sometimes fourth choice players and brought in a policy of ‘sell to buy’ which reduced squad quality and strength’
E ‘Undermined the manager and unsettled players by tapping up Jurgen Klinsmann as a replacement into the season’
And F ‘ Simply feign all responsibility for the current state of the club choosing to ether blame the manager or the global recession ‘
Put simply they havn’t left the team or the manager alone enough,although it may seem like that from outside there consistent bickering with each other, selfish and irresponsible cavalier attitude is both ridiculously unprofessional and extremely dangerous towards this historic club !
Lets not say Rafa ( Our Manager ) is not blameless, far from it to be fare, however when you are being undermined from day one by belligerent owners “Rick Parry + David Moores” Who then cash in to ‘the dog with the biggest bone’ in Gillete and Hicks who in turn make no effort to improve a failed system , blow allot of hot air and then rob our club blind …………. Well it would make running a KFC hard as hell wouldn’t it let alone a Historic and proud Football club .
Yep the fact is any team with nine main squad players and 7 first team players in that number out would have difficulty getting results against any side in the league or europe ! All knee jerkers are likely to believe the papers and it amazes me how much people read in to it without getting an objective view ‘ remember there are two sides to every story ‘ .
This team were born for miracles, for last gasp winners, for against the odds results, for miraculous comebacks so turn those frowns upside down and lets all get behind the lads
Y. N. W. A.
Music to my ears this article! Liverpool FC will hopefully never bow to the lunacy of knee-jerk reactions. We will get our players back, our confidence will return and we will tear teams apart (like Madrid- only a few months ago)