Should we feel smug? Yes probably
Should we feel optimistic? Definitely
Should we feel hatred? Absolutely not
Torres has left us but is struggling in his early weeks at Chelsea. His body language hasn’t changed much since the move and he’s finding life at Stamford Bridge more difficult than perhaps he or his new club imagined.
Smugness on our part and a sense of “it serves you right” is natural. We should also be delighted that we have a manager and (now it would appear) owners who reacted to the transfer in exactly the right way. Torres’ £50M valuation was likely to go only one way in the future and it is incredible that we got this amount for him based on his form and injury record over the last 12 months. The board clearly realised this, chose to cash in on a depreciating asset and credit should be given to them for doing so.
Our optimism is founded not solely on the return of King Kenny but once again on the willingness of the owners not to sit on a nice £50M influx of cash into the club but to spend all of it and more within the same day. They could have felt in the midst of an almost lost season that they might as well wait until the summer and perhaps get the same players for a little less. There are many reasons why it was right to act immediately and it is so reassuring to finally have owners that appreciate what is needed and act with urgency.
Whatever we feel about Torres leaving we have to admit as he himself has stated that we have been a club in a mess over the last 3 years. If Fenway had arrived 1 or 2 years ago perhaps things would have been different and we could have built a team with Torres being part of it. That wasn’t the case and we can quite rightly vent our annoyance at the 2 clowns who are dragged us down into a club not capable of challenging at the very top level.
We can’t expect Torres to have the same loyalty as local boys Carragher and Gerrard. It is simply a sign of the times that we have overseas players that give their heart and soul to the club when it suits them. Those who do show the same kind of loyalty are sadly in the minority. Let’s just hope that we have a few in our team, Reina amongst them!
To detest Torres now is to disregard all the great moments he gave us whilst at Anfield, some of which would be difficult to forget, particularly against Man Utd and Chelsea. It is difficult to stomach that it was one of our fiercest rivals that made the successful offer to take him from us. Surely though, our feelings for Chelsea don’t come anywhere close to those for Man Utd. Imagine just how painful it would have been if he had moved there instead. We would hope that an offer more than Chelsea’s would not have persuaded the board to sell to our arch rivals. Perhaps we will have to keep our fingers crossed that this is the case in the summer should they come sniffing for a certain keeper.
Let us remember Torres for what he did but look positively for the future. He’s gone, it was the right time for him to go and we’re certainly in a better position with Suarez and Carroll instead.
Torres was world class for us and losing the possibility of a partnership of Torres and Suarez is a pity for now we will never know what may have been with those two. Torres choice to go to Chelsea is a strange one it proves he never studies the game or he would have realized that they use a much different system to what would suit Torres, Chelsea may change the way they set up to suit Torres but don’t hold your breath on that one, what has happened since is something we must thank Torres for because you do not have to be a brain surgeon to know Carroll and Saurez are going to be some pairing and although they have not started a game together as yet they both can play and as long as we do not use Carroll to knock it long every ball played to him we shall have a front pairing of undoubted ability and one that will win a lot of games. Thanks for the memories El-Nino and good luck I hope it works out for you.
Please L P fans,get over it,concentrate on been nice towards everybody and maybe your teams confidence will be restored,pool is already out of competitions,so stop bragging,brag next season,ok!
Instead of using his own determination to fire Liverpool back to the top Torres jumped on the nearest bandwagon and left us when we needed him most. He could and should have been an all time Liverpool great, now I feel only resentment towards him. Like Kenny said, we move on, no one player is bigger than the club. He will never be the player Chelsea needed.
To be honest I cannot disagree with a single word you say unyet my overriding feeling is one of bitterness.
Despite believing that on his day he is one of the best strikers in the world I still think we came out of this deal better with greater striking options.
Long may our rise back to the top under King Kenny go on and long may Torres’ misery continue.
Let’s hope in years to come when reflecting on his trophyless club football career with Chelsea he is forced to concede with a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye his biggest mistake was the day he walked away from the once again mighty reds.
@DavePerry1972 YNWA
Looking at the bigger picture you have to say its the best for everyone that he left when he did. Last summer the 50 or even 60 million would have gone to RBS, who, might well have serviced the debt which could have dragged out the whole shitty ownership debacle for another 6 months or more.
I’d have rather he stayed but he wanted out. Remember, only Liverpool fans were even remotely interested in trying to solve the problems or even listen to the protests, and not even all our fans were prepared to listen or demonstrate until things got really bad. I had that many arguments about the owners with ignorant people who wouldn’t listen, that i’ve lost count of the times. Remember Mark Bright’s tirade on 5 Live? Thats what most people thought of us.
Maybe think about this as well, the Bolton game saw about 10,000 empty seats. So a good number of our fans had clearly had enough. What makes people think Torres would be happy? Sure things had started to turn around, but his mind was made up last summer.
As for Alonso, we tried to sell him the season before he left, but we couldn’t find anyone to pay what he was worth. He was professional, but there was no one in for him until he started playing well. As soon as Madrid were interested he made up his mind to go. Can’t blame him, but also, can’t blame Torres.
Regarding your quote that “50 or even 60 million would have gone to RBS,” I never thought of it that way! Blessing in disguise that the money went to NESV instead!
I agree with Kathy all the way. We all knew he wanted to leave, and Im pretty sure most fans would of been okay with him leaving at the end of THIS season -even to chelsea-. If only he would of done that, he would of been remembered as a LEGEND in the future. Yes, if he had waited just 4 more months. But that was not the case.
As Liverpool fans from every corner of the world, we were hurt because of HOW he left. I personally don’t know if I feel as if I had been spat in the face or stabbed in the back. He has talked several times in the last 6 weeks about this and that; trying to find a lame justification for his actions. Maybe he is trying to convince himself that he took the right decision. Maybe there is tiny part of him that thinks he was wrong. Maybe thats not the case. Nobody really knows except for him. But I don’t care. I did before, but not anymore.
He probably spent his best years in the England wearing Liverpool’s number 9 shirt, and that made us very proud. He gave us many happy moments, like the 2 goals against City on that EPIC come from behind played in Manchester. That second goal against Arsenal in the Champions League at Anfield. Or even that header against Portsmouth in the dying minutes of a match we had played horrible and were always trailing. Ohhh how we bounced watching those games at 11th Streer Bar in New York! He scored those goals when we most needed them. And because of that, we never got tired of bouncing countless times and proclaiming his name as Liverpool’s No.9. We felt he was our son, thats how much we loved we him.
This rant is almost over…
There is a difference between been a professional who plays for a club, and being a player who plays for the club he loves. Torres was NONE. If he would of been a true professional, he would of been respectful with the FANS and the CLUB who stood by him through thick and thin. Help them get through a rough season and at least let his fans pay a ticket to watch him play his final game as a Liverpool player. A proper goodbye is all we wanted. But he did not. Because of his selfishness, he decided to walk away at the worst of times. GOOD RIDDANCE MR TORRES.
Felipe C
Liverpool FC New York Supporters Club
need to keep some perspective, we had Torres’s best 3 years, injuries have taken their toll, and we, who claim to be the most knowledgable and fairest supporters don’t need to keep getting drawn into negative slanging matches over players or ex players, and Macca & Owen were also scousers who left us in less than the best of circumstances so lets avoid xenophobic bias..
take a leaf out of Kenny’s book and keep our dignity, is right that the club was in a mess from Parry through to Purslow (not forgetting the damage fool hodgson did to us) and there is a lot of stuff that will come out that may or may not change a lot of the lesser informed fans opinions..having followed the REdS all over europe during those 3 years (and decades before) I would rather keep my memories of some great goals and “bouncing” at san siro etc
..because its a can of worm what went on behind the scenes during last year, dont forget Purslow left after Torres..! and that’s much more significant! There are many stories to add of Nando’s generosity towards young fans & charities etc BEFORE it went sour..with Kenny back I would rather focus on what our team NOW and in the future will win!
Bring back Torres and Beneyoun
You did well to get that much money for Torres, and Liverpool have stated that his price was driven by the price of Carroll, but I really can’t see Carroll being worth anything like that much. I think that 35million could have been spent much more effectively. Suarez looks the deal though
Why are you being an apologist for Torres. To be frank I don’t care to rememeber him at all. He has left and that is that. Alonso on the other hand I wish him good luck because he left LFC with dignity and that to be says much about him.
I wish Torres will just focus on Chelski and stop going on about LFC. This supporter that used to back him has moved on. It is not about which club he ended up at; but the way and manner he did it.
Finally; I strongly disagree with you that he left at the right time; no he did not. He should have waited till the end of the season; no chose to earn more money and no amount of justification from the likes of you will detract from my opinion.
Enough of Torres and his PR machine; we LFC supporters have moved on.
I disagree that LFC supporters have moved on, and I think that this is why Nick is writing this article. Anytime Suarez does ANYTHING, people always talk about how much better he is than Torres and etc. etc. I think Torres was magnificent for us, and we should be sad that things turned out the way they did rather than pretending like it means nothing (because why would we even respond to an article (or read it) if it means nothing to us?). Of course it doesn’t mean NOTHING. None of us have moved on, regardless of what people say. What matters is how we cope with losing such a great goalscorer… and I think Nick is suggesting that we do it with class and dignity rather than with caddy comments and immature bickering about how he is “rubbish” and “a Judas” on forums!! We should all be proud that he played for us and proud that we have brought in great replacements to handle losing him.
I do agree with you, Kathy, about Torres’ comments about us… he needs to stop! And I also agree that he moved at the wrong time. He should have moved LAST summer instead of sulking all season long. Regardless, 50 mil is a good deal for us!
Well said.
perfect timing for the reds this transfer,sold him at inflated prices. believe saurez will have big impact on the reds. think he is more durable and has more skills than torres. and havent even mentioned the impact of caroll yet. but by his skills in his first game he is awesome. look selling torres was a blessing.
Dont be bitter,Torres has done alot for liverpool,L P fans must stop been so high and mighty.
Be nice and your team may win some games,Veronica.South Africa