When the queues are formed at the club shop for getting players names printed on shirts I've always cringed.
When Liverpool unveil the latest hoarding outside the Kop of the current 'favourite players' I cringe.
As the Coutinho saga has proven, after the Suarez saga, the Torres saga, even the McManaman saga. Quite frankly footballers couldn't give a shit for the fans who provide their £7M salary and their ability to have them and their better-halves posting pictures on Instagram whilst spread-eagle on super yachts.
And quite frankly any fan who believes these players would 'die for their club' is an imbecile.
Even the Liverpool CEO is not involved in conversations with the players - his job is to find out which tool/gardening/furniture/supermarket/gym/electricity company wants to partner with Liverpool in exchange for an advertising hoarding and 200 guaranteed seats in the Main Stand at Anfield.
The huge banners at Anfield should not represent the modern day player but the players in Liverpool's history who have achieved something for the fans - given the fans something to remember. Gerrard, Smicer, Alonso would all be better visions of Liverpool's famous stand than the modern day charlatans who have won, let's be clear on this, fuck all.
So Coutinho has refused to travel to Germany in arguably the club's most pivotal fixture in a few years. Shame on him. Shame on the club if they do decide to sell him.
Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, are clearly amateurs when it comes to the world of professional football. There is no disputing their ability to deal with construction firms, as has been seen with the impressively rapid redevelopment of the main stand in just less than a season. But Football? No they clearly don't have it . They hired an impotent sporting director in Michael Edwards who having scanned the globe for football talent obviously arrived at just 3 humans - Solanke he got - after that he drew a blank.
So what to do now with Coutinho. Liverpool paid £8M for him a number of years ago. If he declares himself unable to play then insurance wise he is costing the club nothing. The club should in my view hold him to the lucrative 5 year contract he signed in January of this year. If a top 10 club in the world can't make an example of a player then I don't know who can.
Grow a pair Liverpool - and while you're at it how about having more than a target A in the transfer window. The reds have been underfunding transfer windows for years now and it's about time they bolstered the squad in a serious fashion.
Coutinho - as a human earning almost £200,000 per week you should be thoroughly ashamed by your behaviour. Liverpool - as a club earning £350M+ a year you should be thoroughly ashamed by your transfers.