For Liverpool Fans Today Was A Sad Day

Driving home from the Liberty Stadium today I felt bereaved. I watched Liverpool tread water for much of the 90 minutes against Swansea, and then saw the last twitch of shattered legs, as the team drowned. A 1-0 defeat. But then I looked all around me and saw Liverpool fans celebrating the news that Man Utd lost the title on goal difference. The winners of the 70's and 80's would have been perplexed and disgusted. I was perplexed and saddened. What has this club become I thought to myself?

And then it was there in front of me on my phone. A sad, mid table team that celebrated the minor heartache of Man Utd, a former rival as it now appears.

This was a club that has always had pride and heart and fight. Instead, that confused Dalglish, a shadow of himself, is the personification of the sad demise. Today was the last day of the season. Today was the day Manchester City won the title and QPR survived. Today was the day Everton finished above Liverpool. But today was also the day, that was the final confirmation, that liverpool are now irrelevant.

Liverpool had their days in the 80's you can't expect them to reach those heights again.

Liverpool won the league when pass back was still allowed.

It seemed to be going so well for Dalglish and the Liverpool team earlier in the season ...

... and then along came the Suarez incident. The way Dalglish handled the situation was appalling and it allowed the whole Liverpool team to be derailed. They were constantly pilloried in the media for their continued "victim" mentallity and response, and the owners were ultimately compelled to come in and force Dalglish' hand after the disgraceful Evra - Suarez refused handshake.

Dalglish should have known better and should have quashed the incident from the beginning instead of allowing it to grow to enormous proportions. A forced apology from Suarez, saying that he believed his words were taken out of context, but accepting the blame and apologising to all parties, would have sufficed. Suarez is a good player and this shouldn't have been allowed to grow to such a proportion that it overshadowed the football club itself.

I think these days many fans take greater pleasure out of failure of their rivals than actual success of their own team.

We haven't been a title challenger for almost all of the Premier League's history, only the odd year have we really challenged for it, perhaps it's because I'm 18 that I've never really understood why some fans expect us to challenge for the title every year, when in my lifetime, it has only happened maybe three times.

The problems are not as bad as some are making out, I actually think in most games we've played, whether won, drawn or lost we've been the better side so we need to build on those foundations and I think we are more than capable of reaching the top four again.

The fans reaction is nothing to do with the club and I can only imagine it was a small handful of fans out of the millions. As Crimey has said I've been at games were we have totally dominated only to hit the post and 3 or 4 times and draw or even worse concede a late goal and lose. The core of the side is a good one, Reina, Skrtl, Agger, Lucas, Gerrard and Suarez. The issue you then have is the players that surround the core, the full backs are fine, our defence hasn't been the issue, we need two good wingers, a decent back up for Lucas as Spearing is just awful.

Rumours are we're going to move for Roberto Martinez this week, whether he'd do anything with a club who wants to challenge for top 4 compared to avoid relegation I don't know.

Of course Liverpool haven't been title challengers very often. I know that. I expect Liverpool to be a top 4 team though or be competing for that and then having a good run in Europe. If Liverpool had finished where Newcastle had finished I wouldn't mind. But at one point they could have realistically been below Norwich, West Brom and Swansea etc. No disrespect at all but look the the budgets.

As for the "we have played well argument." Results count. The defence hasn't been good enough to hold onto draws in those games we couldn't score and ended up losing and Jose Enrique is the worst player on the ball that I have ever seen.

Only City and United conceded less than Liverpool this season, the issue lies with the midfield and the strikers, yes Suarez is a superb player but we need a 25 goal a season striker and he isnt it. I'd drop Gerrard back along side Lucas and try to sign Darren Bent or Rossi from Villarreal.

When I first started watching football, Liverpool were a second division team. By 1963 they had won the Championship once and had never won the FA Cup.
They went on to have, arguably, the greatest period in any English club's history if you chuck in the European Cup successes as well.
These things go in cycles. Younger fans probably find it incomprehensible that by 1993, Man Untd had not won the championship for TWENTY SIX years.
Liverpool could well become a major power again. Doubt if Kenny is the man to take them there, though.

Stewart Downing 72 shots at goal, zero scored. Must be a record. Also had zero assists..

BeachBoy2012 wrote:Driving home from the Liberty Stadium today I felt bereaved. I watched Liverpool tread water for much of the 90 minutes against Swansea, and then saw the last twitch of shattered legs, as the team drowned. A 1-0 defeat. But then I looked all around me and saw Liverpool fans celebrating the news that Man Utd lost the title on goal difference. The winners of the 70's and 80's would have been perplexed and disgusted. I was perplexed and saddened. What has this club become I thought to myself?

And then it was there in front of me on my phone. A sad, mid table team that celebrated the minor heartache of Man Utd, a former rival as it now appears.

This was a club that has always had pride and heart and fight. Instead, that confused Dalglish, a shadow of himself, is the personification of the sad demise. Today was the last day of the season. Today was the day Manchester City won the title and QPR survived. Today was the day Everton finished above Liverpool. But today was also the day, that was the final confirmation, that liverpool are now irrelevant.

Don't be too hard on yourself, unfortunately the modern fans are more interested in the demise of Utd than anything else. However there are hopefully a few fans like yourself that care about the history of the club and even though Liverpool may not be challenging for the league at present, they will not be more happy about Utd losing the league than their own team being defeated.

BeachBoy2012 wrote:Driving home from the Liberty Stadium today I felt bereaved. I watched Liverpool tread water for much of the 90 minutes against Swansea, and then saw the last twitch of shattered legs, as the team drowned. A 1-0 defeat. But then I looked all around me and saw Liverpool fans celebrating the news that Man Utd lost the title on goal difference. The winners of the 70's and 80's would have been perplexed and disgusted. I was perplexed and saddened. What has this club become I thought to myself?

And then it was there in front of me on my phone. A sad, mid table team that celebrated the minor heartache of Man Utd, a former rival as it now appears.

This was a club that has always had pride and heart and fight. Instead, that confused Dalglish, a shadow of himself, is the personification of the sad demise. Today was the last day of the season. Today was the day Manchester City won the title and QPR survived. Today was the day Everton finished above Liverpool. But today was also the day, that was the final confirmation, that liverpool are now irrelevant.

Pretty pathetic post. You sound like a girl. So they had a bad season in the league, grow a pair of balls and stop whining like a bitch.

Don't think he's whining at all, he actually makes a good point about a lot of football fans, they'd rather celebrate a rival losing than wonder why they are losing to poorer teams.

hampo

Theres good reasons why Liverpool fans cheered ManU's league miss this year, Evra and Suarez incident which brought an 8 match ban and constant abuse for their star player all season long.

ManU fans often take the p|ss out of the opposing fans so can't complain when it is returned with interest.

dublfcynwa wrote:Pretty pathetic post. You sound like a girl. So they had a bad season in the league, grow a pair of balls and stop whining like a bitch.

You sound like a Typical modern fan with no depth.

hampo171 wrote:Don't think he's whining at all, he actually makes a good point about a lot of football fans, they'd rather celebrate a rival losing than wonder why they are losing to poorer teams.

Thats the Modern Football fan for you. Shallow and jealous

Josiah Maiestas wrote:hampo

Theres good reasons why Liverpool fans cheered ManU's league miss this year, Evra and Suarez incident which brought an 8 match ban and constant abuse for their star player all season long.

ManU fans often take the p|ss out of the opposing fans so can't complain when it is returned with interest.

For me personally I don't care what any other team does, first and last thing on my mind yesterday was how have we slipped so far from top 4 to midtable.

You've emphiased my point, other fans would rather mock others than look at the failings of their own teams.

You've emphiased my point, other fans would rather mock others than look at the failings of their own teams.

People are obviously upset about their own teams feelings, some will mock other teams failings as a defensive reaction, and to change the subject on to something more satisfying for them. Its called banter usually, no?

Sure 99% of fans are more concerned with their own team than another team failing, but the fun part of footballing is mocking other clubs. It will always be that way!

It's been a shocking league campaign for Liverpool, only slightly alleviated by the two cup runs which have rather papered over the cracks.

OK, they probably didn't have the squad to challenge for the title, but they should always be there or thereabouts in contention for the Champions League places with the likes of Arsenal, Spurs and (the aging) Chelsea - Newcastle over-achieved to end up so close.
Finishing below Everton (who are decent but not world beaters) and level on points with Fulham, who go into every season hoping that they'll stay out of the relegation dog-fight, is a long way short of expectations.

I don't see Dalglish still being manager at the start of next season (especially with the DoF role available so he won't have to be sacked) - there are a few good managers available at the moment: McLeish, Bruce, McCarthy...
More seriously, does the history of LFC make them a big enough draw to pull a properly big name manager in - Capello, Guardiola, Mourinho?

Oh, and with regards to Man U, they definitely over-performed this season with what was one of their weakest squads for many years. Take Rooney out of it and you aren't left with all that much, yet they managed to come within a couple of minutes of retaining their title.

we have had the same problem all season, we were complaining when we actually had something to play for, since we won the carling cup, the players had pretty much given up as we have our place in europe so only really tried in the fa cup, in this second half of the season, the only players to come out with any credit are carroll and suarez.

was i happy that city won the title, yes, but not enough to get over this frankly awful season, it may take us years to challenge for the title again, but until then, we cant have united getting too far ahead of us in total league titles

Rumour building on Twitter is that Kenny Dalglish has parted company with Liverpool Football Club, nothing has been confirmed.

Hero wrote:Rumour building on Twitter is that Kenny Dalglish has parted company with Liverpool Football Club, nothing has been confirmed.

Apparently Liverpool have declined to comment. No smoke without fire...

https://twitter.com/#!/danroan/status/202362238525378560

From that I suspect hes walked.

Pity. As a United fan I've been enjoying watching his destory the club from the inside out - whilst being celebrated still by the fans! Unfortunately the Yank owners are too smart to let it continue....

A london based United fan? Shock there

Haven't seen anything concrete as of yet, but apparently a few of Benitezs coaches have been offered jobs at the club so maybe lining up a return for Rafa.

I would not be in favour of Rafa returning .

As for the OP , as a fan who has been going to watch Liverpool for for over 35 years im disappointed when we lose any game .

Kenny will always be held in the highest regards by Liverpool fans , if he is to leave then so be it Liverpool is bigger then Kenny just like Man Utd is bigger then SAF .

And as for Liverpool fans celebrating Man Utd not winning the title well i think thats only natural given the rivalry between the clubs , im sure Man Utd fans celebrated Chelsea beating Liverpool in the FA cup . The rivalry goes back generations and will continue .

hampo171 wrote:A london based United fan? Shock there

Haven't seen anything concrete as of yet, but apparently a few of Benitezs coaches have been offered jobs at the club so maybe lining up a return for Rafa.

Ha!

I don't buy in to all this business about supporting your nearest club. What happens if you move? If you're born in Manchester and grow up there but move to London for work do you have to start supporting a London club??

TopHat24/7 wrote:

hampo171 wrote:A london based United fan? Shock there

Haven't seen anything concrete as of yet, but apparently a few of Benitezs coaches have been offered jobs at the club so maybe lining up a return for Rafa.

Ha!

I don't buy in to all this business about supporting your nearest club. What happens if you move? If you're born in Manchester and grow up there but move to London for work do you have to start supporting a London club??

I don't actually mind people supporting big clubs that are not local, as long as they do it through the bead times as well. I grew up in a village where the nearest local side played in the old division four, so most of my mates supported Liverpool (it was the late 70's) and Arsenal.

Stella wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

hampo171 wrote:A london based United fan? Shock there

Haven't seen anything concrete as of yet, but apparently a few of Benitezs coaches have been offered jobs at the club so maybe lining up a return for Rafa.

Ha!

I don't buy in to all this business about supporting your nearest club. What happens if you move? If you're born in Manchester and grow up there but move to London for work do you have to start supporting a London club??

I don't actually mind people supporting big clubs that are not local, as long as they do it through the bead times as well. I grew up in a village where the nearest local side played in the old division four, so most of my mates supported Liverpool (it was the late 70's) and Arsenal.

Bit that gets me is that I grew up in the middle of MK, Watford and Cambridge. MK Dons didn't exist so Watford was my nearest club outside of the lower divisions/conference (but still 40ish miles away) and quite a few of my friends all supported Spurs or Arsenal (almost 50 miles away) or Chelsea or Hammers who are even further away. None of those clubs are 'local' yet I get stick for supporting United which I think is a tad hypocritical.

Betting has been suspended on Kenny leaving Liverpool

Roberto Martinez has been installed as favorite if Kenny does go

TopHat24/7 wrote:

Stella wrote:

TopHat24/7 wrote:

hampo171 wrote:A london based United fan? Shock there

Haven't seen anything concrete as of yet, but apparently a few of Benitezs coaches have been offered jobs at the club so maybe lining up a return for Rafa.

Ha!

I don't buy in to all this business about supporting your nearest club. What happens if you move? If you're born in Manchester and grow up there but move to London for work do you have to start supporting a London club??

I don't actually mind people supporting big clubs that are not local, as long as they do it through the bead times as well. I grew up in a village where the nearest local side played in the old division four, so most of my mates supported Liverpool (it was the late 70's) and Arsenal.

Bit that gets me is that I grew up in the middle of MK, Watford and Cambridge. MK Dons didn't exist so Watford was my nearest club outside of the lower divisions/conference (but still 40ish miles away) and quite a few of my friends all supported Spurs or Arsenal (almost 50 miles away) or Chelsea or Hammers who are even further away. None of those clubs are 'local' yet I get stick for supporting United which I think is a tad hypocritical.

That's because it's a cliché to slate someone who supports Utd and doesn't live in Manchester. I live reasonably close to Milton Keynes now. Never been to the Football but do get dragged around Ikea from time to time

I do actually sympathise with Liverpool.

Truly this has been the first season the squad have had together given when they signed Carroll he was injured, Gerrard was injured, Downing and Henderson have only had their first season with the club. I think it is silly to cast doubt over whether they can challenge the top teams.

Suarez despite the idiotic behaviour he has shown at times has proven to actually have been a good buy for what he has done on the pitch. I think they are a quality defender light of a having a decent side.

I think it is better to judge how they perform next season.

[quote="legendkillarV2"]Downing and Henderson have only had their first season with the club. I think it is silly to cast doubt over whether they can challenge the top teams. quote]

When you pay £20m for an experienced Premiership player who plays 36 games this season, it doesnt matter if its your first season with the club you'd expect more of a return than 0 goals and 0 assists.

Fernando wrote:Betting has been suspended on Kenny leaving Liverpool

Roberto Martinez has been installed as favorite if Kenny does go

Odds on Rafa returning have been slashed from 33/1 to 4/1 as well.

[quote="Mr H"]

legendkillarV2 wrote:Downing and Henderson have only had their first season with the club. I think it is silly to cast doubt over whether they can challenge the top teams. quote]

When you pay £20m for an experienced Premiership player who plays 36 games this season, it doesnt matter if its your first season with the club you'd expect more of a return than 0 goals and 0 assists.

Given the fee was actually £16M, it is plain daft to expect stunning results. Some players take longer to get bedded in.

Don't hear many Utd fans crying out for a refund on De Gea!

[quote="legendkillarV2"]

Mr H wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:Downing and Henderson have only had their first season with the club. I think it is silly to cast doubt over whether they can challenge the top teams. quote]

When you pay £20m for an experienced Premiership player who plays 36 games this season, it doesnt matter if its your first season with the club you'd expect more of a return than 0 goals and 0 assists.

Given the fee was actually £16M, it is plain daft to expect stunning results. Some players take longer to get bedded in.

Don't hear many Utd fans crying out for a refund on De Gea!

That's because anyone who watched him at Athletico knew he was a quality player. Difference was he came from a league in which has a completely different style of football. He is only 21 and was one of the main reasons United were still sniffing around at the top come end of the season.

Downing never really showed anything at Villa which justified the 20m price tag, I believe it was 20m because we got Young for 16m and I remember thinking it was a bargain compared to Downing. 0 goals and 0 assists for a player for that kind of money, quite rightly stated, is shocking, its a poor transfer.

Trouble with Rafa coming back is that, in the transfer market, he's almost as bad as Kenny. Bought Alonso, Torres and Mascherano I'll give him credit, but then wanted shot of Alonso so he could get Barry from Villa. Once he snubbed them for City, he had to leave Alonso go as he'd p****d him off and then brought in Aquilani for 20m, a completely over priced and overrated player who he never gave a chance to anyway. Nabil El Zhar and N'gog are all signings spring to mind, all average players he brought in and ultimately it was a weak squad that he assembled that cost them the premier league title. If Liverpool want to go forward they should learn from Dagleish and look to get a fresh face in, that man for me is either AVB or Martinez.

Scratch that it was 16m your right, still over priced

Apparently Kenny has rejected the offer of Director of Football and has stated his desire to remain as manager . So the question now is do Fenway sack him ? as it looks like he wont resign .

KingKenny7Heaven wrote:Apparently Kenny has rejected the offer of Director of Football and has stated his desire to remain as manager . So the question now is do Fenway sack him ? as it looks like he wont resign .

I expect Kenny wants his pay off

Fernando wrote:

KingKenny7Heaven wrote:Apparently Kenny has rejected the offer of Director of Football and has stated his desire to remain as manager . So the question now is do Fenway sack him ? as it looks like he wont resign .

I expect Kenny wants his pay off

From what i have heard he still thinks he is the right person to take the club forward , it looks like heart over mind rather then seeking a pay off

Oh Kenny kenny kenny. Surely if he was the right man he would have seen Downings performances haven't been good enough and dropped him for Bellamy or even given Sterling his chance.

Fenway need to be ruthless here.

Hard decision, on the one hand the league position speaks for itself, absolutley awful! But at times he had us playing good football, and the last thing we want to do is become one of those clubs who is sacking a manager every season! One more year i say...

I don't see how Kenny can stay on really.

He's wasted a huge amount of money on a lot of average at best players and he has to see the game has passed him by.

Couldn't disagree with your more lfc91. Our worst finish for over 50 years, yes the signings have been poor, but why not fall back on experienced players like Maxi and Kuyt then instead of consistenly playing Henderson and Downing? Tactically we haven't been good enough, just because he is Dalglish doesn't get him a life line for me, any other manager and his head would be being called for.

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:I don't see how Kenny can stay on really.

He's wasted a huge amount of money on a lot of average at best players and he has to see the game has passed him by.

No excuses regarding over spending on players however all transfers were dealt with by Damian Camolli which was one of the reasons he was sacked , so its hard to blame Kenny for that .

Kenny must've had some input at least however.

In all honesty, I feel Dalglish's appointment was more a feel good appointment to endear the owners to the fans, which may backfire if they have to fire him. His time as an effective manager has passed for me.

Excellent post. I am not a Liverpool fan but can understand your sentiments precisely. It is sad that that more Liverpool fans were interested in United failing than Liverpool winning.

I think Dalglish will have had input in what players he wanted, but negotiating the prices was Comolli. I hate people who keep on suggesting that Kenny should have used Kuyt more, Kuyt simply was not performing, in fact I genuinely believed we played much better with Downing than we ever did with Kuyt, he works hard and will always be a club legend but Kenny was right to use him less.

I think he needs another year, we've been playing really good football, and while the signings have been poor, the football really hasn't. I think sacking three managers in three years is not good for the club in any way, especially as the squad will have to be rebuilt again. I will be really disappointed if we sack Kenny, his position as a legend is irrelevant at this point, the results do not reflect the performances, so I want to see him given more time.

Gordy wrote:Excellent post. I am not a Liverpool fan but can understand your sentiments precisely. It is sad that that more Liverpool fans were interested in United failing than Liverpool winning.

No true Liverpool fan was more interested in Man Utd failing rather than Liverpool winning ? As a Liverpool fan the most important thing is seeing us play well and winning , i obviously dont want to see Man Utd do well but why would i ?

hampo171 wrote:Couldn't disagree with your more lfc91. Our worst finish for over 50 years, yes the signings have been poor, but why not fall back on experienced players like Maxi and Kuyt then instead of consistenly playing Henderson and Downing? Tactically we haven't been good enough, just because he is Dalglish doesn't get him a life line for me, any other manager and his head would be being called for.

I completely understand you disagreeing, roy hodgson being a perfect example, and im sure it is only who he is that has kept him in the job this long. And i am getting fed up with him always blaming luck. Yes we have the worst chance conversion rate in the prem...but the players are to blame for alot of those squandered chances. As for henderson and downing, i dont think anyone if asked at the start of the season could have predicted a player of downings proven prem quality finishing with 0 goals/assists! Henderson isnt fit to wear the shirt, awful player. Same goes for shelvey and spearing!

I just feel KK can turn it around, as long as he has learned his lesson that buying british is the wrong way to go!(henderson/carroll/adam all bought for this reason). I mean you could have took the money spent on those players alone and raided the spain under 21s and got players of twice the quality! All this just my opinion though.