IT’S boring now – the self-righteous indignation. The moral high ground. The preaching. The finger pointing. The inaccurate claims and ill-informed representations. Boring.
It’s gone on for weeks. It’s still going on. To what end? Point scoring? An office joke? An internet argument?
The desperation from some to tar Liverpool and its fans with the racist brush is tiresome.
But they’re entrenched in their opinion, I’m entrenched in mine. No-one’s budging.
If something is open to interpretation and can be presented as negative those that like to poke the hornet’s nest will do their damnedest to make it buzz.
What they don’t like is silence. No tweets, no comments, no link backs.
Someone else is having a pop? Who’s arsed?
Booing Evra is racist? Ok, if you say so. Who’s arsed what you’ve got to say?
Everyone has lost respect for Dalglish? Ok, if you say so. Who’s arsed?
I could have come on here and pointed you to the latest round of factual inaccuracies in the press or more mischief-making on the internet regarding Liverpool.
I could have highlighted slanderous comments about the Liverpool manager on Twitter from people that really ought to know better.
But who’s arsed?
It’s only important if you make it important. I know I’m not a racist. No-one else can know that better than I do. I know the lads either side of me at Anfield on Saturday aren’t racist.
I know that generally speaking Dalglish is well respected among Liverpool fans. And I think it’s a fair bet he’s got the command of the dressing room given the reaction on the pitch to his comments after the Bolton game.
Myopic hacks desperate for attention are not important. They are people writing about a football match, competing with many other people writing about a football match.
They are desperate to be insightful. Battling to be first with the news. Keen to justify their existence.
Some are good, some are bad. Some are reasonable, some are not.
Controversy is good. Debate is great. A link flying around cyberspace is gold, whatever the reason.
Does it have to be accurate? Does it need to be fair? As long as it gets hits and a few more Twitter followers, who’s arsed?
I’m not, because I’ve gone past caring. I’ve seen it all in the last few years – over Hicks and Gillett, over Hillsborough, over Heysel.
If you want good journalism you should know by now where to look. If you want snide wind-ups – ditto.
Rival fans are not important, either. Those that come looking for comment from Liverpool fans are generally only after one thing – a reaction.
People say all kinds on forums and Twitter, from the inane to the intelligent. You can find a comment to suit whatever the point is you’re trying to make.
Two people have been spoken to by police regarding alleged racist incidents at Anfield in recent games. Over 80,000 were inside the ground over the two games in question.
You’re saying all Liverpool fans are racist? Who’s arsed?
You’re completely right. Who cares what the shitheads in the media think? Fuck ’em.
More arrests are made at horserace meetings, the sport of kings, every year. How’s that for a statistic? This is a grounding piece that’s spot on. Thanks!
We should all DEMAND BETTER by via our actions
Well said in everything you said who is arsed about what a fool has to say in a match report or on twitter. I find when you mention our team everyone rolls their eyes and you get the usual “living in the past” maybe we are…. but at least we have one.
Yep. There’s very little worth the oxygen of publicity.
WHys it always liverpool though?
If any other club in the country booed a player for getting racially abused and having someone doing monkey impressions in the stand theyd have got a lot more stick than liverpool have
The reason the Liverpool fans were giving a certain player the bird was because we believe that an accusation of racial abuse was a load of bollox. As for why is it always Liverpool well its not, but you would be forgiven for thinking so considering the silence toward Chelsea’s captain and the antics of their fans. Now go away wum.
Beating the mancs – getting to wembley – it’s worth the persecution… I mean examine the creds of those that continue with the persecution – mail, s.. (I won’t even type it) mirror journalists (I use the term loosely) whose morals are all being exposed by Leveson.
Superb, Robbo.
My feelings towards the press recently have gone from indignation to disdain. I was furious at the manner of “reporting” that LFC has recently been subject to, and I couldn’t believe that a professional journalist could possibly be so gullible as to fall for whatever nonsense they were fed. Now though… As you say, I’m not arsed. I’m past caring.
There are certain journalists who have been more guilty of incompetent writing and shameless point-scoring than others, (I could name a few, but that would give them the attention they crave), but it’s the way that the majority of previously decent writers have jumped on the bandwagon that has gotten my goat.
After several months of allowing myself to become annoyed by such nonsense, I’ve come to the conclusion that ignorance is bliss, (well, it’s good enough for a professional writer to ignore common sense, facts and logic, therefore it should be ok for me to ignore lies and nonsense). I’ve realised that getting wound up about these pond-life journos disrespecting my beloved club is a bit like getting annoyed at a heroine addict saying I drink too much coffee.
Who’s arsed? Not me lad, not anymore.
Absolutely spot-on.
Balls to the lot of ’em.
Lfc,like mufc, sell papers, get eyeballs on websites and viewers/listeners more than any club in the uk.
We shd feel happy that we are such a draw. But the last few months have had me hanging my head in shame, worrying that the weight of public opinion was going to topple my club. Instead it didn’t; they failed and Lfc continues to stride fwd to the sounds of Ynwa because we are not so dumb as to believe it. People like the by line above and others on TAW spoke out, highlighted the shite etc
I’m reading, listening and watching less about my club in the mass media … Who are we buying or selling? Who cares!
Great piece…Hopefully all LFC will read this and stop biting. Stop feeding the trolls, they are looking for that reaction. They want to sell and if people are gullible to believe everything they read in the paper than they can go jump and all…
But seriously LFC fans, as hard as it may be, stop reacting to these morons, it wont be long until their attentions are turned elsewhere…..
Such is life!
You seem to have a problem with the media’s factual inaccuracies and yet you start your piece with one.
No-one is suggesting the booing of Evra is racist.
People ARE suggesting, however, that it is more than a little unsavoury for a crowd to be booing a fella simply because he had the temerity to complain about being on the receiving end of language that was deemed in a subsequent investigation to be racist. in basic terms, people are confused as to why Liverpool are booing a victim of something rather than the perpetrator.
People ARE suggesting that it is ridiculous for Kenny Dalglish to compare the usual degree of booing he got as a player with the specific context of the booing directed at Evra. No other United player got booed last weekend, and yet Dalglish appears to think that that is just ‘banter’. That’s his right to believe that, of course, but if people decide to call bullshit on that assessment that is their right.
Suarez was found guilty and yet the fault, as far as the majority of Liverpool supporters appear to be concerned, lies with Evra who ‘grassed’ and led to Suarez getting a ban following the ridiculous shenanigans of the LFC Blame Deflection Machine and the team’s advisory counsel whose conduct probably contributed more to Suarez’s ban than any testimony by anyone else.
And anyone who viewed ITV’s coverage of the game with its constant cutaways to Suarez could hardly portray that as negative coverage.
Any road, I’m sure the above will be as popular on here as a fart in a lift, but then if you’re all not as arsed as you say, you won’t have a problem with it will you?
Alex, do you realize that Evra admitted to calling Suarez some very offensive things to the FA panel and was found (by the FA panel) to have been the instigator in all 3 exchanges? He also flopped to the ground right in front of the kop when Suarez had made a mug of him. That is some pretty good reason to boo him. It’s not because he had the “temerity to complain” or because he “grassed”.
And if you believe the (just as reasonable) Suarez version of events he also made a slanderous charge which would have zero chance of sticking in court.
Are Liverpool ever wrong though and what behaviour would be deemed so inappropriate that the player should be made to walk alone? Just wondering.
Hey Alex,
The point of “Who’s arsed?” is that the debate is in itself pointless, with both extremes unlikely to ever change their respective stances. So no point in further rehashes. There are many Liverpool fans with many different views on the recent events surrounding the club, but maybe it’s just time to move on and ignore the attempts to keep this story alive.
With this short message I’m signing off on the issue from a personal point of view.
In peace.
Gary
my take, as a Red looking in from 6 hours behind, is simple. There is one reason why “it’s always Liverpool”.
Jealousy.
The media and bloggers only spend their time attacking big targets. Liverpool is that immense target.
No club on Albion can match the history. Thus one of the simplest emotives of humanity brings out the worst in many. Jealousy.
Look at Whiskey Nose, always worried about every happening on Merseyside. Still jealous, still scared.
He knows his one foot on the perch doesn’t mean shit anymore. It’s been shown to him on the pitch this year. He knows Kenny is coming for him. He knows his little noveau empire is shrinking at the borders on a daily basis. It’s harder than ever since Kenny left LFC years ago, and he’s so old now, and don’t look now there’s rich Citizens at the gate giving him hell, and, oh yeah, Kenny’s back and “where is that wee dram?!!!”
I know Liverpool is giving everyone else in football a bad case of deja vu right now.
People would talk about other clubs more if they really meant something. People couldn’t be arsed.
I laughed at all the Journos on SSN and in various rags,not talking about how good Liverpool were in beating the Mancs,ONE person from Wales FFS! Makes a gesture and someone thinks it looks like a monkey impression! If I went to any football ground in England/Scotland/Wales I know I would see/hear worse and has one else noticed the QPR Chavski match didn’t get much mentioning for the calls of B****k C**t directed at Anton Ferdinand!
Goodies arrested for doing the Funky Gibbon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAmx_XdQky8
Honestly, this article is no more a call to arms to start ignoring the hacks than a mere observation of how tired we’ve become with the media’s high horse narrative.
I’m genuinely and sorely tired of it all.
Of reading about how right ‘they’ are and how wrong ‘we’ are.
Fucking. Tired.
Great article, Robbo.
Sums up my feelings about being arsed to read everything designed to get links to the articles propogating across nethood.
Let me just watch my football team play beautiful football against all odds.
Please.
Who’s arsed ? Tony Barret pouring petrol on the bonfire is clearly arsed. How about a piece on the sick chanting from the scum of the south ,Tony ? Nah, no kudos in that … let’s go with the booing of Evra as the latest stick to beat us over the head with
Liverpool are loathed in the media because for years they had to swallow their bile and watch us parading cups around domestic and foreign stadia.’Why is int Arsenal ?…. Why isn’t it Spurs….?’ they snarled while grinding their teeth and opening another bottle of malt
Any so-called Liverpool fan who works in the media is working for The Man and thus obeys The Man’s rules, even if it means knifing our team in the back.
Barrett, Reade, Bascombe etc can all get fucked. We needed a voice in the Suarez affair and none was provided. They all put their heads in the sand. Shameful….
Neu – I miss your short but insightful missives…
You are so right.
The problem is I take offence at being called a racist Liverpool fan all due to the actions of a couple of pricks. I wish I wasnt arsed, but I am. The only thing making it better…..beating those mancunians, because I know their bitterness has been soured by the defeats and it makes it easier to take. And do you know the one player who embodies this struggle we are currently facing…..its not Luis Suarez, because at least he has the support of all of us, its Andy Carroll. He is getting slagged off by the press, Fabio Capello, opposition fans, even our own ‘fans’ are ripping into him on twitter, facebook, phone ins etc. Despite all that, he looks to me like he is trying damn hard to fit into our side and become the beast of a striker I believe he can be, Saturday was a glimpse of what he might bring and I for one will be willing him to succeed. And if in the next 24hrs he is sold for a pittance or swapped with any mercenary who shows their current club zero respect, they I for one will believe our club has turned into one of these clubs we so despise
Thanks for your reply Gary. I actually believe Kennys handling of the situation is what has caused it to drag on. The T-Shirts were cringeworthy and some of his comments in the media were outdated.
No Alex. The media is the reason it is being dragged on. Friday night, news broke that Anton Ferdinand recieved a bullet in the post. A few hours later Channel Four news did a report on Luis Suarez and the mishandling of Liverpool. Piara Power began retweeting about Liverpool. Twitter decended into chaos about the game the following day. Anton Ferdinands threat was completely over shadowed and swept under the carpet.
Coincidence?? I think not.
When Terry gets his day in court, you can bet your arse there will be more mentions of Suarez and Liverpool then there will of Terry and Ferdinand.
We should all be saying ‘Who’s arsed?’ to those hacks.
It is so hard though. It’s like someone attacking your family, friend, wife etc etc. the passion in your heart rule your head and you react. Just need to keep discussion between ourselves and screw the rest of the world.
Not one of us will walk alone
Really enjoy at the national, mock outrage, trip-over-selves, quack industry on all things LFC. I love the great wall of indifference in response from the Kop Nation. Really, who’s arsed? Certainly not I, says this Reddy Red.
For their information, their constant talk of this club goes to prove we’re relevant, opposite to what they try to convey.
Good read.
Again, well said Mr R.
Good read!
Other than that though, not arsed!
I fully agree that we should all just ignore what the media are writing about us as a club, but there is an impulse to defend the honor of our club and not let any old hack write what they want. I generally avoid all tabloid newspapers but I still hear about the rubbish they write about us. And the silence of the Terry case, in comparison, is deafening. Its really ignorant and its not doing anything for the sport or for the “Kick it out” campaign.
I couldn’t go but I wouldn’t have booed Evra. However, if it were possible to boo the FA (and not actually boo as that’s a bit of a silly thing to do – maybe shout at them) I’d still be hoarse today.
Evra complained and got off with the things he said either in provocation or retaliation but it was the FA who ignored evidence, said Suarez isn’t a racist but allowed him to be painted as one and were inconsistent where consistency was needed.
We’re getting in the neck because of the T-shirts. Even if they had ‘Suarez is not a racist’ on it, we’ll still be getting stick.
I still think we should (sarcastically) applaud Evra every time he gets the ball at OT. The press would be fucked then.
Well, I’m a bit arsed. I don’t much care what other fans of rival clubs think of us, but media formating image of our club to all people. Because they just read headlines and don’t think that that could be a lie or misleading. And those who read all article – pretend that they now know everything. And for journalists there is a great quote – get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
And I want that Liverpool Football Club would be mentioned in a good way.(or maybe its just me who cares too much what others think)
Will be interesting to see how much they talk about the abuse that Suarez will get / had when he goes to Old Trafford………. I dont have to wait to know, i can tell you now it will be close to feck all
Excellent piece, the trick is now putting it into practice and not let the sad pathetic bastards grind us down. Rise above, hold our heads up high, because the reason they dig.., simple … Jealousy.
Great article.. The tarring of all Liverpool fans as racist or losing respect of King Kenny will never stop me from flying half way round the world to watch a game at Anfield. We just need to win silverware to ram it down their throats
Brilliant article. Everyone should read and take note
Good read that Lord
On the subject i thought it was interesting how the press made absoluetly fuck all about the United fan arrested for racially abusing a Stoke fan last week compared to the tit arrested at Anfield after the United game and the uphoria that followed that incident
One rule for one team another for the mancs eh?
Spot on.
Deep breath, everybody…