THE well-worn script has been shoved down our throats so many times that you know the lines off by heart when it’s regurgitated for public consumption once again.
Liverpool are finished. Liverpool are a relic. Liverpool are living in the past; a famous name but an average club followed by deluded fans who can’t accept the status quo of the modern game.
Look at the history, they say. Liverpool can’t win the league, they haven’t won it for 25 years. Look at the finances, they’re out-muscled by the clubs they are desperate to overthrow, stranded in a Northern city where no superstar wants to play.
That’s what they say. But frankly, who the fuck are they? Liverpool the city, the people and the club have been at their best when they offer an aggressively displayed two fingers to the naysayers, the doubters and the deriders. There’s a swagger and a fight about Scouse at its finest and that should be the ruling emotion, not the one of subservient resignation dictated from afar.
We’re living in the past, they say, feeding off former glories and tied up in our own self-importance. We got it all so badly wrong — with the ground, with owners, with managers, with transfers — that now it’s locked in forever, we’re too far gone; no way back. The rich men have won and we may as well just accept our fate.
Even Jamie Carragher, one of our own, warned on Sky in the wake of Brendan Rodgers’ sacking that the club is morphing into a Tottenham Hotspur, becoming a perennial also-ran; a club that the ‘big’ clubs don’t care about and don’t see as genuine contenders.
“At this moment we’re becoming a team who think we’re a big club but we’re not,” said Carragher before the appointment of Jurgen Klopp.
Facts play a part, and the facts are that since the last title in 1990, the closest the Reds have come to ending the wait for number 19 are four second-placed finishes — 1991, 2002, 2009 and 2014 — with 2009’s 86 points the best total achieved.
In the seasons that have followed the last league title the Reds have finished: 2, 6, 6, 8, 4, 3, 4, 3, 7, 4, 3, 2, 5, 4, 5, 3, 3, 4, 2, 7, 6, 8, 7, 2 and 6.
The modern barometer — Champions League football — doesn’t show a much warmer picture. Since losing to Fiorentina in December 2009, the club has contested just six games in the competition.
Three potless years have followed the 2012 League Cup win, with the FA Cup of 2006 the last trophy to grace Anfield before that.
So everyone’s right…right? Well, no. No, they’re not.
History says what it says. But while the successful part of Liverpool’s history shouldn’t be discussed outside of Anfield, neither should the unsuccessful part of it be discussed in it.
Liverpool are outmuscled financially by four clubs in the Premier League and the advantage of beefier wages and transfer fees is well documented. But why talk about “par” when you can aspire to more? Semi finals and sixth place? No thanks, we can beat the system. We can fight for better. All of us. Let’s forge a spirit around that idea, not one that acquiesces to the so-called norm. Let’s make fists not shrug shoulders.
@TheAnfieldWrap here's the pic @robbohuyton was talking about. I took about 40 screen shots Ayre face is perfect. pic.twitter.com/JpeKHaWSpF
— Jürgëñ (@Joey_Blogs) October 12, 2015
When Brendan Rodgers introduced “par” to Liverpool fans and the wider world it was another sign that his time was up. He’d grown tired and weary and his mouth had ran away with itself again. A charge that could be added to a crime list numbering the farce in Real Madrid, the embarrassment of Aston Villa and the Stoke surrender.
There are plenty filing through the turnstiles every other week at Anfield who have watched the Reds win every title there is to win. It’s harder now, everything might point to Liverpool being underdogs, also-rans and worse, but underdogs can still win. And they have. Wearing red.
When Liverpool were losing at Bolton, drawing at Blackburn, losing to Birmingham City at Anfield and away at Middlesbrough, who was betting on the Reds to lift a fifth European Cup having overcome Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan with a squad containing Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Josemi, Antonio Nunez and Milan Baros just six months later?
Who had Liverpool down as title contenders after losing to Southampton at home and Hull away before ending the season 30 goals and 23 points up compared to the previous season and leaping from seventh to second in the rollercoaster of 2013-14?
The answer to both must be no-one beyond the outrageously optimistic and there lies a lesson. Those Liverpool teams forgot the facts, ditched the financials and put history to one side. They come out swinging, we all loved it and look where it got us.
That’s what Liverpool must do again. Fight. Work harder. Make sure that those torturous surrenders of last season are never seen again. When a team comes swaggering to town with big money stars trip them up. Poke their eyes out. Flatten them. Don’t roll out the red carpet, give up with a whimper or, if you’re the manager, save your best players for another day. Scrap, battle, go to war — give the fuckers hell. Tell them this is a place to fear.
Liverpool — more than any other team in the country — have it within the club, the city and the support, to aim higher than history says it should be allowed to. The Reds can leap financial high bars. It’s not easy, but it can happen. And why? Because when fans, players and manager are on the same side it is something special at this club. Something that despite all that is said and written, remains a source of envy for many football fans up and down the country.
The very things we are derided for — the ‘delusion’ (hope), the absolute belief we can beat anyone (passion) and the idea of us being different (pride) are our strengths, and strengths that should be the foundation to aim higher.
I’ve witnessed fans of other clubs mock the times when Anfield Road was full of supporters singing and supporting a team that was smashing the odds to compete for the title. We made the players feel ten foot tall. And we enjoyed doing it. It’s you who’s doing it wrong, not us.
I’ve read — including on this site — fans of other teams who claim that by backing Jurgen Klopp — a manager described by World Soccer this month as “Football’s most wanted man”– and pitching him as a statement of intent, a fresh start and a chance of competing again, that we are just showing why Liverpool fans are laughed at everywhere else. Sorry, what?
The Liverpool message should be simple. Fuck them. Fuck rules, “par”, financial leagues and players that want to play in London. Fuck defeatist attitudes. Fuck watching matches with your arms folded and brows furrowed. Fuck it all. Because we are different. And when Anfield is alight with atmosphere, there is no better place. We can, should and will again, come out fighting against anyone. We’re ‘deluded’ because we’ve seen it happen before, felt it happen before and now we think it will come again. It just needs the spark. It’s early days, and we haven’t even seen the man take charge of a Liverpool match yet. But it’s really hard to believe that Jurgen Klopp isn’t that spark. And if we hope, pray and urge him to be the catalyst? Well isn’t that the point?
Liverpool can’t go out and pick a ready-made squad from the most expensive shelf, we know that. But the squad at the very least can be organised into something that can fight, that can compete and that can upset. Something that can pour everything into a game, and make every effort to win it, by fair means or foul.
Jamie Carragher’s words should sting. Because he understands what it takes. Because he displayed that very spirit time and again in a red shirt. And look where it took us. We can do that again, we just need to strip out the nonsense. Stop talking ourselves out of it. Stop listening to people who don’t matter. Get in there, make a noise, shout, scream and tell the bastards they won’t grind us down. Liverpool’s a city that dares to fight. That flicks two fingers to those that say we can’t. We can. We have. And we will.
Klopp wants believers not doubters. So let’s talk the talk.
If you’re still doubting that the big German with the steel and the smile can’t revive the Reds, have another read of the quotes that follow this from his press conference. That there what he’s describing? That’s a team we can get behind. That’s a manager we can back. That’s a style that Liverpool will love; that has the spirit of the city sewn into it.
“We will conquer the ball, yeah, each fucking time! We will chase the ball, we will run more, fight more [jabs finger on table].
“We will work better together. We will have better organisation in defence than the other teams. We have to find our own way to play.
“Our performances have to be enjoyable for ourselves. I don’t want to tackle too rough but if there is a tackle that is legal, a good tackle that gets the ball, it’s like a goal, if you want?
“Yeeaaah! [punches air] The players have to get the feeling that, I don’t know, they can dive into the game. What I want is to be a real special team.”
Do you think Klopp cares that people say his methods won’t translate or that a team can’t press like his Dortmund side did in a league without a winter break?
Do you think Klopp will fight both his corner with his paymasters and press and our corner with everyone else? Shouldn’t he wear a suit for his first press conference? Should he really be describing the club’s executives as “cool” or virtually getting them in a headlock in front of the watching world?
He doesn’t give a fuck. And neither should we.
Jurgen Klopp is bringing Liverpool’s ‘fuck you’ back. And I can’t wait.
LISTEN: Free Podcast – Jurgen Klopp
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda-Photo.Com & PA Images
Love this. Agree with every bloody word. Let’s get out there and make some noise.
I’d like to point out, too, what a load of rubbish all that naysaying is. Frankly when you look at the state of Chelsea and the paper tiger that is Van Gaal’s Man Utd, top four shouldn’t be the goal, it should be the minimum.
Tremendous!
Is right mate! This is where it’s at. We’ve let ourselves down recently.
Just a quick point on Rodgers. I’m not convinced the club benefits from fans turning against it and most of the time (or some of the time) I hold back a little. Ok, you could argue the fans played a big part in getting a new manager now but I think there comes a time when that’s the right thing to do, and perfectly acceptable, and we were there. I think a lot felt like me and the end result was inadvertently or subconsciously we started to accept ‘par’ and mediocrity. The manager of LFC steers the ship. Always has and we follow. The constant soundbytes wore us down and deep down, it didn’t feel right. Ok, to back up my point, I was happy to talk myself into carrying on with Rodgers but regardless of what my heart said, my head always said 5th (but that was just me being overly optimistic.
I want to get off this and move to the present but I’ve got a point to make that’s relevant to the future. When we bought all these players last season and this, there was a lot of optimism. I remember it last season and I remember it in the summer. I know one of this weeks buzzwords is ‘the sum of parts’ but I think the players have gone into a similar mindset as the fans where they’ve become a bit accepting of mediocrity. Maybe we were right to get excited about some of the players we bought. A lot of these players suddenly appear better to me than I thought last week. Firmino, Lallana, Benteke, Milner, Clyne and Ings, even Markovic (unfortunately). As Klopp is their manager I see them as absolute, real potential. Add Sturridge, Coutinho and Henderson and it can go places. Should just add Mignolet and have that as our starting 11. I reckon we’d score loads.
So, yeah, the manager is the catalyst but the players have a lot more to give, the fans have a lot more to give, just listened to the podcast and now think the owners might give a little bit more. The momentum could be unstoppable. We’ve all got a part to play. I completely agree with this article. Anything less would be embarrassing. For me personally, I’m all over it. I’ve felt like a lunatic all week. I’m like a caged animal raring to go. Next to my dartboard I’ve got a scoring thing and I’ve chalked ‘1st match’ on there with a tally chart underneath and every morning before work I rub one out. Everywhere I go people say to me ‘4 years though, do you reckon it’s possible’ and I can tell they haven’t made the leap from accepting ‘par’, yet. I tell them, with this man we can do what we want and I want the league so fuck off.
Want to know when a club is truly a “Big Club”? Take a look at their relevance in football circles, media-pull power and global support when they aren’t a dominating force for a small period of time. Are they truly a big club or do they just have fair-weather fans who don’t really care? Do they have the clout to be able to have a strong media-pull and global support during this time? Or are they just a temporary Money Club? Liverpool is a proper football club.
Liverpool is a sleeping giant. Not only did they manage to remain relevant during a temporary “down”, but when winning they become a massive beast. Carragher said Liverpool is in “danger of becoming like Tottenham”. While he was certainly exaggerating, he does have a point. The “down” can only be so long. You can’t live off history forever or you become a relic. But good times lay ahead. They need to be.
Now we have a job to do. Make sure Anfield becomes tribal during match day. Make sure its rocking. England stadiums have been paltry compared to other European venues when it comes to European competitions. Tame and soft. Now with Klopp in charge, we have a general who is truly going to lead. Lets get behind him and fortify Anfield. Make it shake and make it tremble. We are the EPL’s last hope to bring respect back.
Did anyone see Sunday where Piers Morgan and Lord Sugar were arguing like idiots on Twitter? What did Morgan pull out to try and one-up the ex-Tottenham chairman? A quote by Shankly!! I think that tells you we’re still bloody relevant. They can’t get us out of their head!!
I have been disinterested this season, principally after watching two games in Australia which convinced me that the then regime was incapable of selecting and organising a winning team regardless of the squad. When my son told me about the first few matches I just read the newspaper reports, with no enthusiasm.
Now, I look forward to our first match – can’t wait!!’ I honestly don’t care if he gets us relegated – we’ll at least bloody a few noses. No more piss being taken about how outstanding we were, from
Toon fans, FFS!!
Hallefuckinglujah!!
That’s called a tmesis, by the way….
Awesome Gareth, mate. You had me jabbing my fingers on the table in front of me like a lunatic. Winning against “insurmountable” odds is going to make this the sweetest ride yet.
Good call on saying ‘Fuck You Par’ because at times last year the par argument was getting rolled out as an excuse for crushing mediocrity.
I’m more than happy to say ‘Fuck par’
Exactly. Too many of our own fans were using the par excuse last season. In doing so they were behaving in the exact manner the last manager wanted them to – accepting mediocrity to cover his arse. As if it is ever ok that the manager or the club delivers par. It wasnt on then and it won’t be on now. Kloppo won’t have it. He isnt mediocre. He won’t be ok with par. He knows we demand better than par – he demans it himself, without excuses. He aspires to minor miracles and while those shouldn’t be expected, they can be hoped for once again with him in charge.
I got a great feeling that we have an outside chance of winning the BPLeague now that Jurgen Klopp is there
Excellent article Gareth. “Nobody likes us but we don’t care” was a phrase used by me and my colleagues in Liverpool when talking about the office we worked in and our relationship with the London Head Office. there’s no feeling in the world like going about your business and not caring what your detractors think, do or say. I think we are going to have a lot of fun getting behind the manager, the team and each other in the coming years. Mark (mate of Sean’s by the way)
I don’t understand why supporters can’t see that the idea that our title run in 13/14 was down to Suarez was started by people who hate this club. Claiming it was all Suarez was a way of saying that Gerrard is nothing, Sturridge is nothing, Coutinho is nothing, Sterling is nothing, Henderson is nothing – and that without Suarez we are nothing. It is so sad that our own supporters were willing to take up this big “fuck you” as their own.
The squad didn’t suddenly become promising. It was promising because this summer we targeted players with coherent vision, rather than a kaleidoscopic committee. If you look at the squad Rodgers had been envisioning, it becomes even more coherent.
——-Sturridge-Sanchez——-
—————Sterling————–
–Coutinho———Henderson
————Gerrard—————–
Bertrand-Sakho-Williams-Flanno
—————-Vorm—————–
You may not think Williams and Vorm are world-beaters, but they know how to play out of the back. This is a side that easily belongs in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The point is not to rehash the Rodgers debates, but to show what can be accomplished when the club actually pays attention to the vision of the manager. It is not surprising that Klopp is talking about the side finding its identity again. Finally backed in the market, Rodgers put together a side that, when healthy, should be contending for the very top spots.
That said, Klopp is clearly one of the top 3-5 managers in the world, and can only improve on the foundation left behind by a man who clearly had been broken by the pressure of losing to Man U and Arsenal just as he lost Sturridge, Sakho, and Flanagan to injury for the season, Lucas for several weeks, and lost Gerrard and Can to red cards. Hope he finds a nice club in La Liga with much less pressure.
Meanwhile, we have Klopp and everything to play for. The league is a mess, and we could be perfectly poised to take it by storm. I can’t wait to see this new identity – should be a beauty!
The loss of Suarez not only took away an incredible player, but more importantly, it took away his hunger. Rodgers couldn’t generate any drive or emotion from the very same set of players that would run through the proverbial wall only a few weeks earlier. The rot continued, and the club finally saw him for what he was.
one sec – you’re saying losing Suarez took Rodgers hunger away – the same hunger that I assume you mean drove the squad, not just Suarez, on through 13/14.
When that left him, and thats fine as it happens to many managers, the club saw him for what he was, which based on your comment was just an unmotivated manager without the hunger. Maybe its what he had become, not what he was…or do you mean something else?
Absurd. We lose Suarez and suddenly Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, Gerrard, and Henderson become bad players? There may have been some emotional hangover from the title run and the World Cup, but it is not like they suddenly forgot how to thread a pass.
The problem was that we had no one to thread a pass to once Sturridge was injured. Arsenal got Sanchez on 130K a week. Even 175K a week could likely have tempted him to Merseyside. We get the Suarez hunger and the pace and mobility for Coutinho, Sterling, and Henderson to make sense. Someone to get on the other end of Gerrard’s long diagonal balls.
In short, someone who matched the coherent vision and ambition of the manager, rather than Balotelli (the diametric opposite).
Klopp is indisputably a step up, but anyone who feels that Rodgers was simply “found out” wasn’t paying much attention. I’d like to see Balotelli and Lambert give gegenpressing a go. No, really, I would pay to see that.
We have all moaned about Mignolet and Skrtel not being able to play it out from the back, but the truth is that Rodgers wanted Vorm and Williams as part of his larger vision, but was denied because of the committee age limits. Same with then 25-year-old Bertrand, bizarrely.
The statistics may not have backed up Vorm and Williams, putting aside age, but they represented part of a coherent whole in the mind of the manager. The collective more than the sum of the parts. But the brain trust at FSG did not trust the Manager of the Year with the transfer kitty, and instead we got yet another kaleidoscope of their statistical targets.
On one hand, I find it important to set the record straight on the Rodgers era, but my larger concern is that FSG continues to operate in such a scattershot manner. No one is expecting them to throw money at the problem like the Mancs, but there needs to be a one club mentality that listens much, much more carefully to the manager’s vision.
your not setting the record straight Walter your just giving your opinion on what may or may not have happened. Do you really think Vorm and Williams would have made a difference?
I personally think Klopp would have secured Sanchez, lets be honest his wife wanting to shop in London is a convenient excuse, much better than saying i much prefer Wenger to an unknown like Rodgers.
Paul Tomkins on the Tomkins times has done a couple of excellent articles on Rodgers and the Transfer Committee that (IMHO) sheds some much needed light on what was happening.
Anyway enough of that for the first time in a long time i cannot wait to watch the Reds in action. Saturday cannot come soon enough.
I think this is the best possible translation of Kloppo’s words and the meaning behind them.
The more I get to know BR, the more I think he really failed himself: He tried to emulate the mind games of Mou and combine it with the play style of Pep Guardiola, but he didn’t realise, he was neither. – His first presser wasn’t bad at all, but he appeared by body language and dressing to be more like an apprentice than a leader of an aggressive wild squad – no matter how good his tactis were.
Klopp is, if successful or not, at least the real McCoy and you will be surely after some months time enjoy 90+ thrilling minutes.
“Yeeaaah! [punches air]”
This has just almost made me stand up and launch my monitor out my office window.
In a good way.
Jurgen Klopp is bringing Liverpool’s ‘fuck you’ back. And I can’t wait.
This has to be the best statement in years, yeah, fuck em all.
Stand up and be counted, dont lie down and accept the fate they want or us!
We have had years of experience of doing just that, of standing up when we were told to sit down, of shouting out loud when told to be quiet and go away, but we dont let the bastards grind us down, thats not the scouse nor the Liverpool way, and its that very same attitude that won us every accolade possible, including a public apology from the prime minsiter and British goverment!
Its time to show history has just as much a meaningful place in the present day and the future as it does in the past.
So, to all other clubs, managers, players and their fans (including the plastic ones), once Klopp has his team set up the way He wants, prepare to be fucked over once again by the mighty reds.
Fuck you all!
YES ROBBO!
‘We are different’ you couldn’t help yourself, that’s the deluded bit you don’t get, you are no more passionate than 100 away fans that Accrington Stanley take away. You just have bigger numbers.
Excitement at a new manager sure, but what clubs fans aren’t. But don’t keep banging on about how different you are when you are not.
Klopp is a great appointment but facts are facts, unless Liverpool change their transfer attitude and wage structure they won’t be mixing it with the big boys.
Ha ha, prove we’re not. Deluded my arse. GR
so you spend your time trolling Accrington Stanley sites?? no, didn’t think so
The greatest feeling in the world is being part of a deluded bunch of romantic fans with hope in their hearts, a bunch of fans that dream and dare to dream when all around them seem lost, and for every fan that wants to believe that Liverpool is not a special mad club then they are the ones truely deluding themselves.
How do you know that we will not change our transfer attitude and wage structure? Nothing stays static. You will be surprised
The sheer fact that you bother coming onto a reds web site tells me that we are different – why bother, unless you are bothered?
A few points that I want to get off my chest.
1) AC Milan finished 10th last year. I’m sure they are finding it harder to attract the talent they want to right now, but I doubt you get the Italian Steve Claridge saying that AC Milan are no longer a big club. Everyone in the world believes AC Milan to be one of the top 3 clubs in Italy (no 2 basically). History plays a big part in how a club is perceived.
2) Athletico Madrid won the league recently. Dortmund won the league recently. Liverpool have had two runs at the title in the past 6 years. The law of averages states that T/O = where you finish in the league, but it doesn’t otherwise Man Utd would be winning the league every season. Revenue and squad value are big indicators, but there were seasons when Man Utd spent next to nothing and won the league. Strength in the team and keeping hold of our players is all we need to worry about.
3) Revenue statistics are obscured by the lack of CL football. We get that back and we no longer have the 5th highest revenue. In the 13/14 season we had the 12th highest revenue in the world, but were the only club in the top 20 without CL football. That actually means we’re a massive club.
4) Much has been said about Liverpool being a selling club. We only sell to 4 clubs – Real, Barca, Chelsea and City. Even City is a recent development and selling to Chelsea would be a very reluctant move (I can’t see us selling Coutinho to an English rival for example). We don’t sell to Man U, Arsenal or PSG (they may have the money, but not the league) and have no track record with Bayern. We may find it more difficult to attract players right now without CL football, but Rafa proved that a great manager at Liverpool with CL football can attract the best players out there.
So, yes, we need to embrace the ‘fuck you’ attitude because people are writing us off, but we need to believe it’s possible. I wouldn’t say fuck you to a guy I didn’t think I could beat. We can take them all on. We are all Kloppites now.
One hell of an article. Where is that wall that needs running through?
Greetings from Mainz, Germany. I am very excited about this signature, because I am a fan of Jürgen since I have seen him playing back then, being one of the “800 spectators” watching Mainz 05 in the old Bruchwegstadion.
A lot of things happened since then. And I am not thinking about the first appearance in the Bundesliga in 2004. I am thinking about the way he changed the playing style and the self-conception of a whole club.
Both elements were completely new to Mainz which used to be a very, very mediocre Second Division club at that time. Jürgen (and Christian Heidel, our GM) changed that for good. He established a high-tempo, in-your-face style with lots of aggressiveness, passion and the will to give everything for the club and the team.
This heritage has been carefully nursed and cultivated to this day, making Mainz a solid contender in the Bundesliga despite their relegation in 2007. After re-entering the Bundesliga in 2009, Mainz has never ranked on a relegation position although “experts” predicted relegation in every pre-season since then.
Today, Mainz is competing with clubs that have 50% or more budgetary power. People may say that it was the merit of Thomas Tuchel, the current Dortmund manager. But ultimately, Tuchel “simply” continued what Jürgen started long ago. Interestingly, we have the same situation in Dortmund right now, and I would not be surprised to see BVB playing a major role in the Bundesliga in the next years.
But how does this relate to LFC?
I have read a lot of comments of LFC fans. To me the hunger for a unique, fascinating and fresh Liverpool-style of football seems to be the greatest issue. This hunger will be satisfied, that I can guarantee.
No money? Lewandowski, Kagawa, Sahin, Gündogan, Hummels, Götze – familiar names? Discovered and/or developed by Jürgen and his team. He is the right guy to work with your young talents.
No titles? Well, there is no guarantee for that whatsoever. But LFC’s chances have improved dramatically. Even with an “inferior” budget. And there are things I can assure you today: improvements in every aspect of the game, fun, fury and exitement.
But what’s more important, this could really be the start of a new era. Jürgen re-invented Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund and changed both clubs sustainably. I see no reason why this should not work with Liverpool.
PS: If he should fail, he does not have to go to Switzerland. We will embrace him in Mainz anytime. :)
Great comment and inspiring addition to the thread. Vielen Dank!
Klopp is a spectacular investment. But hearing that from a Mainz fan is music to the ears. And would be even better if you let us have Yunus Malli on the cheap :-D
This isn’t a Blog it’s a War Cry !
Passionate, honest and beautifully written………
A Masterclass in hanging your heart out and getting it down on paper. SUPERB.
Walk on with hope in our hearts……It’s what we do !
Hands down the best piece I’ve read on here
I cannot resist to tell you how much I admire this article.
Thank you man!
Imagine where we would be today if Shanks hid behind the “par” argument when we were languishing in the Second Division over sixty years ago…
Oh yes Robbo, all fucking day mate!
Wonderful article. Without passion we are nothing.
Brendan had it, but I think after that chelsea game the doubts crept in and he never recovered.
Klopp has been there and done it. Never a doubt.
Fuck the doubters.
Can’t wait for Saturday. Cannot wait to see how we line out. Cannot wait to see how we play. Cannot wait for the fun, fury and emotional football. Can’t wait !!!!
Spot on, a superb piece – the Reds are coming up the hill boys……
Amen to Fuck em All.
Shankly’s first league Champions team (1963/64) contained only 5 players who cost more than a signing on fee. Milne, Yeats, Stevenson, St John and Thompson were not considered top signing of the same status as Law, Greaves and co. One year after winning becoming Champions, we thrashed World Champions Inter Milan at Anfield. All this on a shoestring but driven by Shanks we could beat anybody. Fuck them all Jurgen. A song for Jurgen to encourage him.
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp, Klopp
Sung to the tune of the Rolling Stones “Not Fade Away”
1. This is the team of the century, Jürgen Klopp and LFC;
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
2. We’re gonna win games day and night, together for victory well fight,
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
3. We’re the Mighty Red Juggernaut, too fast and strong to be caught,
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
4. The Mighty Reds and Jürgen Klopp, together we fight till were on top,
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp
5. Once on top we’re gonna stay, The Mighty Reds won’t fade away,
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
6. Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp, Jürgen Klopp Klopp, Klopp Klopp,
WE are not at home to Mr Par.if Rodgers had been in charge at Istanbul he would have been made up with a 3-0 defeat claiming his team showed great character in not conceding further goals.
Jesus Gareth, you’ve got me emotional here haha. Beautiful, just beautiful.
Two things which I agree with:
Par – hate that word, to me it means being content, although being realistic it makes me think we should be happy and accepting of the way things are, we shouldn’t be. Tiger Woods in his prime wouldn’t begin a tournament thinking par was acceptable, he’d think he was going to exceed his own genius and crush the course and his competitors. That’s why he was so great, he was brilliantly talented anyway, but he had the desire to surpass his own standards constantly.
Also a great point you made about us all being derided for our hopeless romanticism, our delusion and our pride amongst other things. Our critics would be absolutely right, but these traits I’ve always felt are definitely what causes fear also among our detractors.
Brilliant piece Robbo. If that doesn’t get you fired up nothing will.
Its not accountancy, its not some sort of pre-made narrative. Its sport.
All the stats tell you is where you’ll end up if you do it by the numbers. You’ll do predictably well at pool if you focus and concentrate. You’ll do better if you down 3 pints of beer. Turn off the extraneous shit, get in the zone. Its a bit mad, but then so was Suarez – and there is a bit of a mad glint in Klopp’s eye !
The last thing you need when you’re Chelsea, City, Mancs etc are less wealthy teams with ambition, passion, upsetting the order, refusing to ‘accept their place’, never say die. The original meaning of ‘enthusiasm’ was ‘possessed by the gods’ – when that happens anything can happen. And it’s unbearable for other fans, other teams.
Its disturbing, its worrying and inevitably humiliating – its the sort of thing that made Ferguson cack his pants when setting up a team for Anfield.
And, by the way, its us.
BRING ON YOUR MANCHESTER UNITED, BRING ON YOUR COCKNEYS BY THE SCORE!
COS’ WE’LL TAKE EM’ TWO BY TWO, AND KICK THE FUCK OUT OF YOU!
COS’ LIVERPOOL’S THE TEAM THAT WE ADORE!
this is more like it.
Such a good point about ‘par’, it really was the beginning of the end for him. That wasn’t the Rodgers that helped make 13/14 happen, it’s a death knell for a club like us and must be stopped immediately. ‘Par’ is a self fulfilling prophecy if there ever was one.
Fuckin right Gareth lad. Get in there, fuck them, run the legs off them while the crowd rages and frightens the life out of them. That’s the Anfield of my youth, right fuckin there lad, you nailed it! I near soiled me keks listening to JK’s first press doodah, still moist now mate, days later. I don’t expect miracles at Spurs on Sat but I’m safe in the arms of Togger-Contentment now knowing the slide has at least interrupted pending the change of direction. I trust this bloke’s experience and past-practice to find the direction we lost after they stupidly wellied the last bloke who new how to do it and who fought the fuckers for us.
Fitzy the (owlarse)