I’VE only written one article for public consumption before this, writes PAUL COPE. In the wake of Suarez leaving and the despondency that followed, I felt the need to get a few things off my chest in what I intended as a bit of a rallying cry (to be honest, I came in pissed one night and when I woke up there it was so I sent it to the TAW lads and they very generously published my ramblings).
Around 12 months later I’ve had an overwhelming urge to write something again, partly because what I wrote last time turned out to be nonsense.
This might not be very popular. What follows is something no manager or player could ever say, so I’m going to say it for them (you’re welcome, lads).
This is the time of year for season reviews and post mortems. The time when we all get to debate the failings of the owners, the manager, the players and the transfer committee. I’ve been a part of what I consider to be a well-balanced and thorough three-part review for this site.
But there’s one part of the club that hasn’t been reviewed: the supporters.
In this modern era, with the wide reach of Premier League football, the money involved and social media, I think the term ‘supporter’ has been lost somewhere along the way. Let me be clear at this point though, this is not an attack on Liverpool supporters who aren’t from Liverpool or who don’t go to the match. In fact, I’ve met loads of non-Scouse Liverpool fans around the world who are far bigger ‘supporters’ than the miserable Scouse bastards who sit near me in the ground.
This is about all of us (me included). This is about those of us who have become ‘fans’ and have forgotten what the word “support” means.
For TAW Player subscribers, if you haven’t already this is an apt moment for me to say you should listen to Part 4 of What We Call History. It’s about the end of the 2004-05 season and those games. I had the pleasure of having a chat over a glass of wine (because we’re dead sophisticated) with Mike Nevin this week. I can’t put it better than he did when talking about the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea in 2005:
“…you can argue all you like, Liverpool’s crowd won that game for Liverpool.”
I was a 24-year-old non-season ticket holder on the Kop back then. I’d taken the day off work, had a few pints and got into the ground early to support my team. That night, every single Liverpool fan in the ground was a real supporter. I’d give every one of us 10 out of 10. It was the performance of a lifetime.
My lasting memory is that I couldn’t hear myself sing it was that loud. That sounds like hyperbole, but it isn’t. The collective noise from all sides of the ground was at such a level that I could no longer discern my voice from the masses. I heard Chelsea fans after the match saying that they couldn’t hear their end at all, even when standing among it. We were so loud that we drowned out 3,000 of them so completely that they couldn’t hear themselves.
I remember John Terry, Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho saying before the game that they’d played in big atmospheres before so they’d be able to handle Anfield, but I’ll never forget their faces when they walked on to the pitch.
“What the fuck is this?” etched on every one of them.
I was proud to be a Liverpool supporter that night.
Then the final.
3-0 down at half time.
As if from nowhere, 150,000 Liverpool supporters (ok, that’s hyperbole, but it felt like 150,000…) stood as one in a show of defiance never seen before and belted out You’ll Never Walk Alone.
I remember looking around at fellow Reds with tears in our eyes as we sang “though your dreams be tossed and blown, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone”.
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Fitting, wasn’t it? We’d all convinced ourselves it was our destiny to win that year. All the signs on the way; the missed chances from world-class opponents, a new Pope and a Ken and Deirdre wedding to name a few.
But then we were 3-0 down at half time to one of the best sides in the modern era. Dreams in tatters.
It makes me immensely proud to be able to say that I was in that crowd that night. I stood and sang You’ll Never Walk Alone at the very moment it was meant to be sung. And now I and every other supporter who sang at half time can bask in the glow of the stories about the players hearing it and it giving them hope, and the Milan fans being shocked by our support of our team.
Make no mistake we were a huge part of the victory. We became part of the legend.
You see, it’s easy to be a ‘fan’. To say you go the game or buy the shirt, or have a Twitter account with a picture of a Liverbird (that you might choose to change to a picture of a manager of another team when the mood takes you).
It’s easy to slag off the players because they earn more money in a week than most of us earn in years of work.
It’s easy to slag off owners and transfer committees and Ian Ayre (especially Ian Ayre).
But I’ll tell you something. To support your team through the wind and rain and come out the other side to a golden sky knowing that you stood by its side when it was easier to turn away, that’s what will make you proud. It’s a feeling you won’t match by being right about the manager being sacked (let’s face it, if you want a manager sacked you’ll always be right sooner or later. It doesn’t make you Derren Brown).
I’ve sat through every home game this year listening to the away fans mock us with the age old “where’s your famous atmosphere” line. I replied in a tweet at one point “it’s in a box lads, waiting for Real Madrid”. It was a fairly popular tweet.
"Where's your famous atmosphere" is my favourite. It's in a box lads, waiting for Real Madrid. We don't give a shit about you.
— Paul Cope (@paul7cope) September 24, 2014
Then Madrid came to town and we were nowhere to be seen. We crumbled faster than our players that night. Could the players have shown more character against Madrid? Undoubtedly, yes. If we’d have created an atmosphere anywhere near the Chelsea 2005 atmosphere might they have had a better chance of keeping their heads up? I’d say so.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m hardly the drunk, loud 24-year-old attending matches that I was in 2005 (sitting in the Main Stand doesn’t help). This is as much a piece to remind myself as it is to remind all of you about what our roles are.
So here’s the thing. Everyone’s had their say on Brendan Rodgers and on everything else. Until further notice ladies and gents, he is Liverpool FC’s manager, we have a transfer committee and FSG are our owners. We’ll start the new season with whatever players are on the squad list at that point.
We have no real control over any of that. So what can we do? We can make sure that when that first game kicks off next season, the away fans aren’t singing that song. We can stop pointing the finger at everyone else and do our bit. We can stop being part of a club that relies on past glories and harks back to atmospheres generated 10 years ago. I want to be in another crowd that deafens the opposition.
We were all depressed last season. It was inevitable after the highs of the year before. We’ve got the summer to recharge our batteries and put it behind us. Let’s just focus on our bit. Let’s greet the players’ coach for the first home game with banners and flares and singing and dancing. Let’s have a pint and do some karaoke.
You can say what you want about Brendan Rodgers, but he’s the first manager since Rafa to get me and my mates singing and dancing around about football, and we’re a lot older and much more world weary than we were in 2005.
I’m willing to give Brendan another chance at making me want to sing and dance again, and I think we should all just make the decision to do it no matter what. Ultimately, if you want him sacked you’ll get your way sooner or later but, for now, let’s pull together and do some karaoke. If you can’t get a ticket for the match, come to the ground anyway. We’ll all have a pint and you can sing and dance outside until the karaoke starts afterwards. You can be first on.
If you’re not in Liverpool, go out and get pissed for the match and send videos to the internet of you having a laugh. I’m betting that seeing videos of Reds enjoying themselves singing Jordan Henderson’s song in a pub will make him feel 10 feet tall (as opposed to calling him a twat for misplacing a pass).
Let’s remind them what we can do when we’re all together.
There were a couple of great moments in Gerrard’s last game at Anfield. We had a spontaneous, unanimous singing of his song when 3-1 down with two minutes left. My favourite though was when he had an effort at the Kop end which he put high and wide, prompting a “what the fucking hell was that” song from the Kop.
It gave me some hope that we are still capable of being that great crowd that the away fans goad us about. It’s just become buried really, really deep. If you’re reading this and thinking it’s all nonsense, the tickets are too expensive and it’s not our job to motivate a load of millionaires, I completely understand. Do us a favour though, and stop coming to the match.
It’s too expensive to hate doing it. Spend the money on taking your wife or husband or kids or grandkids out every weekend. Give your ticket to a young lad or girl who is so happy to have a ticket to the match they will sing and dance and support their team. Or, if you’re not ready to give up just yet because you like to rant and rave at the match at the end of a long, hard week in work, I get it. Just do me a favour and scream abuse at the opposition lads and not ours. That’s the idea of a home crowd.
If you don’t go to the match but it still pisses you off so much that all you do is spout bile on the internet, choose a different hobby because this one will give you a stomach ulcer if you don’t enjoy any of it.
Here’s a list for you:
– Dudek, Traore, Biscan, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Mellor, Baros, Cisse, Smicer.
– Knocked out of the FA Cup by Burnley.
– Finished 5th in the league.
– Won the European Cup.
– Won the fucking European Cup.
And we helped them do it.
This club is capable of extraordinary things, but it won’t do anything without us behind it.
So here’s the review: Liverpool Supporters 2014-2015. Three out of 10. What the fucking hell was that.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda
Nailed it. Superb piece.
This is the best thing I’ve ever read on the internet, ever.
Thank you.
As much as i agree with many of the sentiments, i don’t think i have ever seen such a spineless Liverpool side than at times last season.. Getting bullied by United, showing no fight, grit or determination against relegation fodder home and way.. You don’t have to be a amazing player to become a LFC legend but what is expected is 100 percent effort and putting a few fucking hard tackles in.. I feel the players and crowd feed of each other, it has always been that way.. So many games we had surrendered before we even walked onto the pitch, whether the fans have played a part in that probably.. But the players do also have to earn our praise and encouragement.. Not through amazing skill and ability or wins, just through showing fight!!
Couldn’t agree more. As a fan outside of Liverpool it pains me to see the decline of the atmosphere in the ground. As much as they have battered us in recent times, just look at how much fun Crystal Palace lads have home and away. The atmosphere at Selhurst Park is always electrifying.
Have we had much to get excited about this season?
Very early on it was clear we wouldn’t have our most exciting player from last season, Suarez, and no one was signed to even come close to him.
Our 2nd most exciting player from last season, Sturridge, was lost long term early on.
The style of football was drastically worse than last yr mainly due to failures in the transfer market.
We whimpered out of the CL so we didn’t even have that to look forward too while things were going wrong in the league.
We whimpered out of the EL, again nothing to look forward to there.
Whimpered out of the semi final.
We didn’t have one new signing (out of 10) last summer to dazzle us.
We didn’t sign anyone in Jan, not even to rectify the obvious goal scoring problem.
I can count on one hand the number of good performances this season.
So far the players we are strongly linked with this summer arnt exciting anyone for the new season either.
As has been mentioned in recent podcasts one big exciting signing (hopefully a striker) would lift everyone; fans, players, manager alike.
Gassing Mike Marsh doesn’t exactly fill us full of confidence that this is the big change that will turn us around next season either.
The fans and the team feed of one another. If the fans don’t see anything to get excited about then they’ll find it hard to drive the team on.
Well said, well written.
Torres bounce, Suarez song, Gerrard song. What’s the opening ‘big song’ next season ?
We don’t have any “star” players in the team any more. Coutinho might turn into one but that’s still not nailed on. The players we’ve been linked to so far, although not all bad, are hardly anything to get excited about either.
And why would Coutinho want to stay at a club where the crowd would rather fire spite at Lucas/Hendo/Rodgers (delete as appropriate) than bloody well support the team? If I was him I wouldn’t have signed an extension and told the crowd exactly why!
Imagine having to go into the changing rooms and seeing a bloke you really like, who is really good at their job, fucking crying because of the abuse hurled at them!
The fans don’t deserve a 3 out of 10, that’s bloody charitable, a damn sight more charitable than the crowd have been this year…
“We are Liverpool, tra la la la la”
agreed. i could see glen was done (just like everyone else) but the level of abuse he got in the first game of the season unsettled the whole defence and was a worrying sign of things to come.
I’ve supported Liverpool my whole life, even making the decision to go to uni here so I could be in the city. I finally made it to my first few games this year and obviously I was dead excited, dream come true blah blah blah… And the atmosphere was shite. Every single time. Out sung by the away fans, bitching and moaning constantly, even booing a fucking substituon!!
Yes the performances weren’t great but it’s not like besiktas set the world alight, yet there the fans were giving it 100% for the duration of a fairly boring 1-0.
No one cares if u hate the players or the manager or whatever else, just support the football club!
Well in Paul loved that.
It’s easy to criticise, I should know I had 7 years of it at architecture school and this is one reason why I have so few architects as friends, the reason being they want to talk about architecture and what this means is criticising other people’s buildings and this of course is cultural because its how architecture is taught. If a building has 95 good things about it and 5 bad you only ever get to hear about the 5 bad and normally those 5 ‘bad’ things have a long history or reasons why they turned out bad and sometimes you just make the wrong choice, because we are human we sometimes make the wrong choice.
There are clear parrellels with football, with many fans it easier to talk about negative than positive, pundits do it all the time, especially defenders talking about mistakes by other defenders. Very occasionally you get credit for attacking play but usually there is always the throw away line that the defense could do better unless its Messi or Ronaldo or one of those ilk that are just footballing gods and no defender could stop (although a lot of times they could but its not mentioned because its not part of the narrative)
When Suarez scored against England it was Gerrards fault according to the gutter press, when in my book it’s great anticipation by Suarez and he has the defense on toast with one leg, had it been Messi or Ronaldo scoring it would not been Gerrards fault it would have been great anticipation etc.
Not being a season ticket holder I go to the pub to watch the match with the kids and its ace even if we lose because
1 Your in a pub with your kids
2 Your watching Liverpool
Winning is better than losing and last year we were in our normal bar in Dinard France for the Arsenal game, the 4 goal went in and we gave it the full we are liverpool dance on the table in front of the telly while all around us Arsen Wenger lovers were choking on their salads.
This year has been crap on the footie front and we have moved back to the Lakes so we have different pubs and different beer but we still plan our weekends around the match and
1 Your still in a bar with your kids
2 Your still watching Liverpool
It’s still the best part of the week, even is you lose.
Great post mate, with you all the way. I’m a scouser who stood on the Kop in the 70s and 80s but can no longer do so as I’m in Australia. But I will be supporting our lads in Brisbane with my sons when they play here July 17. And unfortunately the 3 other posts on here demonstrate your point perfectly.
good article
we got 5 out of 10 in the away grounds survey too http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32975501
18th we were! for friendliness prices pies and atmos
bring back ‘purchase on the day tickets for a euro seat/standing kop, bin the flashing surround ads.. c’mon you mighty mighty reds
That was great Paul. There is a great deal of anger out there. I am fascinated about the relationship between the social media and the attitude in the ground. Perhaps they feed off of each other to a degree. There is a great deal of over reaction and hyperbole created by social and traditional media. This constant sense of outrage must play some part in the atmosphere at the ground. Alternatively does the lack of ‘support’ at the ground, when we are down in the game, feed back to the twitterati and bloggers? At times I find myself screaming at it (“but he’s only 20!!”) and at times I wonder whether the people commenting are actual supporters (or even human beings).
Generalising, some traditional fans wants a return to our glory years, not just for footballing success but for a culture that has faded away. The more recent fan sees the club as a global entity (or a product) and expects service akin to any major company providing a top end product. What brings aspects of these two groups together is impatience and a need to blame anything and everything associated with the club when things aren’t going our way. Was it a bad season – absolutely. Was a screaming at the game, to the point I woke the baby up – most definitely. Do I feel a deep seated need to personally slag off people at the football club – not so much. And it doesn’t help a hell of a lot because all it creates is a sense of negativity in the ground (to the point that our fans are going woooooaaahhhhh before our goalkeeper kicks the ball) and has an adverse affect on our players.
I would like to ignore it all before the season begins again, to avoid the vitriol, but know that I’ll be looking in the same places tomorrow for news and opinion. Cheers for a change in perspective from the usual reactionary shit.
Bang on. I also agree with all the mitigating details of why we are all miserable. This year has been hard to keep the faith at times.
Got to keep believing though, so you are right mate.
‘Shit or get off the pot’ is the only message.
Good write up..!
Piss poor support, three out of ten is generous in my opinion. The kop is fucking terrible nowadays. But anyway, solutions…
The match
At the moment, everyone turns up five mins before kick off and as soon as somthing goes slightly wrong the atmosphere bombs. The only way the atmosphere will change at home is if the club introduce some sort of “sit where you want” section, preferably in the middle of the kop, so supporters can get together in groups, get in there early and start enjoying being in the ground again..! Songs would get louder and the negative atmosphere throughout the ground would (hopefully) be drowned out.
If anyone has a problem with their seat moving they can either ask to keep it in that section and make sure they get there ealry enough to get their seat, or can move to a section outside the middle.
It was similar to the SOS organised marches where there were large numbers of people stood at the side taking fucking pictures and videos, whilst the lads who create the atmosphere and generally follow the team home and away were in the centre trying so do somthing..!
tinterweb
The internet / forums / comments section is a whole new level of bile which isn’t really worth commenting on. That people who profess to support this club can come out with some of the bile they do regarding our own players and manager is just sad.
I genuinely can’t see what enjoyment they get out of supporting the club. If we don’t look like winning the league on day one there will be many who just throw the towel in. We’ve never won the (prem) league…!!!
LFC lost its way in the footballing financial battle years and years ago and failed to make any substantial gains in the world of football marketing and is now still catching up. We are not a club thats owned by a rich multi billionnaire capable of making £30 Shevchenko deals 10 years ago..
We are a club that needs to think outside the box, get its head out of its collective arse, pull together, start enjoying the game and ATTACK – instead of whinging and crying endlessly like a bunch of pre-pubescent adolescents who have broke their controllers whilst palying championship manager..!
You judge the support by the standards of yesterday. This is modern football. This is a franchise not a club. Few of the supporters support the club because it represents their city. They support it because it represents their favourite donuts. And in modern football, people who pay their money can support how they choose to. If you are still clinging to the notion of a united support and YNWA, you are living in the past. The people who want the past back, are prepared to march for it. Because the club represents the city they love. And you fucking slate them for it.
“If you are still clinging to the notion of a united support and YNWA, you are living in the past.”
We may as well turn it in now then eh..! We just need to stop being so fickle. The Annie Rd was boss at the back end of last season, as was the atmosphere – then as soon as we have a bad season its all “sack the manger” again and back to booing our own.
“The people who want the past back, are prepared to march for it. Because the club represents the city they love. And you fucking slate them for it.”
Are you on drugs..? I was one of them marching. I was slating off those that just stand at the side taking pictures – the ones who support the “franchise” without understanding the club.
Whats you solution to any of this Paule..? New manager.? new owners..? and until that happens we just keep demanding.? You enjoy going the match.?
When things arent going right on the pitch, now more that ever, we could do with supporting..! Its not about accepting mediocracy its more about getting people in the ground to just enjoy watching a game of footy..!!
Enjoy getting battered by Stoke? Enjoy watching Rodgers and Pascoe fucking learning on the job? Enjoy watching the owners scrabble around for cast offs and young punts and refusing to “overspend” whilst they expect you to hand over 50 quid?
If you begrudge spending your money to go and watch, don’t!
Sod off down the pub with your grumpy cantankerous mates and leave the match going to actual supporters.
It’s crazy that you would rather go to a match to slag players and management off than spend your money elsewhere.
The atmosphere for Newcastle at Anfield was actually depressing. I felt a bleakness around the ground. We actually played some good football that night. I know it was only Newcastle, but we still played well and there were a lot positives in the game. Sterling ran his arse off and scored a world class goal and the feeling within the stadium everytime he was on the ball was “I want you to make a mistake so I can shout at you.” All things considered, he had a great game and the complete lack of love shown even when he’s put all he’s got for the shirt means I’m hardly surprised he wants to move on.
It wasn’t just Sterling who had to play under sustained pressure and fear of failure that night. The atmosphere was silent. Bleak. Only outcries were negative. Worse than the Emirates! The Emirates. Incidentally, stayed standing for the entire against us. The entire stadium on their feet and the atmosphere meant the outcome was the only possibility.
The Pink pod after Newcastle was bleak too. There was a hangover from the atmosphere felt from the fans in the stadium which transferred to the pod. It was only on the later pods that the positives were discussed.
Who can lift Andield like Gerrard used to? Henderson? He can’t lift his team mates. I imagine Henderson’s captaincy is part of Sterling’s issues. Skrtel must also look around and think who my leader now?
Skrtel or Coutinho should have been made captain. They can lift the team. They can lift the fans.
Well said that man.
Nothing to add apart from at the end of the day we like to say that we are different to other supporters – lets prove it again next season, or is it just empty words?
As an optimist I would give us 4/5!
I’ve read some head in the sand bollocks but this tops it.
Basically, unless you can find pleasure in watching the club become a mid table nothing , you shouldn’t be going the game?
Applaud and reward mediocrity.
Just as Shanks would have done.
After all, “Second is nothing”…. No fuck it. Thats negative.
Competing for 5th, the odd crack at a cup if we get lucky draws, and winning a Derby at home. Along with endless history stories from a decade ago to avoid any negative overtones.
Maybe if you are content with mediocrity, and applaud and reward it, you should make way for supporters who want the club to get back on its perch, instead of telling them to give up thier seats because you like burying your head in the sand.
No amount of support is going to change Rodgers into a top manager or Allen into a top player.
A shite article. You would think thus was a site about Tottenham or Villa.
It’s a shame that Paule thinks supporting your team through rough times is equivalent to accepting mediocrity (it’s not). I can recommend some books that will help you with that mindset if you want.
And I guarantee that supporting people will help them become better, as opposed to just criticising them constantly (that’s in life generally, not just in football).
Write more!!….
Its a shame Paul Cope can’t differentiate “supporting your team through rough times” and not accepting mediocrity through penny pinching by a shower of profit hungry “owners”.
My father supported the club and never missed a game from ’46 to ’88. He never supported mediocrity and demanded the best for club and city.
Its a shame there aren’t more like him today. This notion that the supporters of this club support and applaud any old shite was bollocks in my dads day and its bollocks now.
There are no books I can recommend to help you with that.
There were occasional points between ’46 and ’88 when Liverpool could be described as being mediocre and had the majority of supporters not chosen to encourage the team, rather than denigrate them, I doubt they’d have progressed to the level they did.
Of course, it’s a chicken and egg situation – should the team inspire the crowd or should the crowd inspire the team? What’s certain, though, is that few players have ever been inspired by crowd negativity and what do we, as supporters, really have to lose by trying to lift the team? If it doesn’t work it’s not going to make results any worse and if it does work we get to see better football (and the atmosphere’s more enjoyable).
It’s not about applauding any old shite, it’s about encouraging players to perform to the best of their ability and that’s all you can really ask of a team.
Anyone commenting anything about the team’s performance being the reason for the crap atmosphere, I encourage you to read the article again. “The players don’t seem motivated” then fucking motivate them. You’ll be amazed at the motivation provided by 35,000 people yelling, screaming, encouraging.
“I don’t pay £60 a ticket…” then don’t pay anything a ticket. If you can’t commit, watch it in the pub. Cheaper for you, better for the team. There’s an entire Anfield of season ticket holders on the list waiting for you wretched entitled pissants to bugger off.
Put this season’s supporters into Istanbul 2005 and we’d have lost. And all we’d have heard afterwards was how the team let everyone down.
3/10 was a damn generous rating.
Assuming the players give a fuck, don’t feel underpaid and demotivated as a consequence. Few if any of the squad next season are fans of this club. They are doing a job. At a club the better players see as a stepping stone, not a destination.
Money means bugger all after about 3 months of earning. It motivates for 3 months.
However, nothing is more demotivational than being micro analysed and slated for every slight mistake, without positive reinforcement.
Sound like you’re making an excuse for your own piss poor supporter performance.
I was on a waiting list for over 20 years for a season ticket. To imagine the likes of you holding my ticket makes my blood boil.
Then why are Skyrtl and Sterling holding out for more money?
Because Sterling has a shite agent and Skyrtl thinks he’s Peter Pan..!
“There’s an entire Anfield of season ticket holders on the list waiting for you wretched entitled pissants to bugger off.”
Well said fella. It does my head in that my brother and I have been on the waiting list for 20 years.
We’d sell our souls to get to Anfield every other week but instead we have to watch from afar in horror as the “entitled pissants” slowly chip away at the ‘This is Anfield’ legend.
(Great article, btw!)
Spot on, Liverpool FC is more than the players on the pitch, more than the manager in the dug out and more than the owners in the boardroom. Its what I’v believed in since I was a kid kicking a ball with my brothers around L13. LFC is for life not just for christmas. We go again this time together.
As an observer and supporter in the States, I’d say this is a much needed post. Excellent stuff here. Cheers.
Thanks for all the comments on here today everyone (even you Paule ;-) ).
A generally positive response to the article on here and Twitter is more than I expected when writing it given the usual negativity on the internet!
Mediocrity was not tolerated. As Shanks said “second is nothing”. That’s how the team progressed.
Not by applauding average squad players in the first XI because the club is fixated on profits.
This is the ” New Liverpool FC”…the one that poses no threat to our rival city whatsoever.
Some take it lying down. Some applaud it. Many find it hilarious around the country. Particularly in Manchester.
Cheer and applaud that all you like, but you should also understand many don’t particularly want to.
The players that will be on the pitch for us next season will be there because Liverpool offered them the opportunity and they quite rightly accepted it. It is not the fault of the players if they are sub-standard, they merely signed the contract that was put in front of them by the club. To choose not to show support to these players because you believe them to be sub-standard is comparable to criticising a donkey for not being a racehorse – the players are what they are and we signed them up knowing that. It’s one thing to criticise those who brought sub-standard players to the club but it’s another to criticise players whose only crime is accepting the chance of a lifetime. The club offered them the contracts, the players will just be fulfilling their obligation.
I get what you are saying paule it sticks in the craw of a proud red to see less than the best in both quality and effort on the pitch. In fact it’s heartbreaking, but Paul wins the argument hands down. ‘the kettle calling the pot black’ – that old line, thats us. We fans let ourselves down as much as the team. We are LFC as much as any player, manager or bottlewasher. Let’s not forget it for next season, we are Liverpool.
More of this sort of thing from you Paul Cope
Thanks
10/10
Now that was a proper piece of writing. Well said!!
BOOM! Been waiting months for someone to say this. Thank you for doing it so well.
Great piece. Sums up everything I have felt this season. As a fan who does not live in Liverpool (to my sadness) I have hope every members ticket sale, or every time a general sale takes place that I can add my voice to the support and atmosphere. I would love nothing more. It sickens me to see and hear (or not as the case is) a couple lack of atmosphere at games, it’s incredibly embarrassing. My dad was a regular at Anfield during the 70s and 80s when you could buy a ticket on the day and regales me with stories of the atmosphere. Things such a the Thomas Cook partnership sucks the lifeblood out of the atmosphere. It angers me to the bone when I can’t get a ticket to a game, and seemingly have no way to start building credits, yet the Thomas Cook purchasers stand out a mile off and sit in silence. Too many people go to Anfield to be a part of the atmosphere and experience it, ironically adding to the detriment of it. Give me back my atmosphere I say. Give me a chance.
Fucking brilliant 10/10. I’ve been trying to say the same thing for a year but no where near as eloquent. let’s go fucking mental! Every game. Every corner of the ground like the corner behind Palace’s goal. Get behind Brendan. Get behind the boys. Get behind your team. Win or lose. Full verses of poor scouser Tommy and Anfield Road. Think they need to play the backing music to encourage more people to sing. Cheese I know but got to try something. I stopped criticising players and the manager years ago and decided I’d just support the team. I’m much happier for it.
Nice one! Supporters should SUPPORT. I feel like this is what LFC is in need of more than almost anything else, especially going in to next season.
Ignore the whoppers paul that was fuckin magic !!!!
Great article.The only variable that we as supporters have any control over is ourselves,we should try harder!
Never commented on this site before but really enjoyed this article. I’ve just given up my season ticket mainly because of what you’ve pointed out – I’ve had enough. Yes, it’s expensive and yes they are overpaid millionaires and yes it has been a terrible season but I can stomach all of that when it’s still fun going. We used to sing a lot more and it’s not just rose-tinted memories because we definitely used to sing some of the players name before every game for instance.
The last 2 minutes of the Palace game was amazing but it just highlighted how rarely it gets that good. I even think because it is so expensive we should all try harder to make it worth the cost. We need to separate what the team/manager is doing with having a laugh. Save having a moan for the internet when you get home too.
This post is about the fans and yet the comments are still talking about the team, which emphasises the article even more. Fuck the team. Look at yourselves. Stop fucking moaning and get behind the players and the manager.
As the article says: “We have no real control over any of that. So what can we do?”
Get behind the team is what you can do! Read it, and read it again. And when you’re done, read it once more FSS!
Brilliant piece. Spot on. Don’t wait twelve months for the next one.