meredithmathieson

I honestly cannot see how replacing Benitez would serve any useful purpose whatsoever. To be honest, I'm thankful that he doesn't just turn round and say 'You can shove this crock of s**** up your a***', which I don't think anybody could blame him for. The man is being constantly professionally and personally undermined. And Jim D is absolutely spot on. Man Utd have 3 forwards in their current set-up who all cost more than our record signing EVER. And that counts: that turns 0:0s into 1:0s - as the Mancs have done on nine occasions this year. I came out of the ground yesterday as depressed as in a long while, not least because I think the crowd have now largely become an albatross around our necks (talking League games only here). The support was virtually non-existent yesterday. If, God forbid, we ever are seriously in the running come April/May, I think the crowd is that nervous, edgy and just waiting to slag whoever is the resident boo-boy, that it will prove to be counter-productive. And yes, I know that some will say the team should put in the performance to get the crowd going, but sometimes it doesn't work like that.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5753802.ece Why Steven Gerrard struggles to have the complete love of the Kop Tony Evans Those who don’t go to Anfield on a regular basis are often surprised to see the matchgoing Liverpool fans’ attitude to Steven Gerrard. They expect admiration, love, a fawning devotion to the Liverpool captain. Instead, there is an unsettling undercurrent of antagonism towards Gerrard, one that is fading as the years go by but can still rise up into hostility at the slightest excuse. When they come across it, outsiders attribute the griping to Gerrard’s double flirtation with Chelsea - but the doubts in the Kopites’ minds go back farther. Almost from the beginning, more than ten years back now, there were those who found Gerrard’s demeanour irritating. As soon as it became clear that here was a prodigious talent, the critics in the stands saw room for complaint. At times, the youngster appeared to be looking for the flashy ‘Hollywood’ pass when an easy ball was the preferred option. It got worse after he was part of England’s 5-1 victory over Germany. Suddenly he was a national hero. Scouse supremacists are always naturally suspicious of English heroes. Gerrard was earning the nickname ‘Stevie Me’. When he scored, he pointed to his chest frantically. When he was used on the right of midfield - which the Kop, almost to a man considered his best position - he seemed to sulk, yearning for the central role the media demanded. And, in the big games, the alehouse tittle-tattle said, he disappeared. That meant, in simplest terms, he'd never destroyed Manchester United single-handedly. Yet, by the time Benitez arrived, he seemed to feel he was the dominant power at the club. The perfect example of ambivalence to Gerrard came in Istanbul. After he scored Liverpool’s opening goal, he turned to rouse the crowd, gesturing with his arms for fans to turn up the volume. The volume rose, for sure, but there was an irritated growl behind it: we didn’t need lesson in support from him. Afterwards, he hogged the cup, with only Jamie Carragher wresting it away for any length of time. Not the Liverpool way. Not the work of a captain, either. Then there was the flirtation with Chelsea. It was almost too much to bear to see a Scouser apparently determined to take Roman’s roubles. But he stayed. And since then, things have got better. He’s matured. The arrival of Fernando Torres has removed some of the expectation and burden from him. He’s had more bounce about him on the pitch. Plus, his recent arrest has made this aloof and seemingly troubled lad from Huyton simpatico at last. All things considered, he deserves the place at No 2 in the list of Liverpool’s greatest players - if you need a goal with the time running out, where else would you want to see the ball but at Gerrard’s feet. But he also deserves the acclaim and adoration of the Kop. It’s coming, it’s coming... [Tony Evans is the author of Far Foreign Land: Pride and Passion the Liverpool way ]. I've heard him mention this before about Gerrard gesturing to the crowd in Istanbul. FWIW, I don't know anybody else who thinks/thought that. A classic piece of improvised captaincy in my book - conveyed that it wasn't just a consolation goal.

You can order 'Scully', 'One Summer' etc on Amazon. Brings back memories. I like the way Nando talks about the obvious awe in which King Kenny is held even today.

A pity that Ballague has already used up the 'Liverpool: A Season on the Brink' title, as it is probably more apt now than it was for the 2004/5 season. Maybe he should produce a book every year, call it 'A Season on the Brink', and just have the year after the title, like an Annual.

Good read.

The only bit of that post that I disagree with is: "Can you imagine how s*** it will feel if they beat us to make it 18 for them? It'll be like the 96 cup final times 10, Athens times 5, the 4-0 at OT times 20, the last minute of 89 times god knows how many." If my reading of that is correct, I have to say that Arsenal 89 should be removed from the quotation.

Methinks Babel is more of a problem/conundrum than Dossena at the moment. There is a proper player lurking within Babel, albeit with a complete lack of heart/b******s/footballing brain. To be fair to Dossena, he did alright tonight, but was hardly tested defensively.

So. does Robert David Keane put to the sword the notion of 'Premiership proven'?

Berry Nieuwenhuys, because my Grandad used to have a cat called 'Nivvy' in honour of him. And, of course, Billy Liddell.

There's a picture of him on the Red All Over The Land site, mate. See the thread on him on there. ps the site is down at the moment. In all honesty, it's probably because it's battered with people trying to pay their respects to him.

Bobby Wilcox passed away last night in the Royal Hospital. He had only very recently been diagnosed with cancer, and his family were with him at the bedside. He was sixty years old. For those reading this who did not know him you have missed one of the greatest characters that this city has produced. For those that have met him the loss will be deeply felt. Whether he was sitting in the Globe giving out tickets and stick with equal generosity, or haranguing late-comers in stations, airports or hotels, or belting out such classics as the Johnny Barnes song, he was always brilliant. Perhaps his finest hour was in the airport after Istanbul, as he kept thousands entertained with many a Kop classic, including teaching them the new version of ‘We Won It Five Times.’ He was a very generous man. Like a latter day Shankly, he was always inundated with ticket requests, and always felt badly he if could not come up with the tickets that had been asked for. To this day no-one knows for sure whether the club ticket office phoned him while we were on the train to the European Cup semi-final with Chelsea, and asked him if he had any spares! At this time I’d ask that your thoughts go out to his wife, Mary, children, Sheila, Lisa, Michael and Colin and his beloved grand-children. If Bill Shankly was Liverpool’sgreatest manager, and Kenny Dalglish Liverpool’s greatest player, then surely Bobby Wilcox was the club’s greatest supporter. God bless you Bobby, and thanks for everything. You are, and always will be, a legend. [posted on RAWK]. For those who go the match, you WILL know Bobby's face, even if you didn't know him personally. Will be sadly missed.

Quote from the Telegraph 'psychologist': "MIND GAMES Sir Alex knows what he’s doing when he makes these comments, but Benitez’s reaction is not one of a man confident his side can win the title. He is trying to control what is outside his sphere of influence. It’s a cliché in psychology but you should only worry about what you can control, not what you can’t. That Benitez is trying to influence things beyond his control suggests Sir Alex has rattled him." Not trying to give any credibility to this crock of s****, but surely even logic dictates that if Ferguson initated "trying to control what is outside his sphere of influence", then the above implies that he, Ferguson, has been rattled?

Not at all, John. But equally to say that they are without influence would be incorrect.

Newspaper reactions thus far: Guardian: shocking piece by Daniel Taylor. "Manchester Guardian" reverting to type; Telegraph: also poor. Will have to 'Google Scholar' the alleged psychologist employed, Karl Moriss, to see what academic publications he has to his credit, if any (Outside of 'Carrington Press', obviously). Mail: positive, see above. Mirror: also positive, especially as it was written by Maddock. Times: two pretty neutral articles by Oliver Kay. Overall tone seems to be surprise, and 'wait and see' if it proves to be the right thing. Independent: fairly balanced, but the Irish version, written by the same journalist, Ian Herbert, is a good deal more sly. Playing to the perceived audience, perhaps? On balance, not too bad. Plus, oh for simple alliteration. If his name wasn't 'Rafa' would they really be calling it a 'rage'? I don't think so.

By the late 90s, when it was finally sinking in that the Mancs weren't just pretenders to our throne, and that the League wasn't ours by right, a few of us had a chat about how we had really become blase in the mid-late 80s [Think the Souness quote from the League winning side of 84: 'By our standards we were not good enough to win the League this year. By everybody elses we were']. We agreed then that we would take a week off work to go on the ale to celebrate the next time we won it. Now it's another 10 years on and we all have kids, that ain't going to happen. But it will be one bloody good session.

From the Daily Mail: "His television tirade out of the way, Benitez retired to a side room to answer questions for radio before returning to his desk to deal with the written press. As he sat down to face around half-a-dozen of us, a smile spread across his face as he said: ‘Right, not much I can add to that, is there?’". Brilliant.

Rimbeux wrote: "To who though? ". The fans, surely? Thought the quote from the Carlsberg marketing man about Liverpool being bought by somebody not interested in making a profit could be read one of two ways - Dubai/Maktoum or ShareLiverpool. I really hope the latter step up to the plate now and aggressively start to try and take over.

EdinJapan wrote: "I suspect they've slapped the affray on due to there being other incidents:- "Where two or more persons use or threaten the unlawful violence, it is the conduct of them taken together that must be considered for the purpose of subsection (1)" but again proving that is going to be difficult unless there is security camera footage." Anybody else heard that the affray relates to geeting Gerrard into the police vehicle, or rather the degree of difficulty that the police had in getting him into the van? Or whether or not his drink had been spiked? No idea as to how credible these are, just two more rumours sloshing around. Gotta love Liverpool when there's a story like this! Also, I heard that the DJ is actually a Man City fan?

Not the first time it's been said on this site, but Dion Fanning is probably the journalist most in tune with how the majority of Liverpool supporters view matters. Don't know if he is a Red, but I find it hard to believe that he isn't. Good article.

Quote: "(Hassony @ Nov 14 2008, 09:26) It was like nothing you have ever seen by a liverpool player before Bjorn Tore Kvarme at OT in 93 (I think) and a good number of Torben Piechnik displays were up there with it, Sean Dundee can't be discounted either." Surely there must be an honourable mention in despatches for Phil Babb as well?

Mmm...how long did Kenny go without scoring?

George Lees wrote: "beyond all that, the best thing about his performance yesterday was that [babel] looked like one of the few who was arsed to be playing for liverpool. when one might have expected him to drift, he was putting every effort in." It's funny the different perspectives you get, isn't it? By us in the ground, Babel was getting stick from a fair few for being the opposite of what George wrote above, and for being a bottler to boot. He was ,however, one of the few to give a decent clap to the Liverpool fans at the end (Don't know how it came across on the TV, but the support was decent at White Hart Lane IMHO).

fao Tim, I've been asked to forward this on to the website for you on behalf of ShareLiverpool: "Hi Tim, I am in contact with a few board members of ShareLiverpoolFC and I forwarded them a copy of the text you posted on this Forum. Please see a response below; "Thanks for your interest and for going to the trouble of undertaking such a detailed analysis. Whilst we have confidence in our figures and the methodology employed, ShareLiverpool FC welcomes the opportunity to enter such dialogue as it helps us to strengthen the our model and, if appropriate, fine tune any elements to add to our understanding. Unfortunately, having spoken to our financial team and other members of our management Committee, it appears that your e-mail has not been delivered to any of our accounts directly. We would, therefore, be grateful if you would re-send it to: info@shareliverpoolfc.com at your earliest convenience. A representative of ShareLiverpoolFC will then contact you in order to address your points directly. You can rest assured that we take your concerns seriously." I think it is pretty urgent that we get this up, Cheers C"

Fair play, Tim. I await the reply with interest.

Boohog wrote: "Why should people not be allowed to question their statements and/or correct them if necessary? Is it akin to crossing the picket line?" No, Boohog, not at all. Simply that it is easy to come on here and 'blind with science' in a field in which most know little or nothing. [Not a dig at anyone, just an observation]. The point was put to Tim to simply e-mail ShareLiverpool with his figures and concerns and await a reply. It is after all Tim who has sought to ridicule and rubbish the ShareLiverpool figures without knowing how they arrived at them. And it would be very odd, don't you think, for ShareLiverpool to allow themselves to be discredited so easily by publishing figures which are so provably incorrect, which is what Tim says?