I almost forgot. Football

Two weeks ago, Liverpool were beaten by Blackpool. It was a deserved victory for the Seasiders and it marked a new low in my football supporting life, at least as far as on the pitch action was concerned. Yes I had watched us being knocked out of the League Cup by Grimsby and Northampton to name but two. I even remember being beaten by Burnley by a fantastic piece of skill by Djimi Traore. And every cup final loss or defeat at the hands of one of the big three or Everton was always a body blow. But defeat to Blackpool said to me that footballing wise we couldn't get much lower. It hit home that we were genuinely struggling to even stay in the Premier League this season.

Of course, the start of the season was all hope and optimism. We had a new manager who had persuaded our two star players to stay with the club and even tempted the best free signing of the window to abandon his roots and move up north to us. But by 3rd October 2010 we were 3rd from bottom and knowing that our next game was against the team just one place above us, our neighbours across the park and the ones most happy to see us where we are.

It was also a two weeks gap that would see the most amazing events unfold at our club. The clock was ticking on the repayment of the owners loan from RBS. That clock would stop ticking on the 15th October with the potential of a bloody big bomb going off at Anfield and the realistic possibility that we would start today's game 3 wins away from today's opponents and points adrift from where we started the season.

But here we are. A bright but crisp day on Merseyside. The old regime has gone thanks to protracted court room proceedings. We've won more court cases than Premier League games this season. Maybe we should bring Lord Grabiner QC off the bench. A visit to the modern, even futuristic ground a mile away from home is scheduled for lunch time and once again our optimism is returning. Only this time it is a question of once bitten, twice shy. we are not prepared to be as optimistic as we had been at the start of the season. we know that the same players are still available to be picked. But hopefully there will be a weight off their shoulders that was adding an extra couple of pounds to every attempted pass or darting run.

We've also been here before with new American owners. This time the quote that has resonated with me is one from Thomas Werner. "I think one message I'd like to give is I'd rather under promise and over deliver." While that sounds all well and good, at least promise us something so that we can measure that statement in the future. Hicks and Gillette promised a "spade in the ground within 60 days". We measured that promise and it was found wanting. And unfortunately it is going to be at least two and  half months before we can see any benefit of being debt free, with it's impact in the transfer market.

Don't get me wrong. I am delighted that Waldorf and Stadtler have gone. I also like what NESV have done to Boston Red Sox If that philosophy is translated into success at Anfield then I will be delighted, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

One thing the last two weeks has done for me is reignited my passion for Liverpool Football Club. Under the previous tenure, I had started to lose my faith and even gone shopping during a match time. Not any more. I will be watching every game live, either at the stadium, at the pub, or where that's not possible ... well, where there's a will. I can't believe I was as nervous about the result of a court case as I was about watching a penalty shoot out out in Istanbul.

As in 1989, when we played Everton in the post Hilsborough FA Cup Final, I feel that the future starts here against our oldest rivals. Let's hope for a similar outcome.

Dummies guide to owning Liverpool FC

My last blog on Liverpool FC was exactly a week ago. I knew nothing much would happen as it was an international weekend so other than worry about how injured our key players would come back from duty, there was no football to be interested in. Did you see the England game? My case rests.

Talking of cases resting there was a small matter to be cleared up and as one of my favourite bloggers, Paula at Battling On, asked why, when there was washing to be hung out on a cold Wednesday in October, I was so happy, I had to write this post.

As I write, there is a meeting taking place that could decide the future of my beloved Reds. It should be the culmination of one of the most turbulent periods in Anfield history. And it may even have reported the outcome by the time I finish writing.

But that is the end game. Where do you start. How about 1959 when Liverpool appoint a certain Mr Bill Shankly who built Liverpool "... up and up to be a bastion of invincibility". Or how about 1977 when a diminutive Wearsider called Bob lead Liverpool to their first European Champions Cup success, or 1978 when he won a second, or 1981 when he won a third. In 1984 an Ordinary Joe not only won The European Cup for a 4th time but added a league and cup success to make it a treble year.

Maybe the biggest turning point in Liverpool's history happened the following year when Joe Fagin, in his final match in charge of Liverpool had to stand and watch as the team he had steered to a second successive European Cup Final had to sit in a dressing room as the Heysel Disaster, caused by a multitude of factors, but one of the biggest being the hooligan element attached to Liverpool Football Club, unfolded on the terraces outside. 39 football fans died because a wall collapsed in the crumbling stadium after hooligans in Liverpool colours, stormed the pens holding Juventus and neutral fans. This was the culmination of a period in which football hooliganism was referred to as "The English Disease".

So English clubs were banned from European competition for an unspecified period whilst Liverpool were told that when other English teams were allowed back in their ban would continue for another five years.

Liverpool were at the height of their competitive prowess at home and abroad. The European ban made the English teams only able to compare against each other, but this lack of external competition surely lead to a lowering in standards domestically.

King Kenny took the managerial mantle straight after Heysel and steered Liverpool to a League and FA Cup double in his first season. In 1987 he replaced star striker Ian Rush with the most exciting team ever. Barnes, Beardsley, Aldridge, Hansen, Houghton, McMahon. Beautiful football. If you ever get to watch the Liverpool vs Nottingham Forest game in April 1988 at Anfield I urge you to do so. Even Brazil couldn't play purer football.

Of course it was another April game against Nottingham Forest that had a devastating effect on the club, the community and the sport. The Hillsborough Disaster signalled the start of the end of Liverpool's dominance of footballing matters in England. Yes they still won the FA Cup that year and narrowly lost the league title on the final kick of the season at home to Arsenal, brilliantly chronicled by Nick Hornby in his novel Fever Pitch. Yes we won the title a year later but we haven't won it since. In fact the 1990's was a pretty barren period for Liverpool with an FA Cup and League Cup win all we had to show for over ten years. I believe that Hillsborough affected events on the pitch as much as off it and that deterioration was difficult to halt.


So we move on to 2004. Gerard Houllier had tried to restore the glory years to Anfield but had reached his peak thee years earlier. The manager who had just won the UEFA Cup was brought in to try to take us to the next level. Well he missed out the next level and went and won the European Cup for a fifth time. Then went and won the FA Cup in the next season. At this time, Liverpool, who had been a family run club, with numerous small shareholders decided that to raise the finance to invest in the club, including the building of a new stadium, needed to generate additional revenue, the club needed to be sold lock stock and barrel. So Chairman and major shareholder, David Moores and CEO Rick Parry, put the club on EBay.

So who showed interest? Well the investment arm of the richest people in Dubai wanted to buy Liverpool and a silvery haired old duffer from America. He didn't seem to have much of a hope but George Gillette asked Tom Hicks if he fancied helping outbidding the richest family in the middle east and low and behold, the two aging Americans suddenly found themselves as custodians of the historic institution.

Manchester United had previously been taken over by an American family, who had borrowed all of the purchase price to buy the club. This obviously meant that the first call on any profits was to pay back the interest on the acquisition loan. Hicks and Gillette assured Liverpool fans that this wasn't the type of purchase that they would make. They also said that there would be a "spade in the ground within 60 days" in relation to a new stadium to be built. They also promised a new look at the stadium to make it grander. Investment into the team was also top of the priority list.

So we made our record signing when purchasing Fernando Torres in the summer of 2007. All seemed well. But hold on one second. Mr Hicks and Mr Gillette were plotting. They wanted to get rid of the manager who had won the Champions League two years earlier and bring in Jurgen Klinsman who had absolutely no club management experience, just because they could. Well they couldn't. The fans showed their displeasure and the Yanks were shown to be plotters of the highest order. The only move on building a stadium was the production of spanking new plans. No muck was moved and no spade was spaded. Not within 60 days and not since.

It eventually transpired that the acquisition was actually leveraged against the club. A complex business structure tried to hide this fact with a holding company for the club being a subsidiary of another holding company which was the sole asset of another Cayman Islands company which was a subsidiary of an American owned company. Still with me?

Hicks and Gillette had borrowed the bulk of the money to purchase Liverpool through the Royal Bank of Scotland. Yes, that's right. The RBS, owned by British Taxpayers. The money for transfers dried up as the interest payments on the holding companies, sucked up all of the profits that the solvent football club produced. Rafa Benitez had to sell his stars to buy other players. In a typical move, Benitez tried to sell Xabi Alonso so that he could buy Gareth Barry. Whether that was a good football move is debatable. The move eventually failed and Alonso stayed for one more season but was extremely unsettled. What it did do was signal that the big spending days were over.

Football was playing second fiddle to the power struggles in the club. Somehow,Benitez managed to produce a team that challenged for the title and beat Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford. He was given an extended contract and the responsibility of overseeing all football matters at Anfield including the reserves,academy and all scouting. Unfortunately, the rot had set in. Alonso as sold to create a transfer fund and the players brought in could best be described as good players but  not the ones that were needed. A seventh place finish meant the end of the line for Benitez. I think that he had gone as far as he could with the circumstances that he was forced to work in and he had started to worry about the power struggle more than vents on the pitch.

In the meantime, Hicks and Gillette had struggled to be able to repay the debts that they had incurred in acquiring the club. They had therefore agreed with the RBS to sell the club. As part of this process a company called Barclay's Capital (BarCap)were appointed to proceed with the sale and the board was reconstituted with a new Chelsea fan chairman, Martin Broughton, was appointed to oversee the sale.

This process has been ongoing since April 2010. Fans have never known where they stand and have given the owners and directors short shrift for most of the last six months. Then last week the waste products hit the air con.

The club made an announcement that the club had been sold to New England Sports Ventures. However, within a few minutes Hicks and Gillette said that they hadn't agreed to the sale and had sacked two of the independent directors and replaced them with Hicks Junior (or Hicks Minor as he was referred to in court) and another of Hicks' associates.

Thus this weeks court action. RBS took Kicks to court to prove that the reconstitution of the board was illegal. They have said that only Martin Broughton was allowed to reconstitute the board. After a five hour hearing yesterday, the judge returned to give his verdict this morning. The verdict was damning to Hicks and Gillette. It gave the entire verdict the way of RBS and the Liverpool independent directors, gave costs against the Americans and didn't open an appeal route.

So happy days for Liverpool and the board met tonight at 8 o'clock to discuss the sale, which was complicated by another offer which came during the wait for the court case. But as I have been writing this post, news ha come through that the saga continues. Hicks and Gillette have filed for an injunction in a Texas court to prevent the sale being completed. The board have released a statement saying that they have resolved that the sale to NESV will go ahead as soon as the injunction is dealt with.

But for now we go to bed knowing that the end game has just got slightly longer. Well if something is worth waiting for....

Out of the Frying Pan......

I know. It's been a while. And I haven't vented my spleen on the season as it's unravelled And now I'm here I feel my spleen in need of a major air conditioning.

But of course today is a day to talk turkey. In just over a months time the residents of our neighbours across the pond will be sitting down for their traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. Today could be the day that Liverpool fans give thanks for being rescued from one group of American's by another group of their compatriots.

But hold on one goddamn second. Is this merely a case of out of the frying pan into the roasting tray. Wouldn't we rather be celebrating American Independence Day instead. What is the difference between the Boston Red Sox owners and the Texas Rangers owners. What makes John W. Henry the man that Tom Hicks isn't?

When Tom and George arrived on Merseyside, they came with promises of a new stadium, investment into the team and the big promise of no debt on the club. Of course there is always the working capital debt that all major use to pursue their projects. Who can honestly believe that a new Anfield can rise from the foundations without borrowing to deliver it. The Emirates is as close to a blueprint to follow as you could get in this country. To build the new stadium, Arsenal had to borrow but they have done the sums and this debt is being repaid as promised in the same way that you or I would pay of our mortgage.

What really rankles is that Waldorf and Stadtler didn't use their own money to purchase our family. They borrowed heavily to acquire the club (the now famous acquisitional debt). NESV have assured the Board (the non yank ones any way) that the only debt on the club will be the working one. This doesn't necessarily mean that the debt goes away, but one option is that the debt will be spread across the NESV portfolio, so is assured against The Red Sox as well as The Reds.This flies directly in the face of the Hicks tactics of syphoning profits from Liverpool to finance his other interests.

What pleases me is the precedence that has been set with The Red Sox. They realised the link between success on the field and profit. If the team is successful then the supporters will want to put their hand in their pockets to support the team which can be invested to make the team successful which means the fans are willing to ......  you get the idea.

But how will that profit be made? Well it has been suggested that ticket prices will be increased to try to offset the costs and provide an instant return. Boston's famous Fenway Stadium has tickets that cost in advance of $300. But, it also has tickets that cost less than $12 providing a real opportunity to bring in the whole family for an affordable price for the majority of working class supporters.

It has been well documented that NESV, which is part owned by the New York Times, turned round Boston red Sox from a heritage brand with considerable history but no recent success, into a twice championship winning side. And although the company ain't skint, they are not in the same financial league as the Sheiks and Oil Barons. Wouldn't it be so much sweeter to win silverware knowing that we have done it without the help of a sugar daddy?

So I am, like has been said on a multitude of TV and Radio stations about Liverpool fans today, cautiously optimistic for the future. The much maligned Christian Purslow and Chelsea fan Mr Broughton have at last raised their head above the parapet and rather than being shot at by the masses, they have only angered their paymasters. That I can cope with.

They're Off

I wrote a blog this morning to put down in words my feelings towards the start of the season. It was entitled Under Starters Orders with every intention of following it up with the post called They're Off. Little did I know at the time that it was likely to be the most apposite title I could come up with for a blog post.

So the season is up and running and we have gained a creditable draw. This season I have decided to forgo my armchair fr a view from the bar stool in an attempt to save money on a Sky Sports subscription. Maybe I'll even get a view from the stands occasionally.

Today's pub of choice was not as full as in previous visits but still with plenty of atmosphere. A few anti Liverpool (as opposed to pro Arsenal) voices were around but in the main it was a Reds pub. Plenty of TVs and yet still plenty of places not to get a good view.

So the game. Well I suppose I was as disappointed at the end as most reds fans, although looking back in hindsight I would think that a draw was probably a fair result. Arsenal dominated posession but didn't produce anything particualrly incisive, wheras we played well on the break but let ourselves be put under too much pressure for my liking.

What I was most disappointed with was the fact that we didn't start playing like we can until we were down to ten men. I was very optimistic when I saw the starting line up. It looked suitably attack minded. yet we didn't retain possession well at all and therefore didn't make the impact that we should have.

The best chances fell to us in the first half, but they should have been more bountiful. Ngog can score goals but he needs a higher ratio of chances than Torres so we need to be able to ceate them for him.

The Cole sending off was the turning point of the game. Should he have gone. I can see why he was sent off. It is one of those challenges that if you don't get it right it can look terrible. He had his foot raised and from a distance that can look dangerous. He wasn't helped by the Arsenal right back making the most of the tackle but it was achallenge he didn't have to make.

The second half was a football game of its own. It had twists and turns, a stunning strike by Ngog to put us into the lead and a terrible blunder by Pepe to conced two of the three points. Reina is still the best keeper in the Premiership and now he has his seasons blunder out of the way we can go from strength to strength.

So the positives from today were many. The attitude was excellent, particularly in the second half. Jovanovic looks a class signing, Ngog will gain confidence, our bench looked as strong as any we've had for a long time, we started to see the positiveimpact that Roy has had on the training ground (no zonal marking).

Negatives? - Well Cole will miss 3 games (pending an appeal) and he didn't really show what he can do. And we did take time to come out of the traps. With our next game against the financial muscle of Manchester City, it will take a 90 minute performance to put our first win on the board at Eastlands. But there were enough signs today to show that we shouldn't fear anyone.

Under Starter's Orders

On the 4th July this year I was among a throng of people stood on the concrete plateau in front of St George's Hall in Liverpool joining a growing voice that wanted to ensure a better future for our club. At that point, it looked like our squad was disintegrating, we were nowhere near finding new owners and the future looked particularly bleak. Whilst the thought of a relegation scrap wasn't mentioned, I did have dark thoughts.

Six weeks later and things have changed significantly. We now know that the sales process is making progress, although maybe not as quickly as we would like, but let's be realistic, it's more important to get the right owners than to get different owners. I don't want to be in the same place 12 months down the line, so I would rather take a couple of extra weeks and get the right investment for the club.

The transfer window so far hasn't been the disaster zone it could so easily have been.The outs have pretty much been the ones that most fans would have allowed to go, and although it still looks like Mascherano will go, out of the three star players rumoured  to have been disillusioned at Anfield, he is probably the one that most fans would sacrifice.

Gerrard and Torres have reaffirmed their commitment and on top of that, we have two free signings that would be well worth a few million quid. Milan Jovanovic looks every inch a Liverpool player and who with a Liver Bird on their chest is disappointed at the arrrival of Joe Cole?

In addition we have a new manager. He isn't Rafa Benitez, who built up a tremendous rapport with the fans, but Roy does seem to be saying the right things at the right times and more importantly doing things that we can believe in.

This is our first opening day fixture at Anfield since Gerrard Houllier was in charge and the opponents couldn't be much more difficult. We beat Arsenal in our first home game in 1996 and 1994 whilst in our record breaking season of 1988/89 when we went 29 games unbeaten from the straight of the season, we started with a 2-1 win at Highbury. Two years earlier, the last time we had an opening day game at Anfield against the Gooners, we triumphed 2-0.

So the history books shine brightly on Liverpool today, and, as with all football fans on the first day of a new season, my optimism has returned. Come six o'clock this evening I expect to be sitting proudly at the top of the EPL (OK Chelsea did quite well but they were playi9ng the mighty WBA. we've only got to get past the lowly Gooners).

Hopefully reality won't smack me in the face tonight.

The Emporer's New Clothes

Today has seen us catapulted into the media spotlight for non footballing reasons once again. I had quite liked putting the TV on or logging into Twitter to discover who we had been linked with in the transfer market, and even one or two of the rumours coming to fruition, Joe Cole and Fabio Aurelio being the notable inclusions in this list.

But today we are the talk of the city again. Who, how, why and when are the questions on all supporters lips tonight.

Who? - Well the first to put their head above the parapet seems to be Kenny. No not the King but from Hong Kong. Kenneth Huang has been outed (by his spokespeople I presume) as putting together a bid for The Reds. At first this morning, it looked as though Kenny was in the box seat and would have the deal tied up in a few days. Liverpool fans were immediately buoyed by the prospect of Statdler and Waldorf vanishing from the boardroom, never to darken our doors again.

How? - Well it sees that Kenny has a cunning plan. Instead of giving the yanks their dollars, he intends to do what all good bailiffs would do. Buy the debt, force a payment default on the owners and send in the heavies to remove anything of value that they own and ... well that is my problem. Normally the bailiffs see what they can get their hands on so that they can sell it on to recover the debt. Which brings us to the why.

Mr Huang has said all the right things today. Completion of the deal in time to invest in the squad. Build a new stadium. retain our best players. But where have we heard all this before? Oh yes, I seem to remember a certain Muppet saying that there would be a spade in the ground within 60 days.  Pledges mean nothing to me any more.Only action is good enough. And any investor will be judged on what they do, not what they say.

So when? Well the sooner the better. The one thing that can be guaranteed is that there will be no investment coming from Uncle Sam. So hope needs to spring eternal.

Over the course of the day the story has developed and it now seems that Kenny's wasn't the only pound in the frame. Up to 6 bidders have made offers depending on who you believe and we do seem to have had some concrete word from our Blue chairman on the subject who believes a deal could be done by the end of next week.

Meanwhile it looks as though Kenny is the front for the Chinese government investment arm (cue the repeat of the moral dilemma when it looked as though Thaksin Shinawatra was about to buy the club). George Gillette has a preferred bidder who may just be able to thwart Kenny's cunning plan by showing as a credible buyer to RBS and the whole thing rumbles on until H&G get their thirty pieces of silver.

So the next week or two promise to be interesting to say the least. I foresee claim and counterclaim, offer and counteroffer. Will we have new owners by the end of the transfer window? Possibly. Will they be the right owners is more to the point. We've worn the Emperor's New Clothes once. I'm not prepared to do it again.

Early Thoughts

Two games in and so far no goals for and one against. About time I started calling for the managers head don't you think? Of course not. Although I do have a beef with whoever thought that starting the season so soon after the Wold Cup ended was a good idea. Five weeks to let the best players in the world (and the second best as well, sorry Dirk and Ryan) to have an end of season rest, and a pre season training regime and some match practice is a joke. The  English Premier League is no longer the best league in the world, just the biggest cash cow.

And as for the Europa League qualifying stages starting during the World Cup. Although, to be fair, I suppose UEFA didn't expect any teams with plenty of World cup players, to join the competition so early.

It was good to see the youngsters get a run out and let Roy see who has some potential to bring through for a chance this term. I don't think any of them have particularly shone, but none have disgraced themselves either. Lucas has grown in confidence and Jovanovic seems to have the right attitude, being the first player,along with Soto, to return from international duty to play in the warm ups.

But I am worried that with only three more games before the big kick off (you have to say that about the first game of the new season. It's the law) we will be very under prepared to take on Arsenal. If anything, the fact that the Gunners are our first opponents is something of a softener for two reasons. Firstly, they will have a number of late arrivals in their squad, and secondly, when we play Arsenal as our opening game, we seem to have a decent season.

Last week was positive for reds fans with the arrival of Danny Wilson and Joe Cole and the interview with Stevie G that suggested that he was here for the season. I think that Roy has made good plans for the playing side of the club and feel more optimistic on that front. Of course the big issue that still needs to be resolved is the ownership and until that is sorted, then we are still going to be running to stand still. I think that if Fernando Torres starts for the reds against the Gunners, then we can probably read that there is likely to be good news on the ownership issue. My belief is that if he receives certain reassurances, then he will stay with us.

Mascherano on the other hand just needs to hand in a transfer request and be done with it. Playing games like he seems to be is disrespectful to supporters who welcomed him when he was unwanted elsewhere. I'd just like the transfer funds now please (as long a Roy is allowed to reinvest it).

So Thursday will be our first real test.Our first must win game of the season (well maybe not, but definitely a can't lose game). How often will we hear those words in 2010/11? A must win game for Liverpool. Every one I hope.

Dawning of the age of Woy.

It's been a week since our new manager was finally appointed and I know you have been desperate to know what I think.

So far Roy has said all the right things and left enough scope for optimism. Was he my first choice for manager? Well, in the circumstances the club is in at the moment, I think reality told me he was the best we had a realistic chance of getting.

And I am optimistic that we will be in for an improvement in the next few months. Why? well there are a number of things that are very much in Roy's favour. First and foremost is the new manager bounce. When a new manager comes to a club, one of two things tend to happen. The players all of a sudden realise they have a new man to impress and start turning in performances or there is too much change all at once and the players are confused. With Roy having the pre season to work with the players, I think that negates the latter option, with the players who are at the club still having something to prove so I think our bounce will be an upward bound.

I also believe that Roy hasn't got the baggage that Rafa had during the last season. Rafa had a constant battle with the board (and in most cases with immense justification). He had no support from the board and he eventually, in my opinion, let that side of his job interfere with the team management side of his role. I don't think that is a problem Roy will have. I don't trust the board anymore than any other Liverpool supporter, but I don't think Roy is as stupid as he would have to be to take the job on with the promise of big bucks to spend, knowing the current state of our club. Therefore I think he has realistic expectations and will be able to work well within them and put every effort into managing the team well.

I also think that the owners and board have a vested interest in Roy doing well. He is their man, their choice, the one that they believe in. Rafa was appointed by the previous owners and was always under scrutiny. He was challenged at every turn and made the fatal mistake of being popular with the fans whilst the Yanks were taking them for a ride.

Under these circumstances, I do believe that Roy Hodgson is the best option for Liverpool. Better than Kenny Dalglish? Yes. I was a season ticket holder during Kenny's period at the helm. his teams football was exciting, breathtaking and successful. everything that a Liverpool fan would love right now. But for me, he is too close to the fans to be the manager. He would have the same problems with the owners that Rafa had and he would also take up the baton on the fans behalf. Once again, I can see the playing side suffer for the internal politics, and I for one wouldn't like to see Kenny's reputation tarnished by bickering with Waldorf and Stadtler (look it up if your under 30).

I think the new manager needs to knuckle down and concentrate on repairing our broken team, whilst we the fans continue our War of American Independence. As anyone who attended the rally at St George's (ironic name really Hall will tell you, the fans don't need the manager to make their case, they are damn good at making themselves heard.

End of an era

I haven't written my Liverpool thought down since the end of April as I didn't want to rant to much. 2009/10 will never go down as one of the most successful seasons in our illustrious history. In fact, looking back on events on the field, there is very little that sticks in the memory that will  be played on the LFC TV channel ad infinitum.

On the pitch, the most memorable events probably happened against Sunderland. First was the stunning goal by the beach ball and then at Anfield graced us with a sublime goal.

The only other moment on the field that sticks in my mind, possibly relates more to recent events off the pitch. Of course, there may be absolutely no link whatsoever between  the look on Stevie and Nando's face when the Spaniard was substituted at Birmingham and the "mutually agreed" decision for Rafa to leave. However, it did lend credence to those who believed that Rafa had lost the dressing room.

Personally, I think that the decision to find a new manager is the right one. Don't get me wrong, I am not a Rafa hater and to be honest, I find it difficult to find any Liverpool fan that is. However, having heard and read a variety of opinions on various media I am convinced that there are a huge percentage of those that believe Rafa should have stayed, that are blinded to the faults that were evident in the last season.

In 2004 I was excited by the arrival of Mr Benitez. His Valencia team had broken the Spanish stranglehold of Barca and Real on La Liga. Not once, but twice. And with a limited budget. What could he do at Anfield where he would be able to open the chequebook a little wider.

Unfortunately, I think that his transfer dealing was the area that caused me most concern. Of course all managers make good signings and bad signings. And admittedly Rafa, latterly had his hands tied behind his back by the charlatans from America that currently own our beloved club. But I still see plenty of areas that Rafa did badly.

Let's look at his successful signings. In his first summer he brought in Xabi Alonso and little Luis Garcia. both fellow countrymen of Rafa's that were excellent signings. Luis contributions in the Champions League in that first season earned a place in Anfield folklore. Alonso was simply the best passer of a football playing in England at that time. His vision and accuracy were a sight to behold. His goals from his own half and his penalty follow up in Istanbul will long live in the memory. Pepe Reina and of course Fernando Torres were other quality signings from the managers homeland. How Pepe isn't the first choice for the European Nations Champions I don't understand. I believe that he will have a major impact on the World cup in South Africa in the next few weeks and will probably play in the final. Torres is quality through and through. When Liverpool needed a new striker, I was touting Torres as the man to take us to the next level.from half way through the previous season. What a bargain his £20m plus fee looks now.

Other class acts that Rafa has brought to Liverpool must include Javier Mascherano and Daniel Agger. But Rafa has bought his fair share of duds as well. No one would claim that the signings of Craig Bellamy, Andrea Dossena, Jan Kromkamp, Mauricio Pellegrino or Andriy Vorinin were ever the success that were hoped for. All bought to go into the first team and none that mad the impact that would have been wanted.

There  are other signings that the jury is out on. Robbie Keane may not have had the immediate impact that would have been hoped for, but i still believe that given more time he would have made the grade at Anfield. And Peter Crouch also left before his peak and could have continued contributing to Liverpool. In both cases I have seen arguments that Rafa had to sell to trade up to the next level. Crouch for example released funds that went on buying Fernando Torres. And I still maintain that the proceeds from the sale of Keane were promised to Rafa but never materialised.

If the problems of Rafa's transfer dealings were ever made apparent it was during the last 24 months. His open courtship of Gareth Barry and, more damagingly, his willingness to allow Xabi Alonso to leave to facilitate the move, was in my opinion, the start of the end for Signor Benitez. I don't know if that is the time when he, allegedly, lost the dressing room, but it did show that he was prepared to tinker with his squad as much as he tinkered with his team selection. I understand that some of his dealings were in order to improve the squad (see Crouch/Torres above) but it was difficult to see how Barry would adequately compensate for the loss of Alonso. The fact that Barry never arrived at Anfield and Alonso had another season in red was not by design and surely would have unsettled the Spaniard and possibly proved to other members of the squad that no one was irreplaceable in Rafa's eyes. Ironically, that season was the closest we came to winning the Premiership under Rafa's stewardship. Alonso played out of his skin, particularly when the shackles were taken off and we attacked for fun, probably playing for the big money move to Real Madrid that materialised at the end of the season.

Xabi Alonso transfer dragged on and was eventually concluded, with a higher fee but less time to spend it. Of course everyone had spotted where we needed to strengthen. We needed cover for Fernando Torres, who was ploughing a lone furrow up front since the sale of Robbie Keane,and a replacement for Xabi Alonso. Rafa immediately plunged into the market and spent £17m ..... on a right back. Admittedly, a good attacking right back, but not where we needed to spend such a large sum of money. Alvaro Arbeloa had been a more than adequate replacement for Kromkamp/Josemi and I'm sure that if the right deal had been agreed, he could have played another season. The new midfielder wasn't a direct replacement for Xabi, but had a decent pedigree and might change the way we played but could add an exciting attacking dimension. The only problem was, that Alberto Aquilani was injured and wasn't expected to be fit for at least two to three months. so the new style of play couldn't be implemented straight away.

I know it might seem over simplified, but to me those two signings were the biggest reason why Liverpool failed last season. I have not mentioned the owners much and I know that their mismanagement of our club is the main reason that Liverpool is in the doldrums at the moment. However, I don't accept that Rafa Benitez wasn't given any transfer funds at the start of the season. He just spent what he had badly in my opinion. He might have had to deal to raise money but he did spend over £30m and none was spent on the back up for Nando, which cost us dearly on the pitch. And this isn't a case of hindsight being twenty twenty vision. Most people could see that cover was required at the start of the campaign.

Rafa Benitez can walk away with his head held high and would be welcomed back to Anfield at any time. He has left a legacy with the win in Istanbul that allows us to have 5 stars on our shirt and for that we will be forever grateful. However, I think he had become so far embroiled in a war with the owners that he allowed affairs on the pitch to play second fiddle.

At the end of the day, if we had failed to qualify for the Champions League by a couple of points it would have been seen as a bad year but understandable under the circumstances that the owners had put us in. Seventh place was unacceptable.

And so to the future. Well, we still have the same owners and until that changes I can't see any huge improvement. So who would I like as the new manager of Liverpool. Well that would depend on how long the ownership question takes to be resolved. If it is going to take a couple of months then I think that Kenny Dalglish can carry the mantle until a long term replacement is found. Kenny has the respect of the fans and if there isn't any improvement, his standing with the fans is unlikely to diminish as they are likely to put the blame on the owners. But for a longer term option I don't think Kenny would be willing and that honeymoon period would eventually end and the fans would start to look deeper into any poor results.

If the ownership isn't likely to be resolved for a longer period, then I would like to see Roy Hodgson as a medium term replacement. He has European pedigree but has respect for the tradition of Anfield.

But priority one is to see the back of the Yanks.

End of Season Party

So we have bowed out of our last chance of Silverware this season. Despite a spirited win against Athletico Madrid, last weeks failure to score an away goal (I know, I know. we had a perfectly good one ruled out) cost us dearly last night.

We can't bemoan the lack of effort against the Spaniards. There were some outstanding displays and some tireless performances (Unfortunately not necessarily by the same players). I though Javier Mascherano was immense. Once or twice caught out of position but every time he seemed to make up the ground to get back. Unfortunately, what he provided defensively meant that our attacking options were reduced from that right hand side. Glen Johnson had a fair game at left back, and as Graham Taylor mentioned in commentary, you can see the sense of him going up against Reyes, as it meant, that that if the winger tried to cut in, as he regularly odes, he would be going onto Johnson's stronger foot. Again, from a defensive point of view this was a positive mood but it did curtail the England right back's attacking qualities.

But don't get me wrong, Although I have mentioned the full backs lack of attacking options, the midfield that Rafa chose had plenty of options in attack. Lucas worked hard to keep it tight, allowing Stevie G and Alberto Aquilani to push forward with intent and Benayoun and Kuyt were a constant threat. Ryan Babbel's work rate was impressive, although some of the touches he had didn't pay off. His attitude in recent weeks has improved immeasurably and once his talent and his attitude meet at the same peak, i am very excited by his prospects.

The first half performance was excellent, even though Athletico did show menacing thoughts at times. And the goal on half time was exquisitely finished by Aquilani. It's often said that just before half time is a great time to score, but in our case it seemed to have the opposite effect. Rather than buoying us up for the second half, we seemed to lose some of the impetus that had built up in the minutes before we scored. We seemed happy to play the patience game when we had come out for the restart, instead of continuing the pressure that had helped impose our style on the game. As the game wore on, our lack of depth on the bench ended up being crucial. Rafa was unable to bring on a game turning player as they were already on the pitch.

So, with mainly pride to play for in our last two games of the season, what will the summer bring? New owners? I fervently hope so. The sooner we are clear of the two money grabbing shysters the better for the club.It is difficult for anyone to see any benefit that they have brought to the club. Will they be gone in enough time for us to prepare properly for next season? I am seriously sceptical of that. If we are lucky then they may have sold up by the time the transfer window closes at the end of August, but we might just have to wait another 6 - 12 months before our ownership is settled.Of course, if they do sell, will it be an improvement or will it be from the frying pan to the fire? There are no guarantees. When the Americans turned up, i believed every last word they said because it sounded so good. Looking back I am angry with myself for being taken in by them.

Will Rafa Benitez be manager next season? It doesn't look likely to me. The speculation linking him to Juventus seems to have intensified and with the ownership issue looking like it might take time to resolve, I think he might decide that now would be a good time to taste Serie A life. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I think that Rafa has reached the pivot point at Liverpool. He has spent a few seasons improving the team but  think that he has now got to the stage that he can't do any more. I accept that what he has done has been severly restricted by the owners. And I do believe that in general he has done a good job. But I also think that he has made decisions that have not been in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club. After last nights game he bemoaned the fact that we didn't have any alternative attacking oprtions. I have felt that since Robbie Keane left that this was the case. I know that he didn't see the money from the Keane sale to reinvest in talent, but when he did have money from the sale of Alonso, he decided to buy an expensive Right Back (a position that, in my opinion, didn't need strengthening) and a gamble on an injured playmaker (Aquilani looks very good at last, but we have spent far too long this season without him, and at least part of this was easily predicatble). And although I accept that he had to sell to buy, his management of Xabi Alonso during his courtship of Gareth Barry did leave a bitter taste.

Today, the Academy has come under the spotlight with the current coach Rodlofo Borrell revealing that he found the Academy Setup to be "unacceptable" when he arrived last year. Liverool's Academy used to be the envy of the Premier League. Producing talent like MacManaman, Owen, Fowler, Gerrard and Carragher show how successful it has been in the past. Steve heighway's directorship ended with winning the FA Youth Cup two years in a row in 2006 and 2007, yet none of this talented team have made the leap into a regular frst team spot. Rafa has staed that he wants to bring talented British players to the club. Very laudible but if that is the reason that Xabi was sacrificed (potentially for Barry and eventually for Johnson), then it seems a step backwards to me.

If Rafa does leave in the close season, I will be wary of who is successor would be. He has proved himself as a top class manager by winning the Champions League with us and La Liga with Valencia a couple of times. But, other than last season, he has never really mounted a serious challenge for the Premiership, and I now believe that his coaching style may well be suited more to a European league rather than the English version. I will wish hi all the best at juventus, or whichever club he goes to, and will thank him for the memories, but I am a firm believer that the club is bigger than any individual.

If we do go through a few more months of uncertainty about our ownership, we can probably write off our league prospects next season so a change of manager (even short term) would not be a bad thing, with a focus on winning a cup competition and preparing for the next Premier League season.

And who knows...

Pride

So after tonight's performance we are still no nearer from knowing who will contest the Europa League Final in Hamburg next month.

A fortuitous goal is all that separated Athletico and Liverpool tonight. It was one of those games where, if I was a neutral I would have switched to the leaders debate (yes, i thought it was that sterile). Yet there were flashes of inspiration from both teams and some really good football splattered randomly amongst the misplaced passes, poor tackles and wayward shooting.

After the arduous journey that the Reds had to undertake to reach the Spanish capital for tonight's game, the start we made was hardly surprising. Yet we came back after the first twenty minutes and a draw was probably the fairest result.

A 1-0 loss isn't a disaster. I would have preferred a 2-1  or 3-2 loss but going into the Anfield return just one goal behind means that we have to take the initiative and I believe we play better when we are more positive in the beginning of games. Just a bit worried that without Fernando Torres, we might not have the fire power to turn it round, but we have scored goals without him this season, and our record at home this season is quite impressive.

I still feel that we will be taking a trip to Germany next month. And hopefully another European trophy will enter the cabinet this season.

On a post script note, it was my birthday at the weekend and I was lucky enough to have the legend that is George Sephton to come to my birthday meal. I am both, bragging and expressing my gratitude to George. He is an incredibly interesting person and if you ever get the chance to attend any of the functions that he is speaking at I would urge you to do so. And if you are arranging a sportsman's dinner or other such function, consider asking him to speak to your guests.

And don't forget my free tickets.

What's another year?

This time last year I felt I needed to write about my Hillsborough experiences. You can find that post at http://strommy.blogspot.com/2009/04/it-was-20-years-ago-today.html.

I felt that I needed to write that for a number of reasons. Firstly, I don't think I had ever talked properly to anyone about what I had gone through at that time, how I had felt, what I had witnessed. I was there with my dad, but we'd never actually talked about it. How can you? I love my dad dearly but talking about it just seemed pointless. We'd both been there, seen and done the same things, what could we say to each other.

I couldn't talk to my friends because I didn't want to hear anything back in return. I just wanted to talk, and yet I didn't want to talk all at the same time. 20 years later, I was ready to pour my heart out to the anonymity of cyberspace, knowing that anyone who wanted to,friends, family, fellow supporters, strangers, could read if they wanted. I did get some responses back from various sources and that made me feel as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I thank anyone and everyone who read that post for helping me, even if you didn't know you were doing it.

The other main reason I wrote the blog last year was that I was still angry with the authorities for the lack of justice that the victims families had received. I was one of the 30,000 people who made their way to Anfield on April 15th 2009. I had to pick my brother up who had finished work quite late so we were running late and I was quite concerned about where we could park. Thanks to Everton FC who allowed us to park in their club car park for the event.

As we walked over Stanley Park with 20 minutes to spare, I could tell by the numbers, that the day was a special day. We arrived at Anfield and straight away knew that there was no way we would get seats in the Kop. Eventually we got seats in the Main Stand almost level with the Anfield Road end penalty spot. And the people just kept on coming. The Main Stand filled, the lower Anfield Road stand filled, The upper Anfield Road Stand started to fill. It was amazing.

Families with very young children who respected the solemnity of the occasion, a perfectly observed two minutes silence, the reading of all the victims names, the vast array of different football teams shirts that were represented in addition to Liverpool, Everton and Tranmere. All memories that stick.

Then there was a pivotal point. It is one I have discussed with my uncle. My uncle took me to my very first senior game at Anfield on 1st January 1976. Since then I have loved talking football with him. he is one of the keenest Liverpool fans that you could ever meet, but he always manages to find the alternative point of view. Discussing what happened oat the memorial service with him, I feared he might have had a point.

The government minister with responsibility for Culture Media and Sport 12 months ago was Andy Burnham, who later became Health Secretary. Mr Burnham was not only a keen football fan, but also an Evertonian, so understood the emotions that were going to be on display at Anfield that day. Part way through his speech, there was a groundswell of emotion. A small chant turned into a tidal wave of sound. Almost the whole ground was singing "Justice for the 96". There were a few dissenting voices, including Trevor Hicks, saying we should respect that the government had sent a representative etc. This was a discussion I had with my uncle in the middle of Morrisons a week or so later.

Fair play to the man. He was there and he probably expected some form of justice protest. However, did he expect 30,000 people to attend and for the vast majority to take part in that protest.

The Hillsborough Memorial Service always gets a mention on the local, and depending on the other stories, national news. Last year, because of both the vast numbers that turned up and the protest against the government, it received prominent coverage.

So how do I feel twelve months on. I certainly feel less bottled up than I did on the 20th anniversary and I also feel slightly less angry. In the last year, an independent panel has been set up to review all of the documents relating to Hillsborough that should have been kept locked up for another ten years. I believe that this panel has been set up in response to the show of emotion displayed at Anfield 365 days ago. We have had reviews, enquiries and inquests before and although Lord Justice Taylor's official enquiry put the blame fairly and squarely at the door of the organising authorities (South Yorkshire Police, the FA etc) there are still too many families that don't know, officially, how their son, daughter, brother, sister, father, or uncle died that day.

The coroner, who, in a master stroke of casting for the Jimmy McGovern TV play about the disaster, was played by Ian McDiarmid who also played the Emperor in the Star Wars films, decided that all the victims had received their fatal injuries before 3.15 on the fateful day. This meant that any evidence that related to later than that cut off time was not admissible to the jury. So evidence e that there were some victims, talking to rescue workers, even asking for their mum, at around 4 o'clock could not be presented.

Hopefully, the new independent panel will be able to uncover the information that will finally provide justice for the families. I have high hopes for this panel. One of the members is Professor Phil Scraton, who, if you didn't know, wrote the book "Hillsborough. The Truth" which is the most considered work on the subject. with him on the panel I for one believe that there will not be any whitewash, coverup or hiding of the truth.

Of course, this date every year brings sad memories and puts me in mind of the victims of the disaster. The 96 who died from the physical injuries they received that day, the countless others that have suffered with physical and mental scars since then, and of course the relatives and friends who still await final closure on the events in Sheffield.

Rest in Piece to the 96. You'll Never Walk Alone.

And now, the end is near

I remember standing on The Kop at the final game of the 1988/89 season. It was THAT game against Arsenal. You know. The one where we could lose by one goal and still win the title. It was also the game that followed the match at Wembley where we had beaten Everton in the post Hillsborough Cup Final.

That day in the capital had been such an emotional day. The trip down there on a Merseybus double decker. Blue and Red mixed in a cocktail of football support. High spirits and respect for the occasion in equal measure. The game was a fitting tribute to the 96 souls lost in Sheffield. Liverpool always with the advantage but Everton certainly not there to make up the numbers.

I think that the gods had decreed that we would win the FA Cup in 1989 after that fateful April day. The players wanted to win it for the fallen and their families. And they did just that. After weeks of paying respects at funeral after funeral, the staff at Liverpool did for the Families the one thing that meant the most. Lifted a trophy, no, lifted THE trophy that mattered to their fans that year.

And then there was Arsenal. The players had given their all in the Cup Final and didn't have a lot left in the tank. Arsenal had it all to play for. It had been 18 years since their last league triumph. But we could be the first team to win the FA Cup and League double (you know like we should have done the year before against Wimbledon).

I don't remember that much about the game itself. I just remember feeling that we were defending to deep and weren't creating anything of note for ourselves. When we were one nil down I remember shouting in frustration something along the lines of "Do you think that the victims would want you to give up on the league?" I think I knew then that although we were still in the box seat, we weren't likely to stay there for much longer. The Michael Thomas goal was at the other end of the ground and by this time I was stood near the front of The Kop with my head not that much above the level of the playing surface. It was one of those moments that happen in slow motion. The chip over Brucie, the rolling over, the fit like goal celebrations. I remember slumping to the ground, knowing that we didn't really have time to come back from this body blow and hearing the final whistle blow.

I composed myself enough to stay for the trophy presentation and stayed to congratulate the new champions. I was devastated but still needed to show my appreciation.

Funnily enough, these memories came back to me today, not only because we are moving into the week of the Hillsborough anniversary, but also because in football terms, I feel that we have reached a turning point. Liverpool have only won the title once since that game against the Gunners, the following year in 1990. Last week, I blogged that my faith had been sorely tested. Today, after a goalless draw at home against Fulham, my hope seems to have deserted me as well.

Of course we can still win silverware this season and I will celebrate winning the Europa League like any other trophy, if it happens.

But the future is not good for Liverpool. Unless there is an almighty turnaround, we will not be dining at Europe's top table next season, and although that is a real problem financially, I am more disappointed about not being able to play the Barcelona's and Inter's of this world. But more worryingly is our prospects for the Premier League next season. After being kidded that this was our year I now go into the new season with trepidation, before this one has even finished.

Why do I feel like this? Well the obvious reason is that Liverpool is currently owned by businessmen rather than sports fans. I accept that nowadays that football clubs (not teams as news channels insist on calling them) either need a sugar daddy or a businessman at the helm, but it has to be someone who understands that success on the field is the one thing that will make everything alright either for the owner, or for the fans willingness to put their money into the owners pockets.

We know that The Muppets don't ever keep their promises so nothing that they do now will surprise me. However, this week, Rafa has surprised me. He has admitting making mistakes. It;'s interesting in that most supporters already knew he had made mistakes, although there were usually understandable reasons for those mistakes, they were often chances that weren't worth taking (or alternatively chances that were worth taking that haven't been taken). That's what Rafa gets paid for. To make those big decisions. He's never shied away from them. When he came to Liverpool, I was genuinely excited as his record with Valencia in breaking the Barca/Real hold on La Liga filled my heart with hope. Now I fear he is getting to many of the big decisions wrong. I don't mean the day to day ones like team selection and substitutions. He works with the players over the week and sees more than we ever could and we need to trust his professional judgement in that respect. But I'm just not convinced that he can take us any further with the shackles that he has to wear. And to take it one step on, i am not sure that he can take us any further even if those shackles are removed. I would question his transfer dealings when he does have money to spend. Granted he has brought us Torres, Reina, Mascherano and Alonso, but he has also brought in Nunez, Josemi, Dossena, Kromkamp and Voronin. All in all I would suggest as many negative signings as positive ones.But my real beef with his transfer policy is highlighted by the summer moves. Liverpool had just finished second in the league and confidence was high. Alonso wanted to move to real Madrid and Rafa wanted to get the best deal for Liverpool. However, by protracting the discussions, he got a few more pennies for the coffers, but he also gave himself a lot less time to spend it. Robbie Keane had been sold in January and that meant that the only cover for Fernando Torres was the inexperience of David N'Gog or playing Dirk Kuyt in the position he was actually bought for. So we needed a replacement for Alonso and cover up front. Who did we get? Well to replace Xabi along came Albert Aquilani. He may not have been a direct, like for like replacement for the Spanish play maker but after working with the team in pre season he would soon show how he could fit in to the team. Except of course, he couldn't. He was crocked from the word go, and wasn't likely to recover for a couple of months at least. By which time, either the team would have settled into a playing pattern that Aquilani would have had to fit into, rather than be built around, or we would need to be changing our way of playing mid season because it just wasn't working (in my opinion, rafa was actually caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in this case as when Aquilani was eventually available, all be it belatedly, we did need to change fairly drastically but Rafa chose not to take that option). And who did Rafa choose to sign to cover El Nino? Well actually he decided it was more important to spend a significant sum of money on buying an attacking right back and letting an attacking right back leave to join Xabi at The Bernabau. OK, Johnson might be an improvement on Arbeloa, but is he really more than £10 million worth of improvement? Was Arbeloa that poor? I'm not convinced.

Not only do i feel that Rafa got the transfers wrong at the start of the season, I also feel he got the tactics wrong as well. We finished last season playing attacking football and going all out to win. That was the foootball that took us so close to the title. We have seen a more cautious approach right from the off this season. This is my prime reason for thinking that Rafa has taken us as far as he can. He is by instinct a cautious, safety first type manager. Getting defence is important, but it is important to score more goals than yoru opponents. that's simply how you win games, and to do that you need to attack. Not necessarily in a gung ho fashion, but certainly the emphasis should be on beating opponents rather than avoiding defeat. We have been vulnerable to late goals this season, whereas the season before we were always likely to score and sneak wins in the closing stages of matches.

I think that season 2008/09 was Rafa's "Out of Character" season. I feel that this season he has reverted to type, and this is why I think that he has taken Liverpool as far as he can go.

I thank you Mr Benitez for Istanbul. I thank you for winning the FA Cup. I thank you for Pepe and El Nino. I thank you for the excitement that you gave me last season. I hope I can also thank you for winningthe Europa League this season. Good luck in whatever you do in the future. It's now time for someone else to take up the good fight.

Pinch of salt anyone?

So news today that Hicks and Gillette have engaged with a new bank to service their debt and start the ball rolling with the process to sell the club.

That sounds like a great way to start a Sunday. But hang on a minute. Let's just disect the news for a minute. H&G seem to have been able to refinance their loan. That could mean that they are under less pressure to sell a stake in the club than they would be under the RBS terms.

OK so it seems that the refinancing is with a view to finding a buyer. Point one, H&G have valued the club at &600 million. They are still very much at making a profit out of the club, by hook or by crook. The Rhone Group offer has been ignored (not rejected) because it ended up giving H&G less of a share in the club and no cash to take out whatsoever.

Point two. Do we believe a word that H&G say any way. Was there a spade in the ground for our new stadium in the first 60 days of them taking ownership? Is there no debt on the club? So once they have secured a refinancing package, do you believe they will then look to sell the club? Only if they can get the profit they want and with this seasons performances on the pitch, I am not sure that prospective buyers will meet the valuation.

The Eagles have landed

So after last night's superb victory over the Eagles of Lisbon, hope shines brighter now at Anfield. We always knew we were that good, it was just a matter of time.

I suppose that the victory was all the sweeter after the first twenty minutes when Benfica showed what a talented team they actually were. There were excellent performances across the pitch. Dirk Kuyt, as always, put in a shift, but last night there was more purpose and quality about his endeavours. Lucas surprised us all again by keeping a cool head when in the opposition penalty area. Danniel Agger was more effective as a left back than Insua has been this season,and there was less of a threat down that side than there has been in recent months. Pepe was always (well nearly always) in command of his area and, other than one chance that ping ponged across the goal line, Benfica were only ever going to score from a set piece.

As a traditional football supporter, I've asked myself the following question. Do I want to win the Europa League or finish fourth in the Premiership this season?

I know what is most important for the future of the club. Or at least I thought I did. Entry into the Champions League is financially essential for our club to move forward for the future. But can coming fourth be considered a success. Who was it who once said "First is first, second is nowhere."?

If fourth is good enough for you, then rejoice. We are already fourth or better in this seasons Europa League (we could use this Sunday's game against Fulham as a third/fourth play off in case we both get beat in the semis). So that is a successful season after all. Except it isn't really is it? To me, the number one priority every season is to win as many trophies as we can. Of course I have a preference of which ones I would like but winning a trophy is what we support our team for. Everything else is just about doing as good as we can. Whilst fourth place in the Premiership might be financially better than winning a cup, it doesn't feel as satisfying.

Look back to 2001. Which result gave you the biggest pleasurable feelings? The 12th of May victory over Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium, the Dortmund classic against Alaves 4 days later, or our final game of the season on the 19th of May when we clinched a Champions League place by beating Charlton 4-0 to finish third. I would hazard a guess that the first two come pretty close together whereas the Charlton game was a game you knew we had to win for the money, not the glory.

I would love to finish fourth in the PL, not just for the riches it brings but also, in fact mainly, for the opportunity to win the CL again. As I've said in my previous post, I hope we can finish fourth but I don't believe we will.

But at least we are still in with a chance of winning a significant tournament this season.

Question. If Manchester United come second this season and we win the Europa Cup, who would you say has had the most successful season?

Faith, Hope and Charity

Well the dust has just about settled on our draw against the Brummies. It comes at the end of a week that has seen the ups and downs of a football fans life.

This time last week most Reds fans believed we had turned a corner of the season. An excellent performance against a team in some form. Our star striker hitting a vein of form that has been patchy over an injury hit season. Even old big fat head himself can see how well the boys have played. We are still in with a shout of claiming that all important fourth spot, if other results can go our way.

Then on to Lisbon, where the Eagles relied on a moment of madness (from a Dutch winger or a Swedish official, I'll let you choose) to earn them a result that, to be honest, I would have taken before kick off. I have every confidence that at Anfield, even this season (possibly especially this season), we can overturn a one goal deficit, particularly given an away goal.

Saturday comes and in the early kick off, the sun shines on the righteous as the team that shall not be named lose to their closest championship rivals to the dodgiest of offside goals. I love this game at times.

Onto the three o'clock kick offs (remember them?). 38 seconds past 3 and the sun shines even brighter. One Darren Bent, who has been in my fantasy football team this year, fires home giving me 4 points and, more importantly, putting Spurs on the back foot. Another Bent goal doubles my pleasure. Then the afternoon turns. Bent misses two penalties (minus points in my fantasy team) and an ex Kop hero pulls one back for the North Londoners. Luckily another Anfield old boy seals a win for the team taken apart at Anfield less than a week earlier.

So far so good. OK, Villa took all three points but it's City and Spurs that are our main rivals for the place at Europe's top table.

So City spoil my evening. 20 minutes in and hopes of an Istanbul like comeback from Burnley seem highly optomistic. And to make matters worse my main rival for the fantasy football league has Tevez for his captain and he has scored one and claimed two assists, all points scoring and all doubled.

City's win has taken them fourth, 5 points clear of The Reds having played the same number of games. That means that we have to rely on them losing two of their remaining games (possible, they do have to play United, Villa, Spurs and Arsenal as well as two should win games against the Brummies at home and a last day trip to Upton Park). It also means we have to win all of our games including a home game against title chasing Chelsea and games against three teams all playing to avoid the drop. Of course, they should be the gimmie games but Burnley away could be a tricky tie, although if we score 4 in twenty minutes the nerves will stop jangling a bit. Our inconsistent away form makes me feel that although all our away games are winnable I am not confident in winning any of them.

This feeling has been compounded by todays result. Don't get me wrong, Birmingham away was never an easy fixture as they are in good form and an outside bet for a European place. However, it was a fixture we needed to win to maximise the pressure on our rivals.

I'm not going to critisize Rafa Benitez for his decisions today. I feel he put out a team that was strong enough to take all three points and he also made a brave decision to replace Torres with Ngog. I was reading two writers I have a great deal of respect for when this substitution took place on Twitter and although Richard Buxton and Paul Tomkins agree on a great many things, they were diometrically opposed to the decision to take Torres off. My opinion was that it was brave, but I think it was vindicated as the performance of the Reds improved after the switch.

However, the result makes it increasingly unlikely that we will be able to catch a City team that are brimming with confidence. Mathematically, fourth is the best finish we can possibly reach after todays result. Logically though, I can't see us winning all of our games (although I do think we will beat Chelsea) and I don't think that City will drop enough points for us to catch them.

Ironically, on Easter Sunday, my faith in our ability to qualify for next season's Champion's League has been sorely tested and found wanting. Unfortunately for me, reality has taken over and I have to accept that it is very unlikely that we will reach the fourth place. If we do, it will be down to City and to a lesser extent Spurs failing to convert their advantage.

I still have hope that we will do the seemingly impossible. That hope will only disappear when it is mathematically impossible for us to overhaul the teams above us. I even hope that we beat Chelsea and United beat City if it means we claim that all important ticket to Europe's elite (that's where the charity comes in).

But in all honesty I can't see it. Can you?

Papering over the Cracks

Less than a week after I created this blog and cleverly called it Notes from the Armchair, circumstances dictated that I was to attend my first match at Anfield for almost five years. And luckily it turned out to be a game where the said armchair wasn't needed to hide behind due to the all too familiar horror show we have been treated to this season.

A seat in the Lower Centenary stand was an excellent vantage point, although somewhat disorientating after being used to watching from the roof of the main stand for so long. everyone seemed to be kicking in the wrong direction. And where were the action replays. We scored four goals for goodness sake, surely one of them was worth a second glance.

I've recently seen the official website have been plugging a survey on match day experiences. My first game was over 30 years ago in the same stand, albeit, without an extra few seats added to the top 18 years ago. Was my experience that different from then? I still got a thrill when emerging from the underneath of the stand and saw a lush green pitch lit up by floodlights (Your first match always has to be floodlit. It's the law). The smell was more of a sanitised aroma, probably because of an improvement in the toilets but also because the plastic facilities below the stands didn't have the character that they used to have.

In 1976 ,under the Kemlyn Road Stand, as it was then, it was efficiently lit, you could smell the Bovril (or was it Oxo?) and the pies mixed with the faint whiff of drainage. Coming out of the gloom into the radiant stadium was a sharp contrast that fair took a 5 year old's breath away (It might also be that I had been holding my breath whilst under the stand). Last night there was little aroma to tempt me to part with my cash. I could walk past the refreshment kiosk without turning to see what wares there were. And I hadn't even had my big tea. The lighting under the stand was as luminous as the floodlit turf outside so the contrast didn't strike the same resonance.

For me, progress has been made in the hygiene, health and safety standards of the match day experience but it has been made at the expense of tradition and character.

My Hillsborough experience

On April 15th last year I wrote a personal blog about my Hillsborough experience. I wanted to repost it on this blog to keep all my Liverpool thoughts together.

It was 20 years ago today.

I haven't blogged for almost a year, but I couldn't let today pass without comment.

April 15th 1989 was a bright sunny day. I was 19 a few days later and I was able to get a ticket to the Semi Final of the FA Cup where Liverpool were due to play Nottingham Forest.

I went to Sheffield with my Dad and two other people who I only knew through football, one who I had been to Wembley a couple of years earlier.

The mood was buoyant, as we had been playing really well and we all expected to return to Wembley to watch the Final.

We set off in plenty of time, and had lunch in a pub on the way. Unfortunately, roadworks on the way meant that we got to the ground a bit later than we intended, but in plenty of time for the kick off. Instead of going to the pub we decided to go straight to the turnstiles to get in to the ground.

The year before, I had been to the same ground, to watch the same two teams in the same stage of the same competition, but in 1989 things were very different.

The Leppings Lane turnstiles were like a funnel shape and there were not many actual turnstiles to get through. In 1988, there was a cordon stopping too many supporters getting to the turnstiles at the same time so there was little pressure on the entrances. In 1989 there was no cordon and we just walked up towards the turnstiles.

There was quite a bit of pressure and no real queuing system set up. We had tickets for the stands at the side of the pitch but we were having to funnel through the same area as the supporters who had tickets for the Leppings Lane terrace. I remember as we approached the turnstiles we started to get pushed and shoved and my dad got squashed against a metal bin that was against the wall next to the turnstile. He was still limping as we got through the turnstiles and could see the infamous tunnel that lead to the pens, but once through we turned left and went to our seats.

I was sat a few rows in front of my dad just between the half way line and the Nottingham Forest end. Leppings Lane was to my right. The game kicked off and after about 2 or 3 minutes Peter Beardsley, who was my favourite player at the time, hit the bar. This meant that everyone around me was excited.

A minute or two later, one of the fans near to me pointed towards the Liverpool end and said that there was a pitch invasion happening. I looked and noticed some fans climbing over the fences, but noticed that they weren't encroaching onto the pitch. Although the football action was at the other end, my eyes were transfixed to the Leppings Lane end. I saw a fan run onto the pitch and talk to Bruce Grobbelaar and moments later a policeman went onto the pitch and spoke to the referee. At 3.06 the game was stopped.

A wall of police was put across the half way line, presumably to stop Liverpool fans attacking the Nottingham Forest fans. However, the Nottingham Forest fans had realised that this wasn't football violence, but the police in that line weren't helping to save lives but were told to stop an event that wasn't happening.

The first thing that made me understand what was really going on was when I saw a fan walk past me down the side of the pitch holding his arm. His arm was broken so badly that it resembled a letter Z.

I started shouting at the police on the half way line to go and help where the problem was and not to be standing doing nothing.

The next couple of hours lasted a lifetime and yet seemed to blend into one moment. I watched one ambulance crawl around the perimeter of the pitch to the area where it was most needed and then watched it crawl around the other side of the pitch taking away the injured, dead and dying. I watched as supporters broke up the advertising hoardings and used them as makeshift stretchers. I watched as supporters struggled to keep the arms of the dead from flopping off the hoardings.

I wanted to go to see my dad so I left the area were I was sitting and went back onto the concourse beneath the stand to go up to the next set of steps where my dad was sitting. I had to go past a row of bodies that had been layed out there. That image still haunts me whenever I think of Hillsborough.

I don't know what time we decided that we should try to make it back to Merseyside. As we were leaving the ground we asked a Fireman if he knew how many were dead and he said he didn't think there were any fatalities.

We stopped part way back from Sheffield when we saw a telephone box that didn't have a massive queue. I phoned my Grandma who was audibly relieved to hear my voice. I reassured her that all of us who had gone together were safe. The car journey home was in silence. I don't even remember if we put the radio on to listen to the reports of the tragedy. I can only remember silence.

Evertonian) and the relief on his face was obvious as well. We had arranged to go out that night to celebrate my upcoming birthday. He told me that we didn't have to go if I didn't want to. I felt like I had to.

We went to a club half way up Bold Street in Liverpool. I remember the DJ giving updates throughout the night on how many casualties there were. One of my other friends met a girl that night and he thought he was in. I started to talk to her when he was at the bar, just to talk to someone. I'm grateful that she listened to me and I have never met her since but it was good to be able to talk to someone who didn't know me.

The next day my best mate came to our house fairly early. You could get up early after a late night when you were 18. He said he had heard that the club had opened the gates at Anfield and would I like to go down. When we got there, there wasn't even a queue. I managed to put my hat on the Kop goal post and tie my scarf to where I usually stood on the Kop. By the time we left, the queue was round the stadium.

I was numb for a few weeks after Hillsborough. I remember getting a bus to town one day and noticing a funeral of one of the 96 taking place. I got off the bus and went to the funeral even though it was of someone I had never met.

Because of the events of that day it is now a lot safer to go and watch football in Britain. But as the new verse says, "Why so many taken on that day?"

Why now?

OK. I need to set the scene first. I've not always been an armchair fan. I did have a season ticket for a number of years. I went to as many games as I could before I got my season ticket. I only gave up my season ticket during my extended period of unemployment and after that circumstances change and life is easier when watching from home.

Yes I miss the atmosphere of being at the game. I miss joining in the singing and chanting and I miss the tribal feelings of togetherness. I don't miss the queueing, i don't miss the journey home listening to the inane comments of inexperienced supporters who had obviously been to a different game than I had witnessed although listening to the enthusiastic chattering of an excited schoolboy who had been to his first game with his dad always puts a smile on my face.

I can still remember my first experience of a first team game at Anfield. It was a winters evening, New Years Day 1976. I was with my uncle and that wonder as we went up the Kemlyn Road steps out into the floodlit stadium still remains with me to this day. We did win that day, beating Sunderland 2-0. But then we won most of the time then and we were on the way to claiming another league title, confirmed at a memorable game at Molineaux later that year.

I don't go to the match very often now. In fact I can be seen more often at non league games than at Premiership games. Am I any less of a fan than the stalwart that travels to Romania to ensure that they never miss a minute of any game? Some will argue that I am not a true fan. I don't contribute financially to Liverpool. While this is factually inaccurate (You should see my wardrobe. There is very little in there that wasn't bought from the various official club stores)I can understand the opinion that if you don't go you don't really love the team.

While I don't have a vast wealth to donate to the cause, I have invested a great deal of emotional effort into the club and can honestly say that my mood can be directly affected by the goings on on a patch of grass miles away from where I am.

So why start blogging on Liverpool FC now? Well after almost 40 years of partnership between The Reds and myself, I feel the need for a bit of marriage guidance counselling and hopefully you will be that sounding board that will keep us together.

I have just watched our team being beaten in an inferior European competition. The fact that we are in that competition at all worries me, that we struggle in it is galling to me.

No individual is bigger than the club and I will expand on my feelings on this in future posts. For now I feel better just for introducing myself to you.