stmichael wrote:I think it's fair to say that tuesday night, and the reaction to it, was simply a final wake up call to us and the authorities as to how far football has come in the last few years, it is no longer the game we knew.
The amount of apathy (myself included) towards our loss simply illustrates how shafted our once great game has become, we deal with defeat with a simple sigh and note that 4th place is merely 7 points away (yet Chelsea are 21 points away). Mecca is 2 wins and a draw from our grasp.
The invention of The Premiership started the decline, but cannot simply be blamed. Sky came in and dangled great wads of money infront of the already rich, Manchester united saw the opportunities and sold their soul (and the ‘Football Club’ name) to the dollar, lira, yen etc. Chelsea, not to be outdone, managed to precure a sugar daddy and began rewriting every last rule in football. Money won, and unless someone does something about it, our game is finished. Of the 92 teams in The Football League, I’d be surprised if 10-15 of them aren’t around come 2015. But will the likes of Freddy Shepard miss them? Hell no, as long as people are buying Newcastle keyrings and carstickers.
Cups don’t matter anymore, the likes of Chelsea have seen to that, and the FA helped ease people’s concience by allowing the holders to opt out in 2000. Bournemouth are bitterly moaning that we cost them £250k by playing the kids. That quarter of a million could have meant Bournemouth concrete their place in the play offs and subsequent promotion, but winning a ‘race’ for the 16th from bottom place in the premiership meant more to Liverpool financially, so the little guy lost.
I cannot blame Rafael Benitez for having to play this game, but we are so far behind Chelsea, its unbelievable. Money rules, and if you want to win anything you will have to accept this. Look at the comments Mourinho made yesterday:
"We don't need another goalkeeper. We have a great group of keepers, but the reality is that we need the best players in the country, especially English ones.
"If a very young goalkeeper is available, we can think about it for the future of the club, instead of having Lenny Pidgeley as the only young goalkeeper. We could have both of them and maybe send one on loan."
Chelsea aren’t trying to build a team to win anymore, they are stopping every other team building a team. They didn't need a keeper, but they still tried to buy Carson, and would no doubt have loaned him out to a ‘little guy’. Shucks, such a lovely gesture. It sickens me to see that a team like that. The FA however will allow it, and stop loaned players playing against their owners, therefore shadow teams will play Chelsea and stronger teams will play versus Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United. More trophies for Chelsea, more money for Chelsea.
UEFA are talking about bringing in a rule to limit the amount of foreigners in a team – Chelsea (the first team to play 11 foreigners in a match remember) have pre-empted that by attempting to buy any and all English Talent. I have always hated Chelsea (hate is a strong word, yet highly appropriate) for being driven by money pre-Abramovic, but I cannot find the words to describe my feelings for them now. They are team in the wealthiest part of London, financed by an (allegedly) crooked billionaire, managed by an egotistical pompous attention seeker, adored and lavished with praise by the media and having some of the most arrogant players on the planet. Got to love them haven’t you – everything that’s wrong and crooked within society, and the media love them! Tsunami? Lets talk about it for 3 weeks and then get back to what sells papers – Beckham, who David Walliams is currently shafting, Big Brother, and Chelsea. Marvellous.
The reason that Liverpool devalued the FA cup is due to money, pure and simple. There is no money, no financial incentive, to win the FA cup. You have to pay more win bonuses, pay for more travel, and pay for police to attand the game (and for their horses to p1ss on you!). We would have been on a hiding to nothing, and as far as the club are concerned, better without it. Like it or lump it, this is the ‘football’ we all know now. Moan all you like but unless the FA put some incentive towards winning it (more money or CL qualification) it’ll become like the Copa del Rey – useless.
Unless the FA, UEFA and FIFA start standing up for the little teams (and judging by the farcical G14 ‘superclubs’ they won’t) we will soon have a European League, with only a few having a chance of winning it. Liverpool will either be in it or playing v Hibs in the British Premiership in front of 30,000 fans in a 60,000 capacity ground paying £50 per person for the pleasure. Sounds enticing doesn’t it.
Joe Fagan said to one of our scouts who had been watching a player and had reeled off an assessment of his various abilities, “No, no,” said Joe, “Forget about that. We just want to know……… is he a fcking winner?”
I don’t want to sit in a soulless ground anymore, I don’t want to pay over the odds to watch some fancy tricks with no end product. People rave on about Ronaldo, but all I see is a pompous overpaid child with some fancy stepovers and no end product, a bit like a white, homsexual, Mark Walters. Someone lamp him please.
I just want to see players who want to win, and moreover, want to win for Liverpool. Give me the likes of Ian Nolan, Joey Barton and Neil Lennon anyday. They may not be as skillful as Garcia or Kewell, but by fck they care more. Lets get rid of the highly paid ‘superstars’ that grace the cover of Shoot every week, and get some lads we can be proud of. People slate Josemi, but at leat the slow tw*t wants to win and puts his foot in. Modern football bores me now, I used to watch any football I could, but now I can only bear to watch Liverpool – all I saw in the ten minutes I watched last night of Exeter v Manchester United was 11 arrogant idiots, wondering if their gucci watches would be safe in the dressing rooms.
And NO, I don’t feel better for that rant!
Come on Rafa, we are 100% behind you (some with a knife), lets get some players in we can be proud of, win lose or draw. Lets sing You’ll never walk alone at the top of our lungs again. Lets look sadly and silently at the eternal flame, and remember that 96 died for this club and never witnessed how truly awful football has become.
YNWA.
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