Liverpool FC Forum

[Sean]

Money has turned most footballers soft.  For most players making a fortune is now the priority.  Winning is simply a bonus.  During our glory days we were fortunate to have had many great players but we also had average players who had a hunger and desire to win.  For example, Joey Jones, Alec Lindsay, Craig Johnston, David Johnson, Steve Nicol, Alan Kennedy, Michael Robinson, Sammy Lee etc. were average footballers but they made huge contributions during our successes through being utterly committed and hungry for winning.

In recent years we have had players with more talent than the players listed above but talent isn't just the pre-requisite for winning.  Sammy Lee wasn't gifted enough to win many England caps but he understood the history and values of our club and supporters.  Every time he played for Liverpool he gave everything he could for us.  That was why Bob Paisley was able to trust him with the job of man marking Paul Breitner (world cup winner) in the 1981 European cup semi-final.  Similarly, Jamie Carragher will never be an England regular but he is irreplaceable at Liverpool because he understands the club, it's culture and it's people and would give his all for the cause.

Apologies for ranting but St. Michael's post has got me going.  Money has undoubtedly been the root of evil in football and contributed to the loss of spirit in the game.

[stmichael]

Money has turned most footballers soft.  For most players making a fortune is now the priority.  Winning is simply a bonus.  During our glory days we were fortunate to have had many great players but we also had average players who had a hunger and desire to win.  For example, Joey Jones, Alec Lindsay, Craig Johnston, David Johnson, Steve Nicol, Alan Kennedy, Michael Robinson, Sammy Lee etc. were average footballers but they made huge contributions during our successes through being utterly committed and hungry for winning.

In recent years we have had players with more talent than the players listed above but talent isn't just the pre-requisite for winning.  Sammy Lee wasn't gifted enough to win many England caps but he understood the history and values of our club and supporters.  Every time he played for Liverpool he gave everything he could for us.  That was why Bob Paisley was able to trust him with the job of man marking Paul Breitner (world cup winner) in the 1981 European cup semi-final.  Similarly, Jamie Carragher will never be an England regular but he is irreplaceable at Liverpool because he understands the club, it's culture and it's people and would give his all for the cause.

Apologies for ranting but St. Michael's post has got me going.  Money has undoubtedly been the root of evil in football and contributed to the loss of spirit in the game.

Good post sean

Quite simply, the sport - if indeed that word still even applies-has become a tawdry affair, capable still of the odd moment of elation and simple beauty, but more often likely to depress. How else to explain the brevity of my elation at the stevie g wondergoal against olympiakos, cut impossibly short by the knowledge that it merely strengthens his stranglehold on the club he should take pride in appearing for. When profit and instant success is the bottom line, cutthroat agendas prevail. The honour, pride, talent, determination that made us love the 11 men who took to the pitch to represent us are long gone. These days, there are precious few footballers I admire, or even like. These men are not heroes, and their achievements are hollow. Stevie G came close, but now he depresses me more than most.

There are those who call this progress, who call this capitalism, who call this simply the price of evolution. Football is merely a victim of a wider malaise affecting society, the world. Capitalism most certainly is not proving to be a good thing...you need only look to what capitalist nations are doing in the world right now to ensure supremacy in the march towards a refined and unassailable version of totalitarianism.

Off topic certainly, but important nonetheless. Either way, the 'demise' of football seems inevitable at this point, and perhaps always was. Perhaps rather than lamenting this fact, we should give thanks that we were around when the concept of sport in this context meant something.

In any case, a brief glance around this forum shows what the 'evolution' of football is doing to fans, who once prided themselves on being the best in the world, but are now petulant and spiteful, pouring vitriol over even the slightest error. Once we laughed at the foreign teams for their kneejerk reactions, their slaughter of players and managers after the briefest period in the job. Turns out they simply had 'evolved' slightly faster than us. It's incredible to wonder how fans of clubs who cannot dream of the higher echelons of the Sky league must be reacting.

Heavy topic. I'm off to the realworld 

[Sean]

I guess footballers in the 50's and 60's were exploited.  For 25 years or so footballers were rewarded for success but now they are spoiled and rewarded for playing reserve team football.  As you hinted at least we can "hope" to win the title again...but fans of teams like Forest, Derby, Leeds etc. who can remember watching their teams compete with the best in England and europe must be well and truly disheartened how money has changed the game.

[antz]

Good post shame it was copied and pasted. St mike i dont understand you.

[Fowler_E7]

Good post shame it was copied and pasted. St mike i dont understand you.

some people never learn eh? st mike how about given the auther some credit rather than taken all the plaudits yourself.

[anfieldadorer]

Good post shame it was copied and pasted. St mike i dont understand you.

some people never learn eh? st mike how about given the auther some credit rather than taken all the plaudits yourself.

i knew it, it couldn't be his writing
he never learns, but we can learn to give him a bit different credit everytime he "writes" quality post , like "as usual, good post stmike, btw, where did you paste it from?" 

[coolsobs]

i remember reading a while back that campell adn viera had offered to half their wages for a while when the club was in finnancial trouble.I think garcia does give it his best he runs a lot and you can see his frustration. When we lost to burnly in the fa cup was partly due to nerves as players can tend to play worse when theyre nervous as for many of the young players it would be their first live game. I agree that the older players didnt play well enough although i did feel that nunez and baros did give it their best. I mean if all they cared about was money nunez wouldn't have lashed out as he knew that it could just mean less money for him andit showed that he cared.

[Starbridge42]

I agree completely with the guy from KopTalk.  St Mike its a good post and all but I find some of your points rather disagreeable.

Agree that money is killing sport in general.  Im going to say 'salary-cap' again.