Liverpool FC Forum

hawkmoon269 wrote:Interesting article this!  And we didn't pick up on it!


In a world where greed is prevalent, generosity is becoming an increasingly rare virtue. Sadly it is one that can be wasted on those who don’t deserve it, as Liverpool have just found out.

When Sunderland were relegated from the Premiership in 2003 with one of the most abysmal records ever registered by a club in the top flight, it generated a lot of hilarity but very little compassion. They were seen as just another side that had gambled big money in hope of Premiership success and lost.

Yet their problems were very real and they needed all the help that they could get. A big squad, a huge wage bill and debts run up by the panicked signings of their doomed Premiership season were dragging to club towards administration. Paying for those players they had signed was becoming something of a problem.

Liverpool were one of those owed money, with Sunderland having to settle the final £250,000 of the transfer of young right-back Stephen Wright. But, rather than demand payment as you would expect of a modern Premiership club, they opted to forgo payment until Sunderland were back in the Premiership. This when it looked uncertain whether they would be back in the top flight any time soon.

It was, as Sunderland chairman Bob Murray admitted “a gesture from one club to another”. Disappointingly, he failed to reply in kind.

Instead Sunderland are asking Liverpool to pay £260,000 in compensation for the postponement of the televised fixture between the two, which decision was brought about by Liverpool’s forced participation in the World Club Championship.

Whilst Sunderland may feel that their claim is justified, it seems to be little more than a bid to exhort money from their richer rivals, a greedy and, in the light of recent history between the two clubs, misplaced course of action.

Yet it has also exposed the permanent confusion that reigns within the Premier League with the top flight’s governing body unable to confirm whether one of their top sides was going away in the middle of their league campaign on a whim or whether they were required to do so.

So much so that they’ve had to write to FIFA asking for clarification, apparently unaware that Liverpool had already been told publicly that they had no choice in the matter when they voiced the opinion that they would rather give the competition a miss.

Such reluctance to take definitive action greatly contrasts with the situation six years back when Manchester United were urged into forgoing their participation in the FA Cup – a severe blow for the cup - in order for them to take part in the same competition.

Naturally, it could just be a case of different time and different circumstances. But Liverpool are being left with the feeling that it is more one where different clubs are given different treatment.

Paul Grech
13 October 2005