Woeful Wanderers

By AM Sunday, October 3, 2010

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While supporters may be divided on their thoughts on Benitez himself, what they are united in is their hatred for owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett - This Is Anfield Website, June 2010

A friend sent me a text this afternoon from Belfast. He is a Manchester United fan. Contrary to popular opinion they do have friends, and I continue to value my friendship with him. At the same time I carry on in the hope that his condition is curable.

The purpose of his brief message was to gleefully tell me that Liverpool were 0-2 down to Blackpool at half time in today’s game at Anfield. The wrong pool later won. Blackpool, for long enough identified as somewhere people would go to get on a fun ride rather than watch a soccer game, are now having a fun ride at Liverpool’s expense. I was not indifferent to the news but not greatly disappointed. Resignation best summed up my mood. There were no surprises there. That I never bothered following the game as it happened just about sums up my level of enthusiasm.

The Spirit of Shankley group organised protests before and after the match. Last week 9000 fans stayed behind after the game to express their dissatisfaction. They want rid of the current American owners of the club and one of the banners on display was emblazoned with the words ‘Yank Liars.’ That probably makes the Shankley group the most radical political force in British politics today. There is not much in the way of rivals.

Six points from seven games, languishing in the relegation zone, the future must look orange given that the orange of Blackpool overran the red of Liverpool on the pitch today. For someone of my ilk to long for a return to the Paisley era might sound strange to many. Nothing to marvel at, however, it is boot room Bob man rather than boot boy Ian. Under Bob Paisley’s leadership Liverpool enjoyed the most successful spell in its 128 year history. It has not been emulated since. It might never again.

As is inevitable the club coach will take a lot of flak. Liverpool fan and journalist Aaron Cutler argued:

Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool tenure has failed to ignite. A stuttering start to the season has dispelled any hope of a honeymoon period and instead exposed many of the same old frailties. Nobody expected a quick fix but signs of progress were anticipated, however small.

And that was before today’s debacle. Yet it is pointless to blame the current coach. As a friend ventured to me last week he was brought in to manage the decline, not achieve anything. Hodgson might have a reputation for managing well on limited resources but there is nothing to be carved from rotten wood. Trying to revive the club under its current owners is like giving the kiss of life to a corpse.

All those who blamed Rafa Benitez for the plummeting fortunes of the team, must now be looking back on his tenure as a golden era. The best thing about his departure is that it has shown clearly that he was not the problem there. True, his transfer forays were dubious at times, but he never managed to become one of the three Amigos propping up the rest of the Premier League.

Liverpool play old Merseyside rivals Everton next week. As a normal derby game it is important in its own right. But with both teams scraping around the bottom of the Premier barrel, on shared points from a similar number of games, there will be a sharper edge to matters. It might be seen more in the stands than on the pitch. While there is little to say that either team will rise to the occasion, the safe money has to be on Everton. What William Hazlitt said of man is true of Liverpool supporters:

As Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.