Whenever a crisis engulfs a football club the real victims are the good people that pay the players’ wages and those who have every right to show their discontent when things are going wrong. Sadly I feel Liverpool supporters have been let down massively in the past months, not only off the pitch, but on it as well.
I have sat back and listened to a lot of pundits and ex-pros looking to find the reason behind Liverpool’s troubles this season. Some have put it down to poor management and off-field distractions with the takeover, but few have actually chastised the players who have badly let down the football club with half-hearted displays that were devoid of any heart and spirit. How many of this current Liverpool squad would run through a brick wall or sweat blood for the football club? I think therein lies the problem.
Don’t get me wrong here; Roy Hodgson certainly made some mistakes at Anfield but I can’t help but feel that a lot of players decided to hide behind the manager and let him take the rap, as opposed to looking to resolve the problems out on the football pitch. It appears to be an unfortunate trait within modern football where players are not only cheating their manager with half-hearted displays, but ultimately the club’s supporters. You only have to look at the immediate impact Harry Redknapp had on Tottenham, and how that same crop of players, who were bottom of the league, managed to make the Champions League within eighteen months. Hopefully Kenny will be able to get the desired response in the coming weeks at Anfield and we can salvage something from this season.
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I remember my time at Liverpool in the mid 90s where although we failed to win the title, no supporter can ever claim that this team didn’t try or give everything on a weekly basis. We knew the importance of the red shirt, the expectation of the football club and there were few of us at the time who couldn’t look ourselves in the mirror on a Saturday knowing we hadn’t given everything on the pitch. Liverpool supporters always respect hard work and commitment shown on the pitch, even if at times the result went against the football club. It is why the likes of Stevie G, Reina and Carra are so revered at Anfield; it is a shame that others don’t follow their lead.
Hopefully the presence of Kenny Dalglish at the helm will inspire those around him and show what it means to play for this football club. I have always felt that with the exception of Sammy Lee, there haven’t been enough ex-Liverpool players in and around the management team. The boot room at Liverpool is legendary and when I was playing you had both Roy Evans and Ronnie Moran drilling into you the significance of the football club and this is something that I fear has been missing in the past regimes at Anfield. I read a few months back that Rodolfo Borrel claimed that the best players to defend the Barcelona shirt are Catalans and while I agree with the sentiments; the best way to salvage Liverpool FC is to have a figurehead like King Kenny instilling into the players the importance and historical significance of donning the red shirt of Liverpool. Too many players have abused this privilege in the past and it is something that needs to be addressed if the Reds are ever to succeed again.
I hope for the sake of my former club that King Kenny is able to instil into the players the importance of playing for a club like Liverpool.
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