The Ebb and Flow at Liverpool- What Does It Take To Right The Ship?

If you are a fan of English football, you cannot help to find yourself captivated by the ongoing drama at the historic, unarguably prestigious, and currently floundering club located at Anfield. The constant disappointment with the club has sent the anti-Reds into fits of hysterical happiness, and the fanatic (like myself) asking the Mrs. to please wake them up in May.  Liverpool FC is the most successful team in English history and now they have become a talking point for every soccer fan around the world...but for all the wrong reasons. What exactly has happened to this club over the past few seasons? So much has been written about this issue over the past few days, weeks, months, and yeah, its become a couple years since the decline started....  But if you want the whole history of the situation, please read up somewhere else. I plan to editorialize here for a bit and try to leave the history and journalism to others. I said I'd try...but no promises... However, I will hold back some of the frustration.

For the past three years, Liverpool has seemed like they just picked up and moved to a time slot just after the News at Noon and before General Hospital.  The daily drama off the pitch has overshadowed any achievements made by the team (albeit there have not been many crowning moments in the past 3 seasons) on the pitch.  I guess the story begins in 2007 with the new owners.  I believe that Tom Hicks, Jr. and George Gillett bought the club because it seemed like the en Vogue thing to do at the time.  "Hey, I got some money ya'll. Let's buy us one of them there soccer teams from England!"  Hmmmm....they seemed to be genuinely excited about the future of the club. And over the next couple seasons, Liverpool was continuing to play consistently good football. After the 08-09 season, it looked as though the team was going to entering a truly golden era, having placed 2nd in the EPL. They had the players on the pitch, and the manager with a proven record...Liverpool looked to be on top of the Premiership in no time.  After a wonderful start to the new millennium, things looked promising.

 However, the two owners seemed to continually get in the way of the club's progress. The two eventually "splitting" apart for the "good of the club".  The fans had become quite annoyed with the constant yammering coming from the front office. Criticizing each other over the delay in building the new stadium, fighting amongst themselves over Gillett bringing in Klinsman for talks to replace Rafa, these two Yanks certainly didn't seem to get that they were messing with some of the most ardent supporters the world of football had ever known.  They were getting it all wrong. 

Very soon into 09/10, the writing was on the wall. Rafa was on his way out, the team was playing with zero inspiration, and the fans were busy planning a good old Texas style Bar-B-Q!  In comes Martin Broughton as chairman and soon we see the yanks go with the purchase of the club by NESV.  Which is an American group. Wait a minute...now aren't we...right...back...where...we started?  Not sure what to expect, ya'll? Me niether.

So flash-forward to today...sure I am glossing over some bits and pieces of the past, but frankly, it all makes me quite ill re-hashing it. I am a Liverpool fan and this has been a trying time for me. One would think that being a fan of the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Redskins, and DC United, that I would be quiet well adjusted to disappointment. (To make clear, DC United have only faltered in the only as of the last few years...hey that's just like Liverpool...I wonder if there is some weird cosmic connection...maybe I am the connection...damn.)

Woe is me. Woe, Woe, Woe is Liverpool.  Am I using Woe correctly? If not, then woe is my grammar.  With John Henry and NESV now in charge of the club, they secured the "successful" manager of Fulham, Roy Hodgson.  After an 3 seasons at the helm of Fulham, Roy was picked to become the boss for the Red's.  Personally, I couldn't figure this appointment out. Roy did well with Fulham and got to the final of Europa, while Fulham only finished 12th in the league. The prior year the team stormed into a 7th place finish. The year before that, Fulham was almost relegated.  So the question was asked by many, many people: Does this man have what it takes to be the manager at a club with the recent tumultuous history, the legendary accomplishments, and the most faithful supporters in the world?   What is the answer?  Liverpool has had some great performances,
but they are so few and far between.  I read somewhere that recorded tapes of Liverpool games are being prescribed to people with insomnia to help them get to sleep.  And with Roy's recent comments about the fans not supporting him from the beginning, it seems that he is most definitely on his way out.

With other mid-table managers' names being thrown around like Coyle, O'Neill, and even Big Sam Allardyce...are they going to come in and (as Roy would say) wave their magic wand about to fix all the problems?  Is the answer coming in just a few days with the opening of the transfer window?  Who knows?

I was happy with the transfers made this Summer. How I read some of the movement was that some older, experienced guys would come in and show the youngsters how to do the job. With players like Poulson, Cole, and Miereles. I was happy to think of the great professional experience and knowledge of the game that would be shared and taught to the Red youth. All the while practising what they teach by grinding out impressive performances, trouncing the competition, and showing how it is done. (One can dream, right?) But Poulson and Cole are minor players in Roy's line up.

As pointed out by a fellow fan, one week Roy says that the youth need more exposure, then the next he says they are to blame for the failures. Roy is starting to contradict himself so much, he may very well need to be fearing placement in a geriatric center.  Someone check the dosage on his meds, please.

With the current roster, I know that Liverpool can compete with any team in Europe. It all lies within the spirit of the team. I saw the same thing with DC United falling flat this past season.  The boys look like they just had there ice cream money taken by a bully. And the bully gave them all really hard noogies and indian burns at that.  But "come on, they are professionals" I hear the cynics cry, and "Let them wipe their tears with their paychecks".  Whatever. These guys need to feel some love. Plain and Simple. They have got to feel like stars and know they can do it in their hearts if they want to have a good performance. They are not robots.

I am curious to see what happens in the window. Not sure who is going to help. Not sure if another managerial upheaval is going to help. I haven't heard any reports by the press of players mouthing off against Roy. One thing I am really interested in seeing is if Rafa is offered anything to come back. I was happy to see him go since he didn't seem interested in the club anymore. It's hard to stay positive on a listing...almost sinking ship. I know that some fans want him back, but that is just silly to me.  I enjoyed his tenure on the surface of things, but as another friend/fan said, "He just bought his players and did nothing to develop the Youth Academy."   Just gonna have to sit back and support my team and hope for the best.  

So I am calling on the Spirit of Shankley ( the man, not the supporters) and hoping the leadership at the club get together in "The Boot Room" and make the right (hopefully not drastic) decisions needed to pull this once great club up by the bootstraps and back on the feet again.  After all, This is Anfield. YNWA