lancashirelad

The full-time whistle rings around Anfield in early November 2012. Your stomach churns; your hair becomes a makeshift stress ball; your faith in your unsavory superstition to repeatedly wear those lucky socks you've had since May 2005 – all accumulates to experiencing the feeling of frustration that has engulfed every Liverpool supporter this calendar year. It really is hard to take these “let-downs” when they keep coming week after week in all different shapes and sizes. There have been times over the past 10 months that Liverpool have pulverized their opponents yet end up getting hit with a sucker punch (e.g. West Brom last season). There have been times where a refereeing call or an unfortunate mistake has led to Liverpool coming away from Anfield extremely infuriated (e.g. Manchester United this season). And there have also been those “lowest-of-the-low” matches where Liverpool just plainly did not show up (e.g. Wigan last season). Yes indeed, you name it, whatever form of frustration you believe possible for a football fan to be tortured with, I guarantee you that us Reds have donned the hat and sent out the associating postcards to all our relatives twice over. The sad fact of all this is that it has been happening for the best part of 3 years now. I remember the week after the 4-1 win at Old Trafford in 2009, Liverpool were set to play Aston Villa at Anfield in a game that was crucial for our title push. That day,Liverpool were a well-oiled machine, and very impressive. We team cut Aston Villa apart with ease and grace worthy of our talent, with ferocity worthy of our desire for ultimate success. That day seems so long ago now. During that fabulous season of 2008/09,Liverpool were unbeaten at Anfield. Since May of that season, Liverpool has lost 12 league games out of 63 at Anfield. For a team languishing in mid-table with vague ambitions of Champions League football, that tally doesn't seem too abnormal. But for a team of Liverpool Football Club’s stature, a club that only lost 11 games in the entire 1970’s decade, this home record is a major crisis. 10 games into this EPL season and the shadow surrounding Anfield has not quite lifted for Brendan Rodgers. However there is a golden sky in the far distance, and all of us as apart of this Liverbird-led family must stick together and ride the storm out. 12th place.....It’s not a pretty sight is it? Stats are fantastic for showing how a team is progressing but I won't go into them in detail, stats are like the drunken man leaning on a lamppost, more for support than illumination......... It would be foolish for anyone to be so blinded to believe that Rodgers will undoubtedly provide us an exit route from this storm. Yet after 3 years of mass upheaval – highly unlike Liverpool– it is now time to stick together and move forward in the same direction. FSG put faith in Rodgers as have the players, as have the fans. FSG need to back Rodgers completely in the next two transfer markets. The summer of 2011 was a harsh lesson for Henry and co. (and the idiot Ayre,) when it came to summer 2012, they got another tough lesson. At the end of the day, our American owners are new to all this too. Now that lessons have been learned and the wage bill leeches nearly all peeled off, the owners need to communicate with Rodgers and trust him and his scouts to get the players the team needs. In these first games of the season, Liverpool have had a minuscule-sized squad, subtlety symbolizing a nursery thanks to the injuries to experienced players like Lucas, Johnson, Reina, Kelly and Borini. Youngsters such as Sterling, Suso and Wisdom have now all of a sudden become regulars in the Starting XI. This has been fantastic to witness, but these lads need to be managed and taken out of the firing line at some point. Their experiences so far will stand them in good stead but Liverpool cannot rely on sub 20 year olds to win Derby games, critical league games (Chelsea coming up) and mostly Man United games. Unfortunately at the moment, Rodgers has no other choice but to rely completely on the developing talents of Sterling, Suso and Wisdom. These lads need more guidance than just Gerrard and Suarez, hence why FSG need to dig a bit deeper in their pockets this January. Its like taking your car to a mechanic and expecting him to fix it without all the correct tools, no chance... I firmly believe, Rodgers is still adapting to life as a big club manager. His philosophy is commendable but we as fans need to remember he’s learning his trade while on the job too. For example, I doubt very much you will see Rodgers play such a small, solely technical-orientated team away at Goodison Park next year? However for every wake up calls like this, Rodgers has showed he has the ability to make the big calls when needed, such as his somewhat poor call (in hindsight) on the handling of Andy Carroll and his drastic half time changes in the Derby. Rodgers has shown great heart for the job and he has defended the team – in particular the media and press pantomime villain of Luis Suarez – like a true guardian of the club. I truly believe when every Liverpool fans looks at our man in the dugout, they see a man who believes in what he’s doing and is doing it for the well-being of our club. What more can we ask for? Well, WINNING GAMES AT ANFIELD would be a nice start perhaps? I don’t believe Rodgers can be blamed for our poor form at home because lets face it; we haven’t been actually that bad! We've had moments where we have dominated games (against the Manchester clubs and Newcastle today) by playing exactly how Rodgers wants us to play. Yet still somehow, results did not fall our way. The players have to take their fair share of the responsibility for this rut. We have seen individual mistakes (e.g. Skrtel vs Man City) that have stemmed from adapting to a new system and the injuries as previously mentioned, all accumulate also to this Anfield curse of 2012. We have cogs in every hole at the moment, but only Suarez’s is keeping the goal scoring car going forward. In saying that, there have been other fantastic performers this year like Allen, Johnson and Shelvey but there has been a need for improvement from others like Gerrard, Reina, Borini and Sahin. For varying reasons, players are performing at different levels in the Liverpool team at the moment. If the team could find their niche in unison – something which hasn't yet happened yet this season – we might not look so frail after all. Finally, we fans need to play our role in this mini revolution also. We need to be patient and we need to understand why this frustrating roller-coaster that rumbles on through our lives is still going around in a loop. However this does not mean we should accept inadequacy when it happens (e.g. vs Arsenal and West Brom). Our desire for success must be equaled by every other corner of the club. Together, we will get through this storm if we believe it possible. 10 games into this season, Liverpool may be able to see the golden sky… but it’s still a long way to go before we start hearing any silver songs from a lark. Patience and Belief. We'll get there in the end. YNWA. JFT96 Please sign Anne Williams petition to bring Kevin's inquest forward

oeLord Coe C/O Nicola Milan Westminster House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW Peter Chadwick (Address hidden for this blog) California 4th October 2012 Knighthood for Kenny Dalglish Dear Lord Coe and Nicola Milan, (his personal secretary) Enclosed you will find a CD with over 6,000 signatures requesting that the New Year’s Honors committee bestowing a knighthood on Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish MBE for his services to Sport and the families of the Hillsborough disaster and his ongoing Charity work with his wife Marina. Despite this laudable support from many parts of the world, getting to 6,000 signatures was a difficult process, principally due to Liverpool fans disillusionment for knighthoods bestowed on people after the Hillsborough disaster of April 1989 who many Liverpool and other football fans believe do not deserve them in the light of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report of September 12th 2012. I have no opinion on this, but simply inform you of this as a fact. Many Liverpool fans have lost faith in the honorable society of the country’s highest honor, and therefore I trust you will look favorable on this request and help to show the many Liverpool supporters around the world, and indeed the world in general that a great man, deserving of his actions after the Hillsborough tragedy, who selflessly supported the families is honored correctly and with grace. His services to sport cannot be overlooked and was the greatest footballer to serve both Celtic and Liverpool, the term 'Legend' is thrown around far too often these days, but in Kenny Dalglish it sits well, and in my view should be accompanied by a Knighthood for his services to Liverpool Football Club and the wider family of football. Many deserving people receive knighthoods for services to sport, or to charity or to community, and Kenny Dalglish, through his actions these past years, is a candidate in all three fields. Petition | Recognition for services to Liverpool FC | Change.org Sincerely Peter Chadwick Enc: Thumb drive with signatures and comments from around the world The Petition site address with log in information and password for your information Pie chart showing world wide support received

Just under three weeks ago, in the expectation that the Hillsborough Independent Panel would bring out the truth about Hillsborough and the 96, and show the efforts Kenny did back in 1989. I started a world side petition for Kenny to receive a knighthood. I know there have been efforts prior to this but they failed for political or social reasons at the time. The old petition we all signed for MP Steve Rotherham back in 2010 and 2011 (called "number 10") has shut down for financial reasons and a yet another only reached 500+ signatures and expired. Both of them were limited to the UK. There are only two petitions alive today, one in the UK which can only be signed by UK residents only and this worldwide one, Petition | Recognition for services to Liverpool FC | Change.org which is open to supporters of Kenny worldwide. In the three weeks since I started the petition we have 2,600 signatures at the time of writing, we've had many from Everton and even Manchester United supporters, who found the petition on LFC web sites, facbook sites and twitter. If you could support this it would be beneficial to Kenny mainly for what he did for the families after the tragedy and since with his wife for charity. His services to football cannot be over looked. I know some fans have problems today with knighthoods, with the likes of Bettison having one, but I know that justice will prevail and those who bought their privileged knighthoods will eventually have them stripped away and Kenny will be rightly knighted There is now a dedicated Facebook page for Kenny http://www.facebook.com/king.kenny.33449 Or tweet @mrpeterchadick – think link is on there also. The only other active site is Knight Kenny Dalglish - e-petitions run by Freddy Maurice, we will meet later this year and combine our resources if possible. Please sign; I can’t think of anyone I’ve known in my life more deserving of a Knighthood than Kenny.

Disgraceful, in front of some of the families - bastards

Thankfully things went OK, not brilliant, but OK

With you, hoping for a game of soccer, not a riot

Delete it please its sick!

King Kenny Dalglish will return to Anfield for the first time since his exit as our manager. He will be in the director’s box with his wife to show his support to the families of Hillsborough. It will be marked by the opposing captains releasing 96 red balloons shortly before kick-off. There will also be mosaics on three sides of the stadium. The words ‘The Truth’ will be displayed on the Kop, ‘Justice’ in the Centenary Stand and ‘96’ on the Anfield Road end. Representatives of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Hillsborough Justice Campaign and Hope for Hillsborough will be guests of honour at the game. Welcome Back Kenny.

Great news, many thanks

I play for an over 50s pub team and club in San Diego, there are several leagues that allow : Over 30s over 40s over 50s and over 60s Mind you the last three are crap, we can't run, the dressing room is full of moans and groans and the injury list is long and tedious. lol

We don't want to be a Billionaire's toy. We are Liverpool, we are proud, strong and optimistic. City and Chelsea are pathetic in that they can buy sucess, that's not the Liverpool way, we grow youth, integrate good players and make them great! No thanks

I think we all underestimate today how much she owed to the Yorkshire force for breaking the miners strike, they quite literally had her by the balls (and yes she had some). There are many of us who thought, at the time, that she wouldn't give them a grilling because they saved her as prime minster

I have nothing against it as long as it stays at one name, some countries allow many more and the player looks like a race car driver with logos everywhere

Looked OK, I was worried about it at first might have made Kenny look foolish but he was only mentioned for a few seconds

Poll closed without any statistical meaning from a handful of fans. bollocks