by Dave Usher for ESPN
The cup competitions are infinitely more important to Liverpool's supporters than to the club's hierarchy these days. That was apparent when Kenny Dalglish was sacked after winning one domestic cup and narrowly losing the final of the other. The club even went as far as to say that 'the King' would still have been overthrown even if he'd managed to win both finals.
That was at odds with how most fans felt, as despite finishing a disappointing 8th in the Premier League there was certainly no mass clamour from the Kop for Dalglish to be replaced. Generally if a Liverpool manager wins a trophy that buys him at least another season, especially when he also happens to be the club's greatest living servant.
The club clearly saw it differently, with Ian Ayre stating: "It doesn’t matter how many cups you win. Ultimately you’ll fail, because if you don’t have that sustainable revenue stream that comes from playing at the highest level it will be more and more difficult to compete." Technically he's right of course, but Liverpool fans are never going to accept that lifting trophies 'doesn't matter'. Winning silverware is the staple diet that Kopites have been brought up on.
Whether it's Wembley, Cardiff, Paris, Rome or Istanbul, such glorious occasions are the memories that stay with us as we grow old and grey, or in some cases older and greyer. Those are the tales that we will regale our grandkids with, not bland little ditties about 'that year we sneaked into fourth place on the last day of the season' that will bore the poor little blighters rigid.
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