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    What do you call Liverpool in an empty stadium? Arsenal. Yeah, that’s who we are now. Mentality lightweights who waste loads of chances and shit themselves as soon as even the smallest amount of pressure is applied. 
     
    Twice in a week we’ve done the same thing and it’s going to cost us a place in the Champions League. Those four points would have us in fourth, one point off Leicester in third spot. Forget all the other fucking horror shows we’ve had that led us into this predicament, despite all of that we could have still found ourselves in a decent spot just by seeing out these two games. And we shit down our own legs twice.
     
    What happened at the end of this game was embarrassing, shameful and humiliating. The inability to see this game out against a team that had barely gotten out of their own half since the opening twenty minutes or so was just so bad that I have no problem in saying that this squad really don’t deserve to be in the Champions League next year. Let's be honest here, they've been pitiful this season and have shown no resilience in the face of adversity.
     
    There are lots of thing wrong but the main issue is the one that’s been plaguing us all season. We either don’t create enough or when we do create we just don’t take them. The last couple of games have been so Arsenal-esque it’s making me just not want to watch anymore. I don't like sitting there screaming "you fucking knobheads" at the telly but they're driving me to it.
     
    Shitting themselves in front of goal and then just completely bottling it late on and forgetting about the basics. Not keeping the ball, making stupid decisions, conceding set-pieces and generally just giving hope to opponents who had none. It's pathetic. 
     
    We should have won this game by fucking six. It was just chance after chance created and fucking squandered. The one goal we scored was probably the hardest finish of the lot. Incredible goal by Mo just three minutes in. To not take advantage of that is just appalling. 
     
    The other teams who are also chasing a top four spot keep opening the door for us and we keep slamming it in our own faces. It’s just embarrassing now and I’m not prepared to offer up any defence for them. Sure, they’ve had a lot of setbacks and it looked like they were feeling sorry for themselves a while back, but since then they’ve been given opportunity after opportunity to salvage something from a wretched season and they just seem to determined to ensure it gets even worse.
     
    They even had a favour from VAR for once and still didn't take advantage. Funny thing is, I didn’t even know about the drama at the end of this. I switched it off in complete disgust when Newcastle equalised so I didn’t know the goal had been disallowed and that we’d somehow conceded again immediately after. 
     
    I think we all knew that an equaliser was coming. As chance after chance went begging there was nothing more obvious than us giving away a set-piece or two in the closing minutes, panic setting in and us eventually conceding. We all knew it. We’ve all watched footy long enough to know that’s how it works. A struggling team with a 1-0 lead that has wasted a bucketload of chances nearly always pays the price. It’s just how it is. If we were top we’d have seen it out, as we did so often last season. Last season seems like a lifetime ago now.
     
    What makes this so fucking risible is that we paid that price but for once we were bailed out by VAR. Then we still fucked it up anyway. Staggering stuff. They completely shit themselves. It was a collective shitting of shorts that caused this. It isn’t just the goal itself, it’s the failures that went before that led to it. Little things like not keeping the ball or wasting a bit of time. You know, standard game management. We’ve shown none of that in the last two games. Maybe it’s because we’ve forgotten how it feels to be leading games that we’re just so out of practice.
     
    As I say though, I didn’t even see the actual equaliser and it was only when I was reading the match thread on the forum a bit later that the depths we’d managed to plumb actually hit me.
     
    I’d seen the final score and assumed that I’d witnessed the equaliser. For us to have been given a reprieve like that and still manage to fuck it up is absolutely criminal. Almost as criminal as the shit finishing.
     
    I know this is very much a ‘yer da’ thing to say but this week I’d have the cunts doing an hour’s finishing practice after training every single day. Not just the forwards, the entire fucking squad as we’re too reliant on the forwards scoring anyway, and they just can’t be trusted any more.
     
    If I was Klopp I’d be at the end of my fucking tether with those forwards and their dogshit finishing.
     
    Their finishing is just consistently shite and their decision making is even worse. That has killed our season as much as anything outside of no fans being in stadiums. I keep saying it but they’re a much, much bigger issue than us not having centre backs and frankly I’m getting sick of the defensive injury situation being used as an excuse to let them off the hook. Are we putting this latest fucking shitshow from the forwards down to Virgil not being there too?
     
    They are just a HUGE problem (Jota generally hasn’t been as wasteful but he was rancid in this game) because they’ve been so great for us that it’s going to make any decision on their future so much more difficult. It’s not like with someone like Keita where it’s easy to just say “get rid of the useless fucker”. These lads are legends and deserve some loyalty but I’m just getting so frustrated with them.
     
    Even Mo to some extent, which isn’t really fair because he’s scored 30 now (I think). I’m critical of him because it should be at least 40 with the chances he gets, but at the same time I have to admit that if the other two had been pulling their weight then I’d be looking at Mo in a much more favourable light than I am currently. It's because the other two have been dogshit that I’m expecting Mo to be Superman and that isn’t fair.
     
    He's done his job. Maybe he could have done it a bit better than he has but the job he's done has been more than acceptable. How many others can say the same? Gini. Robbo. Fabinho. Milner. Jota. Phillips... after that I'm struggling.
     
    I’m starting to really resent some of these players and I resent myself even more for feeling that way about players who have given us so much joy. For instance, I don’t want to dislike Bobby but that’s where I’m headed and I can’t control it. 
     
    I definitely feel like things would be different if we could be inside the stadium. The lads need our support and I’d be more inclined to ‘support’ them if I was there, but I’m not there. I’m watching on telly and it’s just different. It’s more frustrating. I feel less attached. Less involved. More inclined to be pissed off than suportive.
     
    My first instinct when I see Bobby’s face now is to mutter “fuck off” and I’m fully aware that makes me a twat. I hate it. I don’t want to feel that way and I’m not trying to justify it as it can’t be justified. It reflects really badly on me but I’m just being honest with you. That’s how I feel these days. 
     
    I’m not there with Sadio yet because he’s such a great fella. I just feel sorry for him more than anything else. He’s shite though, let’s not beat about the bush. He’s worse than Bobby actually, it’s just that it’s been going on longer with Firmino. I get no enjoyment out of watching this front three anymore and it’s starting to look like Jota has been dragged down to that level too as he’s not been good of late either. 
     
    I feel like a twat moaning about any of this though because I always said if we won the league then I wouldn’t care what happens the next season. Somewhere along the line I forgot about that but I need to keep reminding myself. We won the league and then this season has been a massive clusterfuck. If you’d offered me this scenario at any point in the last decade or even more i’d have taken it. So I’m not going to let any of this bother me now and I don’t give a fuck what happens in the last five games.
     
    Of course I hope we get a Champions League place because fuck that Europa League. Being in that is the last thing we need but that’s looking like our future now because there’s no way we’re finishing top four. We’ll 100% lose at Old Trafford next week and probably drop points in at least two other games because we’ve got four months form for it. There is absolutely nothing other than blind faith to suggest this team can win enough games to overhaul Chelsea or Leicester. 
     
    I don’t know what’s going to happen in the summer but I know that I wouldn’t want to be the one making those decisions because how can we tell if this is just a freak season or if it’s a team in decline? There’s evidence to support both theories but there are just so many questions hanging over the squad.
     
    Will Sadio get back to what he was or is this him now? Is Thiago just a bad fit or will he settle in and become an important player (he was good in this game and we missed him when he went off)? Will the centre halves come back from injury at their best level? Can Bobby be salvaged? Will Hendo ever be injury free? Should Trent be moved into midfield? Will Robbo ever get a rest?
     
    I could go on as there are just so many fucking question marks and I don’t have the answer to any of them. I doubt Klopp does either. I suspect he’ll go with his heart rather than his head and we’ll see minor tweaking rather than any significant overhaul. As each week passes I’m starting to think that’s not going to be enough and our problems are bigger than just not having crowds and Van Dijk.
     
    I’m not even giving a star man because I’m just so disillusioned with it. Thiago got it on BT and I wouldn’t argue with that, but then he was subbed with 20 minutes to go so why would you take off your best player with only a one goal lead, and then complain afterwards that “we didn’t keep the ball”? 
     
    To be honest I don’t even have the motivation to try and think about these things anymore. It’s all fucked, I’m fed up with the whole thing and can’t wait until the season is over and I don’t have to watch or spend any time thinking about any of it.
     
    I’m really, REALLY, fucking dreading next week.
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Kabak, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Thiago (Jones); Mané, Firmino, Jota (Milner); Salah:
  • Phil Thompson has called for fan representation to be part of the board as a way of the club winning back their trust.
     
    Liverpool went through one of its most testing weeks of the modern era after the news emerged that they were one of 12 clubs who had signed up for the rebel European Super League.
     
    The fact that owner John Henry had gone ahead and put Liverpool’s name in that group without any consultation with the manager or playing squad was widely and correctly viewed as a disgraceful act.
     
    And of course the fans, so often the forgotten factor when it comes to matters like this were rightly up in arms and made their feelings known loud and clear.
     
    After seeing the backlash, the six English clubs knew they had to make a quick retreat and own up to their monumental mistake.
     
    There is understandably lingering resentment from the Reds fans to FSG and the major question after this debacle is what exactly happens next.
     
    As a lifelong Red, Phil Thompson has seen the greatest and toughest of times and therefore is well placed to say what can be done moving forward to prevent the same thing from happening again.
     
    The Daily Star reported the club great as saying:
     

     
    “I've seen and witnessed a lot in football - but this last week has been astonishing.
     
    "Wealthy and intelligent men have made a right pigs ear out of this.
     
    “What you would like to see is fans on the board.
     
    “Somebody at least to share ideas and put them forward. If just one person had asked the Spirit of Shankly supporters group, it would have been a non-starter straight away. 
     
    “It's the same with the other clubs. They understand the history and heritage, which a lot of owners don't.”
     
    Thompson gave praise to Henry for his video apology to the key stakeholders of the club, but admitted it was long and difficult road back to win the trust of the loyal fanbase.
     
    “Henry was the first one to come out, even though Liverpool were one of the last to pull out of the Super League - obviously Chelsea and City did first.
     
    “Will it be enough? Not for now. I think they'll have to earn the trust again of supporters. 
     
    “I thought it was a wonderful apology, but still more has to be done."
     
    In the aftermath, there has been loud calls for new owners to take over the club, but in this current uncertain global landscape, that is easier said than done.
     
    The trophy laden former club captain also wanted to highlight the good that FSG has done in their 10-year tenure.
     
    "We have to work together because Liverpool's owners, believe it or not, have been very good.
     
    “Since they came in we've played two Champions League finals back-to-back, winning one. We've also won the Premier League after 30 years and seen some great players. We've been run in a proper manner.”
     
     
     
     
  • Sunday Apr 18:
     
    What the fuck? This Super League stuff is mental. Where did it come from? Usually when something like this happens (not that there’s been anything like THIS, but you know what I mean) there’s at least some sort of rumours and whispers beforehand. This was just BOOM, “we’re joining a super league. There’s a dozen of us and we’re trying to get three more. As you were.” 
     
    Of course it’s been mooted for a while and there have been reports about talks taking place, but no-one actually thought THIS was going to happen and this announcement came right out of the blue. Something was amiss about it. It’s like they rushed it through without having it properly prepared. In fact, it’s almost as though the plans were still at the draft stage because there was no way in a million years this was going to get anyone on side and I can’t believe all of these owners were stupid and arrogant enough to think it would get a good response.
     
    The idea itself of a breakaway Champions League doesn’t bother me that much as anything that cuts those corrupt fuckers UEFA out of the picture is fine by me, but the format of this is a joke and was never going to get backing from anyone. No relegation, only five ‘invitational spots’ each season, Spurs and Arsenal getting a guaranteed spot?!?! This just looks like it was drawn up by a bunch of kids, or… actually yeah, American ‘Sports Franchise’ owners. 
     
    It sort of makes sense when you look at the people who came up with it. Barca and Real are in the CL every season without fail (Juve too) so the ‘no relegation’ thing won’t have even been a consideration for them as unlike the rest they pretty much do have a divine right to be in it anyway. When was the last time either of them weren’t in it? They take their spot for granted and justifiably so I guess.
     
    It’s the American owners who will have been rubbing their hands at the guaranteed spot because that’s what they’re used to. US sports are so fucked up with the lack of relegation, rewarding teams for being absolutely fucking shit and owners just raking in cash regardless of how terribly run their ‘franchises’ are. Believe me, I know, because the teams I follow in US Sports are a laughing stock and haven’t been serious about winning since Michael Jordan and the Fridge left town. 
     
    Nothing would suit FSG, Kroenke and the Glazers more than to have a closed shop league where the money is distributed equally among the chosen few because that’s what they’re used to. It goes against everything we stand for though. By we, I mean the rest of the world. Sporting competitions basically everywhere else don’t run like that and in Europe it’s seen as abhorrent. 
     
    Leicester have won the league more recently than Spurs and Arsenal (United too) and they are currently third. But they don’t get in because…. I’m not actually sure. I think it’s because they are regarded as not having as many fans, or they have a smaller stadium or something. I don’t really know. But do Spurs have a huge worldwide fanbase? 
     
    The point is, you can’t set up a breakaway league with guaranteed spots for 15 teams no matter how shit they perform. I’m amazed that those involved even thought for a second they could push it through in this format but I’m more amazed at how the announcement was just sort of rushed out there. That’s not how these things are usually done. 
     
    There’d usually be press briefings beforehand about how shit UEFA are and about how the big clubs are ‘concerned’. It’d be so easy to drum up hatred against UEFA and support for a breakaway league if it was done right, but they didn’t do that. You’d also have expected some big fancy presentation as to what the aims of the new league are and why it would be good for the game. There was none of that either. It almost feels like they weren’t ready to go public with this but then that loon Perez started running his mouth and the others then had to show their hand too. 
     
    The backlash has been furious but it’s just the start. This is going to get ugly as fuck. Speaking of which, Gary Neville seems to have everyone kissing his arse after his impassioned rant about it all today. Please. Do me a fucking favour. Sure, a lot of what he said was spot on but the mask slipped towards the end. “You go on the streets of Liverpool, I mean I don’t have a great relationship with them at all, I don’t like them and they don’t like me. But do you know one thing I always thought about them? They were honest, they had integrity, they would look after their people, they’d look after their own. That’s gone, forget that.”
     
    Last time I checked, Boston wasn’t ‘the streets of Liverpool’ and in fact, no-one on the streets of Liverpool is wanting this. The fan reaction has been overwhelming against it and we’re as pissed off about it as anyone. But now we have ‘no integrity’ and we ‘don’t look after our own’. Fuck off you sanctimonious little cunt. 
     
    Liverpool fans have kept FSG in check. We stopped the ticket price hike, we stopped them furloughing staff. We’ll stop this too, make no mistake. Whereas this little rat faced fuck has sat by and said FUCK ALL as the Glazers piled debt on his club. Busy little gobshite is always up in everyone else’s business but hasn’t said a word about what’s going on at his own club.
     
    Monday Apr 19:
     
    We had a game tonight and fucking bottled it. Didn’t take our chances when we were on top and then played like shit in the second half and deservedly conceded. It’s hard to even muster up any feelings about that though given everything else that’s going on.
     
    Fuck me this is so bad. We’re pariahs now. We thought everyone hated us already but FSG have now ensured that we’re public enemy number one. There are five other clubs in this situation too but somehow it’s us in the spotlight (along with United too, they’re also getting a load of heat for this). City and Chelsea are being portrayed as reluctant participants being dragged along without much of a choice and nobody gives a shit about Arsenal and Spurs other than to wonder how the hell they are even involved. 
     
    City are one of the main reasons why this is even a thing. Chelsea too, albeit to a lesser extent. This proposed Saudi takeover of Newcastle has got the big clubs in a panic, not wanting another City or PSG to emerge from nowhere. UEFA have been unable to enforce FFP properly and City have basically made the English game non-competitive now. But for Klopp’s miracle working they’d have won virtually everything for the last four or five years. 
     
    Now we have to hear about how “City don’t need this”. Yeah, that’s actually true. They don’t need it because they’ve cheated their way into a position where they’re almost untouchable. The Super League would be a bad thing for them but they can’t not be in it if everyone else is. But spare me the “look at what they’ve done for that area of Manchester” bollocks. It’s called Sportswashing, Gary. That little cunt has annoyed me almost as much as the owners of the six.
     
    The spat between Klopp and him was uncomfortable to watch though and I didn’t like it at all. I understand why Jurgen felt he had to say something but he was never going to get the better of that because he was emotional and not able to make his points with enough clarity in a brief interview. Neville then has the platform to say whatever he likes in his own defence and he’s always going to come out of that looking like he’s in the right. He wasn’t in the right though and he was completely disingenuous about what he said.
     
    “When I was initially reacting last night, I mentioned ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. It wasn’t in a disrespectful way to Liverpool and maybe in the past I’ve done that, but not last night. My intentions last night were around the fact that the two most successful football clubs in this country should have high standards of integrity. There was no sort of point scoring for me last night when I mentioned Liverpool and if I came across that way to Jurgen Klopp I apologise.
     
    The YNWA comment wasn’t anything like as big a deal as the other shit I quoted above. It’s the fans he should be apologising too, not Jurgen. If he’d have said “I should have made the distinction between the owners and the fans. The people of Liverpool don’t want this and what I said was wrong” then I’d have actually been ok with it as he was emotional, angry and probably not thinking as clearly as he should have. Even fucking hinting that this shit has anything to do with scousers was a disgrace and for him to not take that back just means he can fuck right off.
     
    On the other hand, Carragher was brilliant tonight and even brought up the role Sky have played in how football has become all about money. Whereas you had Neville billing tonight’s game as “greed v good” Carra made sure to hammer the six but also highlight just how hypocritical everyone is being here in taking the moral high ground.
     
    And that’s the other thing here. Somehow we’re seeing some of the organisations that have had the worst influences on football over the last thirty years position themselves as the moral guardians of the game. Sky, BT, the Premier League, UEFA, FIFA, ‘the 14’…. even fucking Amazon (the greediest bastard company on earth). Just fuck each and every one of them too. They’re just as bad as the big six. Everyone is acting in their own interests and not one of those organisations gives a flying fuck about the good of the game or the fans who pay to watch it.
     
    I’m fully aware of how wrong FSG and the other owners are here, but it’s galling as fuck seeing the scramble to the moral high ground from people and companies who are no better themselves.
     
    Klopp being put in this position is unforgivable though. He knew nothing about any of it until we did. Again, that suggests to me that FSG and the rest were caught on the hop by the news getting out on Sunday. They weren’t ready for it because they would definitely have told Klopp about it before making it public. Guardiola knew nothing either. Same with Solskjaer. Mourinho apparently refused to take training today and was promptly sacked.
     
    What a huge clusterfuck. Perhaps the biggest clusterfuck football has ever seen. It’s sickening that LFC is caught right up in all this because the owners are not the club. That’s a distinction that needs making. It isn’t Liverpool. It isn’t United. It isn’t Chelsea…. it’s ownership. Fans, players, staff and managers are all against it.
     
    Tuesday Apr 20: 
     
    Well this is just horrible. We’re under fire from everyone. It should be just FSG (and the owners of the other five) getting it in the neck because the fans, managers and players overwhelmingly want no part of it. Yet we’re having to hear shit about “who do those scouser think they are?” and “typical big club arrogance” etc. It’s not the fucking clubs, it’s the billionaires who own them. Still, for some of these pricks it’s just any excuse to put the boot in
     
    Everton pulling the usual High Horse FC act and putting out a statement. And everything they said was justified but it’s the fucking glee you know the cunts got from rushing to put that out before any of the other PL clubs. Everyone is chucking stones at us because of the antics of these fucking owners but FUCK EVERTON the two faced cunts. You think they’d have turned down the chance to be in it? Maybe Kenwright would have had the morals to do it but you know Moshiri and the fucking shady oligarch who he’s a front for would have been straight in there. 
     
    Then you’ve got the Bantz merchants. Wolves changed their Twitter profile to declare themselves Premier League Champions 2018/19 because they finished 7th behind the ‘breakaway six’. That’s not funny because it doesn’t make any sense. The six are pulling out of the CL, not the fucking domestic league you tits and even if they were to be thrown out by the PL (which would never happen as you don’t bite the hand that feeds you) it doesn’t mean they’d be erased from history. This is the same kind of midlands wit that’s normally coming out of away ends at Anfield. Sign on and you nicked our stereos etc.
     
    Get used to it though because other club’s social media accounts are going to be pulling shit like this forever now any time they play us or any of the others.
     
    As if it isn’t all bad enough as it is, you’ve got that absolute fucking lunatic Perez at Madrid coming out with all sorts of crazy shite and now we’re guilty by association. All the mental shit he’s coming out reflects on everyone else in his greedy little band. It’s not like any of these other clubs are going to say “he doesn’t speak for us” because he’s the ring leader and they can’t break rank.
     
    I’m dead set against this thing but the danger here though is it’s almost a natural reaction to rail against some of the shit being thrown against the Super League and the clubs involved simply because of who is throwing the shit. Boris Johnson sticking his oar in. So NOW he has a problem with pulling out of a long established European coalition to ‘take back control’ of ones finances. Cunt. My instinct is always to jump onto the opposite side of any argument he’s involved in so this is conflicting.
     
    Then you’ve got that utter that fuckwit Ian Holloway saying this is “an insult to the memory of Prince Phillip”. No really, he did. That kind of shit also makes me want to reach for the nearest pen to sign up for it.
     
    And this is the difficulty of it. We have to overlook all this fucking noise from bellends and stay focused on the big picture, which is that this is a terrible idea that can’t be allowed to go through. It’s still really unpalatable having to side with so many fucking snakes though.
     
    PM: And lo and behold, City and Chelsea scramble over each other to be the first ones to pull out and try to save some face, and then by late tonight the clubs all announce that it has collapsed. LFC’s statement was a fucking disgrace. Two paragraphs, no contrition whatsoever, just an absolutely dreadful look. Even Arsenal managed to get the word ‘sorry’ into their statement. Somehow we’ve managed to come out of this looking like the worst (or joint worse wit the equally contemptible United) of the bunch. Thankfully we’ve at least had the fans, manager, captain, vice captain and entire playing squad speak out against it.
     
    Wednesday Apr 21:
     
    Ok so I’ll backtrack a little on what I said about the statement. I now don’t think we’ve handled this worse than the other five. In fact, I’d say the opposite. In terms of optics, none of the other clubs have gone as far as John Henry did today. It doesn’t make what he tried to do any less dreadful, but he couldn’t have done much more than he did with that video apology. There is no making this right, but that went further than I would have expected.
     
    So I assume that brief ‘club’ statement last night was just about making the official announcement while distancing ‘the club’ from ‘the owners’ ahead of Henry’s personal apology today. Call me soft, but I think his apology was sincere. It doesn’t excuse his actions in any way, but I do think the man looked genuinely upset (and not just because he’s made himself look like a complete arse). I’m not defending what he did but American billionaires aren’t prone to backing down and issuing grovelling apologies so this does say something about him. 
     
    He didn’t NEED to do what he did today but he did it. He took sole responsibility (which I’m not actually buying for a second, but it was an honourable thing to do), apologised and (once again) spoke of the need to do better. It’s just yet another example of them seeing a chance to make money and going for it, before then having to back down when the fans (and in this case Klopp, the players and the rest of the football world) tell them how wrong they are.
     
    One distinction I’d make is that despite all this FSG are not Gillett and Hicks or the Glazers. Whatever mistakes they have made (and there have been plenty) they haven’t saddled the club with debt and they didn’t borrow money to buy us and then use the club to pay for the ‘privilege’ of being owned by them. We’re actually in a great financial position (Covid losses notwithstanding) so these fellas are not the devils that the Glazers are.
     
    While what FSG did was clearly wrong and motivated by making money for themselves, in their own way they were also thinking this was best for LFC too. They weren’t acting in a “who gives a fuck about the club, lets line our own pockets” manner. There are so many different layers to this. You have to understand something about these fellas. They are billionaires who come from a completely different sports culture to what we have. American sports ‘franchises’ don’t have the consequences of relegation and in fact they are rewarded for being shit. 
     
    This goes completely against how we do things here and although they know that, I’d be willing to bet they still don’t understand it and almost certainly think it makes no sense. If you’ve been brought up to see things one way and then you find yourself in a situation that’s the complete opposite you are generally going to struggle with it. They are used to looking after number one, and in this case ‘number one’ isn’t just themselves, it’s also LFC. 
     
    John Henry and the rest of FSG won’t understand why Liverpool fans didn’t want this. After all, we’d be guaranteed our seat at the big table, coining in shitloads of money every year with no risk of ever not being in the biggest competition in club football. We’d suddenly be in a position where we would be able to sign the likes of Mbappe if he became available and the sponsorships would be rolling in like never before. That’s how they’ll have seen this. They don’t give a fuck how it effects the Premier League or the rest of the clubs being left behind and they won’t understand why playing Madrid twice a year every year is not a good thing and would make it less special. They don’t get it because that’s not how US Sports work.
     
    Of course a Super League would mean that the value of their investment would sky rocket and I’m not suggesting that wasn’t their prime motivation for it. I’m just saying it wasn’t the only motivation and in their own way they will have believed this was best for LFC. The fact that it wasn’t for the best just shows yet again that they don’t get it. There’s a difference between not understanding and not caring though. The Glazers don’t care. I think, in their own way, FSG do.
     
    This is why Klopp gives them the benefit of the doubt and says they are ‘good people’. If they weren’t, he’d see through it in a second. 
     
    The one thing I’d like to know is were FSG just on this private jet for the ride or were they sat up front in the cockpit with Joel Glazer and Florentino Perez flying the fucking thing? If it’s the latter then I see that as a lot more worthy of criticism than if it’s the former. Because if it wasn’t ‘their idea’ then they were in a difficult spot here. If the leading clubs in Europe are having discussions about something then LFC have to take a seat at the table otherwise they’d be negligent and would be seen as falling behind.
     
    And when something like a Super League is suggested and some of those big clubs say they’re in, that then puts the rest of them in a really difficult situation. Do you say no and risk them going ahead without you and suddenly you become a second class citizen? Or do you agree to it with the view that ‘everyone else is doing it’ and that there is safety in numbers? Let’s say this thing was announced and LFC weren’t in it. How would we be reacting to that if this league actually went ahead and we were left behind? It’s a complex issue in a lot of ways.
     
    If they were a driving force then that’s really not good. If they felt like they had to be along for the ride then that’s kind of understandable, because if you think that any other club in the Premier League would have refused to be involved with this then you’re in dreamland.
     
    My gut feeling is they probably were one of the driving forces behind it but like I said, it wasn’t just motivated by personal greed and I bet Henry and Werner will still be wondering just why on earth the fans weren’t on board with it, because people involved in American sports just think a completely different way to us. You only had to look at some of the views on it from US journalists and pundits like Alexi Lalas. Nearly all in favour and couldn’t understand what people’s problem was with it.
     
    Thursday Apr 22:
     
    I stopped off at the driving range this morning after dropping Adrianna at school. It’s usually deserted at this time of day but this morning there was just me and some arl fella a few bays along from me. So I’m just hitting some shots, minding my own business, and then he shouts over “You a red or a blue?”. Fucks sake. The only people who ever randomly do that are blues. “I’m a red” I replied, bracing myself for what was coming.
     
    First thing he says is “So what punishment do you reckon you should get then?”. Not “do you think you should get punished?”. No, he skipped the trial and went straight to the sentencing. “None.” I said. “What do you mean ‘none’?” he asked incredulously. “I don’t agree with what they did but they didn’t break any rules and even if they did there’s no way there’ll be any punishment” I replied.
     
    He then proceeded to tell me the exact number and sub section of the law that was apparently broken and he even quoted the clause to me word for word!! I kept saying there will be no punishment and he insisted that none of the six will be playing in Europe next season. I told him there’s no way UEFA’s sponsors would pay all that money for the likes of West Ham and Everton because no-one would want to watch them, but apparently “UEFA want you all out to teach you a lesson. It just suits them if the Premier League do the punishing by docking points”.
     
    He then said he’d be willing to bet that there’ll be massive points deductions for everyone. 15 points for Spurs and Arsenal because they were the last ones to leave the ESL. 10 points apiece for City and Chelsea because they pulled out first and 20 points for us and United because we were “the ring leaders”.
     
    It was amazing listening to the absolute fucking shite he was coming out with mainly because of the way he spoke with such authority about it. This fella, in his 60s, well dressed, seemingly well educated (retired and obviously has a few bob as he’s a full member at the course and that’s not cheap) and he’s just spouting the most horrendous bollocks. 
     
    Some other highlights were that the other 14 clubs were all made up and they wanted us all gone. How did he come to that conclusion? You’ll love this. Because other than “a handful” of Leeds fans no-one else protested against it. “You didn’t see at anyone outside Goodison or Burnley protesting. That’s because we’re all sick of the big six and want you gone”.
     
    The best though was when he spent 10 minutes arguing with me about how UEFA’s new format means that if West Ham and Leicester finish in the top four and us and Chelsea were 7th and 8th that we would be given their places and West Ham and Leicester would miss out. I told him that wasn’t true and he was like “Oh but it is. I’ve read up on it”. I was trying to be polite about and didn’t want to just tell him he was talking bollocks and the top four would be in no matter what, but this went on and on and he wouldn’t have it. “If they had, say, 32 places and they give five extra ones to big clubs who failed to qualify that would be 37 teams and that wouldn’t work. So someone has to miss out.”
     
    Eventually when I spelled it out that the five ‘extra’ spots have already been factored in and nobody misses out he realised he was wrong and changed tack. “Well if you finished seventh why should you get in ahead of the team in fifth?” “We shouldn’t” I said. “Neither of us should get in, but I told you, it’s about the sponsors wanting the teams that will get the biggest viewing figures” He scoffed at that and then dropped this bomb “I thought it was going to be like when you didn’t get in the top four and they let you in instead of Everton because you’d won it”.
     
    Amazing. He even called it “the Liverpool rule”. I pointed out that the rule wasn’t changed for ‘Liverpool’ it was changed for ‘the holders’ who just so happened to be us. He kept banging the drum about us preventing them getting in because we were given a spot. I thought I must have been mishearing him but I wasn’t. “Everton weren’t affected by us at all mate. You just didn’t get through the qualifiers.” “Yeah but they let you in”. “No. We had to go through the qualifiers and we went in from the very first round, you came in two rounds later”. “Yeah but who did you play? I bet they were pub teams”.
     
    Fucking hell it was exhausting. By the end of it I’d completely changed my mind and I’m now pro Super League. Can we do another u-turn?
     
    I’m only half joking.
     
    Friday Apr 23:
     
    So now the narrative on Sky is what kind of punishment will the clubs face. They must have been listening to that tit at the driving range yesterday. I’ll answer this for you now. There will be FUCK ALL punishment other than maybe some suspended fines as a token gesture to pacify cunts like Everton. Because there isn’t any justification for it and because this is a delicate situation for the league. 
     
    Are they powerful enough to take on the teams who are basically their meal ticket? Nope. Are they fuck. Without the big six the Premier League is NOTHING. Put it this way, let’s say the PL kicked the six out. What would happen? The big six would pick up the phone to Celtic, Rangers, Sunderland, Forest, Cardiff, Swansea, Watford, Blackburn, Derby, Birmingham and a couple of others and before you know it, 18 team division that would shit all over whatever the Premier League could come up with and then the rest of the football league would want promotion places to the new league instead. And watch the ’14’ then beg to be let in.
     
    So even though some of the other 14 *cough* Everton *cough* will be pushing hard for sanctions, especially those who see a potential avenue into the Champions League, they can all fuck off, the opportunist self serving cunts. Whatever accusations of greed and self interest you want to level at the big six (rightly so), you can just as easily make the same accusations at most (not all) of these other cunts too. 
     
    Football is rotten to the fucking core isn’t it?
     
     
    …and that was the week that was…..
  • Bit of a fractured round of fixtures this week because of the FA Cup. There have been games every day since last Friday though so still plenty to get through.
     
    Let’s kick off at the Pit last week where Spurs led once and trailed once in a game that turned out to be Mourinho’s last one in charge.
     
    Kane scored twice while Spurs old boy Gylffi Sigurdsson did likewise for High Horse FC. Kane hit the bar with a brilliantly improvised header and then went off injured as his crisp bag ankles let him down again. He’s doubtful for the League Cup final this weekend now.
     
    I don’t even know who they’re playing. I’m assuming it’s City but I’ve paid zero attention to it so genuinely don’t know. If they are playing City without Kane then they’ve got no chance.
     
    Spurs sacked Mourinho the day after the Super League news broke. There were some rumours that he refused to take training in protest at it. Not sure if he was unhappy about the idea itself or the fact he was kept in the dark about it. Don’t really care. He was a genuinely awful fit for Spurs and they should never have appointed him. It was always going to end like this.
     
    What happens next is going to be interesting. No top club is going to touch him and it remains to be seen if he can put his ego to one side and take charge of a smaller club with a lesser budget. I’d love to see him give it a go at somewhere like Newcastle or even a relegated club like West Brom or Sheffield United.
     
    He doesn’t need the money but his reputation has been seriously eroded over the last decade. Taking over a lesser light and getting them promoted and then challenging for a European spot would be a great riposte to the accusations he only every takes the easy option.
     
    I hope he does. There was a time when I despised him more than anyone else in football but over recent years I’ve warmed to him a bit. I’m not saying I like him, but I no longer hate him and I feel like he’s not the massive twat he once was. Much of it is an act. He’s playing a role, like last week with that “Ole is a terrible dad because he starves his kids” schtick. That was brilliant. I hope he's back soon but at somewhere that is actually going to be interesting. 
     
    Newcastle against West Ham was probably the game of the weekend. No-one saw that coming but it was highly entertaining. The Magpies played well in the first half and took a 2-0 lead into the break after two calamitous moments by West Ham. First Drop pulled a Djimi Traore and pirouetted one into his own net. Then Fabianski dropped a corner right at the feet of Inton, and not even big Joel could miss that one. In between, Dawson was sent off for two reckless yellows.
     
    All good then. We needed West Ham to lose and it looked a certainty at 0-2 and a man down. Newcastle then proceeded to choke like dogs and found themselves level after goals from Diop and Lingard (penalty). 
     
    I was sat in a car park listening to it on the radio and I was in the middle of typing out a rant about Newcastle’s shitness to post in the group chat when they immediately went in front again through Willock. I didn’t post the message but I did copy it and was ready to paste if they blew it again. Thankfully they didn’t. Not that we took advantage of it like, but we did make up a point on them so it’s better than nothing.
     
    Newcastle are virtually safe now. Fulham and West Brom need the miracle of all miracles or they’ll be joining Sheffield United back in the Championship. Fulham and West Brom are just fucking yo-yo clubs like Norwich, who are back up again for next season. I’m bored with all of them, I want something a bit different. I’d even welcome back those scabs at Forest.
     
    Sheffield United’s relegation was finally confirmed when they were beaten 1-0 by Wolves. Brewster started and didn’t score. No goals for him this season but he’s still only one behind Adama Traore. I reckon he’ll score before the end of the season. I hope so anyway. He must be wondering just what the fuck has happened to his career.
     
    He was on the receiving end of a really bad tackle that could have seriously injured him. Not only did he not get the free-kick but he was yellow carded for his trouble. A truly astonishing decision that one. It has to be seen to be believed. 
     
    Willian Jose finally opened his account with a close range finish after being set up by Traore’s powerful burst and smart cross. When Traore is in that situation there is literally nothing defender can do to prevent him getting in a cross. All you can do is pick up the players in the middle and the Blades didn’t do that. They didn’t deserve to lose the game but they just can’t score goals and that’s why they’re bottom.
     
    Nuno Holy Spirit said some really nice things about them afterwards and insisted that they’d come back up and that he “hopes they do from the bottom of my heart”. He’s such a nice fella him. I think there’s a decent chance now that he’s not actually that good a manager but he’s a class act.
     
    Arsenal drew 1-1 with Fulham. They’re such fucking losers aren’t they? Them being in that Super League was by far the most offensive aspect of it to me. The fucking balls on them and to a lesser extent Spurs. They’re like the fucking Wedding Crashers. If that thing had gone ahead they’d be playing in it and all the big teams would be looking at each other asking “who exactly are they again and who invited them?”.
     
    VAR played a massive part in this game and again it was just fucking horrible. Ceballos had a goal ruled out because Saka’s toe was apparently offside. Then Fulham were awarded a penalty for a clear dive and that also had the most marginal of possible offsides in the build up.
     
    This one was adjudged to be onside but it’s like I said last week, there hasn’t been one of these that’s come out as being dead level all season, which is basically impossible unless they have instructions that when it’s level they need to move the line one way or the other. 
     
    Whoever was on VAR that day clearly decided to fuck Arsenal over on both of those, because if he’d wanted to he could have given those the other way around and nobody would be any the wiser. It’s a fucking scandal this you know. There’s not enough being made of it either. We hear plenty of moaning about VAR but no-one has properly addressed this issue of officials just deciding games based on whichever outcome they want from these marginal decisions.
     
    Maja buried the pen but Fulham couldn’t hold on and conceded seven minutes into stoppage time when Nketia tapped in at the back post. There was a VAR check on that because Holding was stood in an offside position but the goal stood because apparently he wasn’t interfering with play. Scott ‘Scotty’ Parker disagreed and was fucking fuming afterwards. He was talking absolute shite though. 
     
    Here’s my issue with it. Imagine if that game actually meant something for Arsenal and they’d scored with the last kick of the game but the fans couldn’t celebrate it. VAR needs to fucking go. That famous “Agueeerroooooooooooo” moment would have been ruined if VAR was about as they’d have been checking to see if there was any way they could hand the title to United. I’m not even joking.
     
    Speaking of United, they beat Burnley. Didn’t watch, don’t care.
     
    Brighton got a point at Chelsea but they’ll feel they should have won as they had the better chances. The most shocking thing about this was Chelsea fans showing up to protest about the Super League. Did anyone expect them to do that? I’d have been less shocked if they’d turned up waving fifty pound notes and chasing “Super League ’til we die”.
     
    Real Madrid president Florentino Perez certainly smelled a rat and said “there were only forty of them and I know who sent them there”. The implication being an opponent of the Super League paid them. It sounds crazy but is that any less believable than Chelsea fans having a moral conscience and doing the right thing?
     
    Spurs began post-Jose life with a 2-1 win over Southampton. The Saints are either proper shit or they’ve been on their holidays since picking up enough points to ensure they wouldn’t go down.
     
    Harry Kane was missing with that ankle injury. Maybe his tongue is injured too and that’s why he couldn’t speak out against the Super League? Shithouse.
     
    Southampton should have taken the lead in the first couple of minutes but blasted two efforts straight at Lloris. The commentator was screaming about “brilliant goalkeeping by Lloris” for some reason. If standing still and having a ball smashed at you qualifies as brilliant keeping then we can all do that. Except Brad “Dodgeball” Jones of course. No, I’ll never let that one go.
     
    When Ings headed Southampton in front the commentator said “not much Lloris could do about that one”. What, because it wasn’t twatted straight at him? Has this fella got shares in Lloris? Really strange commentary I thought.
     
    Usually it’s Spurs blowing leads in the second half of games but this time it was them coming back to win. Bale curler in the equaliser (lovely goal) and Son thought he’d won it with 15 minutes left but after a VAR check it was correctly disallowed for offside.
     
    What VAR taketh away it then gave back as after David Coote had given a free-kick on the edge of the box, Jon Moss had a look and told him it was on the line and therefore a pen. It was too, but it’s one of those that would never have been a pen in the pre-VAR days as it looked just outside when it happened and I think virtually any referee would have given a free-kick and not a pen.
     
    VAR supporters (believe it or not there are still some out there) will say this is an example of it being beneficial but I disagree. If that’s given as a free-kick I’m good with that every time because it’s that close it’s like a marginal offside. You let the official make the decision based on what it looks like and if the replay shows he’s out by an inch and it’s a penalty, so what? VAR wasn’t meant to be refereeing games, it was supposed to rule out any obvious fuck ups. This ain’t that.
     
    Bale gave the most clichéd post-manager sacking interview of all time afterwards. He started with “yeah no it is what it is” and if you were playing football cliché bingo you’d have had a full house. “As players we need to stick together and work hard” “obviously” “Ryan’s come in to do a job” “we’re all fully behind him” “keep fighting until the end of the season” “that’s all we can do”. I’d forgotten how much I couldn’t stand this cunt because he’s been in semi-retirement since Kiev.
     
    City’s quadruple bid had some a cropper when Chelsea beat them in the cup semi last weekend. Maybe that loss was why Guardiola felt empowered enough into talking, without any hint of irony, about how sport isn’t sport if it isn’t competitive. They’ve been hoovering up all the domestic trophies for years and ensured English football is less competitive than the Champions League, yet this bald fuck sits there moralising about the spirit of competition. 
     
    They fell behind early at Villa Park when McGinn shocked them after just 22 seconds. They equalised with the kind of goal they always fucking score. It used to annoy me but now it just annoys me that we never do it. It’s really not that hard when you have so much of the ball in the opposition half. 
     
    We’ve got the players to do it but whenever we get into those positions the cutbacks just go straight to defenders. Pisses me right off.
     
    Rodri headed in to make it 2-1 and then Stones was sent off after initially only being given a yellow card. That’s never a fucking red card in a million years. He tries to put the ball into touch but the Villa lad got there a fraction ahead of him and Stones ended up booting him. Standard yellow, but VAR told David Coote to have another look and he upgraded to red. 
     
    Just fuck off with this shit. I wish there was as much outrage about this as there was about the Super League, but VAR is as much of a threat to the future of the game than that. In fact it’s even more of a threat as it’s genuinely the worst thing to ever happen to football.
     
    Matty Cash was also sent off for two yellows. The second one came two minutes after the first and it was so irresponsible. He lost the ball and then chopped down Foden deep in the City half. I’d ring his fucking neck if I was his manager.
     
    Dean Smith did say it was stupid and reckless, and also said the Stones red was only a yellow. He’s one of the good ones him. Dion Dublin on MOTD said it was a red card. Stick to talking about houses lad, you somehow made Danny Murphy look like the voice of common sense.
     
    Finally, Leicester smashed West Brom with that Iheanacho cunt continuing his recent hot streak. I don’t mind Leicester as a team but fuck that guy.
  • End the perennial debates over Liverpool FC’s greatest ever captain. We’re living through the reality. Jordan Henderson is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. I don’t think a case can be made otherwise. Not anymore. Not after the past week.
     
    In rallying his teammates to unequivocally speak truth to power on behalf of players and supporters, he was the lone captain of a Big Six club who had the courage to put his head above the parapet. He was the only one to feel the responsibility and act on it.
     
    Responsibility. It’s a massive word when it comes to a Liverpool captain, isn’t it? Our current skipper hasn’t shirked that weight once, on or off the field. No disrespect to any of the greats who’ve worn the armband, but none have risen to the leadership responsibility as well, in as many tough circumstances.
     
    “Our commitment to the football club and its supporters is unconditional,” he and the players wrote on Tuesday afternoon. I’m not sure who was responsible for wording of the refreshingly terse statement – you sense James might have had a hand in it – but that line was understated genius. In mentioning the unconditional commitment to the football club, it made a huge distinction. John Henry and FSG are not the football club. Klopp made the same allusion in Leeds on Monday.
     
    The Club, eh? I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last couple of days about that very notion, perhaps trying to compartmentalise my continued support as the football world piled-in on the ‘seditious six’ and made us all feel the pure shame the owners clearly didn’t.
     
    So what is The Club?. It’s the great players and managers we’ve all enjoyed. It’s the rubbish ones too. It’s the people who work at the place and keep it ticking over. It’s the memories we’ve made, the strangers we’ve embraced as family. To me, it’s my 23 year-association with The Liverpool Way and the unbreakable lifelong bonds I’ve made through it. It’s Jordan fucking Henderson. And for all of those things I’m grateful and still really proud.
     
    Regardless of their private feelings on the matter as it unfolded, Maguire, Fernandinho and Azpilicueta all waited for it to fall apart before commenting publicly. Aubameyang deactivated his Twitter account. Fair enough. He was annoyed the fight against racism wasn’t receiving as much energy, which is a great point in itself and one that needs following-up on. Those clubs had other players who distinguished themselves. Good eggs like De Bruyne, Bellerin and Rashford (obviously), for example.
     
    Harry Kane, though? The Spurs and England captain? When a number of his squad mates had been threatened with never playing for their country again, his response was radio silence. I don’t want to turn this ode to Jordan into a hit piece, but Jesus Christ! The fact he’s still preferred by Southgate is an awful reflection on the England coach.
     
    Speaking of establishment tories, Henderson’s actions came less than a year after a direct response to a government imploring that footballers to ‘do their bit’. We all knew that was a preposterous deflection from its own failings. Footballers like Jordan were already supporting the food banks only necessary because of tory austerity and cruelty.
     
    Still, Henderson mobilised the other captains to provide millions in Covid relief. He’s not just our captain, he’s the captain’s captain. Tell me you saw that happening when the deathly shy and gawky kid from Sunderland showed up on the right wing in 2011? Roy Keane isn’t right about much, but he was right about Jordan. Never write that kid off. It’s one of the greatest privileges of 30-odd years watching the reds, seeing him become what he is today; chest out, chin-up, leading from the front in so many ways.
     
    Adam Lallana might be his best mate (and biggest fan!), but he’s right too: "He's proved on countless occasions that he leads all the captains and the football club.” The captain’s captain made us proud when there was little reason for it flying around the game.
     
    It also speaks volumes that the statement published on Tuesday perforated a takeover of his social media accounts by a cyber bullying charity. While others spoke of ‘boycotts’ (i.e. not publishing pictures of themselves in flash clobber for a couple of days), Henderson was smart and responsible (there’s that word again) enough to know his following could be channelled in a positive manner.
     
    He’s not the only Liverpool captain to face such awful times, of course. Phil Neal in 1985 and Alan Hansen in 1989 both presided over unspeakable tragedies and loss of life. Jockey, of course, handled the ensuing years much better than his predecessor.
     
    Then I think back to ‘Mr Youth Development’ Brendan Rodgers trying to trade him in for Clint Dempsey because he had ‘wee Joe Allen’ instead. Just imagine if he didn’t have the mental fortitude to say “no”. Unthinkable. When another ex-skipper felt he wasn’t getting enough love from the manager, he sought out a club not too far from Fulham, at the height of what was a cultural rivalry as much as a football one. But then we don’t talk about that anymore.
     
    Henderson staying at Liverpool is an incredibly big turning point in the modern history of the club. Without him, I don’t believe the last 3-4 years of success happens. If he isn’t as important as Klopp, he’s a close second. The esteem in which he’s held by his teammates shows that.
     
    Just stepping up to that mantle set by his predecessor – a born and bred Liverpudlian, a better footballer, a bona fide miracle worker between the lines – was a herculean task. Gerrard was a born genius and Henderson didn’t have that going for him either. Not only has Jordan assumed Gerrard’s role, he has now eclipsed him.
     
    I haven’t talked football at all during this piece, because it almost seems secondary. But when it’s all said and done, my abiding memory of Jordan and this entire era, isn’t lifting of the Title or the European Cup, which we’ll now continue to compete for. Thanks, in part, to his efforts.
     
    It’ll be Alisson sprinting past his exhausted captain in the 95th minute to celebrate with Mo at the Kop end. He’d given everything that day, just like always, and continues to do so, seeking none of the acclaim for himself. Well, here’s some acclaim: Here’s to you, Jordan Henderson. Liverpool Football Club’s greatest ever captain.
     
    Chris Smith
  • John Barnes has given a sobering view on the proceedings that have dominated the airwaves and column inches for the last three days.
     
    After the proposed European Super League was stopped in its tracks, the prevailing thought was that it was a true victory for fans across the footballing landscape.
     
    But according to Barnes who is regarded as one of the most eloquent speakers in the game, fans never came into the thoughts of the power brokers and instead it was to do with a high stakes game and who would blink first.
     
    The Echo (via Talkradio) reported the Reds legend as saying:
     
    “Well first of all there’s been a lot of noise in the last two days in the revolution to change the face of football.
     
    “Let’s make no mistake what this was about. This was about two elite groups that wanted to have the power to exploit football.
     
    “It was never about the fans. It was about UEFA trying to hold on to power, the Premier League trying to hold on to their power and another group, this new ESL (European Super League) trying to come into power.
     
    “This is being framed as a victory for the fans, it’s not a victory for the fans, it’s a victory for whoever wins can exploit football fans.”
     
    Barnes cited the start of the Premier League when Football became much more than just a sport.
     

     
    “In 1992 when the Premier League started, football became a business.
     
    “What football wanted was the biggest businessmen involved in football, what fans wanted was the people with the deepest pockets to come and take their clubs.
     
    “We were then told that anyone coming into football needs to understand the nature of football – it’s the other way around.
     
    “Once you have these big multi-billionaire businessmen coming into football then football fans have to understand the nature of business and of course we haven’t had the balance right.”
     
    With the deep involvement of FSG in this sorry saga, the logical thought from Liverpool fans has been to think, 'where do we go from here?'
     
    The video apology by John Henry has received a largely mixed reaction, with some in the camp of wanting to move on, while others are firmly in the view that it is one mistake too many with this one striking at the very fabric of the club.
     
    When things like this happen, there is a yearning for a return to the old days, when people who truly loved and cared for the club were the ones who made the key decisions.
     
    However Barnes said there will not be a return to that era.
     
    “For 60 or 70 years, many fans had shares in their clubs and still owned them but if fans want rights in their clubs they have to buy shares and how much are the shares worth now?
     
    “Can an average fan afford to own a football club or have shares? No they can’t, so therefore those days are over.
     
    “So I would say to the fans, as much as we’re talking even from Liverpool’s perspective: ‘Is it over for the owners, Do they have to sell the club?’ – who are they going to sell the club to?
     
    “If they sell the club to someone with more money than them, do you think the people who come in whose business is run autocracy are going to listen to fans when they say: ‘This is what we want you to do.
     
    “It’s not going to happen, you can’t have it both ways.”
     
     
     
     
     
  • The current champions have had a shambolic season, currently sitting 6th, two points behind Chelsea and three points behind surprise package West Ham United. With seven games left to play, this is sort of a terrible situation to be in for a team that won the EPL and UCL within the last two years. Let’s take a look at their chances and bets tips for the end of the season.

     
     
    The season so far
    Liverpool have had a really rocky season with several ups and downs across different times, laced with an outrageous amount of injuries. The team has virtually had to fly the whole season without any of their senior centre halves, allowing players from U23 to play many of the games. Jurgen Klopp also had to make an emergency centre half signing in Ozan Kabak.
     
    Prior to the victory against Wolves at Molineux, Liverpool had looked unrecognisable from the team they were and astonishingly has lost lost six of their previous seven league games. However, since then, things have looked brighter a bit, with good results coming in along with competitors like Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Chelsea, and Everton all dropping points. Currently, there seems to yet be hope.
    Can Liverpool make the top 4?
    Mathematically, yes, they can. It is still possible that Liverpool makes the top four if things go their way. This means that Chelsea and West Ham would have to fluff their lines to a large extent, and Liverpool would have to hoover up almost every last point available to put themselves in the best possible position. Being only three points behind the top four it is not an impossible task, and it’s well within their reach, although the chances lays more in the hands of West Ham and Chelsea, as well as freefalling Leicester City.
     
    Their toughest features left are the match against Manchester United, who are in high-flying form, and perhaps the trip to Burnley in the second to last week of the season. The Clarets beat Klopp's side at Anfield and a trip to Turf Moor is never easy. The outcomes of these two features would certainly play a very huge role in how things turn out. However, a good bet on football may be to take a chance with Liverpool.
    Bet tips for Liverpool’s end of season
    As of now, the chances of Liverpool qualifying are more or less balancing on a 50/50 scale, as it doesn’t directly lie in their hands. Before the past three match days, many bookmarkers and analysis ruled Liverpool out of the top four contentions, however, with both Chelsea and Leicester city stumbling, Liverpool and West Ham are back in contention.
     
    The popular odd analysis site, bookmakers.co.uk, places Liverpool’s top four odd at 8/11, exactly the same with Leicester, and Chelsea. This is a very strong point for those looking to wager and seems like a good bet. However, considering the fact that they are currently sixth, and Chelsea fifth, there are certain degrees of risk associated. All it would take for you to lose your money is either Chelsea or West Ham winning their last six games.
     
    A good betting tip would be to bet on the outcome of Liverpool’s individual matches, as the end of the season is often characterised by spiking odds. Also, do well to monitor Liverpool’s odds standings to make the top four, and you may even choose to take the risk and win big if they make it.
  • Graeme Souness believes there is no coming back for John Henry in the hearts and minds of Liverpool fans across the globe.
     
    The plans for a European Super League which was set to send the world of Football into turmoil was in tatters on Wednesday evening as all six Premier League clubs pulled out almost as quickly as they had signed up to the proposed league.
     
    The backlash to the plan was ferocious and passionate as Football fans across the land who are undoubtedly the heart of the game bonded as one to send a clear message that this was certainly not the best way forward for the game.
     
    While the fans made their thoughts known in the best way possible, a cavalcade of former players turned pundits were also extremely quick to condemn the plan
     
    With the anger being palpable, the big question is when the dust settles what will the landscape look like for these six clubs. Some will undoubtedly look to go on a PR campaign of mammoth proportions and aim to win back the high level of disaffected fans.
     
    But according to the club legend turned pundit, that will be an incredibly tall ask for Henry and his colleagues who he said had a clear method that blew up in their faces.
     
    Souness believes the fact that FSG along with their Man United colleagues were at the heart of this sorry affair, will be an extra kick in the guts for supporters. Liverpool and Manchester United fans rarely agree on anything, but both were on the same page with regards to the conduct of their owners this week.
     
    The two fierce rivals face off against eachother in a couple of weeks and for anyone who likes a flutter, the upcoming Liverpool F.C vs Manchester United best odds are quite interesting as despite United being at home and a considerable amount of points ahead of the reigning Champions, the bookies can't separate them.
     
    The Mirror reported Souness as saying:
     
    “When people go into business at this level they've got an exit strategy.
     
    “You can bet certain Americans were looking at this, [thinking] we'll remain in this new league for two years, our assets will double in value and we'll get out and we'll move onto something else.
     
    “They've been found out. And we know as well as anyone, how will the scousers take to John Henry after this? I don't know how he comes back from this."
     
    One of the worst things about this whole process was how everyone other than the architects of the plan were kept in the dark with Jurgen Klopp confirming on Monday that he only knew about it a few hours before it came to light.
     
    Souness said that lack of accountability and honesty will be extremely difficult to forget.
     

     
     
    “This wasn't an idea someone had a fortnight ago, this has obviously been on the go for months and months and months.
     
    "So these chairmen have been going to Premier League meetings, albeit via Zoom no doubt, knowing that their intention was in a few months to pull out of the Champions League.
     
    "So they've been so under-handed - these are relationships that will take some mending.
     
    "And the biggest one is not chairman to chairman, it's chairman to supporters, which is very important.”
     
    Souness continued, “I know the scousers, they will not forgive John Henry for this. I can't see how he gets back from this, I honestly can't.
     
    "I think it's different for [Chelsea owner] Roman Abramovich. I think he's been dragged in, and City have been dragged in. 
     
    “I imagine the catalysts for this would have been the Americans at Liverpool and Man United, along with the two big clubs in Spain who by all accounts are absolutely skint.
     
    "How you recover from this I'm not quite sure, because the relationship between the supporters and the board in some cases will be damaged forever."
  • I’m going to ignore the huge elephant in the room and just focus on the game. I wouldn’t even know where to begin in addressing the other thing and once I had begun it would be difficult to stop. So I’ll just say that I hate the idea and that I’m massively concerned about the implications of it and I’ll leave it at that for now. 
     
    I’ll write something when I’ve been able to process it all and get my head around it. Probably in the diary this week. I’ll keep this as just a match report. Not that anyone is particularly arsed about the match because none of these games mean anything now do they? Klopp and the players are trying to get into the top four but for what? The owners don’t want to be in the Champions League so it’s all moot.
     
    I was worried about how the players would come out for this game given all that had gone on. I say worried, but that would imply that I cared when the truth is I wouldn’t have blamed the lads if they were in no frame of mind to play the game. So I half expected us to be completely flat and dispirited but that wasn’t the case. The lads looked up for it and Klopp certainly was in his pre-match interview. You can tell he was fuming about what has gone on but he was also irked by the t-shirts worn by the Leeds players in the warm up and left in the visitors dressing room. 
     
    He was livid about the “Earn It” slogan on the t-shirts because he and his players have fought and scrapped for everything they’ve achieved to date. Nothing has been handed to them. I understand why that annoyed him but the point was valid. It was about future qualification, not past achievements. Still, he did everything but go into Wealdstone Raider mode and giving it the “you want some?”. He was ready to fight someone that’s for sure.
     
    The players seemed similarly determined to make a point too and we started the game really well. Of course we were shite in the final third but that goes with the territory now. Doesn’t even matter which of the forwards play and which one is left out. It’s the same old toothless crap regardless.
     
    This time it was Mo on the bench, so the threat of a goal from us was even less than usual. Sadio’s raw deal from refs continued as he was blatantly hauled down on the edge of the box early on and got nothing. I would give the ref the benefit of the doubt and say he played the advantage because Jota picked up the loose ball, but the ref was Anthony Taylor so no benefit is being given to that baldy Manc turd.
     
    The keeper wasn’t being tested enough but we were in total control and Leeds offered nothing in the first half other than one opening we created for them when a terrible pass by Fabinho went straight to a Leeds player and my boy Bamford was sent clear. He took a touch too many and Alisson was out quickly to smother the danger.
     
    We had so many good situations where we took too long to shoot or the pass was delayed a fraction too long and allowed defenders to block, but eventually we managed to put together one quality, incisive move and we scored from it. Jota’’s lovely ball got Trent in behind Harrison, the keeper came rushing out but Trent got there first and squared for Mané who just about found the empty net. He so nearly missed that.
     
    Surprisingly we looked quite dangerous from corners. Jota headed over from one and then completely missed another one that looked to be dropping to him. Leeds must be awful on set-pieces if we were posing a threat from them. We haven’t looked dangerous from corners since we lost Van Dijk (and to a lesser extent Matip).
     
    All good at half time then but the second half started and it was completely different. We didn’t look in much trouble initially even if we weren’t doing much ourselves. As the half went on though Leeds just got more and more on top and they had much more of the ball than we did.
     
    There was a VAR check when the ball brushed Trent’s hand in the box. Mike Dean had a look and said no pen, which frankly staggered me. Not because it was a pen, but because it was us. And because it was him. And because of all the negative publicity we’ve had (rightly so). Anyway, Dean correctly ruled that Trent was pulling his arm away and could not nothing about it.
     
    We had more let offs than just that though. Leeds outran us and had more possession. That’s telling I think. They looked like they wanted it more but I’m sure that’s more about them being fitter than we are at the moment. By fitter I mean less jaded I guess. We’ve played so many games while short handed that there just isn’t that much left in the tank. The second half was proper fucking shit. 
     
    Leeds had us under the cosh for most of it and could have scored two or three easily. Alisson made a great save with his left boot to deny Harrison. Bamford then hit the bar before Alisson denied Roberts. These were three gilt edged chances. It wasn’t good at all from us, they were all over us. Sadio made way for Salah and that was an obvious decision as he was crap again even though he scored.
     
    We just needed one clinical counter attack to make the game safe and we did have opportunities to do it. We should have finished them off with a trademark Red Arrows charge from a Leeds corner but it was Robbo leading the break and - much as I love him - he’s probably one of the last players you’d want in that situation. He had Salah to the right and Jota to the left and he completely fluffed the pass to Jota. It’s not a position he often finds himself in and it showed. He’d usually be the one on the overlap, not the man charging through the centre needing to play the right pass.
     
    Mo then wasted a good chance when the keeper kicked it straight to him. His first touch wasn’t great and then he just telegraphed what he was going to do (cut in and shoot, surprise surprise) and it was blocked. He had another chance to wrap it up but he dragged his shot wide after a nice ball over the top by Thiago. He may have been offside anyway though.
     
    We did have one or two nice combinations in the second half and Jota had some exciting runs but mostly it was flat and timid. Milner said that we were a bit tired and therefore needed to keep the ball better. He’s right. We didn’t keep it at all. There was no possession, any time we got the ball we just tried to counter attack and invariably gave it straight back to them.
     
    Jota was replaced by Ox and I’m not gonna lie, my reaction was “why the fuck are you doing that?” Ox for Milner or Thiago, sure I can get on board with that as it’s fresh legs in the middle of the park. Sticking him in the front three though, nah. As it turns out he was on the right of a 4-4-1-1 which is at least a bit more understandable as it’s extra cover for Trent, but it didn’t help us much though.
     
    Leeds kept creating chances and winning corners and eventually they made it count when Llorente headed in. I don’t even think that was about particularly bad defending. It’s just something that happens when you have a good ball in and three big lads attacking it. We had Kabak and Firmino trying to deal with it, neither of whom are giants. The ball dropped over Firmino as he challenged Bamford, and Llorente was there behind them to head it in. 
     
    Our defending wasn’t the problem. It rarely is. Sure, we’ve conceded a late goal but if we could actually attack to a half decent level we could afford the occasional goal against us. Our problem is even when we concede only one it invariably costs us either a draw or a loss now because we’re fucking shit at the other end.
     
    I’m sick of watching performances like this. It’s virtually the same kind of performance game after game. The only real variant is the scoreline. It feels like we’ve seen the same performance in almost every game for about five months now. It’s definitely an empty stadium thing. It isn’t just that and we’d still be dropping plenty of points even in full stadiums but the energy levels and concentration would be much better.
     
    Star man is Milner who was decent enough and I can’t think of anyone else who was better. Fair play to Thiago as well for somehow managing to concede around thirty fouls without picking up a yellow. Usually he gets booked for his first one.
     
    So now what? It feels pointless talking about how these results impact the ‘race for the top four’ when as things stand fourth place isn’t going to mean shit anymore. It probably doesn’t mean shit now. Not that we’re going to get it anyway. Other teams will drop points but we’ll probably drop more. Does it even matter now? Everything is completely fucked and this season has just been a living nightmare that gets worse by the day.
     
    Where’s it all going to end? Either with another grovelling FSG climb down or with Klopp walking and us having to rally the troops to go on a fucking rampage against another set of greedy American owners.
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Kabak, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Thiago, Milner; Jota (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Firmino, Mané (Salah):
  • Jamie Carragher believes that the fans across the country have the power to stop the plan that threatens the heart of the game that we all love.
     
    Many individuals associated with the game was unanimous in their horror and anger as it was revealed that six of the biggest clubs in the country will join forces with three clubs in Italy and Spain for the European Super League.
     
    While it blindsided many, plans had been taking place under the cloak of darkness with the FSG group reportedly at the heart of the plan along with their counterparts from Man United.
     
    UEFA have made it clear that the ramifications for joining any such rebel league are severe and include players being banned from the European Championship and the World Cup.
     
    Gary Neville made global headlines yesterday in his strong condemnation for the two most successful clubs in English Football and ahead of Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Leeds, it was his fellow Sky Sports pundit who took the baton.
     
    The Echo reported Carragher as saying: 
     
    “(I feel) no different to Gary and every supporter up and down the country.
     
    "What I would say is this is not Liverpool, Man United, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal, Man City involved, this is  John Henry and FSG, this is the Glazers, this is Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Mansour, Stan Kroenke, Daniel Levy - these are the people to blame for this.
     
    “What they’re doing right now is dragging institutions we’ve seen in this country for over 100 years basically through the mud, burning the history of what those clubs are about because from your own club’s point of view, the only reason Liverpool are in this or have a chance of being in the Super League is because they’ve won six European Cups or 20 league titles. 
     
    “So, they’ve used what Liverpool have done in their history, going back to Bill Shankly and even before that, to get into some league and line their own pockets. The biggest thing for me is certainly the football world in terms of everyone being against it tonight.
     
    Despite the influx of overseas billionaires coming into the game in the last 10-15 years, Carragher has been around the game long enough to know how important fans are and how they can sway decisions.
     
    He says the time is now for fans to make their presence felt.
     

     
    “My message to everyone is I think these clubs think this is a done deal, it’s done, I don’t think it is, I think supporters up and down this country can stop this - I really do believe this and I think at the forefront of that will be Liverpool because I’ve seen it before.
     
    “We have tribalism in this country, we have rivalry, that’s what makes the game we love. Football fans get together, all of us, in TV, pundits, players, managers, get together and stop this because it can be stopped. I’m convinced of it.
     
    “Going forward, I think that’s what we need, marches on stadiums, supporters getting together, this cannot be allowed to happen."
     
    The Reds received a hostile reception from home fans outside the gates at Elland Road, and the club itself left no one in any doubt over their thoughts by wearing warm-up shirts with the words 'Earn it' next to the Champions League logo and 'Football is for the fans' and also left the shirts in Liverpool's dressing room in case they wanted to join the protest.
     
    It was a ‘stunt’  which did not leave Klopp in the best of moods.
     
    “We were not involved in the process. "We are the team, we wear the shirts with pride. Somebody has made a decision with the owners in world football that we don't know exactly why.
     
    "We are here, we are the face of the club and arrived here and Leeds fans shouted at us as though we made the decision but we didn't.
     
    Someone who came through the ranks at the Yorkshire club was James Milner.
     
    Never one to hold back in an opinion, the veteran midfielder left no-one in any doubt about where he sat on this issue
     
    “I don't like it one bit and hopefully it doesn't happen.
     
    "It [the current system] has worked well for a long time. What has made it special, what we have done over the last few years, is we have earned the right to win the Champions League and the Premier League. The product we have currently is very good.
     
    "It is difficult. Coming into the game today Leeds fans were making their feelings shown. As players we don't really have a say so it feels a bit unjust."
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Jurgen Klopp has the praised the emerging partnership between Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips saying they both deserve a lot a of credit for their personal development.
     
    The pair have played together on eight occasions in the league and Europe since the arrival of Kabak in the January transfer window.
     
    For a couple of young and inexperienced defenders who never in their wildest dreams would have thought they would be starting key games for the reigning Premier League champions, their record in that period is quite impressive to say the least.
     
    They have conceded just one league goal in four completed league games and another one when Phillips came on as first half sub for Jordan Henderson in the Derby.
     
    In the Champions League, the only blot on the copy book is the three goals conceded in the first leg of the quarter final tie against Real Madrid.
     
    On either side of that has been two highly commendable clean sheets against RB Leipzig and the second leg against Real on Wednesday evening.
     

     
    Speaking ahead of the clash against Leeds on Monday night (per the Mirror), Klopp said that both players have not had the most straight career paths to this point but have taken to this challenge in fine fashion.
     
    “It's good. How we always said – things have to develop, players have to get used to each other, there was never a question about quality or whatever, the boys have quality but then you have to bring it together and then it works.
     
    “Especially in defending it is like this and Ozan and Nat do really well, and hopefully it will stay like this.
     
    “They could play a lot of games [together].
     
    Klopp touched on the challenges of coming to a new leqgue in the middle of a season.
     
    “Ozan is a 21-year-old boy, came from Germany here [as] a big prospect.
     
    “He was not lucky with the last two teams he was playing with, one went down and the other will probably go down.
     
    “Nobody in world football really doubted his quality but coming then and making this big step and winning more games than before, it's really good for him that he can show that. We were convinced but in the end you never know, and he really proved that point.
     
    “And Nat Phillips is just an exceptional career so far, with all the things he did in the past and what he thought about and where he was and all these things.
     
    “Now playing for Liverpool in the Champions League, Premier League, winning games, winning challenges.
     
    “Probably the best heading statistics in the history of the Premier League I could imagine at least, it is unbelievable what the boy is doing there, and on top of that playing good football.
     
    “So, it's really nice. Obviously the start, or the restart for one, and the start of a proper career for both – that's really nice."
     
    What Klopp was alluding to was the successful clearance rate of Phillips. 
     
    In his 12 appearances in the league, the former Bolton junior has averaged a outstanding 4.25 clearances per game along with 2.66 tackles and 1.25 interceptions.
     
    In his three Champions League games, the 23 year-old has averaged 3.66 successful clearances, two interceptions and 1.25 tackles.
     
    Kabak has also taken to the challenge well with averaging 2.57 clearances, 1.71 tackles and 1.14 interceptions in seven league games and  two tackles and interceptions in three Champions League appearances.
     
    While it is clear that the impact and general aura of Virgil Van Dijk along with the quality of Joel Matip and Joe Gomez is impossible to replace, those stats and performances show that Phillips and Kabak have more than held their own in a difficult and unique situation.
     
    And in the long run, they will be all the better for it.
     
     
     
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