Is Dirk Kuyt a Liverpool legend*?

[Guest]

[Numero Veinticinco]

Sounded like the guy from the goognies singing that. I fucking love Dirk. Legend.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Maybe he's been getting singing lessons from Elvis.

[BeefStroganoff]

Yes - Bloody loved him.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Now after all these years have passed I'm going to say no. He stood out for his hard work at the time he was here. We've had some seriously shit footballers the last few decades so I'll remember him fondly as an average player with a world class attitude.

 

Not many clubs have had the highest of highs and lowest of lows like this club. Even in our shittest decades since Shankly we still won cups others dream of. It not fair but kuyt reminds me of us being a bit crap mostly.

[TheHowieLama]

He is if you consider LFC to have a couple hundred legends.

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

Maybe he's been getting singing lessons from Elvis.

He's been to Bobby's dentist.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

He is if you consider LFC to have a couple hundred legends.

And I do.

[redinblack]

I have a couple of good friends in Rotterdam who are big Feyenoord fans and it would be fair to say they aren't keen just now given he had the job as a youth coach at Feyenoord but fucked off on his duties to play a Liverpool Legends game. It wasn't well received, and nor should it be.

[Code]

Its still a big fat NO from me Clive.

[VladimirIlyich]

19 hours ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

And I do.

Not me. The term 'legend' vastly overused nowadays,including with our own fanbase.

[stringvest]

Is he fuck.

[Kevin D]

Bring him home:

 

 

[Kevin D]

One last dance:

 

https://lfchistory.net/Articles/Article/4735
 

Dirk Kuyt was born in Katwijk aan Zee, a small fisherman’s town near the Noordzee in Holland. He was the third of four children and was raised mainly by his mother, while his father, was out on the open sea. Dirk soon made a name for himself in footballing circles, and in 1998, after several years in Katwijk’s youth team, he made his debut for the Quick Boys’ first team, playing at the highest amateur level in Holland, on an unlikely road to stardom. Arnie at LFCHistory.net (who incidentally shares a birthday with him) met with Kuyt to share his story with our readers.

 

I want to start with the one person who influenced you as a person and as a player. Dirk, your father.

 My father was a fisherman, and when he was at the age of 14, he had to work on the sea to gain money for his family, first for his father and mother and his sisters, later for his own family: my mother, and his children. He was four weeks on the sea and then a couple of days at home to recover. That was when my respect for him started. He taught me that it’s very important that if you want to achieve something in life that you had to work very hard for it. Not especially about football or any work, but about the things that you love to do. He taught me that from when I was very young until he passed away. He wasn’t only my father but also a great friend and my biggest supporter. He had a very important influence on my career.

 

Did he have any football skills?

 He was quite good in football, but he had to go to work at only 14. He didn’t have much time to play football. But he said to me that he was quite good. 
 

It didn’t look like in the beginning that you would make all the way to the top. The big academies in Holland didn’t pick you up at 14-16 in your formative years.

 I was playing for an amateur team in the village where I grew up. The infrastructure of football in Holland is quite good, also at amateur level and you have the possibility of a club close to you where you can play, where you can train and be grown as a football player. I was quite talented but didn’t have the possibility to play for a professional team. My parents didn’t want me to go to a professional team, because I had grown up very religious and I wasn’t allowed to play on a Sunday. They were quite happy that I was playing at Quick Boys, but when I was at the age of 17, Utrecht came, and my parents thought I was old enough to make my own decisions. They said, whatever you decide, we will support you. It was a dream for me to play for a professional club.

Kuyt became a household name in Holland in the 2002/03 season when he scored 20 goals in 34 games for Utrecht in the Eredivisie. In his final match for Utrecht, the Dutch Cup final against Feyenoord, he contributed one goal in a 4-1 victory. Feyenoord considered Kuyt a sound investment. He was top-scorer in Holland in 2005, scoring 29 goals in 34 games and captained Feyenoord in the 2005/06 season. He made 233 appearances from 1999 until 2006 of which he played 179 consecutively. A certain Spaniard had been following Kuyt's progress with great interest.

Rafa Benítez had been monitoring you since he was at Valencia.

 Rafa had been following me for a long time. I played with a player called Igor Gluscevic. He had been a striker in Spain where he played for one of Rafa’s teams, Extremadura. When Igor retired as a football player he became a scout and did a lot of work for Rafa. That’s why Rafa always followed me because Igor was quite positive about me. I had grown up as a striker but had played on the right wing for Utrecht and Feyenoord. I had played every position up front for the Dutch team. When Igor Gluscevic gave the scouting report back to Rafa and he said: ’It doesn’t matter where you put Dirk in the team. If you would want to put Dirk in the right-back position he will do the job for you.’

Everton bid for Kuyt in 2005 and Martin Jol wanted to sign him for Tottenham. Jol revealed his admiration for him in September 2006, shortly after Kuyt's transfer to Liverpool. "I said last year, when nobody knew him, that he was a '20-20' player - 20 goals and 20 assists a season. In Europe there is maybe no-one else who is a '20-20' player.

 

 I had a good connection with Martin Jol because he wanted me to come to Spurs. In Holland I had a record of 20 goals and 20 assists as a striker. That is the kind of player I was. The year before I went to Liverpool I had the opportunity to go to Spurs but it was on the last day of the transfer market so it wasn’t quite good for me. A year later, Rafa called me just before the World Cup in 2006 and told me that I needed to focus on the World Cup, but had only one question: ‘Would you like to play for Liverpool?’ It was a very strong yes. I would really love to play for Liverpool. After the World Cup I thought I would go quite quickly to Liverpool, but there were a lot of negotiations. Lots of parties who were involved: Feyenoord, Liverpool, myself and the agents. When you haven't signed a contract, there are a lot of possibilities things can go wrong. It was difficult for me to wait so long. The 18th of August was a great day because it was the day I signed for Liverpool. I was the happiest guy in the world. I always loved the Premier League. Liverpool was not my favourite club when I was a young guy but surely I was affected by that team and the history of the club and their fans. It was amazing. When I was 14-15 I watched Liverpool play in Europe and you saw the Kop and the crowd getting crazy every home match. Any young kid would dream to play for such a big team.

 

Fellow new signing Craig Bellamy and Robbie Fowler (who returned in January 2006) and Peter Crouch (signed in July 2005) were Kuyt's rivals for a starting spot at Anfield. Dirk was a substitute in the first two matches, the second being a 3-0 loss to Everton.  

 Players who are new to a club always need time to adapt to a team, to a country, to a culture, to a place but I think I settled in very quickly. After a couple of games on the bench Rafa gave me the opportunity to be in the starting line-up. I felt very much a part of the family at Liverpool when I arrived at Melwood. The first one I met was Rafa Benítez and the second one was Steven Gerrard. We talked a little bit and they made me feel very comfortable and welcome in the team. For Liverpool it is always about working hard and winning trophies and you want to be important for the team. 

 

After four blank games since his £9m arrival from Feyenoord, Kuyt duly managed a goal against Newcastle at Anfield after Xabi Alonso had split the left-hand side of Newcastle's defence. It was Kuyt's 150th goal of his professional career and Liverpool's first in 344 minutes of competitive football.

 

The Dutchman scored 14 goals in his debut season including Liverpool's goal in the Champions League final in Athens. Big stars tend to vanish in big games, but Kuyt always seemed to rise to the occasion.

 

 Funnily enough I was our top scorer in the league in my first season, but had not scored one goal in the Champions League. I scored the winning penalty that brought us into the final but it didn’t count. In fact, my first-ever goal in the Champions League in my career was in the final. I don’t think there are any players in the world who have done that. I had grown up as a striker and had scored important goals all my life. I often scored late in the game which has to do with me being a physical and strong player. I was also very mentally strong and looking for every opportunity to decide the game. If you played for Liverpool Football Club there is one thing that the supporters want to see, that you never give up fighting for something. I tried my very, very best and that’s why I think I get so much respect from the Liverpool supporters. That mentality brought me a lot of goals and a lot of special moments. That’s my message to every kid who wants to start playing football: ‘You should always work very hard and never, never give up. Keep fighting for whatever. If there is a small chance to win a game you have to go for it.’ As a Liverpool player you were never allowed to give up ever no matter what the circumstances were.

Kuyt's goal stats for Liverpool reveal he was the most dangerous in the last phase of the game.

 

You scored late in games but also a third of your goals came from around the 6-yard box. 

 It’s something that I’m really proud of. Some people say that these are easy goals, but they are tough. I learnt from our greatest football player in Holland, Johan Cruyff. He said once to me: ‘You only have one chance to be on time. If you’re not on time, you’re either too late or too early. That is what football is all about. Especially for strikers to be in the right position at the right moment. People say: ‘oh, he was just too late’, but many times when the striker didn't score a goal he was just too early. I had the feeling to be at the right time in the right place. First of all you have to get opportunities and second of all you have to score them. Sometimes people get nervous, but I always had a great feeling that I would score late, but also in the big games like the derby games against Everton.

 

Martin Jol compared you to Forrest Gump in the sense that you could run forever. Jamie Carragher poked fun at your running style and said you ran like you had a parachute on. 

 I don't know what Carra meant by that. I'm quite comfortable to keep going and also to push the team forward. I always wanted to be important for the team. I didn’t always have to score goals. I was just as happy to give a great assist.

 

Before the start of your second season, your father passed away. You seemed to lose your consistency. 

 It was a very tough time for me because my father was already ill when I signed the contract for Liverpool. He really wanted me to achieve my ambitions so he followed me to Liverpool in the last months of his life. He died one month after the Champions League final so it was the last match he saw me play. He was very proud that I scored in the Champions League final. After he passed away it was the most difficult time of my life. He was not only my father, but a great friend and my biggest supporter. I struggled a lot outside the pitch and on the pitch. Just before the end of the year Rafa said that he could give me a break. 'I will give you a little bit of time off to recover and then we will put you back on the pitch again', he said. It took me 2-3 months to come back from that. The first really important game after that was against Inter. I scored and we won 2-0. From then on I was cruising again. I was playing on the right wing because Fernando Torres was playing as a striker.

 

Torres was an exceptional talent. You played with a lot of excellent players both with Liverpool and Holland. Who stands out from that group?

 Steven Gerrard was the best player I ever played with. He had everything. He was not only a great attacker, scoring goals, but also had a great pass from the longer distance and the floor. His tackles were amazing and he was very quick. He never gave up. He didn’t talk a lot as a team captain on and off the pitch but the words were always spot on. He is a great person and I feel very privileged to have played six years with him. I played in the national team of Holland with Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and other great players but Stevie was really something special.  

 

Ever the scorer of important goals Kuyt found the net in the 118th minute against Standard Liege in the second leg of the Champions League third qualifying round when a penalty shoot-out was looming at Anfield at the start of the 2008/09 season. Kuyt equalled his league total of 12 goals from his first season and added three in the Champions League, including Liverpool's fourth goal in the second leg of the exciting 4-4 quarter-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Kuyt continued to be one of his manager's favourite players in 2009/10 as he only missed three of Liverpool's 56 competitive matches during the season. 'Kuyt has a fantastic mentality. We talk about him being a striker who has played on the right because we needed it. He can also play as a second striker. When we played in the Cup and Philipp Degen had cramps, he said to me that if I wanted he could play at right-back', Rafa Benítez said when singing Dirk's praises in January 2010. 'It's not just his versatility and the fact he's in very good condition, it's his mentality. He's always ready to help the team. He is a player that every manager would want in their team. When you talk about a squad or a winning team, you need players with this mentality. If you have to change something for a game or have to put a player out of position, he is always available. That's massive for a manager, Rafa concluded.

 

Dirk featured for 71 minutes in the World Cup final between Holland and Spain in 2010, the most significant moment of his 104 caps. He had certainly impressed one of the greatest players of all time: "Look at what Kuyt did so far,' Johan Cruyff stated in 2010. 'He started the tournament on the right, then as a forward, and then against Brazil on the left. Not only did he keep Maicon out of the game, he also went and set up the winner. Someone like that is worth his weight in gold.'

 

That the "Duracell Bunny", a nickname Kuyt acquired because of his boundless energy, loved being a Liverpool player was never beyond question. Kuyt worked as hard as he ever did during the 2010/11 season, missed only five Premier League matches and 13 league goals was his best return as a Liverpool player. Kuyt achieved a rare feat, not seen by a Liverpool player since 2001, by scoring in five consecutive league matches towards the end of the season. He also netted a hat-trick against Manchester United at Anfield on 6 March 2011, surely a hat-trick has never been scored such a short distance from goal.

 

 

The 31-year-old Dutchman signed a three-year contract with Istanbul club Fenerbahce In June 2012. Before he left, six years of hard work and honest endeavour at Liverpool brought tangible reward for the popular Dutchman when he collected a League Cup winners' medal after putting his team ahead in extra-time of the final against Cardiff City at Wembley and then scoring from the penalty spot in the shoot-out that followed. The late Anfield winner against Manchester United in the FA Cup was another reminder that he could still be a man for the big occasion. 
 

 It was special to play at Wembley. I wasn’t starting and was happy to score a goal. Unfortunately they drew the game again so it eventually went to penalties. When the team wants you to take a penalty you want to step up. It doesn’t matter how you win at that stage. All the time I played for Liverpool we were quite successful. We reached a Champions League final, the FA Cup final and came second in the league. Thank God that before I left I was able to win some silverware.

 

 

[Code]

The answer is still no.

[Scott_M]

1 minute ago, Code said:

The answer is still no.

A very good player who produced some outstanding match winning contributions for us, when you view him against our current attacking talent, I’d also say no.