I’m watching too much West Wing.
I wanted him to stay (Rafa, not President Bartlet although I’d have been happy if he’d bent the laws of the Constitution and saved us from Jimmy Smits but I digress) but now he’s gone and we’re left to pick up the pieces and somehow find a way to put this right. Anyone got £351m going spare?
He had his faults, Paisley aside who didn’t, but there’s something uncomfortable about abusing a manager who took us to two European Cup finals. Like most people I changed my mind about him every day. The Keane situation, the Reading (x2) debacle, the Alonso snub and the running to the press will forever countered by Istanbul, Athens, Cardiff, the ‘small club’ line, the epic semi finals with Chelsea, Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, 86 points and, my favourite ‘Jose likes to talk’. Well, yes he does Rafa and let’s be honest so do you. In many ways you can’t blame him given the cards he had to play with the owners and the Sword of Damocles that swayed above every defeat.
Then there’s the poor signings – Torres, Reina, Mascherano, Yossi etc.
Well, he’s gone so it’s all balls and arse now. Speculation is pointless but we can only wonder how things might have been had Moores refused to sell to the two liars. Equally, where would be had Houllier not been taken ill, or Dalglish? This is the hand we’ve been dealt and we can only watch between our fingers for the next few weeks. Kenny and top football expert Christian Purslow are frantically thumbing through the Rothmans Yearbook to find someone who can motivate a dying team, unite a fractured fan base and put us back into the European Cup in one season. Oh, and someone cheap with no severance pay please. And someone who won’t mind having the press on his back from day one. And be a yes man as that nasty Spaniard spoke out of turn too much.
Ah, but we’re Liverpool and despite this low there’s something exciting about starting again with a blank canvass or, given the budget, a freshly shook Etch-A-Sketch. For the first time since Shankly we’re not expected to do anything next season. Sixth is progress, survival an accomplishment. If Hodgson/Rijkaard/O’Neill/Erikkson/Curbishly/Captain Mainwaring/Vanessa Feltz manage to win the League Cup it’d be a start. At the moment, I’d take that and celebrate it as I did Shevchenko’s miss. That’s all we need. That and £351 and two one way tickets to Texas.
The new manager may have to do without Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano and Yossi but, know what, sod them. If they don’t want to play here then they can go. I support the badge, not their careers. Course, nothing’s signed or otherwise yet but Gerrard’s silence, Torres’ equivocal messages and Mascherano’s whining about his mates not coming out to play don’t exactly inspire confidence. Would it really kill one of them just to raise their hand and say that they’re Liverpool players until they’re told otherwise? The Liverpool job is a poisoned cliché but if someone offered you the job PLUS Gerrard and Torres…well, it’s not a bad place to start, is it?
Of course, the press love all this. Bascombe’s view that we treat our managers like Gods too early is insulting and symptomatic of a man who has dipped his toe into the water of red top journalism. You can sod off too, Chris. I like my managers to be put on a plinth and being that the last eight have won at least one trophy each it seems that system works. We love our managers for a while at least. We’ll always distrust journalists though. Always will.
Following the Rafa decision I’ve had to think long and hard about what element of the club I support. The owners are liars and way out of their depth, the manager, well we haven’t got one now, the players are equally culpable for that season and most of the fans annoy me (as they do me, I’m sure). The obvious answer is the badge and the enjoyment of battle. Whoever comes next has to have the fans behind him be it Strachan or Capello. We all have to stand up for this, Rafa fans or no.