A few weeks ago I wrote a tweet. I write a lot of them. Some of them are absolute bollocks. I’d say all of them are but because I’m a social media whore and I don’t want to dissuade you from following me, I can’t really admit that. So as I said, only some of them are bollocks. Some.
This tweet said that I thought we had some of the worst fans in the country. Or maybe the world. At the time I was fuming a little more than I am now, so I do admit that that was probably wrong. I think the point angry Luke was making was that some of our fans are in it for the wrong reasons. To look knowledgeable, to look clever and to look football. In short –
Some of our fans are absolutely bananas. I don’t think some of our fans like football. I just think they like moaning. And that is dead annoying. Play with Sky Vegas before Liverpool’s next game.
(I understand I’m moaning about people moaning. Now I’ve pointed it out though you can’t criticize me for it though. That’s the rules. Like that scene in 8 Mile towards the end where B-Rabbit does that rap where he points out all his faults and then his opponent can’t be horrible about him. Yeah, just like that)
Right, enough of the movie references. Sorry.
So our fans being annoying. Yeah. What’s happened lads? What the hell is going on ladies? Why don’t you seem to be having fun anymore? It seems like people were having more fun a few years ago. I’d say that this negative vibe has been growing in intensity over the past three or four years and it seems to be coming to a head recently with pure vengeance. Firstly I thought it was just on the Twitter that people were being all grouchy. Social media has given everyone an opinion like never before. No longer are there barriers between you and the person next to you. No longer are there obstacles between me, and, say, King Kenny Dalglish (a life which I have been hoping to exist in forever.) If I want I could just tell him right now that I love him. But just like I can declare my feelings towards him, other people can tell him how he’s a shit manager. Or how he’s crap at signing players. Or ask him if he was bladdered when he signed Andy Carroll (a fair question in all honesty).
Opinions are no longer within the mind of the fool, in the mind of the genius. They’re out in the open. But what makes people become negative. Why are so many of our fans seemingly content with not supporting the team. Where has his all come from? I have an idea, a theory. I think I know where it’s come from.
I think it’s come from Brendan Rodgers. My bet is that it’s come from the appointment of our current manager.
Back in 2012, Brendan Rodgers became manager of Liverpool Football Club at the age of 39, taking the place of my hero and club legend Kenny Dalglish. He took charge of the club in place of a guy we know as the King. A tough task to follow even if Kenny didn’t take us back to the promised land of Champions League football or Premier League title heaven.
At this point, lots of people were unsure about Brendan. Lots of people really, really wanted Dalglish to stay. I must admit, I felt that way. Another group of people wanted Rafa back. Another club legend. Fair point. Bad idea, but fair point. So far Rodgers has to contend with two groups of people who want club legends to be in charge. A tough job. Yet to make it worse, most of the fan base didn’t want Rodgers in charge. I don’t mean they opposed it, he just wasn’t their choice. Which makes it an even harder task to take on for the former Swansea man. Whilst it wasn’t our choice though, we didn’t have a say. We already got our choice in Dalglish, and FSG weren’t going to allow that to happen again. So in came Rodgers.
Rodgers burst through the doors of Anfield, whacked the red goal-nets back up and slammed down that 140 page dossier on his table and got to work. He worked tirelessly, he fought for his life, he battled the elements of the transfer committee and he got our players ready and raring to go for the first game of that season. And what a game that was. There was goals, there was possession and there was passion. What a game that was.
We lost 0-3 to West Brom.
Well in Brendan, you just shot yourself in the foot.
From this point the haters had their placards out. Waiting for him to fail again.
That season was half crap, half great. We didn’t get Champions League, but we got Coutinho and we got Sturridge. And we got goals. But we also got moaners. The dark cloud that was negativity was swirling around Anfield, aided by Rodgers ability to sound like an overly enthusiastic middle-manager in the series Being: Liverpool. Which I didn’t think was crap. But loads did.
Fast forward to a year later, and Liverpool had just nearly won the league. Against all the odds they had just upset the applecart. Here, it’s very hard to criticise Rodgers, obviously. So the grumpy bastards stayed in their shell. They waited for the perfect time to rise again. The selling of Suarez and buying a lot of unproven stars allowed that anger to swell again. Only slightly, but the disapproval was there.
Again, I’m going to skip forward to this pre-season. Those that disagree with the Rodgers appointment are back, sounding like a bunch of whining children who want to knock down the sandcastle because the sand-moat isn’t big enough. Except this time their anger has intensified. “We told you so!” they cry, as their irrational disapproval of the manager piques. “We nearly won the league all because of Suarez” they shout, as if there wasn’t a team of players and staff who worked out of their skin to nearly win the league. The bile they spit is aggressive. It’s not just aggressive but it’s not sensible either. Their negativity has engulfed their love for the club. They’re shouting at Sterling, they’re moaning about Sturridge. They really hate Manquillo and they’re fuming about Colin Pascao and Mike Marsh. The coaches! They’re mad because we’ve decided the coaches aren’t good enough. That should be seen as a good thing, yet because these people are know-it-all fans who would rather defend the position of a coach as opposed to support the decision of the manager, they rage and they fume. They fucking moan.
They don’t go to the game, but they moan in the pub, on the internet. They go to the game, and they don’t sing, but they scream and shout because “he’s not worth £150,000 a week!” as if they’re paying players wages. It’s pathetic. A toxic environment is encompassing the club because a lot of fans seem to be more concerned about our manager doing poorly than supporting as backing as they should. Supporters don’t need to be happy about everything, but they should get behind the club properly instead of moaning over and over again about every little detail.
Why not try and use your support positively? Why not encourage and enlighten a discussion instead of merely talking shite about the “good old days”. Why not encourage and enlighten the stadium instead of getting mad at 20-year-olds who want to earn money.
Forget that wages, forget any agenda against Rodgers. He’s in charge now, and he’s good at his job. Not perfect, but good. He nearly won us the league, so get behind him. Coming second in the league doesn’t spare him from criticism, but should allow him some trust, some backing. So trust him. Back him. Forget about the coaches, or the substitute goalkeeper. Who cost us nothing. And was an upgrade or on previous substitute goalkeeper. Forget about the transfer fees – because it’s not your money. Most of all, forget the negativity. It’s boring for the rest of us.
And if you’re annoyed by this piece, you’re probably the type of supporter I’m on about. Soz.
