The thoughts of Gary McAllister the other day got me thinking. Well, one quote in particular:
“With the right additions, I think Liverpool can get in that top four.”
The former cult hero made that statement just a few days ago, but would it have looked out of place two years ago? In a sense, I believe we have gone full circle as a club.
In June 2013, we were coming off the back of Brendan’s first season at the Anfield helm, but aside from that, the situation is eerily similar to today.
Although it was universally recognised as a transitional period (and therefore didn’t attract the criticism) the 2012-13 campaign wasn’t the club’s finest hour. Mediocre at best, by our lofty standards. The final home game of the season saw a modern-day legend leave the Reds in an emotional climax and, yes, our most valuable asset appeared to want a move away from the club – to Arsenal, of all places.
Right, does any of this sound familiar to you?
Well, it should.
I have just described the scenario we faced two years ago, but I could have easily been discussing the present.
The Reds limped home in horrendous fashion, Stevie has moved on to California and, let’s face it, Sterling’s a goner – not to be confused with ‘gooner’, although, who knows?
In a couple of traumatic years, we have ended up going full circle.
I understand that this sounds like an extremely negative article, but don’t write me off just yet. Bare with me, the optimism is right around the corner, I promise!
The way I see it is this. Okay, the summer of ’13 was relatively bleak (as this one could be) but let’s not forget what followed.
Without doubt, the greatest nine months of my life supporting Liverpool Football Club. I wasn’t around for the golden age of the 80’s, so for me, that was the pinnacle.
All of that began with a modest summer, and the expectation that we would, at least, challenge for the top four. No one said anything about winning the league or reaching the top two, that was little more than a pipedream.
Right now, we are in an almost identical scenario and, in all honesty, the squad actually looks stronger than it did back then.
One big difference, of course, is that we had a bloke called Luis Suárez. As the season progressed, he became one of the world’s elite, but during the summer of 2013, he wasn’t quite there.
A wonderful player, no question. But one of the top three on the planet? No.
We don’t have Suarez, but we do have a little Brazilian who goes by the name of Phil.
I’m not saying he’s in the same ballpark as his South American counterpart, but nevertheless, he is potentially phenomenal.
The other contrast between where we are now, and where we were in 2013, is us. The fans. The negativity is everywhere, it’s impossible to escape it. Everything Rodgers does is wrong and no signing in the world is good enough.
My point is that we should ride it out, like we did then. We had identical aspirations in 2013, and ended up jumping on an incredible rollercoaster ride. If we all do so again, we might just encounter something similar.
Let’s just hope the climb is a little higher, and the drop a little less violent…
