--- title: "Together Again" canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/columns/together-again/" type: "post" language: "en-GB" author: "Ste Hoare" section: "Columns" published: "2014-03-25T10:03:29Z" modified: "2014-03-25T10:03:29Z" --- # Together Again No matter how this season ends, whether it be with Steven Gerrard holding up the Premier League title or with Liverpool finishing in 4th place, we’ll certainly remember the ride, and this year will go down as the one in which Kopites all started singing from the same hymn sheet again. Let’s be honest, there’s been a divide in the Liverpool fan base for years, a divide caused by a turbulent period of instability that Tom Hicks and George Gillett must take responsibility for. Liverpool supporters from across the globe were all united in their campaign to rid the club of those two incompetent idiots, but before this battle, the rifts in the fan base were already there to see. During the last year of Rafael Benitez’s reign as Liverpool boss, there were some who wanted a new manager. Others thought the club should remain loyal to the man who’d not only delivered a fifth European Cup in his first year, but a man who had done so much to help the club battle with the previous American owners. Personally, I was torn. Liverpool owed Rafa a lot. He was, and still is, a magnificent man who was working under constraints that a lesser man would have simply walked away from, but I just didn’t see Liverpool improving once again under his management. To me it felt like the ship had passed and I confess that on the day he was sacked I thought it was the correct decision, albeit a decision made by Christian Purslow, a man who had no right to make such a call. It did come with a hint of regret though, and I felt almost guilty for not feeling too bad about it. Others were up in arms, and that is a viewpoint I can understand. Already, the cracks in the fanbase were widening. The ownership battles and court appearances brought the fans back together for a period as Hicks and Gillett did all they could to prevent Fenway Sports Group from buying the club. The cracks seemed to have closed up again as after enduring a few months of Hodgeball, everyone knew that Roy Hodgson wasn’t capable of managing Liverpool Football Club. It was too big for him. He knew it, the fans knew it and new owners FSG knew it too. Thankfully, like somebody breaking the neck of an injured owl who is suffering, Hodge was put out of his misery and relieved of his duties. Kenny Dalglish was put in charge of Liverpool, firstly on a temporary basis, then full time. Again, the fans seemed pretty unanimous in support of Kenny. After Hodge, the fans needed someone who ‘got’ Liverpool, who understood the club and all that it encompasses. At the time there wasn’t a man alive who ‘got’ Liverpool like King Kenny did (and still does). It was a well thought out appointment by FSG, one that lifted the mood from a picking-Paul-Koncheskey-at-left-back, hoof-it-down-the-channels, we-played-well-despite-getting-comfortably-beaten-by-Everton induced slumber. The ups and downs off the field were mirrored on the field too. Dalglish guided Liverpool to a League Cup win, and to an FA Cup final, but the league form was still a concern and those who wanted Champions League qualification were shot down by those who said Liverpool exists to win trophies. CRACK! The fanbase was divided again. People began questioning if Kenny was the right man for the job, after all the club were miles away from competing with the clubs at the top of the table. Others thought this was blasphemous. This wasn’t Roy Hodgson, it wasn’t even Rafa Benitez, this was Kenny Dalgish. Arguably the greatest player in the club’s history, a man who is idolised by anyone who supports the club. He’d just won a trophy, he’d just got his team to another Wembley final. “He’s Kenny Dalglish! How can you want to sack Kenny Dalglish?” CRACK! Eventually, John Henry and company made the decision to do just that. Kenny was gone. Some were up in arms, some thought it was the right move, the bickering between those in each camp was clear for all to see. CRACK! Liverpool hired Brendan Rodgers from Swansea City as their new manager. I think it’s fair to say that this appointment wasn’t universally welcomed. Liverpool had just replaced arguably the most iconic individual in the club’s history with a guy who’d been sacked by Reading a few years earlier, those on ‘Team Kenny’ seemed to be against it, while others had saw how well Brendan had done at Swansea and thought it was a good move. Those cracks were widening again… They carried on getting bigger too, as Liverpool’s form at the start of the season was poor, new signings Joe Allen and Fabio Borini – while not being terrible – were hardly setting the world on fire and the way the manager treated the press was the polar opposite to Dalglish’s approach. CRACK! Liverpool ended the season well but still finished behind neighbours Everton, and some pointed out that Kenny was sacked for finishing in a similar league position, and he’d got to two cup finals. Others thought Rodgers was the right man. It was becoming a bit ‘them and us’. Even at the start of this season, Rodgers had his doubters. To some when he won games he was “doing it with Kenny’s players”, it was all a bit messy. However, results like the wins away to Spurs, at home to Arsenal and Everton, and of course the recent win away to Manchester United seem to have brought us all together again. Even the staunchest advocates of Dalglish and the harshest critics of Rodgers seem to have been won around. Liverpool are the most exciting team in the country. They are playing football that is as dynamic as it is deadly. Sure, there’s been hic-ups, but on the whole this season has been a joy to watch and the Liverpool fans seem to be united again. The possibility of a league title win is real and that, coupled with some of the best football ever played by a Liverpool team, has helped fill those cracks that’d had been opened in numerous occasions in the past. Whatever happens between now and May, whether the dreams of a league title win come true, or if Liverpool tail off and finish 4th, this season will go down as the one where barriers were broken, peace was made and a fan base came back together. That in itself is a mighty victory for Brendan Rodgers. Hopefully it’s a victory that goes a long way to bringing sustained success to Liverpool Football Club and the most passionate football supporters in the world.