When I was at school we had a student teacher who must've been in his 40s, at least. One day he got us talking about job satisfaction versus financial reward. Obviously he was changing career at his age. I came down whoelheartedly on the side of job satisfaction and I've lived my life accordingly since. Poor but happy. There's an old saying: "He knows the price of everything but the value of nothing." How does this relate to football? I've long held the belief that good football has its own value. In today's game that idea is something few fans or media muppets can understand. West Ham fans can, though. There's a club which has, since I was a small boy, had a reputation for good football, whatever trophies they have or haven't won. Once again their fans are expressing their long-held philosophy. More power to them. Maybe it's easy being a Liverpool fan with a full trophy cabinet that I can say all this. I accept that. But the idea still sloshes around my head, particularly when we were moving from Hodgson to Dalglish, and it is the idea that a trophy lasts a night then you're last year's champions but good football lasts all season. When Kenny returned I said I'd go to the Championship and rebuild for years rather than accept mid-table mediocrity under Hodgson. I'd go further and say seeing Kenny in the dugout is a trophy most fans and media muppets could never understand because they don't have a legend like Kenny at their clubs. It warms me to see him there, even when the result hurts like a break-up. It's love. And once you say you love somebody you can't take it back. Of course there are bragging rights to trophies and the bragging endures. But I ask you this: how much time do you spend bragging compared to how much time you spend watching football? What is good football worth? Can love rise above all?
Welcome back, General. Where've you been? I agree. Woy was happy to be mid-table so we'd never develop the ambition to get higher under him. We may be falling short at the moment, but if you aim high and fall short you're still higher than if you aim for mediocrity. We've had the stuffing knocked out of our confidence over the last few games, but a couple of consecutive wins will start to bring it back. We've played some good football under Kenny, we just need to couple that with a more ruthless streak.
