Liverpool's latest disappointment at home to Wigan highlights Anfield's blindness to modern failings By Chris Bascombe, Anfield Last Updated: 10:45PM BST 25/03/2012 Aside from those institutions that adjoin Stanley Park, one of Liverpool’s most famous clubs is called The Grafton. A once grand ballroom that fell into disrepair, it was a location where ladies of a certain vintage relived their golden days, throwing on the lipstick for one more shot at rapture alongside a fresh generation. Every now and again they would strike lucky too, as visitors in awe of the sheer novelty value of the 'grab a granny nights’ succumbed to its particular charms. In so many ways, Liverpool Football Club have something in common with the ladies of The Grafton. They are like an old lush, sat in the corner telling the world how attractive and marvellous they are, utterly affronted when anyone blind to their natural beauty suggests otherwise. Friends, lovers and acquaintances nod enthusiastically each time the club attest to their own greatness, but neutrals and rivals think their better days have long since passed. Every so often the reminders are more potent. A magical one-night stand in Europe, or (as this season’s Carling Cup final demonstrated) an occasional trophy, but the most serious threat to Liverpool’s enduring significance is not the criticism or pity of onlookers, it is their own lack of self-awareness. Defeat at home to a bottom-three side such as Wigan Athletic is still looked upon at Anfield as a shock, a performance which belies form or tradition. Why? Wigan have not lost to Liverpool for three years. They are one of 10 teams to have left Anfield this season enthused by their opponents’ inability to win at home. Shaun Maloney’s penalty and Gary Caldwell’s 64th-minute winner condemned Liverpool to their worst Anfield run since relegation in 1953. In applauding his own side’s “historic” win, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez generously suggested Anfield remains a special, iconic football venue. That view is based increasingly on the place’s sense of the past. Liverpool might as well be playing in their museum. Walk around Old Trafford, the Etihad Arena or the Emirates on matchday. Pause, soak in the scale of the view and keep convincing yourself Anfield does not look like the remnant of another era. One day you will wake up and those Malaysian fans you keep fluttering your eyelids at will be wearing City scarves. Look at the league table for the last 22 years and ask how many genuine title challenges there have been. Two? Three perhaps? Thoroughly examine why the club have fallen from their lofty perch. It is not because they have been pushed off by others, been victims of some bizarre FA or Sir Alex Ferguson-led conspiracy, been sidelined by high finance or have suffered two decades of bad luck. It is because successive managers have wasted millions on inadequate players. Those still inaccurately perceived as their closest rivals (a 28-point gap to United is a loose definition of 'close’ have used their resources infinitely better. When a £35 million striker and a £20 million midfielder turn out to be appalling, the simplistic demand is for another cheque to be signed. Supporters work out the profits from sales, subtract the fees from purchases and use this an excuse for buying pap. It is desperately feeble. The other option is another managerial change and the recycling of mitigating factors for 12 more months of rebuilding. That has not worked much, either. Kenny Dalglish is destined to get one more chance next season regardless of the debate about whether he should. Not because it has been a fantastic season (it clearly has not), not because the league table tells fibs (it does not) and not because his signings are good enough (they certainly are not). He will get another season because there is no appetite to write him off after one trophy winning campaign, which could still end with the FA Cup. When Rafael Benitez came seventh and Roy Hodgson flirted with a relegation scrap, you could call anyone at Liverpool and aside from a handful of sycophants, 90 per cent of employees from the board down to the secretaries did not just crave change, they lobbied for it. The fundamental difference between then and now is the same enquiries provoke the opposite view. Dalglish is not just liked, or respected. He is adored and trusted. Liverpool were booed off on Saturday, but Dalglish’s name was still sung (although not as much as it was when he still a club ambassador). For the club’s American owners, the challenge is brutal. Chief among them is convincing their fan base to share in a communal period of self-revelation. “Slow and steady progress,” is their mantra. The emphasis is on slow. They may also have to add the word 'agonising’. Expecting them to repair two decades of fierce cultural resistance to any view suggesting the Liverpool way is no longer the correct one will take courage and a willingness to flirt with unpopularity to do what they believe is essential and right. “There’s a word we have been using for the last 12 months,” managing director Ian Ayre said last week. “Unity.” That is all well and good, but here is another one the club better get used to if they do not accept, confront and deal more urgently with the problem of their current place in English football. Irrelevance.
Another doom and gloom merchant, lighten up mate, we are one year into a rebuild, it will all come good, patience, now go back to bed and get out the other side, and put your positive cap on It's like my car, a very tidy VW polo estate, ten years old. I see porsches and ferrari's on the road. Am i envious, no I love my Polo, and instead of looking for the smallest fault, I rejoice over the fact it looks nice and is extremly reliable. You can choose in life if your glass is half empty, or half full. It's sunny again
The truth behind this piece is, I believe, two-fold. Firstly, we have failed this season to capitalise on the chances that have been created. At Anfield, this could not have been more clearly demonstrated than the Arsenal loss. Now, I know it's becoming a rather tired mantra but give us a goal for only a third of the times we've hit the woodwork and our league placing would be far higher than it presently is. Would that then be considered as falling into 'The Grafton Syndrome'? Secondly, the total issue is already being actively addressed. Both on and off the pitch. Sorry Chris, you may have filled some space for News International and set some hares running (maybe) but your analysis is lacking.
Has some truth in it. I hope we can turn things around I really do. I'm pretty desperate for it to so. Last couple of years have been savage. We have ambitious owners though- and that gives me some comfort.
Now my gut reaction reading it was "you hateful bastard". It reminded me of a mix of recent doomsayers & wums posts recently. But taking away the spite; there is a lot of truth in there. We are in danger of turning into the cliches the wums want to paint us as. Take the recent Anti-Kenny (anti Hodge and even Anti-Benitez before them) posters: "these players aren't 'Liverpool' material is what is stated most. What is that? We obviously haven't had a team of 'Liverpool' quality players in 22 years. Yet the same posters response to give it time is "so you're happy with mediocrity" again this is a view point that can only be grounded on the basis that we have been anything but for two decades! Both sides are arguing from a point of view of a club that no longer exists outside that trophy room. Fact: we have consistently not been good enough to win the league. Fact: our stadium as much as it it is a part of our hearts belongs to pre-premiership football. Fact: we have had a succession of managers who despite good records have ultimately failed. Its a fine balancing act between respecting tradition and being ruthless enough to succeed. I think we all sometimes stay too far on the tradition side as it reminds us of happier times because; what if we abandon it and still don't succeed: what do we have left as a club? Now personally while the threat of all that was posted in that article is real (as it is for any club: Leeds?) I don't think we are quite the dottery old lady. Our new owners while mouthing the platitudes of tradition are Yanks: yanks don't take losing in sport or business well. I think they will do whatever it takes to succeed. They've tipped their hat to tradition & the fans by appointing Kenny. I do believe however that they will not hesitate to remove him if it is warranted: this is their money we're playing about with & their reputations! This is the main reason why I have hope; even if Kenny doesn't work out. The top of the club now has responsible but ruthless owners. It is taking time for them to adjust to "soccer" but they will. We will have a new stadium & we will have a modernised club that gives tradition it's place, which won't be on the pitch.
Just to clarify; not a doomsayer; I've been accused of being too dismissive of the Kenny Critiques so I thought I'd try & look at from both sides. I think I failed to be honest: I am too much of an optimist. While recent form has been rubbish I truly believe we are going in the right direction at all levels of the club but, only time will tell
Yep,you've gone from 6th/7th with no new stadium,owners with a small nett spend to errrrr 7th/worse with no new stadium and owners with a small nett spend.You have added some records though. Worst home record since 1953. Worst points total since the early 80's.
"Walk around Old Trafford, the Etihad Arena or the Emirates on matchday. Pause, soak in the scale of the view and keep convincing yourself Anfield does not look like the remnant of another era." I stopped reading at that point. Anyone who can suggest the Emirates atmosphere comes even close to Anfield's is having a laugh
You should hear then singing ''You don't know what you're doing'' to Wenger. You wouldn't question the atmosphere then
A lot of it is undeniably true - and nobody is disputing it. But, although it's not the reason for our current plight, we WERE shafted by the FA that was influenced by a mendacious Ferguson. And at least it's brought out the underlying, pathalogical Liverpool-haters in the press that have been there for years such as Samuel, Lawton, Barnes and Holt. As said, we were relegation/administration fodder only eighteen months ago, and the road back was never come quickly in that short amount of time simply with a net spend of £30m. Endurance, support and determination. We won't attract top talent until we get into the CL - we won't get into the CL until we attract top talent (though we had a bloody good chance this season with Arsenal and Chelsea being so shight themselves ).
Me too. Only an idiot would deny we have problems, but this is an article far too pleased with its own "cleverness" to be taken seriously.
Would that be the Etihad that they haven't filled out for some of their biggest games this season? Ridiculous. Nearly all of us will acknowledge there are some good analogies in the article, but as a whole it's just an attack. One of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will win no trophies and get Europa League this year, yet they don't get this kind of hate. I'm fed up of this 'Dalglish can do no wrong' rubbish as well. We criticize him when we think he gets it wrong, but things were soooo bad not that long ago that some of us are just happy to show a little patience.That doesn't mean we're accepting mediocrity, just that we know instant success is rare. I personally never thought Kenny was that likely to be our title winning manager. I did however, and do still, think that he's capable of settling the club and laying foundations for a younger manager to take over in a very healthy position. For some reason that makes certain opposition fans hate us.
Chris Bascombe went to SFX school (I know because one of my mates was in his year)...enough said Never rated his articles for the Echo so despite there being some truths in there a lot of it's just attention seeking, headline grabbing attempts as was always his want
