Zidane,
Truth will hurt if I can find any… I think anybody that reads your last post can see it is like political spin. Yes last time Liverpool won the league was in 1990 and Margaret Thatcher was PM. When I was a kid the biggest team in Ireland were Leeds… Look at them now.
IF and that is a big IF Liverpool were in a lower league or lower down the premier league your post might have some substance and I might be sitting in a pub in Dublin crying into a pint of Guinness thinking about when we were big. However I am neither in Dublin or crying. I am very far from both.
What’s happening now or the very recent past? Liverpool F.C is in the semi-finals of the UEFA champion’s league… They are fourth in the premier league. Champions league winners in 2005 and in last years final. Recent enough?
Zidane wrote:in truth, their stature nowadays is nearer Everton, Portsmouth and Spurs than the top three teams.
On Tuesday Liverpool beat Arsenal in the UEFA Champions league and have also seen off Chelsea in previous CL encounters. When were Everton, Portsmouth and Spurs last in the champion’s league?
Zidane wrote:Without Gerrard and Torres Liverpool wouldn’t even qualify for Europe.
How can you hypothesise? Without Abramovich where would Chelsea be? Without Ferguson where would United be? Without Lennon and McCartney the Silver Beetles may have got booed off the stage in the Cavern Club and without Bjorn and Benny, Annifrid and Agnetha probably wouldn’t have won the 1974 Swedish national song contest.
Yes of course we want to win the premier league as it has been a long time but the question I asked remains, so what? This does not change their status as the CURRENT most successful English team. They are not by any means a Leeds, a Blackburn or a Nottingham Forest.
Once again let me use Tiger Woods as an example… As he tees off today he is the world's best golfer but he cannot retire just yet as he has to play catch up as people TODAY will still speak of Palmer and Nicklaus and to be the best he must emulate or surpass Bobby Jones and win a grand slam or 2.
My point remains… Football teams have their ups and downs and when they go down someone must come along to take up the mantle. Leeds failed to do it, Blackburn failed to do it and to a degree United failed to do it. You know as well as I do that when United came back to power in 1993 and after winning the league a few times they wanted and NEEDED to be champions of Europe 3 or 4 times to truly prove they were the biggest in England AND Europe. Yes they were champions of Europe for the second time in 1999 but you know as well as I do that is just not good enough as they were then 2 behind Liverpool.
They and any others are still playing catch up and the team they have to emulate and surpass is………. LIVERPOOL F.C.
This is where fans can only look to the future. Fans of ANY other teams will forecast that Liverpool will now go into decline and be replaced by Spurs or whoever you support. However you don’t really think any Liverpool fan believes that do you? They are high enough in the English PL and doing well enough in the UEFA champion’s league to retain their status as one of the top English teams.
How long did it take Ferguson to win his first English title? 7 years? Benitez hasn’t been at Liverpool for 4 years yet. That is the nature of a true supporter… To believe and I do not think I’m in cloud cuckoo land just yet. Liverpool are big enough to encourage investment and with that comes money for top players to compete a la Abramovich at Chelsea and then comes success.
Zidane my friend don’t write Liverpool off too soon… The fat lady isn’t singing just yet. She is still at singing lessons.
