Americans to feel Liverpool fans' fury

Listen carefully tonight if you are watching the televised FA Cup replay between Liverpool and Luton Town. You’ve seen Anfield bounce, you’ve seen it protest – a year ago, the magnificent six-minute demonstration about the lingering lies that surround Hillsborough overshadowed the FA Cup tie against Arsenal. But, it’s unlikely you will have seen it as angry as it will be tonight.

Tom Hicks’s statement yesterday that the club had sounded out Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Rafael Benitez has left the hard-core support furious. Now, Hicks and George Gillett Jr will find out what it’s like to get on the wrong side of the ‘twelfth man’.

Hicks may talk about Klinsmann being an ‘insurance policy’ if Benitez left the club, but no one believes that. The worst-kept secret in football is that Hicks wants to see the back of Benitez. The manager who has taken the club to two Champions League finals in three years – yes, I’m going to say it – as many as Manchester United have been to in their history. Sandwiched in between the glory of Istanbul and the disappointment of Athens was an FA Cup win. Not a bad record. But that is not enough for Hicks. He wants the manager to show him respect, too. Kiss a little ass, maybe.

Now, any Liverpool supporter with the ability to discriminate must have issues with Benitez. His reluctance to play his best team on a weekly basis is galling. It is hard to believe, given the money that has been spent, that Liverpool are still also-rans in the league. And throwing in the towel at Reading with half an hour to go last month still hurts any Red with pride.

But … Benitez’s record should guarantee another two shots at the title. It is unseemly to get rid of a manager who had brought such success to the club. The Spaniard has delivered on the pitch. Real trophies, real finals. What have Gillett and Hicks brought to the club? Very nice drawings of a stadium that they will never deliver on and the expectation of a mountain of debt.

It is not the Liverpool way to dispose of successful managers and they know that on the Kop. The Liverpool way. That used to be one of the phrases that set the club apart from those that trailed in its wake. Like the Boot Room. The words stood for something.

Do the owners think the boot room is the place where you get rid of your irritating employees? Listen tonight, Mr Gillett and Mr Hicks. You will hear that your ‘customers’ – you’ll understand that phrase – are unhappy. You’ve seen their power on big European nights. Don’t underestimate their fury.

Klinsmann deserves credit

One man has come out of this mess with credit. Jurgen Klinsmann has handled the situation beautifully. In less than a year, Klinsmann has been wooed and rejected by Chelsea and Liverpool. Back last spring, the German was aghast that the Stamford Bridge delegation that flew to meet him in California contained Avram Grant, who was still a Portsmouth employee. That, combined with the fact that Jose Mourinho was still occupying the job he was offered, was enough to make Klinsmann turn down the approach. These people, he felt, were not the sort you’d like to work for.

In November, he was sounded out about the Liverpool job. That, too, had an incumbent. He didn’t want that, either. He took a job he knew would be free in the summer.

He may be untried at club level, but Klinsmann is a winner. Over the past year, he has shown the depth of his integrity, too. Liverpool and Chelsea will one day rue that they approached the German at the wrong time and in the wrong way.

Does Benitez have dressing-room?

When a manager is under pressure, one of two things happen. The players give up or they rally round and send a message to the boardroom to leave things alone. Tonight will say a lot about the Liverpool squad’s attitude. Their performances are not helping the manager. The next week will show whether Benitez is totally isolated or has the belief of the dressing-room.

Never-never land

Oh how we laughed last summer. The grandiose plans for the new Anfield – now renamed never-never land – caused a fresh bout of calls for groundsharing with Everton. “If you won the lottery and bought a mansion,” one poster on a Liverpool website wrote, “would you invite a tramp in to live there?”
At Goodison, they will go into the summer in relatively good financial shape, with a viable plan for a new stadium and a stable management situation. Everton fans are even scenting a top-four finish. No wonder the Kop’s angry.

Boss of the fanzines

With all the negativity surrounding Liverpool, there is good stuff happening in the City of Culture. Liverpool fans have always produced good fanzines and Red All Over The Land, The Liverpool Way and Through The Wind And The Rain have produced good writing and trenchant opinion for years.

However, a new fanzine called Boss, now about to hit the streets with its third issue, is a different animal altogether. This is the brainchild of three young fans, John Maguire, Chris Murphy and Daniel Nicolson, and it puts football in a real-world context. This is not fandom in a bubble – Boss has articles on fashion, music and more. It’s less a fanzine than the house magazine of a gritty, exciting real-life Scouse culture – with an admittedly red slant. The use of black-and-white photography on the cover sets a brilliant Cinéma Vérité theme that the rest of Boss lives up to. If you want to know about The La’s, Shack and what makes the city bounce, then go to www.bossmag.co.uk. They say they only did it because “no one’s writing what we want to read”. I hang my head in shame and wait for the next issue.

Comments

[Dennis Higgins]

Are Americans any good in our national game anyway,every time Americans get involved with anything distinctly British they have probably found it easy to mess it up somewhere.The Americans live in fear of their own personalities,they fear everyone both in politics and sport,They call most of their sports that no one else plays A World Series,its a wonder George Bush has not taken over Tottenham Hotspur,I think eventually Hicks and his partner will go somewhere else,I mean lets face it the way they have treated Rafa I wonder why he did not tell them to stuff the job up their American / thats another thing they do they muck up our language?

[david collins]

a club and supporters beyond parody, whats happened to the star spangled banners lads?

[Pork Romeo]

I appreciate a good jingoistic wind up gets eyeballs on the page, but gets a bit tiresome in this era of globalisation.

Such that, there is only one story with Liverpool this year: Why Can't They Compete for the League Title?

Liverpool fans would trade Raffa for Premiership championship in a heart beat.

Pool fans woould trade Raffa for a League Championship in heart beat.

[Louisa]

John - did anyone say 'winning against Luton = message sent'? I can't believe how you put words into people's mouth. Read again: "When a manager is under pressure, one of two things happen. The players give up or they rally round and send a message to the boardroom to leave things alone. Tonight will say a lot about the Liverpool squad’s attitude. Their performances are not helping the manager. The next week will show whether Benitez is totally isolated or has the belief of the dressing-room." The author was saying the players were to show their support (or otherwise) for the manager - the opposition's not even relevant. Save your wind-up, same John.

[Louisa]

Good article, thanks! I didn't know the stories behind Klinsmann's rejecting Chelsea and Liverpool. He may not have a lot of credentials in club management, but he has class and intelligence - added to his charisma and popularity in Germany, he might make it at Bayern.

John Browne, grow up. We're talking about some Americans who did something very disrespectful to say the least, heaping pressure on a good manager who's served a big club well. Why couldn't you come up with better things to say than some cheap wind-up? And those Liverpool fans who disagreed how your club were sold to some Americans might very well have just been proven right, after this saga and the alleged pull-out from the 'new Anfield' project with a shortage of funds because of over-borrowing? Exactly the point they made about ManU - the risk of these club acquisitions. I wouldn't have come to gloat if I were you.

And no, I'm not a Liverpool fan.

[Ben (Liverpool Fan)]

you have to remember that when Hicks and Gillett took over last year, they hadn't been the first contingency prepared to seal the deal. What happened to DIC i wonder?? They came in with a secure financial plan and a track record of financing excellent stadia, such as the Emirates. for god's sake, they were led by the prince of Dubai, isn't that enough to prove they would have the money?

Then out of the blue come yet another load of American "high-jackers", taking out a huge bank loan to pay for a club set to be taken over by DIC. Surely the Liverpool board, who witnessed what happened with a similar situation at manchester united, could have prevented such a ridiculous situation from starting. The only reason United regained the money to pay back the loans was to spend £70m a season on 4 players and upgrade to a 76,000 seater stadium, which generated profit on and off the field.

I'm afraid to say that the Yanks were a bad version of Glazer and an over obsession for control, like Abramovich. He threw out one of, if not their most successful manager of all time in Mourinho for a complete suck up in Grant. That was just for trying to complete what was in the job description as manager.

Now Benitez is attempting to rekindle the success liverpool once had, but needs the support of a board who appreciate the customs of LFC i.e "YOU"LL NEVER WALK ALONE". Get the Yanks out and bring in DIC, not only LFC supporters but people who know how to make money, unlike America.

[John]

Does a win versus Luton send a message? Get a grip.

[Vanoord]

One of the best comments I've read on this situation.

Hicks and Gillett have caused the club to become a laughing stock and throughout the storm Rafa has held his head up high: Anfield will stand beside him tonight and hopefully the owners will come to understand that we can't lose the best manager we've had in two decades.

Rafa is one of us: Hicks and Gillett are not.

[John Browne]

Oh how the Liverpool supporters laughed when the Glazers took over at United, havnt heard them sing USA, USA! for a while now, a glorious win tonight against a team in administration should keep Rafa in a job for another few weeks.