26 November 2006
FORMER GIANTS LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
THE SLOW DECLINE OF LIVERPOOL
Michael Calvin
LIVERPOOL are not used to scuffling on the undercard like a nightclub bouncer moonlighting as a six-round boxer.
Yet with the main event, the title fight, being staged down the M62 today, they are having to live with being little more than a makeweight.
An unsatisfactory victory, courtesy of the inevitable Steven Gerrard, failed to dispel a nagging sense of irrelevance.
Anfield is an old fashioned arena, a world apart from the corporate theme parks springing up around the Premiership. The anthems celebrate cherished traditions, legends forged in European combat.
This all disguised one unpalatable fact. As far as the Premiership is concerned, Manchester United and Chelsea are the only game in town. Liverpool are falling behind. Slowly, subtly, but surely.
The search for a sugar daddy has switched from Asia to North America, but it's still no nearer to producing hard cash.
Liverpool are hardly paupers. You won't find Rafa Benitez busking at Lime Street Station for a few coppers. But in the lunatic domestic environment in which they compete, they're being forced to settle for being the best of the rest.
Bearing in mind the £30m raised by the miracle of Istanbul, Benitez has spent around £25m net in his two and a half years in charge. That's small change for Chelsea, a significant yet manageable sum for United to invest on a single player.
Benitez spends around £5m on a player when he needs to invest £15m. That means a calculated gamble on unproven talent, or on the strength of character of men with a chequered past.
To emphasise the point, he waited until the 89th minute to introduce Craig Bellamy, currently on trial for assault. Interesting, that, on a day when Liverpool officials wore white ribbons to mark the UN Day for elimination of violence against women.
The mood was muted. No one would have felt that sense of emptiness more than Gerrard.
He's Liverpool's prisoner of conscience, trapped by the strength of his emotional commitment to his hometown club.
The Kop excused Michael Owen when he chose to walk alone. But Stevie G is one of their own.
In another life, he'd probably be one of the scallies who scam their way through match days by "minding" cars in the surrounding streets.
He's regarded untouchable, especially by billionaires bearing gifts. Losing him is something the local pond life do not wish to contemplate. Let's not forget that, when Chelsea's clumsy courtship ritual was revealed, Gerrard and his girlfriend were threatened.
He has appeared voiceless, distracted. But at least yesterday he had the compensation of playing in his favoured central midfield role.
His decisive goal carried all his hallmarks. He surged on to the ball and took two purposeful strides before unleashing a low drive. Technique perfect, the strike clean. Game over.
He can quite easily snuggle over the comfort blanket of being a local hero for the rest of his career. But he's only human.
I wonder whether as he sits in front of his plasma screen TV this afternoon he will watch the duel at the top and wonder what might have been.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/...name_page.html
Sad to read but cant help feeling its true
FORMER GIANTS LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
THE SLOW DECLINE OF LIVERPOOL
Michael Calvin
LIVERPOOL are not used to scuffling on the undercard like a nightclub bouncer moonlighting as a six-round boxer.
Yet with the main event, the title fight, being staged down the M62 today, they are having to live with being little more than a makeweight.
An unsatisfactory victory, courtesy of the inevitable Steven Gerrard, failed to dispel a nagging sense of irrelevance.
Anfield is an old fashioned arena, a world apart from the corporate theme parks springing up around the Premiership. The anthems celebrate cherished traditions, legends forged in European combat.
This all disguised one unpalatable fact. As far as the Premiership is concerned, Manchester United and Chelsea are the only game in town. Liverpool are falling behind. Slowly, subtly, but surely.
The search for a sugar daddy has switched from Asia to North America, but it's still no nearer to producing hard cash.
Liverpool are hardly paupers. You won't find Rafa Benitez busking at Lime Street Station for a few coppers. But in the lunatic domestic environment in which they compete, they're being forced to settle for being the best of the rest.
Bearing in mind the £30m raised by the miracle of Istanbul, Benitez has spent around £25m net in his two and a half years in charge. That's small change for Chelsea, a significant yet manageable sum for United to invest on a single player.
Benitez spends around £5m on a player when he needs to invest £15m. That means a calculated gamble on unproven talent, or on the strength of character of men with a chequered past.
To emphasise the point, he waited until the 89th minute to introduce Craig Bellamy, currently on trial for assault. Interesting, that, on a day when Liverpool officials wore white ribbons to mark the UN Day for elimination of violence against women.
The mood was muted. No one would have felt that sense of emptiness more than Gerrard.
He's Liverpool's prisoner of conscience, trapped by the strength of his emotional commitment to his hometown club.
The Kop excused Michael Owen when he chose to walk alone. But Stevie G is one of their own.
In another life, he'd probably be one of the scallies who scam their way through match days by "minding" cars in the surrounding streets.
He's regarded untouchable, especially by billionaires bearing gifts. Losing him is something the local pond life do not wish to contemplate. Let's not forget that, when Chelsea's clumsy courtship ritual was revealed, Gerrard and his girlfriend were threatened.
He has appeared voiceless, distracted. But at least yesterday he had the compensation of playing in his favoured central midfield role.
His decisive goal carried all his hallmarks. He surged on to the ball and took two purposeful strides before unleashing a low drive. Technique perfect, the strike clean. Game over.
He can quite easily snuggle over the comfort blanket of being a local hero for the rest of his career. But he's only human.
I wonder whether as he sits in front of his plasma screen TV this afternoon he will watch the duel at the top and wonder what might have been.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/...name_page.html
Sad to read but cant help feeling its true
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