Once great Mersey Reds now acting shamefully

I found this article in http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/. I must say it is a frank analysis from a rival writer (I am guessing...) but it was done in such a manner that I find it, fair comment. Go figure!...


Once great Mersey Reds now acting shamefully
10:09am Wednesday 20th August 2008
By Gordon Sharrock

I CAN’T say I ever really warmed to Liverpool Football Club.
Even at the height of their overwhelming dominance, while I applauded their achievements, there was something about them, something that stopped me liking them, even though I knew they were a great club.
I always admired them though, and not least because I believed they had something that set them apart from the rest. They were not just successful, they behaved properly and conducted themselves in a dignified, honourable manner Under the Moores dynasty they had integrity. Peter Robinson was a highly-respected administrator and Rick Parry, the current chief executive, continued in a similar vein.
But Liverpool FC, I’m afraid, have fallen from grace since the arrival of their American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
Hardly a week went by last season without “Liverpool in turmoil” or “Anfield at war” being splashed all over the sports pages. What was a private spat over the proposed sale of the club to Dubai International Capital was played out in public in the most unseemly manner with the unfortunate manager, Rafa Benitez, pictured, and his team caught in the crossfire. The DIC business still rumbles on.
It was all so unbecoming of such an institution.
Now we’ve got the Gareth Barry transfer saga.
In days gone by, Liverpool managers identified transfer targets, the hierarchy figured whether they could afford them and, if they could, they pressed ahead, discretely and rarely attracting controversy. Some deals came off, some didn’t, for various reasons, but I cannot recall a situation quite so farcical and as messy as this.
I certainly can never recall a Liverpool manager giving his word to a player and not being able to deliver, which, according to reliable sources, is what has happened in this case. There has even been talk of Benitez threatening to resign.
Liverpool deny there is an issue between their American owners and their manager and insist the only reason they have backed off is that Villa’s asking price of £18million is too high.
But shouldn’t all this have been sorted out before they made it known, towards the end of last season, that they wanted Barry?
It isn’t the first time a transfer has fallen through because clubs could not agree a fee or the player wasn’t happy with the terms. But traditionally Liverpool have done their groundwork first. They don’t string people along as they have with Villa and Barry, who must have dreaded the start of the new season.
To their credit, the Villa fans – some of whom jeered him at a pre-season game – gave him a warm reception on Sunday when they kicked off with a home win against Manchester City. Bizarrely though, I hear he was getting the bird from pockets of the Anfield crowd at Liverpool’s pre-season friendly against Lazio the other Friday night – and he wasn’t even there. What has he ever done to them apart from express his desire to play for their club?
That’s maybe something for him to bear in mind if Liverpool do try to revive the deal before next week’s transfer deadline.
Benitez still hopes to get his man, but sources tell me he is whistling in the wind. The Americans have apparently been hit by the credit crunch and say the money just isn’t there. And that’s that, unless the manager raises the cash from sales, and his efforts to offload the likes of Jermaine Pennant, Xabi Alonso, Andriy Voronin and Steve Finnan have so far come to nothing.
It’s a mess, pure and simple.
Whatever your take on Liverpool, there is no denying that down the years they have been respected and admired the world over. Never mind Manchester United, the Mersey Reds are still England’s most successful club in Europe by a mile.
They have always been special but now, I’m sorry to say, they are just the same as all the rest.