On the pitch during the 70s and 80s teams seemed to be modest and their managers where in general media shy genial men, yes we had the gobby Brian Clough or ‘Mr Bojangles’ Ron Atkinson but they where seen as entertainment because mainly what they came out with was not vindictive or malicious even if Cloughie lost the plot big time towards the end of his career when he became totally pickled due to his alcohol intake.
During the height of our powers Bob Paisley was the epitome of modesty as he swept away all that was put before him, after the 77 cup final loss to Man Utd he sat on a bus coming home whilst Brian Moore interviewed him he then went on to say how it was a shame that we had lost but we had a European cup final to come on Wednesday and Liverpool would be doing their best to win and make Britain proud, all this was said without once bemoaning a conceded deflected goal or launching into a venomous ‘we woz robbed’ tirade against anyone from the Ref to the programme seller on Wembley way, in fact Bob delivered his post match interview with a lovely beaming smile on his face that he always had whether we won or lost.
The point is he had grace in defeat and was magnanimous in his praise when we won and I think this attitude transferred itself to the fans, I never went round boasting and bragging to my mates because we all knew who the best team in Europe where yes it was Real Madrid!!
No it was Liverpool of course but why did we need to rub it in to other clubs when we won things every year surely boasting is something done by clubs who have never won much as they never know when they will lift a trophy again?
On Merseyside I find the lads who tend to get on a high horse and brag and boast come from a group who have never been a game in their life, those who sit in the pub every Saturday wearing their replica top and watch the game on whatever foreign channel that’s showing it! The bitterest of blues I bump into also seem to fall under the same category and now seemed to be more preoccupied with how Liverpool have got on instead of their own team!
Slur Alex didn’t set this trend of bragging to the extreme its just the way certain fans seem to have gone, every club has them I just think you will find most reds do not fall into this category, there’s a song by Ronan Keating I think (no I don’t have the album!) that goes something like “you say it best when you say nothing at all” and I think that line is perfect as I prefer to look smug rather than go for the all out verbal assault.
Oh by the way about the bit that went off topic regarding the 70s-80s being better or worse violence/animosity wise, well in my opinion they where ten times worse back then. Yes Reds and blues mingled as pockets of each appeared on the Kop/Street end during a Derby with very few violent results, but the trouble with other fans was to the extreme to put it mildly as Rapid hardware in town sold more DIY items on a match day than the do now on a Bank holiday Monday and they weren’t for odd jobs round the house.
This was going on long before Sir Alex appeared on the scene so to tarnish him with helping to remove the ‘friendly banter’ from a game is totally wrong, for me money is the root of all that’s wrong in our game, those who have it wave it about like Harry Enfields loadsamoney, those who don’t scrape to survive and cast envious glances up to the richer elite. Those elite seem to attract the ‘fashion fan’ somebody not football mad from birth but manufactured by the ability to follow who you want as long as you have the money.
Through the 70s-80s I queued to get into Anfield, paid my money and took up my place on the Kop, fast forward to now in an age where you wait on a phone ticket line give them your credit card number and your in. The point I’m making is the lazy reds fan the fan who isn’t that bothered whether he gets in or not is in a lottery with fans who would bleed to get into Anfield and usually the wrong fan seems to win that lottery and that can only be detrimental to our support.
