"Nostalgia ain't what it used to be" But before the 'new breed' of Reds switch off from, yawn, this aul fart talking about the 'Glory Days'; listen.
I'm not harping back to the sixties, seventies or even eighties long before many of you were either, born or (in a number of cases), drifted to the Reds because you 'needed' a Premier League team. No; I'm talking less than decade ago. A time when we were still number one in Europe and all Reds, steeped in football nous and history, "knew".
We "knew" that a team, which was on the brink of further glory needed investment. Not the type of Western Union investment that the new breed like, set aside for a rainy day, by the way; no sir... investment in the playing staff. For you see, the Reds that were around then only "knew" and cared about football and their beloved team.
We "knew" too that the man who had guided the Reds to two Champions League finals in three years, (as well as victories in the FA Cup and European Super Cup) needed financial support to strengthen the
FOOTBALL team - we didn't 'know' or quite frankly, give a F**k about leveraged buy outs or long-term business plans. But...
Naive, soft shites that we were, we got stroked and stroked proper. The penny had dropped overseas that we were a cash cow to be milked and milked. By 2009 tho'; sadly we were beginning learn but as football fans, we still "knew" what it took to win.
We "knew" that a team which already oozed proper quality -
Reina, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres [there's some CL medals amongst that lot btw] needed to add quality and depth to stay competitive.
We "knew" that the man who'd brought us this far could not do any more on a pish 'Net Spend' and we cared and argued about it because we still cared about football, we still cared about winning. What happened there; eh?
The sands somehow shifted... Carpetbaggers got us arguing about sh*te surrounding business and they got a new breed of fan, many of which only came to the Reds late on, convinced that it was more important to gather money than to use it to win. The need to win football matches, titles and trophies somehow become less important than good business practice... even tho as one of the richest clubs in the world, we have no financial worries. Loyalties became misplaced...
In a few short years [less than a decade] fans who want the best manager to have the best players so that their beloved Reds win titles and trophies have become something to poke and ridicule.
From "knowing" that Rafa, with a team oozing quality, would have difficulty competing for the title without investment in quality; the accepted norm (amongst the vocal new breed anyway) is that even with more money, than Rafa could have dreamed of and even with the great Jürgen Klopp at the helm... Reds really shouldn't expect either top players or the title. We should however be content with the [Arsenal] Top Four Trophy.
Under the "stewardship" of Carpetbaggers V.1 and V 2.0 and in a very short time period, that's what our storied team and passionate fans have become. Conditioned into accepting defeat.
Know this tho': this Red
will NOT "go gentle into that good night". You want a 'fight'?... You've got it.
Multi billionaire Companies do NOT need your defence or your loyalty, you F***ing muppets.