One reader did send his opinion to that so called fan
Harrison Gan
My letter to R. Manogararan today:-
In refer to today Red2TheCore column with the headline âRed Pride Risingâ, i'm shocked, or to be honest, undescribable word's to express my disappoinment with your renewing criticism's of
Liverpool after the infamous last one. To make it a double insult, is your self-proclaimed âstaunch
& devout supporter since 72â but your action's doesn't imply like one, or even put a 5 yrs-old Reds
supporter to shame! We don't expect you to drape in a Reds scarf ( with the SHANKLY word
emblazoned ) & the 70's or 80's retro kit to show your seniority but at least speak's like one.
And responsible, too.
The Reds has just won it's first trophy after a long six years, while the euphoria may not matched
the Champions League success, but at least the lads deserve a small pat in the back. I understand the
heading ( They Wish ) is meant to be cheeky but it came on the wrong time. After your infamous
Suarez article, many Reds fan's are not happy with The Starsport open criticism of the club. Moreover, if those words came from the mouth of it's own fan. Your action indirectly is delighting our rival supporters. None columnist of each respective club's in the weekly âThis Is Footballâ column make fun of their own club with the exception of you. To claim that we, Reds
supporters lack humourity, composure, dignity & sporting attitude is an insult to us. Sure, we have
no problem with sarcasm or joke's but not that insulting ( THEY WISH ) to demean our club
achievement. I may not be an ESPN pundit to counter your facts but I hoped to answer humbly in
my opinion as an average Liverpool supporter ala football at mamak-style way:-
Fact No.1:-
With the increasing competitiveness of both the domestic & European competition's, club's does
not have the same luxury of the last 10 years, to choose which trophy they want to win. Any
opportunity which landed on their hands have to be grab. It's no difference with the Carling Cup
despite it's 2nd tier cup status. Recently, the cup has become notorious for sealing the fate of club
who failed to win it, no thanks to a London-based club! If the cup were of no importance, what's the
purpose of Roberto Mancini selecting his first-teamers for the semi's against Liverpool? If Chelsea,
instead of Liverpool, were to win the Carling Cup, I bet AVB job would be safe by now! Even,
Arsene Wenger would be very pleased to win it last season if the outcome were to prove costly to his career!
Fact No.2 & 3:-
Again, i stressed, there's no such thing as an easy final in the history of football. Maybe, it does happen in school-level cup tournament but not in professional football. Despite their Championship status, with no respect, smaller club's has gained giant-killing reputation when playing against bigger club. The 1988 League Cup final is a classic example. Or maybe you can still remember our defeat to Wimbledon in the 88 FA Cup final? Infact the Liverpool players should be applauded for their performance's during the passage to the final where they hold the disadvantage of playing most of their matches away from home. But sadly, you focused only on the final & used it to summarised the club overall performances. To slagged-off the new signings is not a good idea, though, as some of them does contribute to our cup success. Without Suarez double in the victory against Stoke, do you think we can go far?
While I may agree with you on the quality of our young signings but I do blame it on the British media, too. The British sports journalist have the obsession of creating the next big âhypeâ of their new talents & the comparison with their former great's. Thus, you have the ânew Beckhamâ, ânew Stevie Gâ or ânew Rooneyâ put out in the market like a fresh young whore to auction for the highest bidders! The same tagline also extend to the international market where the "German Theo Walcott", "Serbian Peter Crouch" & "Malaysian David Beckham" are marketed by greedy agents looking for big profits. Unfortunately, Henderson & Carroll are one of those youngsters price high than their actual worth. They may cost expensive but don't forget they are still young & on learning curve. Even Lucas Leiva have to endured three season's of boo's & criticism's before emerge as a great player! Let them gain experience before you start criticising them!
Fact No. 4:-
As I say, the league is getting tougher each year. Spending 100 million pounds alone doesn't guarantee you success overnight. Just look at Chelsea whose spending are bigger than us & yet, they are struggling to fight for the top four. Even worse, they have NONE trophy to boast this season despite AVB promise of landing FOUR trophy earlier in the season! Manchester City is another fine example of a big spending club who overlay their ambition plan stages by stages without pressuring their manager with unrealistic targets.
Fact No.5 & 6:-
You are one of those dinosaurs who still âlive in the past gloriesâ & placed unnecessary high hope for this current team to thrash the pulp outta smaller club like in the 70's heyday. Honestly, our current team lacked the ruthlesness of the 70's, 80's or even, Rafa Benitez side. Kenny Dalglish has, also, warned before not to put too much high hope's on his rebuilding side but maybe the return of the king has rekindled too much nolstalgia hence, the expectation is much higher.
There's no doubt, we are, at best, a team in transition but that does not mean you can take away our success by based on what you describe a âpoor final performanceâ alone. I understand your personal anguish at the lacked of beautiful football & ruthless finishing of our current team but as a sports journalist you have to be professional & impart fairness in your articles in order to avoid unnecessary backlash. There's no point in using cheap-skate controversies to sell the paper as in long run, you are in danger of losing readership. Unless you would be glad if The Star were to be renamed as âThe Rubbish Paperâ.
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