A Point For Liverpool v A Pointless Protest
A "Top Red" writes....
FIRST off, thanks.
I’ve been aware of Substack for a while and have been quietly consuming content on here for ages without submitting any of my own.
Post the Wolves win, I felt inspired to write a quick off-the-top-of-the-head post having survived a snowstorm on the way home from Molineux that made navigating Midlands motorways feel more like hyperspace in the Millennium Falcon.
I have to be honest, my expectations of any kind of reaction to it were low. So, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many people liked, commented and subscribed off the back it.
Cheers. It was a nice boost to be honest. The only negative comment I received suggested I use too many commas.
It feels a little bit surreal to be writing in a more relaxed way under the name Well Red 15 years on from the first time I did it. Then, 2008, it was a blog that later became a magazine and a website — and all that was a precursor of The Anfield Wrap. A lot has happened since then. On and off the field.
Anyway…
At the back end of last week, I became aware of some talk on Twitter of a street protest about Liverpool’s owners before the Chelsea match.
Some accounts were pushing it quite aggressively, but I didn’t think for a minute it would happen. We’ve been here before — both in terms of activism that is clearly never going to get beyond the keyboard and direct action born from genuine concern for the future of the football club.
I’ve no desire here to write reams on either FSG or Hicks and Gillett. But one regime has clear differences to the other. And when the critical mass required to truly protest and make a difference is imminent, you sense it, you feel it — it dominates, it hangs there. The desire simply isn’t there now.
To be pounding the streets en masse right now doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either. For one, FSG has expressed a desire to pack up and leave. So parading the streets asking them to do just that is going to do what exactly? The feelers are out. The for sale sign is up. And buyers with the money needed to seal the deal are few and far between. So we wait. Surely.
On the pitch, Liverpool aren’t where any Red wants them to be right now. Ninth place staring up at Brentford, Fulham and Brighton is no one’s idea of fun. Half the season gone with 29 points, 21 off the pace of the leaders, was not the plan.
Responsibility for player trading now and in the future is concerning post-Edwards exit and pre-Ward departure. The strategy is rightly being questioned. Injuries aren’t helping either. A collective physical and mental funk adds to the mire. And on we go. But still, a protest?
Cycles start and finish. Form rises and falls. And just like you, I wish they’d just buy some players. But bringing out the bedsheets a matter of months after winning the FA Cup and the League Cup, finishing second in the league with 92 points and reaching another European Cup final? Not for me.
Getting stuck into a manager who finally delivered the title after 30 years; who won the club’s sixth European Cup, who had us crowned Club World Champions? Come on. Brattish entitlement is not the collective look we’re going for here.
I even received a tweet this week suggesting Jurgen Klopp hasn’t been all that. He’s got a better win percentage than all the Anfield greats. He’s up against formidable opponents year after year playing a different game to compete with them. Three times he’s pushed his sides to 90-odd point seasons. And now he’s not that great? Wow.
It was another poor game Saturday and there wasn’t a lot to shout about. Another source of beef. Early kick offs are never great for atmosphere. Neither are freezing temperatures. And neither is a poor game of football. Spion Kop 1906 detailed further reasons as they appealed for a collective effort for the visit of Everton.
Apparently though, according to some, it’s all down to these ‘Top Reds’.
What a concept that is. Most who bandy the term around appear to suggest that if you support your team through thick and thin, if you’re patient with a manager proven to be among the best, if you want owners who care about club, city, community and values rather than just anyone with money, and you think the power of protest should be preserved for when it’s truly necessary, you’re in the wrong.
If they’re the entry requirements, count me in.
Saturday was grim. Concerns remain. And the transfer window closes in just over a week. Cody Gakpo isn’t looking like a game changer so far either. But still, that word remains. Hope.
Hope we can beat Brighton. Hope we sign someone. Hope that injury list eases. And hope that calls for getting behind the team and seeing where it takes us are acted upon. Unlike the shouts for protests…
That’s enough from this Top Red.
Until next time…
Well done mate, love it
Nice one Robbo great to see you producing content again. Look forward to the next piece