Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

Observer Sport Monthly - Hillsborough Issue.

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

This is by the RAWK member “That Kennedy Moment”

Just to say that my Hillsborough story runs in the Observer Magazine this coming Sunday, 15th March.

I didn’t want to have to write about my own experience, but I was told I had to or the piece wouldn’t run at all. So, there’s an account of what it was like to survive the crush in pen 3, and then to be amongst the chaos on the pitch afterwards. Hopefully I can speak for many hundreds who went through what I went through on the Leppings Lane.

There then follow five interviews, with:

Tony Edwards, the ambulance driver
Anne Williams, talking about Kevin’s case
One woman who can’t be named, whose husband survived but later committed suicide
Another woman, whose husband was left for dead, and their marriage failed (as so many would)
and Peter Beardsley

I had done four other interviews, but the editors have had to cut down on the length of the story. This is a shame, as they were great accounts, but to be fair to the Observer, they’ve given it nine pages and the front cover of the magazine.

It’s an unflinching story, but hopefully it will go some way to correcting the lies in the media about what happened that day, in a small way.

One thing I would say is that the story will no doubt be run online from Sunday, but you won’t get the full picture: there are some powerful pictures, and pull quotes and captions that add to the piece. If you want to read it, I’d advise buying the newspaper, not least because it is the Hillsborough issue, in a way, and I think you’ll get a better feel for the story than just reading it online, in type only.

RAWK came good on this story: a massive thanks to NickoH, Kav, DaveW, Kinki, No666, Red Prodigal, and countless others. And Sheila Coleman and the HJC were great.

Hope the story works.

TKM

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Hillsborough 20th Anniversary and the Champions League.

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

According to some papers today, Uefa won’t guarentee that we won’t be playing on the 15th April this year: 

“Uefa has refused to guarantee that the second leg of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final will not be played on the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.A spokesman for Uefa said: “We received a request from Liverpool back in October when they asked not to play on April 15. We said we will do our best to make sure that they didn’t have to play on that day, be it a home or away match, but we can’t guarantee it at this stage. We will be waiting for the draw on March 20, but we will take Liverpool’s representations into account when making the draw.

“The chances are very good that they will not have to play on that day, but we are not in a position to confirm that until the draw is made.”

Well this is no time for rubbish puns, and attempts at humour, there is really only one response and SOS have summed it up perfectly:

“The strength of feeling on the matter as far as Liverpool supporters are concerned was reflected in a statement by Spirit Of Shankly, the club’s supporters’ union. It read: “Liverpool Football Club needs to stand up for the fans to ensure we do not play on April 15. Not this season, not next season, not any season. This is a day for remembrance, not football.”

I would be staggered if anyone in their right minds at the governing body thought it remotely acceptable that we should play on the anniversary. Then again, this is UEFA, who managed to organise the Athens European Cup Final and the mess that was. This is UEFA whose head Platini loathes English football, and who’s media spokesman William Gailliard thinks Liverpool fans are the worst in Europe shortly after Roma fans stab several Utd fans in Italy.

So who the fuck knows in this fucked up twisted money-comes-first world. The amazing thing is this, it won’t be the governing body that bites the bullets and says no, we’re not scheduling the match on that day, it’ll be SKY, or some such paymaster, who astoundingly and it grieves me to say, probably understand us and footballing sensitivities than UEFA do.

How’s that work then? A fucking nonsense.

UEFA, back in October when Parry first alerted them to it, should’ve clearly said “This tragedy affects us all and we will not schedule any football match in the UK on that date as a commemoration to those 96 who died.”

Of course they didn’t and won’t because they are gutless spineless ammoral money grabbing corporate arseholes. And you can tell Michel I said that.

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Mr Benitez and ‘Mr’ Ferguson..

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Before the press feast on the supposed ‘losing the plotness’ of Rafa (stoked by our dismal frustration at Stoke) i’d like to point a couple of things.

Firstly as has been noted by a few commentators, Rafa was stating what most managers have wanted too for a long time mainly Fergie is a hypocritical manipulator of the press and the FA.

Now personally I would’ve waited til after this weekend cos the timing could’ve been better, we should’ve won at Stoke and irrespective of the Man Utd Chelsea victory, I can only imagine he wanted to remind the ref in that match about Fergie’s antics.

But his list and careful statement, passionate for Rafa, was miles away from a manager ‘losing it’ - witness the fantastically cruel ‘Mr’ Ferguson, the bullet points and calming fact that he’d written it.

So Man Utd beat Chelsea, and we drew to Stoke (utd nearly did btw), we’re still top and Rafa has made his points. Fergie, doubtless will be gloating at home at the percieved mind game victory, but I think Buddha Benitez has already let it go, and isn’t bothered by it anymore, he has landed his blows and has moved on. Anyway when you look at what he said, he was right.

So ignore the petty press and frenzied arse licking of Fergie, cos most reporters are still frightened of him. Fergie has no honour and no elegance at all. Look at his regular tapping up of players only to cry out loud when Ronaldo talks to Real… Rafa, well in mate.

He should’ve played Torres and Keane mind…

My CLub - My View #7

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

-HH-
Last season was strange in many ways, and optimistic though I am in general I can’t help but feel this time round is likely to be much of the same again. It’s sad when matters off the field seem to matter more than those on it, but that’s the way much of last season was - and sadly we seem no closer to ridding ourselves of the parasites that brought these problems in the first place. And what’s worse is they seem to have learned better manipulation. They’ve realised that the best spin for them is no spin at all. The quiet is dulling people’s anger and is allowing them to continue sucking the club dry. Meanwhile, Rafa is working his usual solid job in the transfer market with the added pressure of knowing that the owners want a league title and soon.
The saddest thing is that if Rafa does manage to bring back the title it will only serve to strengthen their hold on the club, attract more and more hangers on to the crowd which will lessen the impact of any protests we can actually make as supporters, either verbal or financial. Most people will tell you that they don’t care who signs the cheques as long as we win the league, but that’s not true for me. I want a good, responsible owner who will protect the interests of the city and the matchgoing fanbase as well as facilitating success on the pitch. Maybe it’s a tough ask, but we’re Liverpool and we should demand that of our owners. The matchday experience has already been ruined beyond recognition in the 7 years I’ve been going the match so god knows how those who remember the genuinely good days feel. *

On the pitch it’s been a good summer. The way I see it we’re a stronger attacking unit than we were last year - attacking full backs give us a new dimension, as does Robbie Keane. I think most defences will struggle against the talent we have, including the Mancs and Chelsea - where we lost the points that in the main cost us the title last year. The return of Danny Agger and to be honest the sale of Riise strengthens us defensively. On paper it’s all looking very good, but if we’re to turn that into a genuine title challenge we need to improve our mentality and defend and attack set pieces better, and all the signings in the world won’t solve that problem. We’re so close I can taste it, but being that close just makes it harder to take if you do fall short. Pre-season has involved a lot of positives too - some promising performances from youngsters, the return of Daniel Agger and for me a return to form for Jamie Carragher. Jamie was poor for me last season, but he’s shown he’s ready to get his head down again and prove any doubters wrong. And it being Carra, you just know he will.

My wish for the coming season is a complete reversal of last season, which started out with such optimism and petered out under a dark cloud of off pitch issues. Despite the strategic silence, those issues aren’t resolved and won’t be until the owners are removed. Getting rid of them in the first half of the season and settling things down off the pitch and finishing by taking the title to the wire would be my greatest hope. But even as an optimist by nature I can only see us getting one or the other at best, and sadly whichever we do get will be slightly sullied by the failure on another count.

*This ray of sunshine was brought to you by Powergen

My Club - My View #6

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

Spartacus

The new football season kicks off in just over a week’s time and I can’t wait.  Every year it’s the same, come May I can’t wait for the season to finish and come August I can’t wait for it to start again.  It doesn’t matter how successful a season we have or more to the point how disappointing our league campaign may have been, it’s a cycle of emotions that I’ve lived with for many a year and I can’t see it ending anytime soon!

So what about this season?  What will Rafa’s fifth season in charge of the mighty reds bring us? Has he strengthened the squad enough to see us challenge for the title or yet again will our league campaign be over by Christmas?  I wish I had answers rather than opinions, but then if I had the answers would I still be waiting, eagerly anticipating the start of the season?  I think not!

For what its worth and purely from a leagues perspective I think we’ll have our best season yet under Rafa as long as Rafa lasts the season (I’ll come back to that).  So why the optimism?  Well partly because that’s my nature and I start every season full of optimism but also because I genuinely believe we’ve improved as a squad and I think Rafa is adapting to our league with every season, he’s not took to it overnight and he’s made mistakes but so what?  Who doesn’t?  As long as he learns by his mistakes and I believe he does then that’s fine. 

But I’m not getting carried away with my optimism, having the best league season under Rafa and winning the league are two very different things and in all honesty I don’t see us winning the league, I just don’t think we’ve done enough to bridge the gap.  I’m not a huge advocate of simply throwing money at the problem but I do believe we have to be buying players of the same calibre as Torres each season and not as a one off!  If that player costs money then he costs money!  All in all I’d class a title challenge and us still being in the race come March as a step in the right direction, anything more than that for me is a bonus. 

To be honest I feel sorry for Rafa, I’m sorry that he joined a club that prided its self on doing things the right way and supporting their manager, a club steeped in tradition with a reputation second to none yet he finds himself working with muppets and having to deal with unprecedented (for Liverpool) off the field antics, and I wonder how much he’ll stand for before he walks – but I also wonder how much our owners will put up with before they show him the door, a dodgy start in the premier/champions league and we’ll see how much faith they have in Rafa, have they got the bottle for the season ahead?  I believe a lesser man would have thrown in the towel by now and I don’t for one minute think he’s not considered that, but only time will tell.

My Club - My View #5

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

Mark_P

August is usually a time for wildly confident predictions, the usual Evertonian bet and the usual “this is our year” statements.  This year seems totally different.

Maybe it’s another season of underachievement in the league.  Maybe it’s watching United do the double, edging ever closer to our haul of league triumphs.  Maybe it’s watching our manager having to try and sell players he wants to fund possible transfers, the funds he was promised by two cowboys eighteen months ago nowhere to be seen.  But “that feeling” isn’t anywhere near as strong as it normally is by the time August hits.

The signing of Robbie Keane undoubtedly excites.  As well as guaranteed goals, his clever play in attacking areas is something we’ve been missing.  Whilst the price may be a little high, the fact that he won’t have any problems adapting to the Premier League means that the buy is certainly no risk, bar the risk of a further dodgy chant from the Kop.

The departure of John Arne Riise means “For fucks sake Riise!” has been shouted at Anfield for the last time, and is another weakness in the squad addressed.  The probable signing of Gareth Barry and departure of Xabi Alonso is obviously in the manager’s mind, and, despite no obvious gulf in class between the two, something he will likely get.  The pre-season judging of new players is something that means nothing, and should act as merely a fitness boost and piss up for the fans, but David N’Gog has look a handful, and the form of the young reserve players has been encouraging.

Yet as Liverpool get into bed with Thomas Cook and tout tickets in the shape of their “Matchday hospitality”, buy out our pubs on a match day and have two owners with view so out of touch with supporters they felt it was a good idea to have a quiet pint in the Sandon after a match, it’s difficult to look forward to another season of bending over and taking it up the arse from Gillett, Hicks, Parry, Platini, Thomas Crook, the FA, UEFA et al.

Fortunately the Spirit of Shankly union continues to grow, and will undoubtedly go from strength to strength this season, hopefully giving us a platform to make some difference, with Thomas Cook’s lowering of rip off prices for coaches to Liege a testimony to what can be done through the union – http://www.spiritofshankly.com/join.html

Let’s hope by May we’ve found ourselves owners who back up their “snoogy doogy” claim, and Benitez and Gerrard are lifting the one we want in front of a celebrating Kop, with a loud rendition of “Champions!  Champions!” buzzing round the ground.

Enough to even get this miserable arse excited!

My Club - My View #4

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Raul: 

On the Pitch

An inveterate optimist, every year is always “our year” for me.  I’m happy to see that at least some of the more “thinking” posters agree with that view this time around.

I’m not sure whether having lived through the glory years makes me less or more desperate than some younger fans for success but my desire to win is tempered by the fact that I find a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure in having made the best effort possible, regardless of the outcome.  If we can look at ourselves at the mirror at the end of the season and say that we have done that, that we have tried our best, then there is nothing to be ashamed of, wherever in the league we might finish the season.  Old fashioned and perhaps even foolishly romantic but there you have it.

Practically though, this term, with the cast of characters that our manager has put together over the past few years I think that if we make that kind of effort, we have the quality and will find that we are there, or at least thereabouts.  The team to make the challenge is more or less there, the spirit must now follow.  And if there was ever a year for us to have that spirit, this is it.

Gerrard knows that this is the business end of his career.  I do not subscribe to the theory that some trot out about him “not caring” – I think does, enormously.  He needs to show that outwardly a little more this season.  Carragher clearly cares and Mascherano wears his heart on his sleeve too.  Question Kuyt’s ability if you must but his attitude is unimpeachable.  Skrtel plays like he wants to kill someone on the other team and Alonso, if he stays and when he plays, is always bothered about how we do.  If Keane is half the fan that he claims to be, he will have the bottle and I think that is enough of a nucleus to bring the Dossenas, Degens and N’Gogs of the world along and get them to do their best.

Of the new boys, Keane has done nothing to show that it was a mistake to get him, Dossena has impressed after a slow start and N’Gog seems to have the brains that Cisse did not.  I think Rafa has bought well this time around.

So let us see.

Off the Pitch

I’m going to leave out discussion of our owners, other than to say that I would like them out – they lied and they mistreated our manager.

I would like to see a significantly greater effort being made by the club in marketing LFC.  One of the reasons we fell behind Manchester United in the 90s was because their success was seen on TV by the teeming millions in Asia, leading to all that crap we love to deride – shirt sales, merchandise and more money for better players. 

News reports in the last few weeks point to the big enemy making big plans for countries like India, where the television coverage of almost every weekend game has meant that little boys are looking at the Premier League as a credible alternative to the IPL and cricket and, as is inevitable with little boys, are beginning to pick teams to support, however much that might be to the horror of the militant purple bin brigade.  And they will support the successful teams, which is why you will see more kids here with Manchester United and Chelsea shirts than Liverpool or even Arsenal.  Our three biggest rivals are setting up academies and twinning with Indian clubs, sending past players out for coaching camps and getting talented youngsters across to England for training and a taste of the big time.  Things like this are already happening in China and elsewhere in Asia.

We cannot afford to fall behind on this but the club seems to be dragging its feet on taking any significant initiatives in this area.  Whether this is down to Parry or the lying twosome, I don’t know but LFC needs to get its act together on increasing its global (shirt buying) support.  If we want to play with the big boys, we need to at least match their moves.

Perhaps we need to have the second coming of DIC to see this happen.

My Club - My View #3

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

3. NickoH

I could quote the old saying of ‘heart or mind’ but I’ll let my mind rule this time.

It’s that time of the year when hope is usually high on the agenda, whereas in trophy laden times gone by it was an expectation of league winning success that was top of the list.

I’ve learned over the years to suppress this hope because sometimes even a little hope can be a cruel thing and the let down felt after Christmas (at best) can be a huge fall, with many a word typed in anger towards the owners, the underperforming team and the odd shot towards Rafa.

It’s been a slow progression, rather than a big bang but Rafa is steering the team in the right direction, I’ve no doubt about that. The summer has yet again seen a steady of never heard of youngsters, a couple of promising more experienced men and the possible ‘Torres’ signing in Robbie Keane. Will Robbie be this final missing piece of the jigsaw which has become harder to find than the Holy Grail and the Loch Ness Monster put together ? Only time will tell but I think he may just be the signing to turn them relatively huge number of last seasons draws into 3 points.

Obvious but Anfield needs to become the famous fortress yet again. Rafa seems to have cracked the away games but last season our home form let us down, which was a surprise to say the least. Maybe, just maybe, Rafa needs to go for the jugular when we are 1-0 up and coasting. Many times I felt if we got the second we would go on and win 3 or 4-0 instead of settling for what we had and many times ending up with only one point.

Babel, Torres, Gerrard, Keane, etc, etc…..on paper at least give us a mouth watering combination in the attacking third and fingers crossed the defence will be a place that will need to fight for places. Skrt’s, Carra, Agger and to a lesser extent Sami will be competing for the two central spots and it’s anyone’s guess who will make the positions theirs. In Pepe Reina we have a now hardened Premier performer in the nets and I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. His record in winning the Golden Gloves (or whatever it is called) tells no lies and gives us the start of that solid background down the middle.

Hopefully the off the pitch scenario will not be filling the papers as much as last season and whatever the outcome in that ‘battle’ the results will fill the message boards and column inches of Fleet Street’s ‘finest’.

So where will we finish ? Back to my heart and mind…….heart says we can win it, possibly all the way to the last game…..my mind says 3rd behind Chelsea and Man U but a lot closer.

The other cup competitions will hold the best hope of a trophy coming to Anfield. Rafa will play a second string in the Carling Cup but it may be strong enough (if we avoid Chelsea away) to bring it back home and give us a first visit to the new Wembley and a weekend piss up in London.
The FA Cup again may offer us a visit to Wembley twice but again it depends how seriously we take it. The scares last season and eventual upset in getting turfed out by lower opposition may well turn into a Burnley moment and we go on to win it the season after.

Europe….what can I say about Europe ? Every season now starts with me actually thinking we can go all the way….Maybe it’s the confidence we have got in recent seasons that fills me with hope for the forthcoming campaign or maybe it’s just a bit of wishful thinking that I’ll be sat in a bar in Roma come May. Whatever it is, I again think we can go all the way and after last seasons English domination we might just have to get through an all English quarter or semi final clash.

My Club-My View……full of hope as usual but don’t tell anyone…..I keep these things to myself.

Morals in football. Anyone seen em?

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

So Ronaldo is a ’slave’ and there’s a thread in here about the money provided for Keane that says basically “say what you like about the Germans, but they made the trains run on time”

(Some people think Hicks has coughed up the money for Keane and Torres so he can’t be that bad:  http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=225240.0)

At what point do we the fan in the street say “Enough is enough”. It seems to me that for every SOS campaign there’s the opposite which says, “Actually never mind the morals feel the quality”. We all know many fans who remain silent on the take over and don’t really care and wouldn’t boycott a game if you paid them the SKY fee to the club per annum.

We all know that there’s been something rotten in the state of Football (esp the Premier League) since the day SKY bought it out and threw out any sense of decency. But this close season seems to have stunk more than ever.

1. Ronaldo is paid ÂŁ100,000 a week and the very head of football says he’s a slave.

2. Joey Barton is released early from jail to see his manager fully back him and point out he was a good lad when he was at the club.

3. Hicks and Gilette, having loaded our club with millions of pounds of debt are now being almost forgiven by some who think they’ve stumped up the cost of Robbie Keane. (Good but overpriced btw.) when actually he’s paid for by the sale of others.

4. Real Madrid is accused of tapping up and unsettling Ronaldo, Sir Alex ‘whiter than a daz sheet in a nunnery’ Ferguson is livid. Never mind the hypocrisy, feel the price of Berbatov. Or Stam. Or Ferdinand. Or shall I go on?

It makes Chelsea’s sacking of Mutu for drugs abuse seem oh so applaudable. Except if Mutu was Drogba, would they have done it?

Would Barton have the loving father figure of Kev if he was a shit player?

Would Ronaldo matter a spit to either Real, Sepp or Alex if he was Wes Brown?

We often argue about the manner in which Liverpool play, what style would we put up with for a win. Well that’s no longer the point, its what would we lower ourselves to, to get a win? Let the club be taken over by two charlatans, sing their praises at the ground then wake up with a hangover realising we’ve not been seduced by the Texan lovely Jerry Hall, but fucked over badly by the Texan ugly George Bush Snr.
At least we’ve not sunk as low as something as crazy as our club hiring out Goodison for corporates.. Oh wait..

We the fans put up and justify many things in the name of winning and football, but this close season has made the bitter taste in my mouth even more sour.

Congratulations to Fernando and the Spanish team.

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

in the close season its nice to see Liverpool players playing well and winning stuff so RAWK wants to say muchas well dunio to Fernando, Pepe, Arby, and Xabi for their win in Switzerland and Austria.