Welcome to Issue 295 of Red All Over The Land.
The first four games of the season have passed by, and we came out reasonably well. A draw was a good opening day result at Chelsea and when you look at all that went on at St. James’s Park, coming away with three points could be the result of the season. The home showings were a mixed bag. Against Bournemouth it was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly but against Villa, a decent side, it had to be our best home showing in a long time. Unfortunately, the talking points after the Bournemouth and Newcastle games were mainly about referees and VAR. Both have become a boil on the face of football. I fear for the game if this is how it’s going to be. The more Howard Webb and his associates come out to defend the actions of match officials and the VAR squads proves to me there’s something radically wrong.
Early performances have shown both Mac Allister and Szoboszlai good value signings. Endo has not really had the chance to show what he can do and Gravenberch we haven’t seen play. What we will be seeing this season is almost a new Jürgen Klopp team so the one thing that will be required is patience. During the next few weeks, we should see the return of Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago, more midfield talent. Let’s hope we can steer clear of injuries because they, more than anything, cause us the most problems. I would have liked us to have signed a defender, but we didn’t so we have to live with it. However, I’m adding Jarrell Quansah to the list of talent to be.
Who would have thought less than a year ago that all clubs would be looking over their shoulder at what’s happening with the oil rich states when it came to football. No-one is safe and that’s now going to be the case in the future. One senior official from the European club’s association said the Saudi League is no threat to the game in Europe. His name? Nasser Al-Khelaifi who heralds from Qatar and has a big say in the running of PSG. I’ll say no more.
The delayed opening of the top tier of the Anfield Road has cost the club money and will continue to do so until it’s finally finished. It’s caused thousands of fans problems, especially anyone who’d planned to travel from overseas. We spoke with Paul Khan, chair of the Spirit of Shankly and they are in regular contact with the club at boardroom level so it’s reassuring that we have people working on the fans behalf. We had Paul on our Red All Over YouTube show and he explained all the SoS are doing on the fans behalf.
Our proposed event with Kevin Keegan is proving difficult due to costs. By the time this issue hits the streets we will know whether it’s on or off. The idea is to raise money for local causes and if we can’t do that through this event, we need to look at other ideas.
Issue 294 of the Fanzine sold very well, and we have more subscribers now than we have had for several years. News From Nowhere on Bold Street are now stocking copies. Ian Whitty down in Devon is also taking them round his local haunts and reds and ex-pats down that way give us their support – and money. So, on the Fanzine front, things are looking up. However, I apologise for a few glaring typing errors in the last issue. I do try to prevent them but sometimes I fail.
JJP: They say the best things in life are free. Anyone know where I can get one?