Welcome to Issue 261 of Red All Over The Land.
Maybe for the first time in eighteen months the level of positivity surrounding our team has dropped a notch? Three defeats in three different competitions, one sending us out of the FA Cup. We’ve finally lost a league game and since the much publicised [in Liverpool’s case] winter break we’ve not played anywhere near the level we’d started to become accustomed to. Added to that we lost the first leg of the Champions League game against Atlético Madrid and didn’t play well on that night either. Some of the experts on Social Media have started to sow the seeds of doubt.
To me, the main goal this season has always been the Premier Division title. The fact the team have broken record after record is great but you don’t get a trophy for a winning run and it doesn’t matter whether you amass a record amount of points or not; just amass more than the rest. Do that and you get a prize and have a fun day out.
Things have become somewhat chaotic on the Fanzine front. This issue for example, had to go to Mister Printer earlier than I would have wanted. It has come out in midweek and all because I’ve got a holiday booked; one that will see me in Spain when the derby takes place on a Monday night. Not looking for any sympathy or anything like that, but it’s a long overdue holiday and one that has been cancelled three times. So hopefully it goes down well with you – the Fanzine not my holiday – and I can start planning Issue 262. Wouldn’t it be a great feeling if the League is done business by then? I’m still agreeing with The Kaiser, let’s get there before we start partying.
The club from a financial point has never looked better, how different to when John Henry and his boys rode into town to change our lives forever. Those who are clever enough to talk about these things are suggesting we’re just a few million away from being top of the English financial charts as well but you don’t a trophy for that either and as we’ve seen with other clubs, football finances can quickly change.
There can be no doubting now that as a Global Brand [don’t like the word] Liverpool are right up where they not only belong, but should and need to be. This attracts a different sort of supporter. Some arrive at Anfield for the biggest games leaving many wondering just how they manage to get tickets for games that are out of reach for the grass root supporter. The simple answer is, they pay. They pay far more than they should have to pay for the match ticket alone. However, some of those who arrive can be put into the tourist bracket whereas other are genuine supporters. You can understand why at times feelings run high, no more than when supporters who have forked out money for a membership card, then paid over a thousand pounds in advance to watch and support the team only to discover they can’t get a ticket for what could be a defining day for the game against Aston Villa, but others can. Without saying anything else, this can’t be fair and has led to a lot of dissatisfaction amongst the support and understandably so. Although I send copies of this Fanzine to people inside club I doubt there will be any response on this matter because I don’t even know if they read it.
JJP Getting ready to go to the party but I don’t know what time the band will turn up.