Welcome to Issue 280 of Red All Over The Land.
Having Kevin Sampson on our recent Red All Over YouTube show felt special. I sat in awe of him. I hope all who watched the show understand what Kevin has done to keep Hillsborough in the public eye. There is a review of the show in this issue, and we would like to hear the views of others. The next Red All Over YouTube is planned for Tuesday February 8th and we are planning to have two of the original Shankly Boys with us.
We’ve managed to get through January and the AFCON in decent shape as far as results are concerned. Two league wins and into the Fourth Round of the FA Cup with a home tie to come. Despite all the Covid issues surrounding the League Cup semi with Arsenal we progressed after a satisfactory performance in London. Within a couple of weeks Harvey Elliott could be back in the saddle and with the likes of Tyler Morton and Kaide Gordon starting to emerge things are looking better on the playing front. I’ve tired of all the Mo Salah contract talk because what will be will be. If Mo’s agent thinks he can get a better club for the Egyptian King, then he’s kidding himself – and the player. The club haven’t entered into a slanging match and when listening to Jürgen he always says the right, if predictable, things. That’s how it was when Michael Owen was always so close to penning a new deal when most of the support knew he wasn’t. There’s no point in believing what is being said in media circles because they’re as much in the dark as we are.
Reaching the final of The League Cup has to be seen as a bonus. Part of Liverpool’s supremacy in the 1980’s was winning the League Cup in its various guises four times in a row and at a time when all clubs treated the League Cup differently to how they treat it now. Fans of Liverpool [and those of Chelsea] will be chasing League Cup Final tickets, not just chasing but demanding them, whether they’ve been too a game or not. Even though the competing clubs get around 33,000 each, there still won’t be enough to satisfy demand. And they say the competition is irrelevant! Because our recent domestic Cup record is poor let’s hope we can grab this one with both hands….and Hendo does another shuffle.
Have clubs been doing the right thing with Covid cancellations? Well, what started off as Covid cancellations. It became something else with games being cancelled due to players missing because of injury or being in Africa. Liverpool got slated for calling off the first leg of the League Cup and maybe Jürgen’s comments about ‘False Positives’ were misunderstood or lost in translation? Arsenal called off their ‘Dare Not Lose’ North London derby only for players to make a swift recovery causing critics to sense a whiff of foul play, Gary Neville [who else] in particular. Those who run the game left the door open and if clubs did take advantage why was there surprise? Sorting out the overcrowded football calendar and getting every club on the same page would be a good place to start in getting rid of these situations. Only looking ahead to next season and a World Cup in the height of the European season, I don’t have too much confidence.
You can call this STOP PRESS: Liverpool sign Luis Diaz!!! You knew that of course. In terms of putting a Fanzine together it means ignore any references to tight fisted owners in this issue!!! At the outset of every transfer window Liverpool gets linked with countless players and its best to just ignore the rumours and see what happens. When all seemed to be drawing the customary uneventful close Liverpool suddenly emerged as front runners to sign Luis Diaz from Porto. I’m honest enough to say I didn’t see it happening, but it did. There’s a day to go as I finish this but that’s for Issue 281.
JJP: If the best things in life are free; why do they cost so much?