Welcome to Issue 282 of Red All Over The Land.
The debate about the semi-final gets mentioned in the Postscript but just to say it’s typical FA incompetence and ignorance.
Not been a bad few weeks, has it?
Just glancing at what lies ahead in April is both exciting and frightening. I can’t recall anything like this happening before. Because of the difference in squad strength between ourselves and Manchester City [and Chelsea] we need to keep everyone in the best state of football well-being that we can. City can rotate half a team and not be too bothered, we can’t.
What a joy ride we’ve been on and, hopefully, remain on. To date, the only game we’ve lost this year didn’t really matter and of the three draws we won one on penalties. We’ve won the other fifteen and out of around the last sixty games we’ve lost four! That constitutes a year of football, yet we could still end up with only the League Cup and a top-four finish. If that is the case, don’t let anyone try and say, we’ve failed, blame FSG or anyone. Remember we’re not favourites for any of the trophies we’re competing for. We’re the outsiders constantly having to punch above our weight. This is a hell of a team fighting against the odds on a regular basis.
Are those odds going to change now the Chelsea saga has exploded? I don’t think it will change the fortunes of Chelsea totally, but it may mean they’re on the same playing field as we are. Everyone in the game knew what Abramovich was doing when he sailed his yacht up the Thames and blew the rest of football out of the water. Nobody cared then and nobody will care when it happens again. What happened at Manchester City and could be happening at Newcastle shows that. Brutal regimes come in different disguises and English football will continue to be happy to take their money. What’s happening in the Ukraine won’t change anything.
The Mo Salah contract talk has resurfaced, and we can only assume the obstacle is money. If the demands are off the radar the club is right in what they’re doing but if there is room for compromise, then find it. Mo’s age means we won’t get the money we know he’s worth and since all this talk has been dominating the media has anyone else noticed a drop in the player’s form. Or that could be simply down to too much football? Either way, this drama can’t become a soap opera and it needs to be sorted and fast. Mo has constantly said he loves Merseyside, and he knows how we feel. He said he wants to stay at Liverpool for the rest of his career and the club have hinted they wouldn’t mind if he did. So, find that compromise. On the other hand, his agent could be a total dipstick who likes playing Mind Games on twitter etc! They’ve passed this way before.
Team unity is a big thing. Over on the other side of Manchester in Salford, if reports are anywhere near correct, they have internal problems with their Interim manager whispering their dressing room isn’t the best place to be. Here’s a club that tried to appease a fanbase by bringing home a hero and reputedly paying him around £26m a year. You hear reports that the players don’t have too much respect for their overpriced captain. A player such as Pogba could walk at the end of the season and Marcus Rashford doesn’t know if he’s wanted or not. We used to be a club with problems, and they laughed at us. Not laughing now, are they? FSG and Jürgen fought to change all of that. We can’t allow a player nor a player’s agent to destroy what they’ve built.
One more Issue of the Fanzine to go for this season. Could be out late April or early May. Even I’m governed by the fixtures and results!
JJP: I found a book called ‘How To Solve 50% Of Your Problems.’ So, I bought two!