By Firas Witwit
Read this paragraph in the Guardian expressing Alex Ferguson’s opinions about player power and agents.
“His latest comments were made in an interview on RTE Radio 1 in which Ferguson reflects on the Rooney dispute by emphasising that “the most important person at Manchester United is the manager”, adding that “the minute a player becomes more important than the manager our club is finished, we’ll never be the same again”.”
This made me think of two powerful voices in the LFC dressing room, two that are considered the heart beat and soul of our club and the same two who allegedly turned on our previous manager and colluded with the Purslow the weasel to undermine and then get rid of Rafa. If it is true that they conspired to get rid of Rafa and also true that they had something to do with the appointment of Hodgson and true that they are the ones supporting him in the dressing room? Is it then also true that we as a club are finished? As Fungus face says above, could it be that we will only start to move forward once the two lads who are bigger than anyone else at the club move on?
I ask the above questions only because I fear that the days where I walked proud of my club and proud of the way my club was run and all who where associated with it have gone and I am not sure they will return.
There is no doubt the knowledgeable Kop remains although it is also true that we have now a sizeable minority of vocal fans who talk drivel and will turn on their own after reading some London press or listening to talksport or watching skysports.
Also, I have now little doubt that the majority of our ex players talk garbage and are either more interested in their pay packets so they make stupid and unhelpful remarks about our club (attacking Rafa or supporting Hodgson) or are simply too dim witted to understand the difference between gross and net or actually comparing records instead of repeating what those with agendas say.
Am I the only one feeling like this? Are there other reds who feel the same and what can we do about it?
if it is true what you say and ppl have colluded in these actions then i think you should name and shame these ppl or is it that they are the capt and our long serving centre back. let me know if im near the mark or not
Feel exactly the same mate.
Suspect the same.
I did last season when the skipper was clearly off form and had an even more “hang dog” expression than normal. Things weren’t right in the dressing room but maybe the club should have backed the manager at the time rather than bending over for the star players? The players would have been put in their rightful place and supported the manager in public and private, but especially on the pitch. Purslow is a good businessman but on the football side he was a fan blinded by the playing stars that he worshipped. This affected his judgement on the manager and also some players.
Be careful what you wish for players because English is clearly not best!
Also scary is that whilst 2 players seem to have pressed for change the majority of top players were upset/disappointed at Rafs’s departure. Torres, Kuyt, Agger, Reina and Mascherano amongst others. That may explain the lack of drive and team spirit in the players this year – as well as Hodgsons evidently poor motivational style. Please watch the body language between Torres and Gerrard – not as pally as they used to be.
As much as I dislike Fergie you can’t doubt his ability and commitment to his club. Liverpool and Purslow in particular could have learnt something from him.
Message to Gerrard and Carragher – fancy a Champions League final before you retire???!!! Who turned you into 2 of the finest players in Europe???!!!
Agree 100%, as we all know who the two players are don’t we, I am not mentioning names here but, Gerro and Carra can be very pleased with, putting this great club in the hands of a very very third rate manager.Senior players should only concentrate on playing football, that is why they are being paid, scandalous money for and, NOTHING ELSE!!!
YNWA please use a real email address next time I had to fish your posting out of the spam bucket.
Re pundits – gave up listening to them some time ago. They are invariably failed coaches or managers or didn’t try because they are scared of failure or expected to fail. They prefer to criticise others, although it helps if their targets are not from these shores!!!
The old school pundits fell out with Rafa when he squeezed Heighway out to bring in proper youth team coaches. Thats when the camapaign to bring down Rafa started. It started by questioning his decisions, tactics and signings. They targeted his mistakes and highlighted them but ignored his positives. Their constant criticism in the press crept into the mids of certain players and fans who looked up to them and trusted their word.
Last season they ignored the injuries, the incredible bad luck with decisions, lack of funding, unceratainty in the boardroon. NO, according to them it was all Rafa’s fault.
Message to pundits who wanted Rrafa out and Hodgson in – your wrong again!! Put Redknapp top of the list!!
its articles like this that cause derision in the ranks. Where is your evidence? Carragher and Stevie turning against Benitez? First i’ve heard of this.
Neil/Ian, You are both spot on. Carra was very buddy with Purslow and wanted Rafa gone. Carra was also influential in the appointment of RH (after discussions with Danny Murphy)
Gerrard sided with Carra in the end, hence the rift which we saw very strongly early in the season. The perfect example was Gerrard heading home a right wing Torres cross to level the scores v Sunderland and Torres running away from Gerrards celebration.
Carra is too big for his boots, and Gerrard should be stronger…. maybe Carra and Gerrard still held anger against Rafa for him splitting up the dressing room cliques he inherited in 2004 (remember SG, JC, DM, MO, SW all used to ignore the French members of the squad)
If players had the power and presence to influence the sacking of a manager, doesn’t that just make you happier H&G are gone. At the end of the day they put people into positions of power trusting them to make decisions. I want Roy gone but the fact remains that he is a good coach and a good manager, the fact that the new owners have not made any rash decisions yet makes me trust them more.
I agree with Tom tho, dribble like this just causes murder and at the minute seperating the fans from Stevie and Jamie are the last thing we need!
I urge everyone to read Brian Reade’s book .Probably the best book about LFC ever written. The rise of The Spice Boy’s mafia and their part in undermining Roy Evans is well described. The Gerrard/Carragher axis is a blood line descendant of this era.Old Red Nose Fergie is bang on the money for once
Tom,
When did Gerrard or Carra come out and support Rafa the way Roy is getting public support now? It is in the things that aren’t said and done that you find out what people want or believe.
They are probable now wondering what they have done but it is already to late. The myth that the current failings of the team are all Rafa’s fault seems to have lodged firmly in the mind of our new owners. Why else hasn’t he gone? They keep referring to what was in place when Roy arrived. They are getting poor advice which scares me because they need sound fact based advice. Liverpool were only 7th last year (despite injuries etc ) which wasn’t good enough but is better than where we are heading.
Only 35,000 fans at Anfield for the last home game. Mid table. Players bored and demotivated by tactics. Rubbish signings. Boring football. Torres will be going back to Spain. The club is limping along and needs decisive action.
Still we have former legends saying we should back Roy and give him more time. Roy says he wants money to stamp his mark on the team. This is getting scarier!! We managed to beat Bolton because there was barely a Roy signing in sight! Cole scored but Roy had just recently claimed he wasn’t really his signing anyway!!!
Sorry for the rant but I’m sick of what’s being going on in the last 18 months!!!
I had only seen the headline and hadn’t started reading the article yet, but when I saw the title “What Has Player Power Done For LFC?” the first thing I thought was “got us Roy Hodgson”.
Both of these guys have lost a lot of the respect I use to have for them, they have been great servants to the club over the years, but they’ve made a big mistake going down this route.
@Tom
I find it hard to believe that this is the first you have heard of it. Paul Tomkins has written at length on the issue between Carragher and Rafa. Carra refused to play right back a couple of seasons back and their relationship soured after that. Players should play, managers manage. Carra would do well to look at his own form over the last 6 months as a player before he feels the need to suggest managerial changes or tactics. Committed to LFC he may be but loyalty can be misplaced….
fully agree our club will not grow until the removal of gerrard and carra, dont get me wrong great players and servants but their influence and standing at the club is having an effect at the club. there has been numerous times this season and last that carra and stevie have gave away silly goals through silly fouls (carra) and not tracking back (gerrard) the latter guilty of it again against wolves. with no-one in the squad to bawl at them to get back or sort there shit out their mistakes go unnoticed or rectified.this has been going on for nearly 2 seasons and i feel that until the two of them are relieved of their duties then we will not grow as a team. the performance at spurs was excellent apart from the result due to lucas and meireles’s mobility,stevie just hasnt got that anymore for 90 mins sad to say,this is in no way an attack on two of our geatest ever lfc players, but simply a fact. YNWA
Tom, have u forgotten SGs screwed up face last year when Rafa dared to take Torres off!!??! If there was ever a nail in the managers coffin it was then.
Over the years we have allowed these two great players to become god-like and untouchable even when they play badly or threaten to leave the club.
For me, when Stevie considered moving to Chelski, we should have taken the money and brought in fresh new talent. We should have also sold Carra when he started to slow down, again using the money to bring in new younger players.
Under Shanks and Paisley they certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to challenger the manager because they would have been sold when they reached thier peak, that was part of the Liverpool way.
Apparently the reason Roy is doing so badly at the moment is that he is working with the rubbish squad that Rafa left him with… The terrible squad of players Rafa left sent 13 (or was it more) players to the World Cup. More than any other Prem Team. This is the same squad (less Alonso and Arbeloa) who got us to 2nd in 09/10 with our highest points tally…and although those two will be missed they were but a part of that team. Roy has used excuse after excuse and the media and pundits continue to help push his pathetic excuses down the supporters throats in a hope that some of us will accept it.
I mean is it just me who finds it hilarious to hear them accept Roys excuses and the way the media/pundits have jumped on the “blame Rafa band wagon” again? They all seem perfectly happy to accept that Roy’s LFC would be in a much better place if he had his own squad and not Rafas… Funny how none of them have bothered to mention how Fulham are doing…
Roys squad of players (less the mighty Konchesky) are doing worse than we are and are currently sitting in 18th… So to use Roys logic I would not let him spend one more penny on new players after Poulsen and Konchesky for fear he will make things even worse than they currently are. It was bad enough that he was allowed to include two of the most promising youngsters in the deal that brought him to Liverpool so stop the rot and get rid of Roy!!
left to me i wouldnt criticise steven g or Jamie Carr for their actions in getting rid of Benitez,these two lads are English and they think a club of liverpool stature has been managed too long in the hands of foreign managers,Benitez didnt help matters he lacks rapport with the players and was at loggerheads with other players.Stevie G has been instrumental long before now remember our interest in Barry,Stevie G wanted him then and instigated Benitez to go after him hence sacrificing Alonso for Barry isnt shrewd enough(Rafa and stevie G got it all wrong there)the next season Alonso proved the odds wrong by putting wonderful display all season and we finished 2nd to the league winner..Stevie G in collaboration with Carragher convinced Purslow on the appointment of Roy Hodgson now they would be bitting their hands why they did because this man Roy Hodgson has been too woeful coupled with his boring games,boring tactics,out dated and primitive ideas etc..However it is up to the fans to pile pressure on the owners getting rid of Roy and the owners should hand in King Kenny temporary management role till the end of the season..
Yeah I remember the Carra-refuse-to-play-at-right-back story. Lost a lot of respect for the player especially since Skrtel had an absolute howler playing right back in the next game.
He says he bleeds red and will do whatever, but refuse to play where the manager tells him to. I think that might also have been the year we came second, and any points would have been welcome.
If this is true, about player power, then you have to wonder why some players are signed but never settle into the team? El-Hadji Diouf is probably not a good example here, but on the face of it something smells. YNWA
I am relieved to know that I am not the only one thinking like this while paradoxically I am extremely sad that two of our greats have become two of our greatest problems at a time when we need solutions. I don’t particularly wish to see them relieved of their duties but as some have said, maybe the only way forward is for us to start again without the two (what blasphemy). How is a new manager going to assert any authority if what has happened is allowed to carry on?
This is absolute hogwash.
First we finished 7th! That is not good enough for Liverpool. Secondly, this nonsense and conspiracy is not the lfc way.
Stop writing garbage
farhaan , no player is bigger than the club , at the moment one player it seems is bigger than the club , not for long my friend then my club will grow once again with young hungry talent. tom and john will sort this shit out !!
Farhaan,
The Liverpool way is that the manager runs the team, not the players. The Liverpool way is to pass and move, let the ball do the work and play to win. The Liverpool way is to sell players who are past their prime when they have served their purpose. Paisley and Shankly were masters at these things. Roy clearly isn’t.
Rafa was our best hope since Kenny of winning. 18 months ago he nearly led us to victory but for the Mancs scraping through with help from Tevez. (Note, Rafa wanted to sign Tevez but the board didn’t back him and the Mancs got him – imagine!!)
The fans are angry and frustrated, we are looking around for where we can vent our frustration. Until Roy goes this will sadly continue and there will be a lack of unity until a REAL leader and REAL top manager is appointed.
NESV over to you…. please act and be careful who you take advice from. Recent history has shown that ex-players are not the best judges!
Seriously, are we going to have a go at our two best players, the only ones apart from Reina and Kuyt that actually try to win games for the team. You can question their form or ability but please do not question their love for the club. This article serves nothing but to divide fans. I’m normally a fan of this site. No players are bigger than the club but without Stevie and Carra where would be over the last 10 years. How about being grateful for their wonderful service. Now they are geting on and I think Carra should not be an automatic choice, but Stevie has at least 3 years left, so lets appreciate him while we still have him. I honestly do not think that they are that powerful. When it comes to the state that Liverpool are in, you are picking on the wrong targets. The mess we are in is a mixture of H&G, Purslow, Hodgson and a splash of Rafa. As much as I love the man, he could start a fight in a phone box!