How I feel as a Liverpool fan from Singapore (1.3667 N, 103,7500 E)

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I have been a Liverpool fan since I was 10, (Primary 4 – 1990) which happened to be the last time Liverpool won the League. I have been mocked and ridiculed by friends and foes alike on the stupidity of supporting a team that has fallen from grace, that is Liverpool FC. My best friends are Man U fans but no hard feelings as we are Football fans first.

Football is my Religion and Liverpool is my Shrine. It was football that started my love affair with Liverpool FC and long it shall last.

At that time, I didn’t even know they won anything but it was after I first watched them play that I became a Liverpool fan ever since.

The fluid passing and movement, the consummate ease of getting past their markers, the ferocious team spirit and above all, the blood RED jersey that the players wore made me fell in love with that team. Red has been my favourite colour ever since.

Regrettably, fans of my era never got to see Liverpool lift the league trophy again and after so many seasons of disappointments, I am hopeful the era of Brendan Rodgers would get us closer to winning it.

The best moment as a Liverpool fan so far? It has got to be that Magical, Miraculous and Magnificent night on 25 May 2005. IT was our FIRST MAJOR FINAL as a Liverpool fan and we were up in the wee hours of the morning (Singapore time) watching our beloved Liverpool play AC Milan. At half time, with the commentator describing the football played by AC Milan as out of this world. We were shattered. A couple of my pals turned to the X-Box and started playing FIFA to console or distract themselves.

I sat in front of the TV stunned but yet I had this hope in my heart that we, Liverpool FC can still get something out of this game.

The rest, as we know it, is without parallel the happiest and proudest moment as a Liverpool Fan (for me) in the Premier League era.

I have the greatest respect for Rafa Benitez as he was the only manager so far that has brought us the closest to ever winning the league and giving us so many memorable European and cup nights as well as Istanbul. To me, he is the greatest manager of the premier league era for Liverpool and I am sure Brendan Rodgers can emulate him or go on to get us our first league title.

I live and breath Liverpool, constantly checking on the Club’s latest news and stories via Twitter and Facebook which has helped linked up Liverpool fans all over the world. Sad to say, I have never been to Anfield as it is quite expensive to be travelling to the UK from where I am. I harbour the hope of at least going there ONCE in my lifetime and I really hope I can fulfil this dream of mine…. :)

After last night’s match, which was a disappointing result. I was disheartened and some what disappointed at the reactions of some of our fellow fans. Calling for Brendan’s sacking after only the opening match???? It just defies common sense and logic to think that a fellow Red can think of that.

I know each and every one of us, fans, is entitled to our own thoughts and comments but seriously, calling for the head or making over the top comments on our team and coach is uncalled for, even if the performance was well below expectations.

Coming to expectations, all of us have high hopes whenever a new season begins but it seems to me that people have forgotten how far Liverpool have fallen behind (mine you, 22 years and counting is a long, long drought) and yet expect us to challenge for the league trophy or even a top four finish?

I am not trying to belittle my love, but the fact is, we are not the Liverpool from the 80s. We are just another premier league team. (but we have the proudest and best fans in the world!)

After so many years, for once in my life as a Liverpool fan, I have finally witnessed a strong will and change of direction that our club is finally taking with the appointment of Brendan Rodgers and along with it the change in the way our football will be played.

All I can hope for is for us, fans to give him time to work his stuff and not just jump on the backs of our manager and players after just ONE match into the new season, this I feel, just gives the whole team undue pressure and in turn, we may end up back to square one, like when King Kenny was sacked.

The brand of football that BR is advocating does not and will never happen over night. We, as fans, can only give the team the support that they need and back the manager to bring us back to the top!

I know we will get there though I do not know when we will.

Above all, we are Liverpool FC, the team with the proudest football tradition in the world and a fan base that reaches a small little dot (on the map, if you can find it) in the far eastern part of the world, that is Singapore.

Thanks Antoine, for letting me write to you and let’s look forward to this new season with renewed hope & belief!

YNWA

Derek

Twitter: dereklim09
I am 32 years old this year and am a proud father of 2 lovely baby girls (23 months & 9 months old) with my lovely wife who tolerated my crazy love for this club all these years.

29 Comments

  1. Hi,

    Very well written article n i know where ur feelings are coming from, I am from India and been a red fan for 26 years and the ridicule we face as LFC fans from other club followers is never ending till we lift the league title. Though i agree with your point that asking for BR’s head at this point is too early i do empathize with the same fans. BR did some good work with swansea which is a mid table club but with LFC we are still the top dog, we still have more cups than any other clubs in EPL. Lets face is he doesn’t have the quality to take the club to same level as we wud like to see. As a manager i for one honestly dont feel he has the network or charisma to lure big name players to our club.My complaint is more about the owners than with BR, the owners should have made sure we got a world class coach who can get this club going than BR who i feel is a compromise candidate than anything else. Hope i am proven wrong.

  2. Agree with you fully, I was born in England in the west midlands but I never had the chance to watch a game at Anfield, I live in Canada now moved here at the age of 10. Can’t even remember when I started supporting Liverpool but it must have been before I learned to walk and talk. I was born in 1990 as well, and I agree with you that Benitez was the greatest manager Liverpool had from our era. What all these nay sayers have to understand is that if we get rid of Rodgers, and the next man comes in, and get rid of that guy and then get another man in. We will never accomplish anything, but it was the right decision to get rid of Hodgson ahah, common sense IMO. I would rather waste away 4-5 years on a manager’s strategy than oust him in his first year (unless it was Hodgson). Benitez needed time, which was how he was great, and should never have left. Letting Kenny go is also a waste, because now Carroll, Henderson and Adam are on the bench doing nothing and team is paying for it. Not saying Kenny would have done better than Rodgers, who knows, but now that Rodgers is manager, people should get behind him. There are too many fans out there spouting their personal knowledge on how the team should be operating, I think we should all just shut-up and stop talking about it, and just hope for the best.

  3. Gerard was totally irrelevant second half – he is finished in his current role – Use him as twin centre back and get a better captain

  4. just fucking spend some money fsg, we all know whats going
    on, if anyone as a true red after whats gone on after this piss poor summer market and the way we have gone about our business is happy then your a fool.

    Liverpool are in a bad way lets face it, please take a step back and look at out options going forward, have you done that, ok great now tell me the truth?

    fucking fsg and fuck you ian ayre

    1. Sam, I do agree with you…BUT tone down the vitriol.
      Reserve that kind of vitriol from December onwards when the true picture of the season has unfolded. For now try to bottle up your anger and wait for the right time, which, I think, is December onwards.

      YNWA.

  5. I AM SO MUCH IN LOVE WITH THE CLUB, I FEEL SO BAD SEEING US GO DOWN IN THIS FORM. BECAUSE OF THE LOVE I HAVE FOR THIS CLUB I NAME MY SON AFTER OUR CAPTAIN GERRARD. MO BAD RESULT WILL MAKE DISLIKE MY CLUB. WE WILL NEVER WALK ALONE.

  6. Hi
    I know what all our supperters are feeling,i am 47 years old and i remember everything and i was feed up watching liverpool winning titles and champions league and uefa cup but know a big tunder storm came and it doesn’t want to pass from us.i wish that the owners buy star players because with peanuts you buy monkeys and it is a long time since we won the league.i hope we do not do like utd after 28 years they won the league

  7. I am your neighbor red from jakarta :) and me too been a fan since 1990 just a few days after we won the #18 (11 years old that time)

    Similar stories there mate, so agree with almost everything you say.

  8. Hello, I am from Greenland, very good article. Theres a lot of liverpool fans too in greenland! Lets just try again… we’ll do it until we lift the trophie with crown ;) even sometimes i fall about LFC but i am still proud to wearing the RED mighty LFC shirt and still singing “you’ll never walk alone”. COME ON REDS and REDS FANS in all wide world And the best fans in the WORLD!!! Even some times my girlfriend advice me about giveng up about Liverpool but she allready knows the answer:NEVER!!! Thanks DAREK YNWA :)

  9. Hi,

    1st of all, well written article and I have the same feelings that you have. Been constantly taunt and ridiculed from other club’s fans specially from you know who fans. After the first game, I don’t know why some fans start to call for Rodger’s head. Why no one blaming the players? Saturday performance shows that our players are not hungry to win. Their body language shows it all. I remember the season where we finished 2nd in PL where we never ever give up even in dying minutes. After 3rd goal, all player become like headless chicken. It’s like they don’t want to play anymore. I felt like they are not proud to wear that red jersey anymore. And the senior players, specially Gerrard, who many times pop up with many inspiring moments let us down. The best midfield player in the world looked absolute average that day. There’s a question who going to lift the team up when he hung up his boot. The answer is still nobody. We need to be hungry again if we really want to win it. There’s no point bringing world class manager if players are not hungry enough. The night darkest just before dawn. I hope the dawn is coming.

  10. Derek, I understand how you feel, the agony of waiting for 22 years. I am not that long a supporter. I only became a Kop-addict during the golden boys era of Gerard & Owen. It was a time where Houllier played very boring football but I stuck to it after he guided us to a cup treble.

    Then came Benitez who lead us to a nervy and miraculous Istanbul triumph. We came close to winning the league title in 2009. All these were heart-pulsating moments which gave us some glimpse of hope only to fade away soon. We were almost there but not there yet kinda feeling.

    Yet I stuck on to LFC despite the abysmal management of Hodgson & King Kenny. Now new hope presents itself in the form of Brendan Rodgers. We had a slight tumble in the opening match. Unlike some naysayers, I won’t write him off as I believe the Northern Irishman is the right candidate to bring back the lost glory to Anfield. The season is still long. I say, we let Rodgers fix his errors and build the team with his own pace.

    Pep Guardiola did not build Barcelona in a day. He too suffered defeat in his first La Liga match. Before his appointment his background was doubtful. He came from the B Team and his only achievement (that time) to boasts was only in the 3rd Division. Now he shocked the world by winning the league title and European Cup back-to-back in a span of 4 years.

  11. In response the to original article I can only voice my own sorrows in three words Despair, Disappointment and Depression. It is monday and I am still down. So I can understand the other fans reaction, the hype the talk has not been met on the pitch where it matters and hope looks like a hard word to hold onto.
    I have supported Liverpool for 42 years, so I have seen it all and as such I believe Buck Rodgers can give us the football style we need to be in contention to win the league and the cl. As for top players not wanting to come to liverpool fc in the first reply, I think that is a ignorant statement to make, who was a top player for Swansea last year and they beat Man City and us to boot, players will always want to come to a successful club and one with a history to match. Players will want to come to the PL because the salaries are much higher.
    Where do Liverpool FC go from here is up to the players we have, I think a lot of our top players need to look at the mselves after Saturday and make the impovement.

  12. Hi,

    I’m a 32 year old living out in Japan but was born in Merseyside, Wirral and was a Liverpool Fan since as long as I can remember.

    In the 80s I was still too young but I remember following the Club since Ian Rush was playing and loved the attacking play that came from John Aldridge, Robbie Fowler (God), McManaman, Stan Collymore, Jamie Redknapp and Jason McAteer. Yes the defence was a little suspect but we still had Ruddock, Jones, “Calamity James” and it was all good.

    I was at Liverpool University when the likes of Hyppia, Henchoz, Riise, Owen, Heskey, Gerrard, Hamann, McAllister managed by Houllier won us the Uefa Cup, Carling Cup and FA Cup and paraded them around the City! Those were epic days only eclipsed when we finally brought home the Champions League in Istanbul.

    For me Rafa Benitez (unfairly criticised, ridiculed and mocked) by opposition fans, the press and sadly even our own fans just goes to show how far we have regressed as supporters.

    Seriously…sacking a man of his pedigree (a man who won the La Liga against the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barca) and got us into the Champions League regularly on less than 20 million net a year until the funds withered to an extent where we could no longer compete….we need our head’s checked, re-examined and CT scanned.

    When we assigned Hodgson who didn’t embody the Liverpool spirit and was Fergie’s pal, negative in approach and unambitious I thought we were in trouble.

    When the King returned, I thought the good times were to come but was worried about the amount of time he was out of the game. The media was relentless and our British policy (for extortionate amounts) was frustrating but I was still hopeful. Our League results was nothing to write home about but at least we had a Cup to celebrate and I thought maybe some of these young players will come good eventually the following season alongside some more astute foreign purchases.

    Fast Forward to 2012. We signed a promising young manager in Brendan Rodgers who would bring back a pass and move style that we have not seen in a long while. Was this a risk? Yes it is! Just because something works at a smaller Club where there is less expectation and less pressure it doesn’t mean it will work at a bigger Club. For all of Swansea’s swagger, they still shipped a lot of goals in defence.

    I won’t write off BR and the tiki taka he wants to implement but we need to work on being solid first before playing experimental, free flowing football which can be suicidal if the team aren’t on the same wavelength. We can blame the penalties or Phil Dowd but however you cut it, 0-3 is an embarassing scoreline against West Brom. The exhibition, 5-a-side in the park footie exposed our defence and made Albion look like Real Madrid.

    Now Pep Segura is on his way out of the Club, we have severed our ties with the Spanish (former Barca) ties which is ironic as well as alarming.

    The owners have slowly down-sized our Club, trimming the squad and have not attempted to keep a hold of some of the more valuable staff members. I hope we do not risk undoing the hard work Rafa did in setting Liverpool up for future success.

  13. Good Morning,

    Derek and Santosh’s comments noted especially one from Derek which is heart breaking,
    I am a Reds supporter for 40 years and a Liverpudlian thru and thru to such an extent that my three sons are named Kevin (Keegan),Owen (traitor) and Alistair (Gary mac),
    Diehard fans we are and will remain but the time for “glory again” is long overdue and all the excuses but time and patience………we demand results and success again ,
    Rodgers may have all the credentials to be a Big Manager but that is the future (hope to eat those words) and Rafa is our saviour with Rodgers by his side,
    Sell those players whose heart is not RED enough ,break the bank once more,sign quality or proven players that are available to achieve a TOP 4 and qualify for Champions League……..and then watch the top players lining up to join POOL.
    Yes,we want to relive ISTANBUL 2005 again and we will but the premier league is and should be our first objective so that we can silence those ManU guys again,
    Derek,the insults I have been tolerating since 1990and continue even yesterday about our shirt and when will I learn that those glory days will not return again…….all I said was that you will eat those words one of these days…..and like you these are close friends ,
    Keep the head held high guys ,for all of the above to happen it is unfortunately not in our hands but FENWAY got to realise that this is a different ball game to what they used to……….as u say and Bill Shankley said it too…Football is a religion and off course the shrine is Liverpool……..

    Red Forever and U never walk alone…….
    Terry

  14. Derek you have said it all,time need to be given to rodger and be patient as well.i believe in his style with right playes to come in to anfield.

  15. I wouldn’t say the article is well-written. Definitely not up there in terms of written quality, but it made a lot of sense.

    I, too, have respect for Rafa. What he has done in 2005 has cemented my support for LFC. But i liked Kenny too. I think Kenny had things going for us, barring one prolific goal poacher. We played well for most of the matches we lost last season. We dominated possession, had way more chances, but we were just unable to score. Lucas’ injury and Suarez’s controversy was also another turning point that affected the morale of the players.

    I believe Suarez is our key man this season. I feel like he is the only player that burns the passion to play. If he performs and scores, we could have finished the game against WBA despite the penalties (which i thought was atrocious). Long should try to stay on his feet more. Even towards the latter half of the game, Suarez was still going for it, even when the match was probably finished by then. He just needs to put his scoring boots on.

    About Brendan Rodgers (BR), i like his transfers and policies but i see the same situation with Dalglish. Lots of good work, possession and attempts, but no goals. I am a little worried as he is a bit too obsessed with his brand of tiki-taka. Firstly, our players have yet to get use to the system considering LFC players are pretty bad at first touches based on what i saw last season. Second, the whole world is trying to beat FC Barcelona’s tiki-taka which in my opinion is far superior than what we have at the moment. Even then, Barcelona failed to win the league and CL last season.

    Still, i want to trust BR, as he has worked with great coaches before and i hope he is able to tinker around in case his brand of football is broken apart. i hope he has what it takes to bring LFC’s players potential to their best and not limit them to solely his ideals.

    I like what i saw at the beginning of the match against WBA. I’ll admit the penalties probably had a huge effect on the players. It would have been heartbreaking to see Agger off, but the penalty save would have boosted everyone’s morale. But after the second penalty, the players would have probably resigned to the fate that it wasn’t their night.

    I hope to see more of players with the never-give-up passion with runs deep in Liverpool. The spirit that brought back the Champions League trophy in 2005.

    YNWA.

    1. Well thought out. There is an interesting statistic I gleaned from some media that last season Liverpool had 51 more shots than ManU but 41 less goals! That was fantastic attacking football by any measure but just lacked finishing. If only Dalglish had been given another shot this season to enable him to tweak and sharpen the attack like he did with Blackburn in 1995 we would be talking something different. In short, Liverpool needs very long patience from both the owners (and directors) and fans alike in order to see the fruits of its brand. Otherwise very soon it will 40 years without getting the league trophy, let alone top 4.

  16. HI all,

    Thanks a lot for the comments and we all just want our club to come good some day.

    YNWA

    Derek

  17. With Liverpool you need instant success, no other way, we are too big of a Club to hang around and wait, look at AC Millan do they go and wait for years to built up?!! All the big great clubs will find way to compete, we need two world class strikers and a midfielder and we are back in business, I hope that FSG do what is expected from them otherwise another season of disappointment.

  18. How fast we forget…. This is a fellow Singaporean Red since the 60’s. I believe the what’s even worse than the insulting comments from fans of other teams are those by supposed RED fans themselves. About why I always have this undying hope that it can only get better. Well just to remind ourselves, I pulled this out from the history section of LFCTV. The similarities are actually quite… well I’ll leave it up to your good selves to realise how far we have dropped. And I’m not referring to the team but to ourselves as true RED fans. I don’t know what this season or the next will bring but all I’m assured of is that I’ll still be a RED. Forever. And yes my 16 yr old son is named Ian. He get’s it bad from his friends and questions the progress of Liverpool too. Hard to push names for the other 2 kids as they were girls. YNWA

    01 December 1959
    December 1, 1959 is a date that will forever be etched in the annals of Anfield history. For it was on this day that Liverpool Football Club announced Huddersfield Town boss Bill Shankly would be their new manager in succession to Phil Taylor.

    Since suffering relegation in 1954 the Reds had tried in vain to secure their return to the top-flight. Successive near misses had taken their toll on Taylor and on November 17 he resigned.

    No-one knew at the time but the Reds were about to enter their most exciting era. Second Division mediocrity was to soon be a thing of the past as Shanks set about transforming the club’s fortunes and supporting Liverpool would never be the same again.

    John Keith (Local journalist & author): “He’d not managed any big club’s before. The biggest club he’d managed was, I suppose, Huddersfield, the one he’d came from to Liverpool. I don’t think anyone appreciated what Bill was like and I think the fans were wondering, ‘What have we got here, who is this we have signed’? But, of course, it didn’t take them very long to realise that this was the messiah. The man Liverpool wanted. They were made for each other.”

    Bill Shankly (speaking at the time of his appointment): “I am very pleased and proud to have been chosen as manager of Liverpool FC, a club of such great potential. This appointment is a challenge to me. It is my opinion that Liverpool have a crowd of followers which rank with the greatest in the game. They deserve success and I hope, in my small way, to be able to do something towards helping them achieve it. When the challenge was made to me I simply could not refuse to accept it.”

    John Keith (Local journalist & author): “He’d not managed any big club’s before. The biggest club he’d managed was, I suppose, Huddersfield, the one he’d came from to Liverpool. I don’t think anyone appreciated what Bill was like and I think the fans were wondering, ‘What have we got here, who is this we have signed’? But, of course, it didn’t take them very long to realise that this was the messiah. The man Liverpool wanted. They were made for each other.”

    Bill Shankly (speaking at the time of his appointment): “I am very pleased and proud to have been chosen as manager of Liverpool FC, a club of such great potential. This appointment is a challenge to me. It is my opinion that Liverpool have a crowd of followers which rank with the greatest in the game. They deserve success and I hope, in my small way, to be able to do something towards helping them achieve it. When the challenge was made to me I simply could not refuse to accept it.”

    Shankly’s officially took charge of his first Liverpool game on December 19th. Unfortunately, he could only sit and watch as the Reds crashed to a 4-0 home defeat against Cardiff City. Another loss at Charlton followed a week later but on December 28th he recorded his first win – 2-0 in the Anfield return against the Addicks – and a new era was up and running.

    Stephen Done: “No-one must ever forget that he absolutely revolutionised Liverpool Football Club. And he set up a system that lasted right through to the days when Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and then Kenny Dalglish took over. Right up until say the beginning of the Nineties, what Shankly started continued.”

    Peter Hooton: “Since the Sixties, Liverpool’s record is second to none, in Europe as well. And there is an actual feeling that there is an institution here. And even though we’ve had tragedies, tragedies we’ve all cried over, there was always that feeling that this is a special club. Not many clubs have got that and obviously we have to thank Bill Shankly for that.
    Everything stems from the day he came to Anfield in December 1959.

    1. it’s the same story so yes patience and the dream will become a reality. so another no sleeper tomorrow bro. What to do? that’s what being a Singaporean Red is all about.

  19. im 32 from indonesia.,we had exactly same feeling about our beloved LFC…Hope i can go to anfield someday.
    nice article

    YNWA

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