It was the dawn of a new season. Liverpool fans were gearing themselves up for an opening game away to Watford, delighted that the new season was finally here. And then the news came: Coutinho handed in a transfer request. What followed was a frenzy of media speculation, one that will still continue on.
Will he stay, or will he go? Is he injured or not? The speculation didn’t just end with Coutinho, but that of van Djik, among others. Is he coming or not?!, a frantic question often asked. Article after article of the same nonsense with the source only being changed. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were being consumed by the speculation of one player leaving and another arriving. At times, you’d even forget that there was, in fact, 16 or so players giving their all for the team while the spotlight was being taken by two players that could have been irrelevant two weeks later.
Perhaps, the older generation wouldn’t have to go through the pain. When speaking to an older man regarding the Coutinho matter, he simply replied that he shouldn’t go. And that was that. There wasn’t any talk of he said this, he said that. There wasn’t any talk of a mess going on behind the scenes. These were all online, in repetitive articles being published at the use of baseless sources. The frenzy becoming too much for some fans.
Within fan groups, said articles and Journalist quotes were being shared for discussion, and rightly so. What was wrong is that these articles were used as gospel. Fans attacked each other, and the ominous words ‘FSG out’ and ‘they will sell for profit and won’t buy’ plastered each comment section of each article. Fans may have plenty of justified reasons to believe that might be the case, but at the end of the day, in a world where it’s easy for a story to be carried among thousands, a sensible quote among the chaotic threads – wait until you see the player in Melwood; or in the case of departures, in another club’s respective training ground – was over shadowed. Will the frenzy end? Of course not. Speculation has already begun for the January transfer window. At the end of day, Coutinho stayed at Liverpool, van Djik stayed at Southampton – something you wouldn’t have seen written as much because it may have been interesting enough. It’s a vicious cycle. Oh, to be a Liverpool fan.
Thanks Stephen Roche for this guest post!