R.I.P.? The Liverpool Way

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For over thirty-five years, Liverpool Football Club had adhered to a special code of hon­our that made us the envy of all the other football teams. John Smith who was Chairman of the club during our Golden Years from 1973 – 1990 nourished the Liverpool Way by ensuring that the club kept it’s affairs private. In the good old days, you would never hear the chairman or owner bash the manager in public or a member of the board use abusive language to a fan. When it came to the supporters they had adopted the Kop Pledge, the Liverpool Supporters’ Four Commandments.

I) Always support the team, no matter how bad they are playing.
II) If the team is doing badly, cheer even louder as they need your support more.
III) If a player is struggling, sing his name louder and more often as he needs it.
IV) If the opposition are the better side and perform well, appreciate it and give them the credit they are due

It saddens me that I now have to admit that the Liverpool Way and The Kop pledge are currently dying a slow death. The events that are leading to the demise point to the advent of modern football and also the purchase of the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2007. The Liverpool Way went down the garbage disposal unit when Hicks and Gillett had their very public infighting and turned Liverpool Football Club into a soap opera. Then there were all those comments and statements attacking Rafa in public instead of keeping matters behind closed doors. The lowest point was eventually reached when Tom Hicks Jr. sent an abusive email to a Liverpool Supporter.

Our fans also have had a part to play in the demise as over the last few months we have been seeing more and more fans trashing our manager and our players. Some Liverpool legends have joined in the trash talk and disgraced the traditions of the very club that made them heroes.  I still could not believe of what I was about to witness, the most shocking revelation to me has been the fact that there are Liverpool fans who want Liverpool to lose a game. To my astonishment, based on online polls and comments I have seen a majority of Liverpool fans want their own team to lose against Chelsea to deny United their nineteenth title.

Yes, should United win the title they will for the first time in their history have won more league titles than us however as a Liverpool Supporter I never want my team to lose a game no matter what. It is troublesome that we are becoming bitters, there is only room for one bitter team in Liverpool and that is Everton F.C.

So I beg all those who strayed away or do not understand fully what being a Liverpool Supporter is all about to read the Kop Pledge and try to observe it.

Being a Liverpool Supporter is not just being a fan of a football team, it is more than that, it is religious experience. We take each victory together, we take each defeat together, some might call it blind faith, some might call it cult-like, those poor fools who throw these accusations are lost souls, do not become one of them.

Y.N.W.A.
Until my last breath.

-Antoine

More Stories Kop Pledge The Liverpool Way

30 Comments

  1. thanks antoine!!

    hopefully those who’d been missing out on the important things, the key part of being a supporter would realize this!

    YNWA till I die!

  2. I agree, after last night’s heart-breaking exit from the Europa Cup, we have to try and beat Chelsea.
    If only to stay in the race for 4th.

    YNWA

  3. The true Liverpool fan who follows the philosophy you speak of is not represented on online polls or even forums. The true fan is found at Anfield, from the depths of the Kop and all around the stadium. You will see on Sunday when Liverpool score what means more to them and what principles they follow. I couldn’t care less what people on Forums say, even if they call themselves ‘fans’.

  4. YNWA has never felt more important. Get behind the manager and get behind the team- but how difficult when the manager won’t say openly he is staying.
    And why are the fans being pre occupied with sorting a mess out when all they want is to watch football?

    Something has to give and hopefully soon

  5. Great Article!

    YNWA
    YNWA
    YNWA
    YNWA
    YNWA

    When will some actually listen to the song we sing?

  6. Well said my friend, we all need to stand and be counted. We will rise again, to be the mighty force that we once were but it will take commitment and dedication from every man, woman and child, players, management and staff to fulfill this. So I for one will retake the KOP PLEDGE right here and now for the love of my club.

    *Y*N*W*A*

  7. Agree completely. I have spent the last fortnight arguing with Man U fans who think we are going to roll over for Chelsea on Sunday. And as for Liverpool fans who suggest that we ought to, well, there is a special area of hell reserved for them.

  8. We don’t want to become another set of supporters who when they win a game the first thing they do is look at who’s faces they can rub it into. Let’s not become like the fans we hate!

    Support the club first and foremost, players managers will come and go it’s the club we love.

    Ynwa!

  9. The Liverpool way is dying out, because Liverpool are converting froma local club with a close local community, to a global club, with fans from 1 end of the world to the other, and companies like ryanair making traveling to home matches from abroad as cheap as a local bus ticket.

    the fact that this club is in liverpool is becomeing increasingly irrelevant, it might aswell be based in hong kong, new york, madrid, berlin, or dubai in the near future

  10. Once again antionne a great article. I was there last night and despite being gutted . I was even more proud of bein a lfc fan. Forget man united , I’m interested in smashing chelski on Sunday. I don’t care if they get title 19. It’s up to us to reclaim it back. Y N W A

  11. The passionate football supporters on Merseyside support Everton F.C.

    Everyone knows that.

  12. By the way BIG LAD, your talking shite mate. I’m a London based Liverpool fan. So because tour a local does that make you a better fan than me, or does it mean I don’t love the club as much as you, bollox. If your a liverpool fan wherever your from you should know the code fullstop. Like last night wen after the game we clapped off the Madrid team and there fans. Forget all this shite your talking about the locals are bein pushed out and all that bollox.

  13. now u can see who really walks with their club like it’s said in the song!
    True fans stay with their club through good and more importantly through bad times..

    You’ll Never Walk Alone

  14. At last, a discussion I can happily join. I was born on Merseyside but have lived in Asia for the past 20+ years. I have a season ticket which I renew dutifully every season but my seat is never empty. Being on the other side of the world doesn’t make you less of a fan (we get a loss less sleep because of the time difference). The colourful local LFC fans here in Singapore are fantastic and sing passionately before and after every game in the “East of Anfield” HQ at Harry’s Bar. Perhaps I’m vainly clinging to old fashioned values, but I believe the Four Commandments should be fiercely guarded and cherished. This season has been a nightmare but we must keep the faith. I was proud of the team last night; they played their hearts out and – as Pepe says – “the tank was empty” at the end. We can ask for nothing more. YNWA.

  15. Just seen Big Lad’s post about The Liverpool Way being lost because LFC fans are spread all over the world. What a complete crock of crap. I’ve followed the Reds in Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore; I’ve woken in the middle of the night in Japan, China, India and other far corners to join LFC fans in bars and clubs to cheer on our team. If we accept Big Lad’s xenophobic spew as gospel, then The Beatles would still be playing The Cavern as an aging cabaret act. What drivel. Get a passport man!

  16. What Rafa did last night in subs was beyond comprehension it looked like he knew defeat was inevitable (again) and as usual looked to the next game for solace, every dog has his day and take your spanish misfits with you on the way out, I am past angry now and a new brush sweeping clean from players to board members would be greatfully recieved by the kop as soon as possible.Yes true fans stick through it but everyone can see if you carry on hoping and watching rubbish players bought and quality players sold the time must come when the nmost die hard say “enough is enough” and there is no shame in admitting it right now!

  17. What Rafa did last night in subs was beyond comprehension it looked like he knew defeat was inevitable (again) and as usual looked to the next game for solace, every dog has his day and take your spanish misfits with you on the way out, I am past angry now and a new brush sweeping clean from players to board members would be greatfully recieved by the kop as soon as possible.Yes true fans stick through it but everyone can see if you carry on hoping and watching rubbish players bought and quality players sold the time must come when the most die hard say “enough is enough” and there is no shame in admitting it right now!

  18. That’s wat I mean, it gets on my tits wen people say to me that because I’m not from Liverpool I ain’t classed as a propa red. Bollox, I love lfc and always have for the past 25 years. I travel to most games , weekend and weekdays, like last night and alot of other nights I come up, I get home at 3 or 4 in the morning. So don’t it there and say coz I ain’t a local I ain’t a propa fan . Once again big lad or anyone else who has a problem with not bein local, JOG ON

  19. well, i hate to face the fact that if finally MU get the EPL trophy BUT i reject giving up for any reason, i reject loosing a game without struggling…and i hope the boys will have the same spirit…just think about our team, dont think about MU or whatever things…

  20. I am not a local red but have supported Liverpool for over 40 years. I can appreciate biglad’s point of view but hope its not the case. No reds supporters, regardless of where they are from, can make the decisions on what players are bought, sold or played or which manager is in situ. Our role is as can supporters. We all have different opinions and can express them between ourselves but the public face of a Liverpool supporter should be one which shows an unwavering support for whoever represents the club in whatever capacity.
    If a manager or player moves on so be it, but while ever they represent Liverpool FC support them without question and thank God and take pleasure in the fact that you SUPPORT LIVERPOOL FC because it just doesn’t get any better than that.

  21. listen lads,
    i have lived in Germany for half my life, and since i moved to liverpool and have gottn to know the people ,the city ,and the lifestyle i have to say it DOES make a difference where you come from. when yo live here ,liverpool fc dusnt just represent your football club, it also represent for family, friends, your community, and your home (the hillsborough memorial probably is the prime example of that).
    For another example: abroad you won`t even understand the rivalary and history we share with everton fc, how could you?, you never meet any evertonians.
    i can understand that you dont want this to be true because your guys arent from liverpool (if i was still in germany i wudnt want this to be true either) but the simple fact is it is true.
    and i`m not saying you are less passionate, but if you want to talk about the `liverpool way` , so in other words `just the way liverpool`s people are` shouldn`t you be talking about liverpool`s people?
    and as i see `fans` nowadays coming from abroad for the day , some of who even admit that they can`t speak english, but who do have a ticket for the ManUtd home game, i ask myself if they will at least be able sing along to the YNWA

  22. YNWA!

    I think itd be better to chase them – have the tag of the most PL titles off our back – cuz its like wearing a polo-neck shirt, with a back-pack on – like u have a litte midget on your back strangling u.

    We are liverpool, we are proud – and nomatter what them scums will say if they get the title – We Will Overcome. The time may not be now – but it is coming. What goes up – must come down.

    This Is Anfield – Shout out from the Red Half Of Mersey.

  23. Big Lad your comments are noted but unfair. It is obvious that supporters of the Club like muself, coming from abroad, cannot breathe the ‘Liverpool’ air the way you do. However, we suffer as much as all of you and there is a good possibility that our knowledge of football is not limited to the Liverpool/Everton rivalry.
    People like us here in Malta watch all Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga matches, so our perception of the game is wider.
    You are lucky enough to live this everyday, we are more than happy to live this everyday, from a distance. It does not make us any less supporters of LFC.
    Your comment on foreigners coming to Anfield and not being able to sing YNWA was a tad disrespectful in my view. Anyway, that is the way you see it and I will respect that, however, it does not mean you are right mate!

  24. Seriously people! LOSE on purpose? Are you kidding me? Bill Shankly would rampage at the thought. If Man U win the title fair and square then so be it. I hate them but hats off when they earn it. We will come back and grab #19 ourselves next year! We acknowledge when the other side is better with respect and then go back to work. We are Liverpool! We are Reds! We have something special here. Let’s keep it classy. And my hand is outstretched to all Reds, regardless of where you are from or what language you speak. Thank God you recognized class and tradition when you chose your side. YNWA. Now be of class. We represent those who have walked before us.

  25. hi, mr.zammit i’m from Indonesia and one of your friend on facebook. well it’s a big dilema for us. we won’t the scum lead the tittle from us and then everton was behind us. well for chelsea match i hope that sunderland can beat or make a draw with the scum. I hope for next season we will make it better and become a league champion. i hope like that…..

    YNWA till last breath

  26. I hate losing as much as the next guy, but we were always proud of the fact that we had more league titles than any other team. How do we reply to not winning a premeirship? With the fact that we’ve won the league more than any other team, then manure equal our record… won’t be long and we’ll be singing “in Istanbul we won it 5 times” and the scum will be saying…”well we’ve won it 6 times”. manure winning their 19th league title and rubbing it in our faces or us losing another game… sorry reds, its a no brainer for me.

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