Fernando Torres is gone. And as much as we would like to forget about him, it’s only human to hate him and curse him in Chelsea colors.
Torres was not just an LFC player, but he was the faint glimmer or hope (of course along with Stevie, Carra, Pepe) that helped us pass through the troubled times of last ownership era. Unfortunately, the Torres era has ended soon after. Both, lasted about three and a half years. And, both saw us off trophy-less. Ironically, Fernando left us in quest of trophies… What is also of note here is that Fernando hasn’t won any great club honors. Actually, none whatsoever in the top flight of club football. Even the two international titles saw not too many notable performances from him. He was totally overshadowed by David Villa, ironically, his close friend. 1st February 2011 promises to be a dawn of new era for Liverpool FC and apart from the signings, we’ve also got rid of the silver-repeller, trophy-jinx kid.
More than two-thirds of the time that Fernando was here, he played sub-par or was unfit. At times, he was even ‘diabolical’. But we didn’t say that loud. We loved him too much to hurt him, lest he read or heard any. If someone said something bad, we were sure to shoo them away, like Kenny’s statement about the magic wand.
Quite simply, he was something we absolutely loved about Liverpool. He was also something we were proud of. World’s best striker playing for us thru the worst times, standing by us (last August’s interview; Scarf and World Cup photo)… all the virtues of being a Red and all the virtues of being a really really loved Red.
But what was Fernando?
- He was a sulker, Of course
- He was a jinx – he never won anything for any club (maybe that’s taking it a little too far but also has a feel-good optimism about it)
- He was disloyal
- He was disrespectful – while you can say a lot of things to please the 50,000 odd Chelsea of the world, say that this is as big as it gets is downright disrespectful to LFC.
- He was money-minded (amazing you can say that about footballers because they already make more in a week than most people would dream about making in a year and add image-rights, sponsorships, bonuses etc etc..)
- He was a chicken – sought out in troubled times
- He is a bad decision maker – I mean c’mon, Chelsea? If you so desperately want a trophy, go to Barcelona.
I loved Fernando immensely. So much so, that his Liverpool betrayal feels like a personal heartbreak and I do not feel ashamed of wishing that he plays his worst football for Chelsea. We loved him so much that we’re going to hate him even more.
But, I feel the shirt burning is uncalled for. Things you love in life should get precedence over things you hate. If you burn the shirt, the crest gets burnt too. I mean, common guys, can’t you get a poster of him wearing something other than a Liverpool shirt? Paper burns with better effect, especially since the effort was made only to be on TV.
Why he did what and did and when he did? Well, no one really knows this. It’s easy to assume that his agents poisoned him. This, I believe, is the love we have for him speaking. We still don’t want to blame him entirely. We want to believe that the agents poisoned our Kid. I feel that Fernando is a man who can only perform when he is confident. And a confident man, he is not. He is doubtful about his fitness, his form and, more importantly, his longevity. He is longing for a club trophy and didn’t how long he had to get one. He didn’t believe Liverpool were playing UCL next season and saw pastures elsewhere. Although he was planning it for long, it can be thought of as Plan B. The inactivity in the first half on January window may have been a case too. Or may be a tiff with another player or support staff. May even be plain and simple money. But I believe it was Champions League football (indications in his Chelsea interview –‘competing everywhere’), this season’s and next’s. After the next season Fernando would be 29+ and would be way past his prime; past, he already is. At one moment you’re thinking that you can’t play Champions League football till Aug’12 and the next moment it occurs ‘Wait! I can play that in Feb’11, only if…’ All said, maybe he is just a megalomaniac and thought he was too big for the club and wanted to move to another one (again indications from the interview when he implied Chelsea is as big as it gets). Whatever it was, he left us at the most inopportune time. He is definitely a traitor and wouldn’t and shouldn’t be our hero. Love, on the other hand, is a feeling that will take it’s own time to fade…
I sincerely believe that life’s ironies play their part. Karma will come full circle.
Here’s what I believe would pan out – we will lift a trophy this season (that could only mean Europa) and Chelsh*t will fall short of all three they’re in. What may also turn out is that Liverpool manage 4th and Chelsea are left behind at 5th. Would love to see Fernando’s face then! By the way, I hope he took away some pictures of the European cups we have in the cabinet.
All said, only if someone was to tell us tomorrow that ‘Fernando Torres has too much respect for Liverpool FC and as a part of the Chelsea deal, he insisted that he shouldn’t be debuted against them..’, would we not forgive him? If he didn’t know, we truly loved him. That ain’t gonna happen. That ain’t true either if I were to believe some reports.
Bye Bye Kid, we loved you. But good to see you’re loved so much in Chelsea already. Good to know that the manager and thousands of supporters welcomed you. Good to know that there were so many autograph hunters at your first day in training. Oh wait, it wasn’t about the fans anyway!!