To keep up with all the rumors that have been swirling around about any upcoming LFC transfers, I keep a search out on LFC through Twitter. Any time anyone puts LFC in a post, that comes up on my search.
It’s a good way to get breaking news and to gauge popular opinion. Then again, you must consider the sources.
I haven’t seen all of the LFC tweets in the past few days–not even close (all the begging for a retweet from Charlie Adam has been insane and, to be honest, desperate)–but there have been a few that stuck out.
The fan petition to sign Juan Mata:
One of the positions of need for Liverpool in this upcoming season is left wing. There are three main targets for this position: Stewart Downing, Michel Bastos and Juan Mata.
Mata is the preferred option for many LFC fans and there isn’t much to not like about the player.
Unfortunately, some Twi-tard started a petition for fellow LFC Twitterers to sign in hopes of getting John Henry, who has been more active on Twitter in recent days, to sign Mata.
It doesn’t get more embarrassing than this. Henry and Damien Comolli have been doing diligent work on trying to find and sign the right players for Liverpool. It doesn’t matter who started the petition: Liverpool fans come off looking like children.
If you’re on Twitter and see this petition, speak out against it. It’s shameful that it even exists.
FSG’s plans for a new stadium
It came out a few days ago that FSG might be favoring planning for a new stadium instead of renovating Anfield.
Something has to be done one way or another because we need ticket revenues to keep up with the likes of other teams who have huge stadiums that regularly sell out.
There has been an obvious backlash–“this is not Anfield” has been a popular rallying cry for those against a new stadium–but there has been more support for a new stadium.
I thought that staying at Anfield would have been the preferred option for FSG considering their regard for history. They are in the midst of a renovation of Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox have played since 1912.
Maybe that says something though–maybe FSG learned something in renovating Fenway. Upon completion, the process will have taken 10 years and it remains to be seen if the budget for the project ($100 million) was met or not. Given the much longer baseball offseason, it stands to reason that an Anfield renovation would take even longer than 10 years if similar work needed to be done–but that’s just speculation.
There is plenty of history at Anfield. If Liverpool are playing in a new stadium in a few years’ time, bet on a few things: There will be a Kop End and history will follow. It’s not the shirt, the player, the house: it’s the spirit that is most important.
“Man Ure Style fans”
I try not to let things people say on Twitter get to me, but one got me.
I didn’t respond to him or anything but I did retweet him just so I could save this particular fan’s opinion. Here’s the tweet, verbatim, directed at this very blog:
@dannylevey “@empireofthekop the only downside to winnin the euro cup in 05 is it attracted a load of man ure style fans that dont understand the lfc way”
He’s talking about me, in a way, and that irritated me.
Being an American, I didn’t see many European soccer games in 2005. It just wasn’t being played on television over here and at the time, I didn’t know much about it.
I was at home and the 2005 Champions League final was on television. I was doing something else, not paying that much attention to the television through the first half. But I could not tear myself away from the television from the second half on. I witnessed the greatest single-game comeback, bar none, in the history of sports. I vividly remember thinking “This Gerrard guy doesn’t quit. Down 3-0, scores, and he starts waving at the fans to get up. Might be meaningless though.” Six minutes later, I was eating my words and happy to because I was seeing a once in a lifetime sort of event.
I researched the team a little more and started to follow them. Now, six years later, I’m monitoring Twitter to keep up on transfer rumors for LFC. I even watched England’s U-17 World Cup quarterfinal match so I could see Raheem Sterling play.
There’s a stigma to becoming a fan where there’s already an established, die-hard fan base. You’re not as good because you’re new. The same happens to a certain degree for the MLS here: The fan base is much smaller, but newcomers just don’t get it. The die hards don’t want to have to deal with the new fans because they don’t understand what the club, the league, all that the die hards have been through. Basically, it comes down to the die hards hating new fans because they’re new.
Now, I’m assuming that this fan means by “man ure style” that I’m a fairweather fan, that I’m only interested in winning and I only ever liked Liverpool because they won something.
He’s guilty of generalization. There are probably those fans, but there are plenty of exceptions too.
There are fans, like me, that saw that game and understood the “Liverpool style” to use his term: there is no giving up, there is no quit. The fans were singing at halftime and the players walked through the storm. They were walking on, with hope in their hearts. Not every club is like that.
Ours is. That’s the Liverpool style. That’s why I’m a fan, a self-proclaimed die-hard fan that has never been to Anfield, that will gladly welcome any new fans there are because I know the rewards of being a fan of Liverpool Football Club.
Lastly, a fair warning: watch what you post on Twitter. You never know who’s watching.
(Shameless plug: follow me on Twitter at @cheedelt)