David Moyes is moaning and grumbling that there is a big financial divide across Stanley Park. Well Mr. Moyes part of all this is your doing and your club’s stubbornness not to be like Kopites.
When Rafa Benitez called Everton a small club a couple of seasons ago Mr. Moyes was offended and he reiterated that they are “The People’s Club”. They even have a banner at Goodison which reads “The People’s Club”, how idiotic can you be? You barely can fill up Goodison and without global support you can not survive in the 21st century.
I am not one who likes to talk about other clubs however this issue concerns Liverpool F.C. as some young Red Scousers are being poisoned by Evertonian peers into thinking that being a global club is a bad thing. I hate to admit it but there is a growing group of young Reds who have adopted this mantra due to this peer pressure and to their frustration of not being able to get tickets to games. They also tend to make fun of the out of town supporters for spending good money at the club shop in buying club merchandise.
How stupid can you be? Not only does this generate money for the club you love (so we can afford players like Suarez) but it helps the City you live in economically. Sometimes I wonder how many jobs Liverpool F.C. is responsible of? The cabbies, the restaurants, the pubs, the luggage handlers at JLA, the hotels, the retail shops and the list goes on. Without a doubt most people come to Liverpool because of the city’s two biggest exports Liverpool FC and The Beatles.
Many times a day I am called anything from Wool to Paki by these young Red Scousers while the bitter ones usually call me a Norwegian c**t (In one instance on the day of the masacre in Norway). While I am used to it now and ignore the idiots this however does tend to intimidate many people who would love to visit your beautiful city as one of the questions I am always asked is “Liverpool a safe place to visit?”.
Liverpool F.C. was a local club until a certain man called Bill Shankly transformed it into a global giant. Originally the support came from countries in Scandinavia and former British colonies (like my home country of Malta) however thanks to satellite and cable the L.F.C. bug has now spread to every country in the world. The global powerhouse that is Liverpool F.C. was really apparent this summer when our fans in Malaysia filled one of the largest stadiums in the world for a friendly match.
Everton might be getting a hint of this and even made it across the pond this Summer to tour the United States. Thanks to their American goalkeeper they have even managed to get a Supporters club here (ps. their website doesn’t work). However at the same time their club shop was selling t-shirts mocking our Norwegian following! So it is one step forward and then two step back for our bitter neighbours.
The Toffees are now left without a pot to pee in and simply can’t move forward, the only way forward for them is to get some kind of global following which will give them more exposure and thus sell more merchandise and be in a position to demand more money from sponsors.
But then again that is Kopite Behaviour.
-Antoine
Good article. We do have our fair share of idiots who don’t have a brain cell between them.
Another point. The bluenoses are so determined not to act like Kopites that they resolutely refuse to organise themselves to remove the real blockage to progress that is Kenwright. Bitter and small minded as ever.
well said
Most people I know, welcome people to the city whatever the purpose of their visit. Many are also Evertonians.
It’s embarrassing that there is also a group of Evertonians who do not know the history of ‘Scouse’, the dialect or dish; both of which came about through the city’s connection with the likes of Ireland and Norway.
If Everton do not adapt or educate their supporters they will certainly be playing in the championship before long.
Correction: Rafa Benitez did not call Everton a “small club”, he called them a “smaller club”, a totally accurate statement, that nobody in their right mind would deny.
It was Sir Alex Ferguson who later twisted it to “small club” to have a dig at Benitez, and the press played along with him, as they always do.
Ironic, by the way, that after he launched that attack on Benitez suggesting that he called Everton a small club, Sir Alex then proceeded to field a heavily weakened side against Everton in a FA Cup semi-final, and paid the price for it when Everton triumphed.
Hypocracy as ever from Sir Alex: apparently Benitez calling Everton a small club (which he didn’t do) was criminal, but him treating Everton as a small club by fielding an inferior team against them in the semi-final was perfectly fine!
As for Everton, well, David Moyes has done a fantastic job there given the circumstances, but you are right that a minority of Everton fans have let their team down. Every football team has its share of idiot fans but Everton and Everton’s stewards should be embarrassed by the sheer number of missiles that were thrown at Craig Bellamy and Luis Suarez (and presumably other Liverpool players) yesterday.
Plastic bottles are one thing but coins and other heavy objects could easily do serious harm. The mindless idiots hurling such objects need to be found and banned, especially the coin throwers: let’s face it, if any Everton fan has some spare change then he would be better off donating it to the club to bolster David Moyes’s transfer budget…
Nice article which is not void of veracity. I am in nigeria and supporting LFC and well informed with happenings at the club. Everton is a decent club but with zero support over here. Though LFC has little support here, its a club with more global support than any other english club.
Well said.
Liverpool till I die, and through the night on the other side!
We still must be thankful for nEverton however, for without “them”, there would be no “us”…
YNWA
As a Norwegian i find it hurtful that they said something like that on the day of the massacre. You must not forget that they also sang about Hillsborough and Heysel.
Well phrased Antoine. I will always rememember what John Aldridge calls “backhanded compliments”. Jealousy (ala Evertonians) and constant mention of LFC (ala MUFC “support” songs) is evidence of how relevant we remain.
Come to think about, even secure SAF made a mention of Rafa despite no provocation at all (recently)!
Let them speak all they want. Let Everton remain a victim forever. That changes nothing regarding our status as Reds.
PS: From the little I’ve observed here in Nairobi, even “well supported” clubs like Arsenal are losing fans in droves. There’s lots of insults aimed at the Kop Nation but also plenty of respect. There’s widespread acclaim about our loyalty and fanatical love of LFC. There’s also plenty of admiration for our stubborn refusal to desert LFC.
Bring on the hate. We feed off it at Liverpool FC, the true Peoples Club.
you cant justify wat everton fans did, but there is one man who always gets away with murder and has not taken any blame. and that my friends is a jobs worth normally dressed in black. yes the REFF, you see it in sunday league football to, reff makes bad decicions and there attitude stinks and it winds people right up.
if i paid my hard earned cash and saw my beloved football team doing well and then some bloke who apparently knows the rules but clearly dont know the game, do wat he did, id be pretty annoyed. and it esculates from there. these reffs need to be bought to justice
The amount of objects being thrown onto the pitch at the end of the match was shocking and disgraceful, i don’t think i have ever seen as many missiles thrown in a premiership match. Something should be done, heavy million pound fines or even make them play in front of an empty stadium next home match. So much for the so called ‘peoples club’. Disgraceful.
Is liverpool a safe place to visit?
yes Nic
Liverpool have a worldwide support because they were in Europe year in year out. The heroics at Istanbul also burnt them in to the psyche of football fans around the world. Everton can never emulate this. They have been marginalised by the LFC/MUFC rivalry and are premier league makeweights
drakerichards it happened before that, there are thousands of Liverpool fans (like me) who have been supporting the club for over 30 years. We come from Malta, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Norway, Denmark and many other countries.
wet stains on me bed , jt sneeking in to my gaff and servicing my missus everyday , at least hes scoring cos i aint
Great article Antoine! Two weeks ago I went to Anfield to watch us playing Wolves, I spent £200 for the ticket which equate to $400 Australian dollars, about £200 for the hotel, also spent about £400 on souvenirs at LFC shop. Because I love this club as much as any “local” scouse I too am well informed about the happenings within the club. Being all the way from Australia our games usually played around 3am & I usually stay up to watch it live. I willingly happy to spent all that money as many time possible and sleepless nights watching Liverpool play because this is my club
Disgraceful scenes of missile throwing from the baying bitter fans.They should be fined £30,000 – I reckon that would just about put them out of business (chuckle).
Thank you for bringing this increasingly worrying situation to the fore. My son is a loyal red who attends as many home and away matches that he can. He tells me that he has been labelled a “wool” and various other names that I care not to mention here.
I have been a loyal supporter for nearly 50 years. I live in N. Wales but my Grandparents had friends in Liverpool over 90 years ago. I spent many wonderful holidays at our friends homes.I attended my first LFC game as a 13 year old in the sixtees (Sheffield W) an experience I will never forget.The people I know and new are warm, loving and caring with a woderful sense of humour.
Liverpudlians are liverpudlians first and English, Welsh, Irish, Scotish etc. second. The city has always welcomed visitors, refugees, immigrants from all over the world. This is what makes the city such a vibrant place. Many scoucers can trace their ancestry to the Celtic nations and further afield to many of the countries of the Commonwealth.
We must not let this, I hope, small minority of misguided, insular bigots, undermine the unity of our great
club. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for our supporters who travel to matches from all over the world. Long may it continue. What would the great man who started our revolution say If he was alive today? YNWA.
Fantastic Philc
I am as scouce as they come and love to see and read about people from all over the globe ,visiting the city and Anfield.
All fans are welcome and please all come and enjoy our great city and club.
As for the Everton fans who aimed objects at the players at godson,you should hang your head in shame.if Everton football club does not kick those idiots out of there club (it probably says more about them and why they are struggling to obtain outside investment)
After all who would want to be associated with such an organisation that can not set an example to it’s own fans.
great post, peoples club me ass
YNWA
To balance the juvenuille rantings above. The missiles at the derby were indefensible but no more so than Liverpool fans attacking Alan Smith’s ambulance, throwing excrement over travelling Man United fans, physically attacking Phil Neville as he took a throw-in, spitting at Arteta taking corners, destroying an entire toiled block at Old Trafford last year (for which Liverpool FC had to pay incidentally), the co-ordinated attack on the gates at Athens (and this after Hilsborough as well!!!), being named as the worst supporters in Europe by UEFA, “We have an independent police report mentioning 25 incidents since 2003 caused by Liverpool fans away from home. That’s the most of any team in Europe and these are in the report. We should all be very pleased that no one was hurt.” William Gaillard UEFA…great fans? great club? You decide. There’s the bullying of two very old women into selling their lifelong homes, the attrocious treatment of Bill Shankley after he left the club, the treatment of a party of Turin schoolchildren in the wake of Heysel, numerous accusations of tapping up players from the 1990s onwards, the dreadful handling of youth players, the Michael Shields Affair where everyone has forgotten the main issue: Martin Georgiev was seriously injured indeed almost killed whether Shields was involved or not Georgiev was attacked by LFC fans…..more? I could go on for a very long time!!
John, you call it juvenile ranting and you obviously didn’t read it because your rant has nothing to do with what I said in the article.
If accusing people of ‘racist’ comments is juvenile then I want to remain juvenile for the rest of my life.