THIS MEANS MORE FURY
The match hardly matters when such a sickening betrayal of a proud club has enraged loyal fans...
THIS means more. You know the dreadful slogan. You will have winced at it, rolled your eyes and poured scorn on it. Today, with dark irony, it is quite fitting.
This means more rage, more embarrassment. This means while Liverpool’s owners have driven a wedge between themselves and their fans on several occasions before, with plans for £77 tickets and furloughing staff, this one is the size of a canyon. They deserve the opprobrium that rains down on them.
‘This club, just like the Boston Red Sox, couldn’t exist without its supporters,’ said Tom Werner, Liverpool chairman, on October 17, 2010, shortly after Fenway Sports Group had completed their purchase of the club. ‘They are central to our considerations.’
Rubbish. One thing the people of Liverpool know is bluster; they have long memories, are prepared to be cynical, and those who have often been sceptical about the owners’ motives are disgusted they have shown their true face. This was only ever about more money.
Shame on Werner, shame on principal owner John W Henry for not having the courage to speak out. Shame on them for putting Jurgen Klopp in the spotlight to deal with a mess entirely of their making on a night when the team had a game of huge significance.
One thing Klopp cannot abide is distractions or disruptions in the build-up. Yet here he was, on the touchline at Elland Road after locals had screeched their fury at the Liverpool bus, walking a public relations tightrope. His feelings were apparent.
‘I’m 53 and since I was a player the Champions League was there,’ said Klopp. ‘As a player it was not possible (for me) but as a manager the aim was always to coach a team there. I have no issues with the Champions League. I like the competitive fact of football. I like the fact West Ham might play Champions League next year. I don’t want them to — to be honest — because we want that, but I like that they have the chance.
‘What can I say? It’s really not easy. The most important parts of football are the supporters and the team. We have to make sure that nothing gets in between that. I heard we’ve put the (Kop) banners down at Anfield. I don’t understand this because the players didn’t do anything wrong. We have to stick together.’
Easier said than done. Klopp and his players can feel aggrieved if they find the narrative around them so negative but this is what happens when there is guilt by association. Football makes the city of Liverpool turn; when there is a sense of betrayal, as there is now, the hurt means more.
Stand-in captain James Milner made his feelings known after the match, becoming the first player at a Super League club to directly oppose the plans. ‘I don’t like it,’ he said, ‘and I don’t want it to happen.’
Leeds striker Patrick Bamford added his voice, saying: ‘Football is ultimately for the fans. Without them every single club would be pretty much nothing. It is important we stand our ground and show football is for the fans and try to keep it that way.’
This is all on Henry and Werner and their cohorts, who allowed Joel Glazer, Manchester United’s chairman, to be quoted on Liverpool’s official website on Sunday telling supporters that driving a truck through tradition was a good thing. Pathetic.
‘We came into this not knowing an awful lot about football,’ Henry told this newspaper on July 24, 2012. Nine years on, he has not learned a great deal. Henry hit the jackpot when Liverpool appointed Klopp in October 2015; the club’s value has since mushroomed.
That has only happened, however, because they have been so proficient in games of this nature.
There was something symbolic about Leeds being the opposition here, given the place they hold in Liverpool’s heritage from that first FA Cup final triumph in 1965.
It’s a classic fixture. It’s not like playing Real Madrid or Barcelona every year, with no jeopardy. What is the point of sport if you remove the uncertainty?
‘This club needs to be playing in the Champions League,’ Henry said on August 7, 2013. ‘That’s what Liverpool Football Club is about.’
It is, John. You will find words from Mark Lawrenson elsewhere in these pages that evocatively articulate what it means to represent Liverpool in the European Cup but you could also see here how much Klopp’s squad wanted to be in it next year. They don’t want to be alienated because of the avarice of venture capitalists in Boston — a city that was in the midst of a revolution in 1773.
Greed was at the heart of the Boston Tea Party and greed is at work again now. Fenway Sports Group and their 11 cohorts have vandalised institutions. This is why the fury means more.
For the record, Sadio Mane’s goal was cancelled out by Diego Llorente’s late header. Liverpool lie sixth, though nobody cares.
LEEDS UNITED (4-1-4-1): Meslier 7; Ayling 7, Llorente 7, Struijk 7, Alioski 7 (Klich 79min); PHILLIPS 8.5; Costa 6 (Poveda 67, 7), Dallas 7, Roberts 6 (Hernandez 86), Harrison 6; Bamford 7. Subs not used: Casilla, Davis, Koch, Berardi, Shackleton, Gelhardt. Scorer: Llorente 87. Booked: Dallas, Alioski. Manager: Marcelo Bielsa 7. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 7; AlexanderArnold 7, Fabinho 6, Kabak 6, Robertson 6; Milner 7, Thiago 7, Wijnaldum 6; Jota 7 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 81), Firmino 6, Mane 7 (Salah 71, 6). Subs not used: Adrian, Tsimikas, R Williams, N Williams, B Davies, Keita, Shaqiri. Scorer: Mane 31. Booked: Firmino. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 6.5. Referee: Anthony Taylor 6.