I really feel for the 'supporters' who are in the Anti-Rafa Brigade. Yeah, really, if you believe cows can fly. The go on and on about wanting Rafa to be sacked while ignoring glaring FACTS. And what happens to them after each game?
When we lose, these supporters will be happy because they feel that their argument is justified, BUT they will be unhappy because we have lost. And when we win, they will be happy because we won BUT will be unhappy because their argument to 'sack' Rafa would be refuted. Either way, they always remain unhappy and are stuck in the no-win situation. Hence my pity for them.
Maybe they should take up this advice: bet some money on the opposing team to win. Even when LFC loses, they will be happy because they would have won some money afterwards.
I have always suspected that the many of these anti-Rafa fans who comment in blogs are not really supporters of LFC but are having a field-day at our expense. They might actually be supporters of the Mancs and are having a good laugh while jumping into the Anti-Rafa brigade led by pundits and members of the media.
Some are genuine LFC supporters but are brainwashed by the pundits and media into thinking the best solution for LFC at the moment is sacking Rafa. They don't want to see the fact that Rafa has actually overachieved so far, especially if one is to take into account the FACT that funds and achievement is closely related.
Funds includes players wages of course. We have seen how a player would be moaning on the bench and demands first-team football or a transfer out. But once his contract is renewed and he gets higher wages, he will keep quiet. Same case when he is transfered out to a team that pays his a higher wages and he will immediately be happy sitting on the bench, and the demands for first-eleven football is forgotten.
According to a study by Futebol Finance last year, almost half of football's top 50 earners played for clubs in the Premier League. Eight were at Chelsea and seven at the Mancs, while Liverpool had only four. I am sure currently there are a lot lot more of them in the other teams like Citeh too.
Rafa has been struggling with the funds issue for so long. He is not geting the funds to buy players, to strengthen the team he has built. Try to imagine if Rafa did not have to sell the players from last season, and had brought in Johnson, Aquilani and/or Barry. Imagine how much stronger our beloved team would be!
Rafa had also had to struggle to make players happy with a high wage, players like Crouch, who is not complaining being on the bench anymore after leaving us on the pretext of first-team football because his has got a higher wage now. But I guess all these fact will be lost on an anti-Rafa fan. Please google for this fact on the correlations between funds/wages and success at soccernomics or something.
How about the fact the Rafa is currently struggling with all the injuries? Gerrard, Aquilani, Johnson, Skrtle, Riera, N'Gog, Agger, Aurelio, Kelly, Cavlieri and Torres are all unfit. Or the fact that Carra and Degen are suspended for the next game? Try taking out that many players, including first-elevens out of the other teams like the Mancs or Chelsea or Spurs or City and see how they perform.
Some fans argue that the modern day football demands quick success unlike those good old days. And I say exactly! What has changed is this demand from 'new' fans. I would like to borrow an analogy from a life-long supporter of LFC from the Kopblog/TIA site and see whether fans would want this manager sacked:
"The team finished runner-up the previous season. Three wins would have sealed the title. The new season started with optimism that their drought in the league could be expunged from memory. The team went unbeaten in the first nine games: W:7 D: 2: L:0. Unfortunately, the team would only win consecutive league games on two occasions after September. Their first loss was in their tenth game, away to their traditional rival.
Then the injuries arrived. By the season’s end only four players ended up featuring in forty or more games in all competitions. The manager had to call on reserves, fringe players, worn-out veterans and untested youth.
The victories disappeared. Three wins in the league during a twelve games stretch between mid-September through early December: P: 12: W: 3: D: 6 L: 3. One of those losses was a 4-0 hammering against a newly promoted side. They beat their city rivals, but in the very next game, they were humilated 4-1 at home against another traditional rival.
They responded well with straight victories, but then only won one of their next six (P:6 W:1 D:2 L:3) league matches stretching from mid-January to early-March. Their remaining ten league games consisted of six wins and four losses. One of those losses was at home to their city rival. The team finished a disappointing fifth in the league, fourteen points behind their hated cross-town nemesis who finished as champions. By the injury-ravaged season’s end, they had seemingly gone backwards. They lost eleven league games, almost double than the previous seasons total of six. Furthermore, they conceded 42 goals: a stark contrast to 24 the season prior.
Additionally, the team were embarassingly knocked out of their European competition to a third placed Portuguese side on away goals, bundled out of the League Cup and humiliated in the FA Cup to a team who finished fourth from bottom in the division below them. - Fat Scouser"
If the above manager were sacked because the fans demanded it, LFC would not have been the LFC as we know it today. And yes, that is the difference between the modern-day fans of today and the fans from the greatest manager of all time Shankly's era.
YNWA - enough said!
9 comments:
I agree 1000% with your calculated facts. I really sympathise those anti-Rafa fans. They should be "forgiven" for they shallow thinking. When I scoured various websites, I was shocked with plenty of silly and irresponsible comments from our former stars particularly, Souness. Yes, as a player I respect him for his contribution. I still admire him as one of our legends. But as a manager, he screwed up the whole team with his ego. I simply cannot digest his comments calling for Rafa's head. Another one who should be smacked on the head is Ronny Whelan. What is his credibility as a manager? Has he ever managed any top clubs? What the bloody f#@! is he talking about calling for Rafa's sacking. The good news is 100 million emergency fund will be made available before January to strengthen our team. Purslow is working on it now. It doesn't matter if we don't win anything this season. What matters more is LIVERPOOL will and should remain the best supported club in the world. Win Lose or Draw its always LIVERPOOL - You Will Never Walk Alone.
-SELVA- (LONG LIVE KING RAFA)
Grow up, you guys. What's wrong with calling for Rafa's head? Mind you, we are not at all influenced by the pundits or the media. WE have mind of your own. Don't underestimate our level of thinking and our ability to assess the situation at LFC.
I think it is people like you who are afraid of your own shadow.
Our loyalty to LFC remains, we've been supporters through thick and thin. Managers may come and go but our undivided support to Liverpool is unwavered. make no mistake, NO MANAGER IS BIGGER THAN THE CLUB. The same applies to the current manager. He can merely offer excuses for Liverpoo'sl poor run.
Shame on him and shame to those who have blind faith in him. If you believe that he is a genius, as most Rafalogists would like to believe, give him another 10 years of contract, if he still doen't win, then keep repeating the same mantra that he's not well-funded. So where does it end?
I suggest you Rafalogists write to the management of LFC asking for Rafa to be given a live-long contract. It doesn't matter if LFC doesnt win. After all Rafa doesnt have the fund. YOu guys already has a built-in excuse.
Then give us one good FACT and solid reasoning for him to be sacked. We will then work on with that FACT and see whether it holds any water.
We are not Rafatollahs nor Rafalogists as you put it. He is NOT beyond criticism but please back the call for his head with facts. As of course we are growned up enough to know that no manager is bigger than the club.
The club at the moment is at the thin stage. So, how are you supporting it when you ask for Rafa's head, knowing fully well the circumstances we are in.
So you are saying give Rafa another ten years and he will still not win it because the excuse is the funds. Pray tell which manager you guarantee to be a better manager than Rafa with the funds he has had/he will get? What's your solution, based on facts, that with Rafa gone, this slump we are in will end?
At least our excuses are based on Facts and not sentiments alone.
Yeah bro Selva, what a farce that Souness is. I guess he still has that personal vendetta against us when he did not get his way then. And who can forget how our club was screwed then.
YNWA
By the way, here's something from Tomkins on Souness
http://tomkinstimes.com/2009/11/cult-of-the-clueless/
am all with cikgu!
:)
Thanks a lot Gary, it means a lot to us now bro -- YNWA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtjmofqBeM&feature=player_embedded
wonder what the souness-army-whose-calling-for-rafa's head think when we were 3 nil down.
we, we believed in them, they believed in themselves. nothing is impossible. we've been there. remember?
our slump, just a minor hiccup i must say. do you think mourinho or any other special one will stay after being insult by the owners? i don't think so. we're lucky he is still here managing our team.
thanks to the yanks, for the empty promises.
relax, take the bitter with the sweet. fergie won his first cup after 6 years of reign. so, should we give rafa a chance? YES! he, the player, the club, need our support.
YNWA
Rafa is a very stubborn man who I think is now at the stage of trying to just prove himself right with this system/marking/player selection etc. Trouble is, every game seems to prove him wrong & it's the club that's suffering.
It's time that he left our beloved club. Results don't lie, one win in 10 games tells a lot about this man.
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