The Life of a Liverpool Supporter

In Liverpool Football Clubs case, we are watching the club being pulled apart in front of our eyes. Over the last eighteen months, we have had to watch whilst the finances of our beloved club were put into the public eye. This of course only confirmed our suspicions that something was indeed wrong within the club walls. The alarm bells had begun to ring when Stanley Park was suddenly fenced off and the foundation digging stopped. The stadium that Tom Hicks and George Gillett had promised on their arrival would be built immediately was put on hold and still is. Although Liverpool City Council have come out in the last four weeks and said that preliminary work will again begin before the end of April 2010. I hope they are right and that this not another one of Tom Hicks and George Gillett's stories. There is of course the bid for the 2018 World Cup to consider and of course Liverpool needs to have a stadium fit for visiting teams and their fans. Will this happen, at this moment in time, I guess the answer is in the lap of the gods. If Liverpool Football Club does not have a new stadium in the next eight years and as much as I love Anfield, we are in severe trouble.

In 2009, the club's auditors issued a warning about the way the club's finances were going. It appeared that another promise had been broken. Tom Hicks and George Gillett had put a massive debt onto the club, a debt that in all honesty they cannot pay off.

This has caused Liverpool Supporter's to stage demonstrations, write emails and try to stop the club's bankers from renewing the repayment scheme. As supporter's we should not have to do this. That is something that should have been kept in-house.

There are regular calls by the supporters and the media asking for the owners to sell up and leave due to the situation at the club. This has I believe now reached the point of no return.

Each transfer window we are told that funds are available and players will be bought. This has not happened so far, in fact during the transfer window of August 2009 it was made public that some of the funds would go towards the contracts of player's such as Stevie G when they were renewed. I am sorry but a transfer budget is for NEW players not ones that are already on the clubs payroll. We could not buy the players that were being touted around in the rumour mill, instead we bought an injured player who the manager is now afraid to play in important matches and a defender who already seems to have lost his way. Why is this you ask, well it appears most of the funds were put aside to pay off some of our debt.

This transfer window is no different, names are being thrown into the mire again but the truth is that there is no money available for players. We had, it appeared several days ago managed to secure the signing of Maxi Rodrigeux from Athletico Madrid for £1.5 million. This though now seems to be in jeopardy because Athletico Madrid apparently owes the player some funds, and he will not sign for us until this has been paid. Will he be the only signing I wonder, I would love to say I hope not but it appears from an interview that I heard yesterday it appears we that we may have yet again signed another sub standard player who will not understand the wearing of the red shirt.

It appears that Maxi has not played for the last ten months after falling out with his manager so obviously his form is in question. Apparently this was all centred on the fact that he had lost his confidence. He was the team's captain but had this taken away from him also. One of the most worrying aspects is that he is in fact a right sided player not a left, but too his credit can play as a second forward. It also appears that he will be a free transfer. The £1.5 million is to do with his wages.

Why as a supporter should I be worried about this? The simple answer is that I can see what is happening to my beloved club and it is worrying me. Due to the substandard players that have been bought since the arrival of Tom Hicks and George Gillett we are very slowly losing our status as one of the great clubs of the world. Yes we have Torres and Stevie G, but they are being asked to do the impossible task of keeping the club in the top four. We cannot continue to rely on them to score goals. The horrific season that we have had so far bears testament to this. They have both been injured for the best part of the season and our results and free fall down the premiership, along with our exit from the Champions League are the proof that we need some good quality players.

It appears thankfully that Rafa has managed to sell Dossena and Voronin but the monies earned will I understand find their way straight to the banks.
It seems though that is us the supporters who seem to be more worried about the situation that the club finds itself in. The owners, who we now know, do not have a clue about the English football game, seem content to let the club fall further and further down the league.

Are they worried that if we do not reach fourth place, we will not be in the Champions League. This will of course mean that the income received into the club will not be as expected. Of course they are not; all they are worried about is the pound/dollar in their pockets. They have been told to find more investment by the banks to ensure that the club stays afloat, and what do they do, they overprice the club and now wonder why any potential investors take one look and then walk away and say no thanks.

For the last few weeks, fellow supporters have been emailing me and leaving me messages on facebook asking if Rafa would in fact have to sell Stevie G and Torres due to the precarious position that the club is now in. I had I thought managed to allay their fears saying of course not. Stevie G is Liverpool through and through and Torres has pledged his future to the club was the answer that I have given to each and every one of them. What happens, I open up my email accounts this morning and the words - Have you seen the papers Faith or What are the Owners playing at now are being thrown at me. Curiosity takes over and my day becomes yet another one devoted to Liverpool Football Club. I start to look at all the Sunday Papers, watch The Sunday Supplement and they are screaming about Rafa possibly having to sell Stevie G and Torres, this time though two more names have been added to the pile in the form of Mascherano and Reina.

It appears that if we do not make a top four place or the Champions League and with the financial constraints placed on the club by the banks, Rafa has been told that he may have to sell his big name players. When asked about this, Rafa was quoted as saying that he would have to take the clubs situation into account and do what he and the owners feel is in their best interest. Basically what he means is, that if they get a decent enough offer, then to keep the banks happy, the player will be moved on.
It also appears in the last few days, the club has had a couple of offers for Ryan Babel. The first at £8 million was turned down with Rafa pledging that he wanted him to stay, the second is £10 million and I understand it is being considered (nothing has been said that tells me it has been rejected). This in my mind is one player that we can afford to get rid off - he has not been the force that he should have been - although I will admit that with Rafa playing him out of position, this could not have helped.

The problem with all the possible transfers is that Torres, who was valued at £100 million by Manchester City is more of a viable proposition than Babel at £10 million. If I was one of the owner's (thank god I am not) - I know which one the banks would be happier with. Hopefully though, the future of Fernando Torres will not be bought into question until the summer. I just hope that the miracle we are all hoping for happens and we regain our form to ensure that the fourth place or even above become's ours. Of course we could also win the Europa cup which will help.

At the moment though, the life of a Liverpool Supporter in 2010 is extremely hard. We have had to get used to the daily round of rumours and dirt that is banded around about our beloved club. It has got to the point where I seem to spend most of my days sticking up for the City of Liverpool and its football club - living in Essex does not help - because I honestly do not believe Southerners understand the importance of being a true football supporter. Most of my spare time is spent writing about my beloved club - something which I thoroughly enjoy. I also as I have said seemed to have become a voice for many people and give them as much information as I can, as soon as I am sure it is not just another rumour.

This morning I was also confronted with an email regarding Tom Hicks Junior. I read the reports and what I believe to be the content of the email and to say that I am shocked is beyond belief. I cannot believe that a member of the Liverpool Football Club board choose to behave in such a manner. I can understand the frustration that he must feel, when he gets asked the same questions week in and week out, but then if he and his father answered the fears being expressed by the supporters this would not happen. He should not though have sent out such an appalling email, so bad apparently that his father had to apologise. That on its own tells me something, and I do feel that perhaps yes he should resign. This is yet another thing that Liverpool supporters will now have playing on their minds because someone decided to bring it out into the open.

This week the life of the football supporter has taken another turn. The weather in this country has caught everyone by surprise and football matches have been cancelled - not due to the state of the grounds but the streets around the stadiums. It is amazing what a week of snow can do and as a Liverpool supporter I have not had my weekly fix of football. The most annoying thing about it is the fact that I was coming up for the game and looked forward to coming home for the day. Still if the rearranged game is on a weekday then my boss is just going to have to put up with it, Liverpool Football Club comes first and he knows that.

When I think about it, my father had an easier life as a Liverpool supporter than I have had. He used to sit and listen to the radio on a Saturday afternoon, or if it was a cup game, watch the television, moan or have a Guinness to celebrate a good result and that would be the end of that for another week. If there were any rumblings about the club, all you would hear from him was, Bill will sort it. He certainly did not have to listen to stories about possible arguments and constant moaning about the club's finances; they were all dealt with in-house and in private. If there was anything important going on, my uncle would send down a copy of the red echo so that he could read it before the London press pulled it apart.

I think the life of a football supporter today has become harder than ever due to the amazing choice of media that we have. There is also the cost of following your team. You must have the latest team shirt and absolutely anything you would need from clothes to home furnishings has the team's logo on it. I know whenever I want something I always check the Liverpool Football Club shop to see if it is available before I buy it anywhere else. I have a bookcase full of LFC books - from the club's history to the player's biographies and these are added too nearly every month at the moment. The cost of tickets and travel all add up as well - again due to the rise of television, supporters come from different parts of the country. I myself do it either as a 500 mile round trip or stay in the city for a few days before returning home.

Becoming a Liverpool Supporter today is the start of a great adventure; we have to go through so many highs and lows to follow the club that we love. We dedicate most of our days to following our club and cannot switch off. Until the advent of Sky television and the promotion of the sport I think my dad's life as a Liverpool supporter was a lot easier, match reports came via the telephone from myself or my uncle. A copy of the London Evening News was bought to check the league position and he normally went to the pub a happy man. He had had his fix for the next seven days.