Winter Wonderland OR is it
We are now in the midst of the worst winter for many years. January 2010 is only just over a week old and we are experiencing some of the worst snowstorms that the country has seen for many years. This has affected the football fixture list and supporters, one of whom I count myself are comparing it with the winter of 1963. I was only a child of nine years old then but can remember weeks and weeks of playing in the snow, with my dad moaning about the lack of football.
Thirty Seven years later, it appears to be happening again even though most teams have under pitch heating. Why is this - the simple answer is that due to the current financial constraints imposed on council's and of course not knowing what dear old father time and the weather is going to do, the grit and salt supplies of the country were down. It is not the football stadia that are at fault - it is the fact that the streets and roads surrounding most of these are simply too dangerous for hundreds of fans to walk over.
I have been reading many of the football columns in the newspapers this morning where people have been saying that the football club's should take more responsibility. Why should they? When you have a big sporting venue in the town which are used week in and week out in the winter - in Liverpool cities case there are two then the council should ensure that these areas are cleared. After all in the end the economy of Liverpool will suffer. No hotel rooms used, no fast food bought, no beer, no train and air fares paid and no before or after match shopping done.
I can remember the days when each householder put down his own salt or ash and cleared driveways and the parts of the path that were the length of his front lawn. In fact my mum who is 86 years old, this week went out into what we call the square with a shovel and cleared the whole area of snow. Would today's youngsters have done it - I don't think so. If that had been done around the stadium in Anfield, then I bet the match would have gone ahead.
What we can be thankful for I guess is that a decision was made early about the postponement. It does save people like myself making a 250 mile trip only to learn on arrival that the game was off. I will admit though the trip would not have been wasted. I had several other things to do in the city including visiting Liverpool One.
What we are now going to have over the next month of so is fixture congestion. There are going to be so many teams playing catch up that players are going to be more prone to injuries and exhaustion.
Liverpool Football Club unfortunately is one of the teams that I believe will be unable to cope with this. We have Stevie G and Torres both now approaching full fitness after a season that has been a dreadful stop-start affair. The problem there is that too many games and too much reliance on them by Rafa Benitez could actually have an adverse effect. Ryan Babel and Riera are both out at the moment through injury and it looks as though both could possibly be on their way out of the club. We do of course have Aquilani but will our weather be deemed too harsh for him to be able to play? It could turn out that now is the perfect time to play some of our youngsters, but again will that happen? Their progress through the ranks seems to have slowed down alarmingly since the academy system was reconstructed.
There is also the possibility of the season becoming longer to cope with the backlog of matches and to ensure that the players receive the right amount of rest. Again the problem here is that if it happened it would roll straight into the path of the World Cup. This would not be good for the players that have been selected to play for their country due to the lack of rest before jetting out to South Africa.
At the end of the season, you will certainly get some managers that refer back to January 2010 and say that the snow has everything to do with their position in the league. I just hope that Rafa Benitez is not one of those, after all it is the winter and whether it be 1963 or 2010, players know that they have a game of football to play and must aim for a win.
Of course there is another way of looking at it. Apart from their daily training sessions it does give the players a chance to relax, make snowmen and play snowballs with their families. This in itself should benefit some of them in the form of a rest and hopefully once the league is up and running again they will be rearing to go.
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First of all, age must be catching you up as the big freeze of 1963 was FORTY SEVEN years ago and not the 37 you have stated.
However I have to agree with the sentiments that Liverpool City Council should be called to account. As someone from the under-30 category of life, I found conditions outside highly treacherous yesterday to the point where I had to cancel my plans due to nearly going flying on the icy pavements.
Of course the people running LCC never had the innovation to prepare for such an eventuality. Every year without fail, the city's roads are incredibly icy. Surely someone would have had the foresight that it would be necessary to stock up on grit.
It's not as if it has a use-by date is it? What was to stop the council stocking up on grit to use when conditions were set to be icy or snow-laden? It can't cost that much to prepare for such an event.
But Warren Bradley will prefer to sit in his ivory tower planning the coup that will seal his legacy - keeping his beloved Everton within the city boundaries with a shared stadium on Stanley Park.
Hi SC, I had realised after the article was put online that it was in fact 47 and not 37 but then again as you say perhaps age is catching up with me. The conditions are highly dangerous everywhere at the moment and I will admit to having worked from home the last few days rather go and out and try my luck on the pavements. Yes someone should have had the foresight to stock up on grit but our last few winters have been rather mild so perhaps they felt that Liverpool City Council had enough to cope. I have been listening to the radio and following the stories in the Echo so can understand how bad the roads and pavements have been and as I said I am glad that Liverpool Football club decided to cancel earlier rather than later. I hope that the fact Warren Bradley is an Everton supporter had nothing to do with the lack of grit around anfield. Oh and if his dream is a shared stadium within the city boundaries I think it is going to be a rather long one. It simply will not happen
Couple of points guys.
I work in a busy Merseyside hospital. A&E is inundated with folk fracturing stuff, so we're under a lot of pressure. I'm quite happy about the postponed match and sense has prevailed.
Secondly, Spurs are doing well. Let's play them when hopefully we're playing better, the boys are on top form and our new January signings have bedded in. A girl can dream.....
Hi Gill, I can fully understand what kind of pressure you are under. Believe me I know what a wonderful job you are all doing - I have been under my local hospital since suffering a TIA 15 months ago and cannot fault their service. I certainly would not want to find myself visiting one of Liverpool's A&E department whllst in your wonderful city - to me if that can be prevented by the match being cancelled then so be it.
As you say Tottenham are playing well at the moment and hopefully with the imposed rest we will be ready for them when the match does take place.