Why Liverpool Supporters Need to Have Respect and Not Hatred Towards Their Fellow Supporters

The club of course began to prosper immediately because of this and as football became more popular, it began its metriotic climb through the divisions as they were formed.  The club arrived in the old first division where it continued to make strides until they won the League.  Unfortunately, as often happens fate stepped in and we were suddenly faced with a decade of decline after being relegated to the second division. It was not helped by the fact that many of the Liverpool's great players were replaced by lesser ones - a story which I am sure is very familiar with the supporters of today. 

The 1950's were almost over when manager, Phil Taylor decided he could not get the club back to where they should be and the seeds were sown for the beginning of Liverpool's domination of the First Division.  A certain Scotsman by the name of William Shankly had been plying his managerial trade through clubs such as Huddersfield and was brought to the attention of chairman T. V. Williams. Bill Shankly became the Liverpool manager in December 1959 and from that moment the club never looked back.

He was the man of course who brought the club and its supporters together as one.  So much so, that we are still referred as being part of a big family.  He also made sure that his players knew they had to win and win for the people that supported them and they did.  They made us the proudest supporters in the land by winning eighteen league titles as well as FA and European Cups. 

Bill of course as we know retired in 1974 but having trained his staff well, it was decided to promote through the ranks and Bob Paisley took over and became part of the great title haul.  He continued the work in progress until another stalwart of the boot room took over in 1983. His name of course was Joe Fagan, who was on verge of greatness until tragedy took over.  In 1985 the Heysel disaster left him a broken man and it was decided that Kenny Dalglish would become player manager, thus keeping things within the Liverpool Family.  Kenny continued this and also became a hero due to his compassion and work after the Hillsborough Disaster. Again though due to the stress of this, he decided he needed to walk away from the game.

THIS IS THE POINT AT WHERE I believe the wheels of fate turned against us.  The then Liverpool board believing they were doing the right thing, appointed Graeme Souness as the clubs next manager.  Unfortunately having worked in Europe he brought some, what were seen at the time as new -fangled ideas into the club and tried to rush them through very quickly.  This did not work and along with buying several players that were simply not of the standard that Liverpool required, the dynasty began to collapse.  Our football suffered and our hold on the league title began to slip just as the new Premier League was being developed and put into place.  This was as we know a hold that unbeknown to us at the time would be taken out of our reach by another young Scot who was learning his managerial trade in Scotland.

This young man was called Alex Ferguson, who had noticed what his fellow Scot, Bill Shankly was doing at Liverpool.  He took note and decided to follow his example.  I am not saying he followed his every move or indeed spied on him - the book If you Are Second, You are Nothing by Oliver Holt explains his journey, but twenty five years ago, when he was offered the job at Manchester United, what he had learnt was immediately put into place and the fruits of his labour are there for everyone to see. 

From being a manager threated with the sack after seven years of getting nothing, he stuck by his methods and his word and Manchester united are a force to be reckoned with - or other they because the wheels of time have now come full circle.

After Graeme Souness and Roy Evans it was decided that a joint managerial posting of Roy Evans and Gerard Houiller, Liverpool decided to follow the trend of employing a foreign manager.  Gerard Houiller became Liverpool's full time manager and during his time we won the treble - it looked as though we were on the up once more.  The gremlin called ill health then struck again and after being taken ill and coming back too soon, Gerard was replaced by Rafa Benitez.  Rafa did everything he could, but faced a new enemy. We had been sold to a pair of vultures and he was fighting in the board room as well as trying to train on the pitch.  His work on the pitch seemed to be paying dividends when the Premiership title appeared to be in our grasp but lack of funds and players who had lost the will to play properly sent the team spiralling backwards rather than make the leap everyone felt they would.

Another pivotal point had been reached in the life of Liverpool Football Club when it had become known the club was in serious trouble and needed to be sold to ensure its survival.  To ensure this happened smoothly Rafa, who because of his outspoken remarks needed to be replaced by someone who the then management could trust.  This turned out to be Roy Hodgson who very quickly proved that he was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With the supporters clamouring for the one man who could bring harmony once more to the club, its new owner, John Henry decided to act in January and Kenneth Matheson Dalglish was returned to his rightful throne.  Now Kenny learnt his trade under Shanks, Bob and Joe and immediately our results began to improve and we are now in a position to let the football world know that we are going to return the title back to its rightful home in the fullness of time.

Before this happens though, we have to grit our teeth and smile at our competitors who because they have a manager, who followed the teachings of a certain Bill Shankly, have won their nineteenth title. Let them enjoy it, because as I have said many times throughout this blog, the wheels of time have now turned full circle.  We have the right man, now back on this throne, albeit temporarily until he puts pen to paper, we have a team that now plays as one and know what they need to do. Whereas although Sir Alex has said he will continue, one day he will retire and I suspect when it happens and Manchester United lose his mentality, no matter who the new manager is, the team will fall apart.  I also suspect there will be major money problems in the future and the players brought will be substandard.   We have been there and come out the other side, the Liverbird is restless and wants to return to his perch, and believe me he will.