Hicks Endears Himself To The Fans

Like a step-parents to a kid, it takes awhile for the child to get used to living with another stranger at home and to learn to call the new parent either pa or ma. Translate it this way, it is never easy for us as fans, to love some outlanders to buy over the club, in a short period of time.

But I applaud the two new owners for taking a step forward and doing whatever they could to try and get along with the fans, the lifeline and the soul of the club.

Although they might just be putting up an act and doing all these to please us and make fans like me to write something good about them, we can only look in the positive way and to dream about what these two men can do to our club.

What particularly impresses me is the way Tom Hicks, came out and defended the Liverpool fans from being scrutinised and perhaps, stereotypically attacked by UEFA. Whether he really meant it or not is up for discussion but it does certainly inspire a great deal of confidence for us, as fans.

"I thought the guy from Uefa was a clown for saying that," Hicks said. "Uefa did not handle this right at all.

As a Texan himself, just like a scouser from Liverpool. Outspoken and right to the point without being 'undiplomatic'.

Once again, I'm not condoning the act of some so called 'Liverpool fans' whom ran round the streets of Athens, robbing fellow fans off their tickets or those who are involved in violence. But to launch the stinging attack on the club itself after what UEFA President, Michele Platini, said a fortnight ago, you just got to wonder about the credibility of William Gaillard's comment.

It's always easy to push the blame around and is UEFA really cleared of any of these fracas and farce? I think they do, but as often as humans are, we tend to look to things which we could easily put blame on and not looking into ourselves.

UEFA does need to thoroughly check itself and in need of an internal investigation surrounding the ill-planned Champions League final. Liverpool issued warnings about forge tickets and our over-zealous fans but they didn't cope with it, particularly well.

And saying all these, it doesn't lift the blame off Liverpool's shoulder as well. We're known for having over-passionate fans and when it comes to things we love, sanity usually doesn't mean anything.

Every club has it's black sheep, as we've always said but once again I must say branding us as the worst fans isn't fair. Looking back at those incidents of Italian fans killing the innocent police or the Milan Ultras throwing unwanted stuff like flairs onto the ground, we're certainly up and around their standards but never worst.

And Hicks, thanks for the words.

Everything Is Liverpool's Fault And We Have The Worst Set Of Fans, Ever

That has to be the longest title I've typed but whatever, just read this. If your blood don't boil, then you might need to watch some other sports.

UEFA report severely reprimands Liverpool fans

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Liverpool supporters have been identified as the worst behaved at European matches in a report to be handed by UEFA to the British Government in Brussels on Tuesday.

The report, which has been compiled by undercover police agents from a neutral European force over the last four years, will be given by UEFA president Michel Platini to British sports minister Richard Caborn.

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard told Reuters: "The incidents involving Liverpool fans have been well known to us before the trouble at the Champions League final which involved Liverpool fans last week.

"That was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children? We know what happened in Athens, and Liverpool fans were the cause of most of the trouble there.

"There have been 25 incidents involving Liverpool fans away from home since 2003 and these are in the report -- most teams' supporters do not cause any trouble at all."
Problems occurred at the Champions League final when fans with forged tickets and even without any ticket gained entry to the Olympic Stadium for the match against AC Milan, while dozens of fans with genuine tickets were refused entry.

When Liverpool fans did try to gain entry the situation threatened to escalate out of control and the Greek police fired tear gas and used batons.
Liverpool have submitted their own report to UEFA which criticises the security arrangements for the final.

Gaillard added: "You must ask yourself why at the same match, with the same conditions, there was no trouble with the Milan fans -- only the Liverpool fans."

Liverpool fans were held responsible for the disaster at the 1985 European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels when 39 mainly Italian fans died after a wall collapsed following a charge by Liverpool fans before the match against Juventus.

The tragedy led to English clubs being banned from European competition for five years.

I know the club has had a bad past with Heysel and Hillsbrough coming to mind. But why should we be named the 'worst set of fans' just because of one bad incident?Isn't it a case of jumping to conclusions.

I mean, I'm so pissed and tired of it all that I don't think I should continue to spill forth explicit languages here. Time heal all wounds, my ar*e. 15 years down the road we'll still be named the worst set of fans for whatever the reason is.

So with some research, I looked up this blog post from The Guardian and the writer actually chatted up with a UEFA official. Look what the official said, without knowing he's a reporter:

On the day after the Champions League final, I had a fortuitous meeting. In the mayhem of Athens' perpetual rush hour and teeming acid rain, a taxi from hotel to airport was looking unlikely. Then I saw a smooth, young go-getter grab one and I asked where he was going. "Airport." A problem shared is a fare halved.

We chatted about the final and it emerged he was a Uefa big nob on the way back to Geneva. "Did you see the three wise men giving away the trophy?" he asked with an impressive sneer. "Berlusconi, Blatter and Platini? My God, what a collection. Platini? We call him Platter at HQ. Says it all. Blatter would never have been welcome when Johansson was in charge. They loathed each other and Blatter hates the whole Champions League anyway."

I asked him about the ticketing problems and Uefa spokesman William Gaillard's assertion that it was all the fault of the Liverpool fans. "Gaillard? We'll see how long he survives. What an embarrassment. Not a clue." Then he added: "Let me tell you something else. Our promotions company had 46 tickets stolen the night before the game and when some were found we sent a secretary down to identify them and she was held in custody for 10 hours.

"The Greek police are useless. With the fans, they see behaviour they don't understand and they completely over-react." I suggested the corporate world got too many tickets.

"No, they don't get enough. When you consider the money the sponsors put in, they should get a lot more".

Now you know.

The Case Of 'If It Ain't Broken, Don't Fix It'

Yet again, the football authorities are suggesting new and 'improved' ideas to show who's the daddy and who's in authority.

In spite of the growing problem of football violence on and off the field as well as the racism problem that still plagues some major leagues in Europe, they chose to turn away from them and instead, focussed on the wrong matter at the wrong time.

I'm writing this due to the fact that I can't accept the way they turn a blind eye on matters that are turning football into a major farce. We could see it time and again, week in week out. Simulations and divings are not addressed as well as the whens and hows of implementing the long awaited 'video technology'.

Violence still breaks out both on the pitch and in the stands as we moved into the 21st century. Fans are supposed to be educated and behave better or is it? Even an English League Cup Final can't draw it's curtain down without 'handbags' and the pushing and shoving.

Stadium safety and security are still not under a uniformed rule as the Italians could tell you. A place where thousands of lives are at stake, the safety of these people are chosen to be ignored. Even in a prestigious competition such as the Champions League, stadium violence and unrest can still be found. The Lille and Man Utd. match made us aware that this problem still exists and again, nothing seemed to be done.

Now, the newly elected president of UEFA, Michel Platini, a legend of a footballer, but is he really the man to solve all the problems that plagues football? Everyone has his own policy and it seemed like monsieur Platini is more concerned about the big clubs in Czech Republic and Poland not getting recognition rather than the image and the overall well-being of the game as a whole.

On the other hand, the English FA are so pathetically ineffective in the dealings of that fateful League Cup final. They used TV evidence for punishment but still, it seemed like they got it all so wrong. Emmanuel Adebayor was adjudged to punched Frank Lampard using TV evidence but surprise, the supposed victim said nay.

Turning all their senses away, they want to scrap draws from the league, a penalty shoot out to be carried out if so it happens. Tell me, is this the league being 'Americanised' or is it to improve the penalty taking skills of the English players? It sounds more like the former.

Anyway, what's wrong with draws in football? I know it's the most boring outcome you can have but it is going to encourage inferior teams to hold out for a draw, knowing that they could get really lucky in the penalty shoot out. If they're scrapping draws for more entertainment, the only ones who're entertained are just themselves.

Other than the fans of the Czechs and Polish teams, who would be remotely interested in watching them compete in the Champions League? It's okay to have one or two underdog teams like last season's Artmedia Bratislava but I think most would rather watch a 4th place team in let's say, Germany, than some Eastern European team.

BUT, that doesn't mean they should be marginalised. There's always a way out without having a drastic change in the format of the Champions League. Why not group these clubs from countries with lower UEFA coefficients into a play-off and perhaps, a few of them to make it into the qualifying round?

To me, there's more problem in football than just teams drawing league games and minnows not getting their chances. We're talking about football's image as a whole. Are they going to clean up? Or are they letting it rot?

Something better be done before it's too late, when there's no one in the stands anymore.

Football Dipped To New Low?

Rejoice football fans! The long awaited Champions League is finally back after the draw was been made back in December of 2006 and fans and neutrals alike were anticipating this week for quite some time.

But the return of Champions League was marred by controversies and things that should never happen in a football ground.

Of course, we're talking about the match between French side, Lille and Man Utd. A match that seemed so harmless and looked like an easy walk-over for United turns out to be an ugly one and of course, it exposes the flaws of the game and that we all still need to take a serious look at stadium security and how the authorities handle the fans.

Because what happened yesterday could've been another disaster like Hillsborough and Heysel.

It might not be serious as there were only some victims with minor injuries. But it serves us as a warning that even till this day, there are stadiums around with security problems and UEFA will have to investigate and football should not be something which take the lives of people away.

Crowd trouble once again rings the alarm bell of the football governing body as only recently, Italian football came under scrutiny for the way they handled the death of the policeman during the Catania - Palermo game.

The modern game should not be marred by this sort of things already. It's time the authorities have a good look at things and ensure the safety of the tens of thousands of fans within the stadium.

Next major talking point in the game would have to be Ryan Gigg's quickly taken free kick that resulted in a goal. Lille felt unjust and rewind to a month ago when the Thai players walked off the pitch after they felt they're treated unfairly by the referee, it was like a deja vu feeling.

When did footballers became such a bunch of unsportsmanlike 'sportsmen'?

To me, I'm never for the idea of taking free kicks quickly. They're seemed to be used only in amateur football games but the thing now is that it's the gray part of the rule book whereby it's not entirely clear whether when is taking a quick one right or wrong.

But that's beside the point now. Although we do need clarification as to when is a quick free kick allowed and how do we all know whether the referee of the game will allow, the main point will be the way the Lille players reacted after that.

Disgraceful.

But we know all humans shows emotions and it was when the emotions ran high, adrenaline pumping and knowing that your team have lost a game that they're so capable of winning. Peter Odemwingie thought he had put them ahead just before the incident but he was adjudged to have pushed Nemanja Vidic before latching on the ball with a header. It was ruled out for a foul.

Very soft if you ask me. Vidic is built like a brick sh*t-house and I don't think a little hands on his back will cause any sort of problems for him to stay on his feet.

It's disappointing to see the return of the so called 'biggest' league in the world with the most concentration of football stars marred by incidents that shouldn't even have been part of football. And to think that FIFA are looking into things like restricting players to some 'celebration styles' rather than the safety of the supporters and players behaving like kids throwing toys out of the pram, it just saddens me a little.

The Lille players should be punish heavily for their unsportsmanlike behavior while stadiums across Europe should conduct a thorough check and make sure they pass the standards set by the governing body. Or even better, review the safety standards of the stadiums.

3 Places For Champions League Then...

Platini Elected UEFA President

Michel Platini celebrated being voted in as the new UEFA president and then announced he will push ahead with controversial changes to the Champions League.

Platini, who won a tough contest against incumbent Lennart Johansson, will present proposals in April which from 2009-10 would limit the number of clubs in Europe's elite competition to three from any one country.

The Football Association and Premier League are expected to go to work to try and persuade Platini to maintain the status quo which allows England, Spain and Italy to have four clubs qualify.

Platini said: "The new format of the Champions League is for 2009.

"I talked about finding a better equilibrium for the number of clubs and that's for 2009-10.

"The final decision will be (by UEFA's executive committee) in April so we have a few months still to see which way we will go, but I would like a better equilibrium, it is very close to my heart."


Drogballs: First of all, I'm a fan of this man. He's a great player and I have a lot of respect for him. I even think he should run for FIFA presidency and kick that Sepp Bladder(sp) off his arse and I'm sure he'll bring changes to the game because he truly loves the game.

But now look at the new format he's going to introduce to the Champions League presumably in 2009. 3 teams from all major leagues including our own English Premiership, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga. Although he wants the competition to stay 'true' to it's name as a league for the Champions, what he's doing is systemically marginalising teams and might even widen the gap between the top 2/3 teams and the rest of the teams in their respective league.

Think about this. Teams competing in the Champions League will get major TV rights while the rest languished in second rated UEFA Cup or what have you. They get perhaps 10 or more so million into their coffers and gets stronger with new recruits in every season.

The rest of the league struggle to compete in terms of financial strength. And every season will just be like going through motion. You could already tell who the teams are to compete for that 3 places and what's the rest going to play for? Already with 4 places, the predictability is there and we all know which 4 teams are going through (if nothing goes wrong, of course).

He might have a point that it'll increase the level of competitiveness in the league. But I believe that it'll only increase the level of competitiveness at the top of the table perhaps top 5 or 6 teams. Other teams will either be fighting for survival or, languishing with mediocrity.

Teams like Everton (not like I care), Spurs, Bolton and Portsmouth will feel hard done with. When they actually thought they could push for fourth and qualify for the Champions League, now they'll feel like standing in front of a close shop with barricades around it. And all these years of building and fighting might make them feel as if all the efforts have gone down the drain.

Another concern would be the way the G14 will react. They're a group formed by Europe's 14 most influential clubs and will they threaten to break away? If they do, what will the Champions League be like? And will this group of renegades form a so called European Super League?

It's certainly an intriguing episode yet again that could change the face of football. I believe this change in system is a significant one and how football will develop will probably base on how well the plan is implemented and received by the football clubs.