Since when did criticism of the club become taboo...whether it be done rationally, irrationally, quietly or loudly?
It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that some of RAWK's moderators and a swathe of both long standing and new posters seem to carry the notion that any overt criticism of the club, manager, management, owners, players etc etc is taboo; that those doing the complaining are displaying some sort of lack of loyalty; that sections of the media may latch onto it and...well... say nasty things about our club based upon what they read.
Where the hell did this ridiculous notion come from?
From what I've witnessed over countless decades of matchgoing, pub going etc football supporters whether Liverpool, Everton or Marine have always ranked amongst the most critical breed of human kind I've ever come across ranging from those with completely sound and considered misgivings to ranting lunatics with scarcely an ounce of justification or logic in their barmy moronic bayings.
Yet from whichever end of the spectrum they might emanate, the pearls of wisdom/utter shite they pour out are and always have been a hugely vital part of what the game is about. Without such impassioned outpourings the game would not be the fantastic emotional cauldron it demands to be; those delivering the diatribes meanwhile whether completely sane and rational or loopy and misguided might as well all be watching tiddlywinks.
So, if anyone can tell me where the desire for such an embargo on ranting and raving about anything to do with our club has come from and why those doing it are regarded by those who don’t rant and rave as lesser fans – and vice versa – I'd be extremely grateful - and perhaps educated in ways beyond my current ken. [not King Ken btw
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Anyroad, now to the main issue related to what I can only term this sort of extreme sensitivity.
The latest round of it was in connection with the loudly aired frustrations of several posters – with myself featured prominently – lambasting the club management for their pivotal role in our current indifferent form. This was by virtue of the club’s failure to expedite a transfer policy in the summer that met or went towards meeting the core need of the club to maintain as near as possible the form of the preceding season.
The preceding season had seen the team’s success largely stemming from a pacy and mobile attacking approach spearheaded by two strikers who were not only ideally suited to such an approach but constituted the principal driving forces behind it. With the leading striker of the two leaving the club and the remaining striker a player highly prone to muscle injury and as such unable to be relied upon for a full season’s participation, it became incumbent upon the club management to ensure attacking outlets were acquired in the summer that could at least begin to replicate the performances of the attacking outlets.
The club duly signed Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli.
Now I have never been one to diss individual players out of hand. I make my judgements as to a player’s abilities and I would guess I’ve been wrong as often as I’ve been right concerning the abilities of such players. I do not diss them, however, whether at the match or on a public forum. So I have not and will not diss either of the two strikers we signed. It’s too early days in any case and they may or may not still have a part to play in the future of this club in roles they are suited to playing.
However, what I will say is that if the club had wanted to sign two strikers representing precisely the type of attacking outlet that we were
not looking for to replicate the preceding season’s style of attacking play then the club would have plumped for Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli.
And, just to reinforce that notion, most certainly had the club genuinely been looking for players that
were suited to replicating the fast mobile attacking strategy Ricky and Mario would have come pretty low down on the target list or not made such a list at all.
As you might have gathered by now the piece I’ve compiled is a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The moderators do not want a thread that appears to slag off the club management. I can understand that, given the sensitivity that does exist regarding such matters. Which is why I’ve combined the two themes under the less controversial thread title.
Make no mistake, however, I am fucking raging at the incompetence of the club management with regard to this issue. What they have done/failed to do is fucking deplorable for a footballing institution of our standing, most especially one that during the latter stages of last season looked very much like it was on the cusp of something truly special, something that - with the correct and responsible management strategy and the huge transfer monies from Luis’s departure to the Spanish Inquisitors - had every chance of at the very least maintaining and very possibly improving upon the levels of performance we witnessed last season.
Had players of the sort of style and calibre our system of play demanded been brought in – and I’m not talking mega stars I simply mean talent that equated with our style and needs – and had such players not succeeded in providing/maintaining the team with the level of performance desired then I can assure anybody still reading this outpouring that you would not have heard so much as the slightest fucking peep from me. [that’s possibly an outright lie by the way
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However, that sort of sensible management strategy with an eye on the core objective is not the case. The fact is, despite the core objective screaming out at us loudly and clearly, we fucked up badly. Very badly. That core objective needed to be maintaining or if possibly improving the overall team performance levels. Fleshing out the squad to enable us to meet the additional Champions league demands was clearly also a priority but the overwhelming urgency was to ensure Luis’s departure and a potential injury to Daniel Sturridge did not leave us bare and exposed.
Yet it so manifestly has. And I am so pissed off by it. So there you go. That’s the way I feel. A time served fan of countless years and i can scarcely recall such a huge avoidable cock-up at the very heart of our playing strategy in all that time. Sure there’s been mistakes. Shanks made them. Bob made them. Kenny certainly made them. Not, however, over something so glaringly obvious as this.
And I must add before finishing. I do not see Brendan as the main culprit here. As it is I do not know enough about how the club management all hangs together – and I’m not sure anybody else does either given the veils of secrecy that mask the club management – but I would bet a pound to a pinch of shite that Brendan did not wish to embark upon the season with one pacy striker especially one that he more than anybody would have known could be absent at any time with muscle injuries. Also we must not forget the entire aberration, albeit there from the day the window closed, has only manifested itself since Daniel was injured and with a good wind he may be back before too long to provide that ever so vital ingredient of getting beyond the opposition back four. Perhaps in tandem with Mario as we saw at White Hart Lane.
In the meantime do forgive me if I regard raking over the coals of a home draw against a shite Hull City is like playing the fucking fiddle while yer arsehole's on fire. Until the ostriches amongst us admit to the biggest elephant any room has ever housed then as far as I’m concerned any discussion about specific performances that do not commence with the elephant in the room as the base-line is an entire fucking waste of time and space.
Footy? A Game of opinions. Yeah, right