Here's me, swimming against the tide.
This is an excellent thread, even if a very sober and depressing one at times. Me, I was brought up in the old school of LFC supporting and that's where I still am. Maybe we're not as special as we thought we were, but this is no time to give up and no time to let the tide carry us out into a bay of mediocrity.
Because the worst thing of all is not if the manager or players are mediocre - the worst thing of all will be if we ourselves, the fans, if we turn out to be mediocre.
Didn't we stand on the old Kop, through the bad times as well as the glory days?
I'll give you an example of how things are changing: the team sheet being read out before the match. I remember how in the 1970s, any ground you went into, the crowd would barely listen to their own teamsheet until it came to their star players or their favourites, when there would be a big cheer for him. If they didn't rate one of their own, they might even give them a little boo.
Never at Anfield, though. It didn't matter whether you were Keegan or Dalglish or some kid just coming through from the reserves, everyone got the exact same brief cheer from the crowd. It was clinically done, and we were all part of it, and we were reinforcing the message that management was putting out: "There are no stars at Liverpool. We support the team, and the whole team, regardless. We are a big part of Liverpool FC and what you're going to get for the next 90 minutes is our vociferous and unconditional support for the greatest club in the world."
All that's gone now. We sound like any Premiership or Nationwide club these days, cheering the ones we like and not bothering too much with the rest. The only subliminal message we're giving out these days is: "We only sing when we're winning."
(At least we still cheer the opposition goalie - and so do Everton, of course. Our bluenosed neighbours have always shared that particular tradition.)
Some of the people who go to watch football see themsleves as "fans", and some see themselves as "paying customers". Which are we? When things aren't going so well, are we going to get behind the team, or are we going to ask for our money back?
I'll be getting behind the team, me. I won't call for the manager's head, not the players' heads, nor even for the heads of those so-called supporters who are performing worse than Biscan on a bad day. You're all Liverpool FC, and I'll remind you that Chairman Mao has never seen such a formidable display of Red Power. Let's get our act together.
If Igor's in central defence tomorrow, I'll give him the same short, sharp cheer I give the rest. And I'll be telling him to go on, lad, get stuck in, give it loads.
We can't stop the tide, but we can swim against it.