The Internet is thick with head-cases. We can all safely agree on that. But it takes a special brand of lunacy to produce this:
The banner to fly over Anfield during the Chelsea game has been designed. Donations are still welcome for the plane. pic.twitter.com/bfB4VpImEz
— #RodgersOut (@RodgersOutClub) November 2, 2014
For the uninitiated, presumably including the morons behind "RodgersOutClub," Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool FC’s manager since the start of the 2012-13 season, is the current League Managers’ Association Manager of the Year. He earned that accolade by leading Liverpool to second place in the EPL and just two points shy of glory. To put that in some context, Liverpool haven’t been crowned league champions in nearly a quarter of a century, and in recent seasons have struggled to finish inside the prized Top 4.
Brendan Rodgers is the man largely responsible for turning Luis Suarez from a good forward (0.4 goals per game for Liverpool pre-Rodgers) into a great one (0.8 goals per game under Rodgers). Put differently, the Northern Irishman transformed Suarez from a talented yet mentally unstable forward most people thought more trouble than he was worth, into a mentally unstable yet brilliant forward Barcelona were prepared to pay upwards of $120m for.
Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge became superstars under Brendan Rodgers direction. (Photo: @Squawka | Twitter)
Rodgers is also the man, remember, who takes most credit for reigniting the stalled career of Daniel Sturridge, once a suppressed talent languishing at the bottom of Manchester City and Chelsea’s respective ego pools, and now England’s first-choice striker.
For much of this season, Liverpool have been without both of the above, one having departed Merseyside permanently, the other convalescing from a calf injury. As The18 has pointed out elsewhere, that’s 50% of Liverpool’s goals from last season gone. Yet, Liverpool sit just three points off the Champions League places and one game against Bournemouth away from the Semi-Finals of the Capital One Cup. Sluggish compared to last season’s exploits, but by no means banner-flyingly disastrous.
So what’s the beef? For starters, Liverpool’s is an expectant fan base, raised in the warm embrace of their rich history of domestic and European success. Unfortunately, however, Liverpool’s success is just that: history. While they’ve enjoyed the occasional cup success, not least their 2005 Champions League triumph, Liverpool’s average finishing position in the league since the turn of the century is 4.3, or just outside of the Champions League places. More recently, over the last five years, their average finishing position is 6th, and in the last decade they’ve only qualified for the Champions League – every major European team’s fundamental bottom line – 50% of the time.
Rodger's during training. (Photo: @LFC | Twitter)
So Liverpool’s recent history is a far-cry from the heady days of the 1970s and ‘80s, when The Reds dominated both England and the Continent. But it’s the glory years against which Rodgers is judged, not the relative failures of predecessors Houllier, Benitez, Hodgson and Dalglish.
Sure, we hear the more unhinged Kopites say, but he’s wasted over £200m on players not good enough to grace the hallowed turf of Anfield. Except he – Rodgers – hasn’t. Liverpool’s transfer targets are identified by committee, which is comprised of Rodgers, Chief Executive Ian Ayre, Head of Recruitment Dave Fallows and Director of Technical Performance Michael Edwards. We’re not saying Liverpool’s signings have been great – many haven’t – or that Rodgers is blameless, but if you’re going to fly a banner over Anfield this weekend protesting at a wasted transfer kitty, you really need to squeeze a few more names onto the tail.
Of course, the great majority of Liverpool supporters – both those lucky enough to be inside Anfield on Saturday and those watching on TV around the world – recognise the RodgersOutClub Twitter appeal for the monstrous pyre of nonsense it indisputably is. But the #(INSERTYOURMANAGER’SNAME)OUT brigade are a damning indictment of the short-termism that blights the beautiful game. Last season alone, 12 managers were sacked in the Premier League (remember, that’s out of only 20 clubs), while the current average tenure of a professional football manager in England is just 1.7 seasons. In the corporate world, such senior-level turnover would be a cause for grave concern among investors and shareholders, but in soccer it’s the norm.
Can Steven Gerrard and Liverpool hand Chelsea their first loss of the season this Saturday? (Photo: @JOEdotie | Twitter)
So what would The18 like to see happen on Saturday, as Liverpool take on Chelsea at home? Well, we hope the RodgersOutClub raise the necessary funds to fly their plane. We hope it gets roundly booed by all corners of the Anfield crowd, and we hope Liverpool then go on to soundly beat Mourinho’s high-flying Chelsea, with a Balotelli brace thrown in for good measure.
Not because we’re Liverpool fans, you understand, but because we’re fans of soccer. What better way to expose the “Hashtag Out” brigade as the fickle, spineless invertebrates they and their ilk truly are.
