The Road of the two Rs

"No matter what a waste one has made of one's life, it is ever possible to find some path to redemption, however partial.”

Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

"Every renaissance comes to the world with a cry, the cry of the human spirit to be free."
Anne Sullivan Macy

Now the two quotes might not seem at first to relate to football, or more specifically Liverpool FC. Now look closer. Read between the lines. If still stuck look back to the Title.

Let me take you back to May of this year. Manchester City have just snatched the title away from Manchester United with a winning goal against QPR with the clock at 93 minutes & 20 seconds. Tottenham secure 4th with a 2-0 win over Fulham but with Arsenal winning it condemned them to in the end missing out on the Champions League. Meanwhile on that very same day, Swansea City, who had just had a very successful debut season in the Premier League under the tutelage of up and coming British manager Brendan Rodgers beat Liverpool 1-0 in what turned out to be Kenny Dalglish's last game in charge before getting the sack a few days later.

Looking back, that day summed up our season. Whilst others prospered, we faltered, when we had control of our destiny. Case Point 1: FA Cup Final. Rubbish for first hour, too late fight back in last half hour. FA Cup goes to average performing Chelsea. Case Point 2: Home game against Arsenal. The best game we play all season, yet somehow Arsenal escape with a 2-1 victory & started the disastrous run that made Anfield look more like a comedy club rather than a fortress.

Let’s go back even further. December 2011. Luis Suarez has just been banned for 8 games for racially abusing Patrice Evra. Instead of calmly explaining why they felt aggrieved that Evra receive no punishment after also admitting using derogatory slurs towards Suarez, Liverpool create a media storm, with crass t-shirts, ridiculous statement & too be frank bad handling by the manager. If only that first statement had explained their actual problem with the proceedings instead of the penultimate chapter a lot of problems may have been avoided.

Now let’s fast forward to 1st June 2012. Brendan Rodgers has been unveiled as Liverpool's new manager. Some see it as a bold appointment; some see it as the perfect choice for a club that needs a makeover. Rodgers immediately sets out to work, knowing that he would have the shade of Euro 2012 & then the Olympics to quietly set about his work. This includes restoring the old This is Anfield Sign & the old red goal nets from the 70s & 80s

This brings me back to the quotes that started this post. This season needs to be the renaissance of Liverpool Football Club. Perhaps more importantly, this needs to be the season of redemption for Liverpool Football Club.

Back in the 70s & 80s Liverpool were the most dominant club in England, Europe and even the whole world. These seemingly at first token restoration of pieces of club history by Rodgers actually remind us not only of our greatest ever players to grace the club, but how we were run. There was no sleaze, no arguments, and no problems off the pitch affecting matters off it and vice versa. We were in essence the place to be.

This where renaissance and redemption come in. The renaissance of Liverpool playing the beautiful game with Rodgers policy including element of the highly proclaimed tika-taka style, so reasonably similar to the style Liverpool used to play in the 70s & 80s. The redemption of Liverpool Football, by showing honesty, hard work spending wisely & not becoming a laughing stock like we have over the past few seasons by concerning matter escalating on & off the pitch.

In 2008/9 Liverpool finished 2nd in the League, only four points behind Manchester United. The three seasons since then our record is 7th, 6th, 8th. Rodgers knows from this that this is a massive job he has undertaken, to make Liverpool successful again & knows that following Dalglish in the hotseat brings its own problems. He needs results & will need them almost immediately otherwise the Kop may get nervous. However he has started well with these tokens of the past returning to adhere the faithful of Anfield & has strengthened the squad with the seemingly very good signings of Fabio Borini & Joe Allen, with hopefully more to come.

With this, optimism going into the new season on Saturday is (as always) high. The title will not being heading to Anfield at the end of May as much as I would love it too. The top 4 is not even the owners target, but I'm sure that Rodgers will want to get at least 4th from this season to get back into the Champions League thus get more players to come to the club. He doesn't need to worry about trophies. 4th & no trophy will go down nicely this season. Make no mistake, I am confident that Liverpool, can have a good season, but to do not expect us to become world beaters overnight.

I do expect us to take a journey on two roads though. The Road to Renaissance & the Road to Redemption.

"We are Liverpool Football Club"- Steven Gerrard

Farewell Olympics, Welcome back Me Part 2

Well what a way to end! The Closing Ceremony was a bit slow to really amaze (as seems to be the case with a lot of events in Britain this year) but the last hour was great & a brilliant way to end the Olympics. Of course us Brits are swelling with pride that Team GB came third in the medal table, basically the best of the rest behind the USA and China!

So now perhaps the most important work is now ahead of Britain & our Olympic organisers. Where do we go from here? What shall the legacy of these games be?

One thing’s for sure, we cannot just go back to what we were doing before. It's amazing to think that just around a year ago London and other parts of the UK were basically burning as rioters swept the streets, now we stand tall after welcoming the world and delivering one of the greatest Olympics ever. It's time for Britain to put its best foot forward, to show that we are a nation of kindness warmth & respectability, and that include laying down the full force of the law to criminals.

Life still goes on y'know. The murder case of Tia Sharpe has been on our screens for the past week & whilst a truly tragic story is a telling reminder of what parts of society in Britain have become & that to prevent our welcoming of Olympic athletes being branded as having a mask hiding the true face, then justice must be served whenever necessary.

Moving on to the sporting aspect, it is obvious that a reasonable number of compulsory hours of competitive sport must be introduced from Primary School then gradually become optional at Secondary level. There are too many children (and to be fair adults) who spend their life never having no said to them whether they are right or wrong. Sport can do a lot more than just earn you gold medals. If used properly it can teach life lesson, like how to win & lose graciously. It can bring egos into check, keep little brats in line & make people strive to do better next time. However in Secondary School however it has to be more flexible. Some people just don't like Sport. If they don't like it and are of an age to make their own decisions you cannot make them. It's their own loss. Just get them to take part in another way like setting up a pitch clocking someone’s 100m time etc.

This of course need cooperation from everybody, that includes Parents who are scared of their children losing and throwing a tantrum, along with Teachers and their Unions who are more concerned with trying to make the paper by striking against government pension plans which they know they now cannot alter & making sure that the Health & Safety Officer doesn't turn up! This Liberal way of thinking needs to stop in our Schools, there are winner and losers in life.

Funding is also needed to get top quality coaches from a whole variety of sports to work in School to inspire success. So Mr Michael Gove Education Secretary. I like the majority of your education reforms, but could you please do the right thing and restore the whole of the government funding you took away from Sport in Schools in 2010. Thank you very much :)

Finally, speaking of inspiring success, it sure as hell inspired me. Being in the Olympic Park on August 5th was as I previously mentioned on my last blog was one of the best experiences in my entire life. Watching top quality Hockey mixed with mingling in a crowd of thousands seeing fantastic architecture and there just being an overall friendly atmosphere and a sense of enjoyment by all. There was the TV coverage by the BBC here in the UK & I must say it was nothing short of outstanding, with Jake Humphrey & Claire Balding shining in particular. Must also mention Ian Thorpe. Absolute Legend! :)

Seeing Team GB do so well along with the foreign Athletes like the legend Usain Bolt, the legend Michael Phelps & now the legend David Rudisha has earned widespread praise and will now hopefully get more people to do sport. Including me.

I used to do quite a bit of sport. I did football, cricket & athletics for both my Primary & Secondary School. I also did Cricket for Stevenage up to Under 15 Level (Highest score of 15, BOOM!). Then for some reason or another I just stopped but never got back into it.

Now after watching the Olympics, I want to do sport again, and would actually like to do more than that. I would now love to compete in an Olympics games.

Now they might sound ridiculously over-ambitious. Believe me, I know. But think about it. I've done 3 sports and wasn't very good at them. But with so many sports on offer at the University I want to go to, and quite a few are done in the Olympics. What's even better is that quite a few of them you can just turn up with no experience, so who knows whether I have a hidden talent at Volleyball or something? Hey you don't know until you try.

Of course I am realistic & that my most likely route to the Olympics again will be in the journalistic discipline. But I'm sure that the most key thing of these Olympic Games will be that many people will want to take part in new sports and see where they take them.

So take up Sport Britain. And see what great places it can take you. As for me, maybe just maybe I'll see you in 2016/2020 ;)

Thanks for reading. Tomorrow, my focus shall switch back to football, to be more specific Liverpool FC.

Thanks for reading and see you soon :)

Farewell Olympics, Welcome Back Me

Hello again all. I can't even remember the last time I wrote a blog, have been very busy. Anyway I felt I had to come back now to write some stuff about the Olympics. Also with the new football season imminent (Does anybody actually know/care the Community Shield is today?) I shall be writing a piece on Liverpool just to set the wheels in motion.
So the past two weeks I have basically done nothing else but watch Olympic Sport. I was listening to the radio in my primary school classroom when London were awarded these games & ever since then I wanted to be part of it in some way. Well last Sunday I got my wish when I went to the Olympic Park to watch some Hockey. It was truly a great day out and the atmosphere everywhere was just amazing. I shall go into more detail later in the week when I write a piece about Olympic legacy

It has also helped that Team GB have had an amazing games. It needed Bradley "Wiggo" Wiggins to get things going in the Gold Medal department but since then it has been a gold rush with sporting achievement happening all over the place. The only sport we were really rubbish in was Swimming. I don't care what Rebecca Adlington says a silver & 2 bronzes in the pool is not good enough for a sport that received £25 million funding for this Olympic cycle. Michael Jamieson is the exception in the pool, he had a great meet! Also in Athletics wouldn't it really be nice if we could run a relay properly!

Anyway without further ado here are my top 10 Olympic moments from London 2012 :~)

Honourable Mentions
Helen Glover & Heather Stanning: Won Team GBs first gold but slightly fell under the radar afterwards

Basketball Team USA: Been sensational at times but what else would you expect from NBA All Stars?

Missy Franklin: 4 golds in the pool at 17 years old at a time when her native Aurora, Colorado is still reeling from the tragic events last month

Laura Trott: Double Olympic Champion & the new Queen of British Track Cycling. Also take over the mantle from Victoria Pendleton of being the hottest athlete in Team GB ;)

All gold winning Team GB athletes that are not in the main list

10: Andy Murray wins gold at Wimbledon Revenge is a dish best served cold! After the heartbreak of losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final last month, Murray put that all behind him to blitz Federer in all aspects on Centre Court. His celebrations afterwards showed how much this meant to this. Now he must use this to push on & finally end that wait for his elusive Grand Slam. If he keeps up the form he showed in the Olympic Tournament, it might just come at the upcoming US Open. But make no mistake Federer will want revenge after being denied the only thing he has never won so nothing will be easy.

9: Robert Harting's Celebration: For sheer comedy factor this was absolutely fantastic, a discus thrower jumping some hurdles to celebrate Olympic glory. Just brilliant!

8: Fourth Time Lucky for Katherine Grainger: 3 previous Olympics. 3 previous silvers. All that is now forgotten as Katherine Grainger finally achieved her dream of Olympic Rowing glory after winning the Womens Double Sculls with Anna Watkins. From the verge of quitting after Beijing heartbreak to Olympic gold in London, it was truly as she coined it "The Peoples Medal".



7: Allez Wiggo in "Wherever we are": He was already a national hero after becoming the first British man to win the Tour de France, but that wasn't enough for Bradley Wiggins. After trying in vain to get Mark Cavendish to a sprint finish in the Mens road race just a few days earlier, he somehow produced a display of power, speed and sheer brilliance to take the Gold medal in the time trial. His interview afterwards was just classic. "The crowd was fantastic in wherever we are" & "It was great to get the Gold Medal at this castle" when it was a palace! If he doesn't win Sports Personality of the Year this year then there's something wrong. If he don't win perhaps he'll do what he said on the Tour de France podium, "We're just going to draw the Raffle tickets now"! Legend. A knighthood will surely follow, or even perhaps he will become Lord Wiggo of Sideburns ;)

6: Victoria Pendleton winning the Keirin: Queen Victoria wanted 3 gold medal in her final Olympics before retirement. She only got 1 but what a brilliant one it was, defeating her great rival Anna Meares to get the gold. It would be Meares who had the last laugh, by defeating Pendleton in the Womens Individual Sprint. It was actually somewhat fitting that if Pendleton wasn't going to get the gold in her final race, then it was Meares that beat her to the gold. Their rivalry has been nothing short of epic and will be remembered soon enough as one of sports great rivalries with that  traditional feel. Britain vs Australia going toe to toe every single time.

5: The Mens Team Sprint winning Gold in World Record Time: Phillip Hindes, Jason Kenny & Sir Chris Hoy. Within a minute they had stormed around the track, beaten the French, broke the World Record & sent the crowd in the Velodrome delirious. It was an outstanding show of power & speed, highlighting the dominance that the British team have exerted in the Velodrome. What's that about magic wheels? ;)  

4. Michael Phelps: He's a bit good isn't he? After one bad race where he finished fourth, it was Gold/Silver all the way afterwards. It was great to see him show respect & kindness to Chad Le Clos who beat him in the 200m butterfly. Phelps would take centre stage by the end of that night though by being part of the winning 4x200m freestyle relay team which made him the most successful Olympian ever in terms of medals. Now going into retirement he finished with 22 Olympic Medals 18 Gold 2 Silver & 2 Bronze. This is to go with the 26 World Championship golds he has won. It's simple. In the pool, he is the greatest!


3. Sir Chris Hoy becoming greatest British Olympian: It looked like it was going to be a anti-climax. The German rider had overtaken Sir Chris on the back straight of the final lap of the Keirin Final. Fortunately the German couldn't get a bike length in front having to take the longer route around the final corner giving Hoy the chance to use a final burst of power to win his 6th gold medal overtaking Sir Steve Redgrave's total of 5. It was truly a feelgood moment afterwards that the British team gave him a guard of honour as he returned to middle of the velodrome with the crowd going wild. Just brilliant. Arise Lord Hoy of the Velodrome!

2: Usain Bolt: What can you say about this man that nobody else has said? There was doubt before these Olympics began whether he was fully fit or if the self proclaimed "Beast" Yohan Blake who beat Bolt at the Jamaican Trials would go and do the job himself. Why did we ever doubt Bolt? He wasn't as sensational as he was in Beijing but he wasn't too far off. An Olympic Record to win the 100m. Equaling Michael Johnson's old world record to win the 200m. Then to cap it off running the anchor leg in the 4x100m relay setting a new world record in the process. He is the best athlete in the world and his words, not mine "a living legend". Now he shall probably take a few weeks off, eat some chicken nuggets and go party until 5am with the Swedish Handball team ;)

1. Two Super Saturdays for Team GB: Number 1. Two Saturdays. One got 3 golds. One got 6. August 4th: 1st off Sophie Hosking & Katherine Copeland win womens lightweight Double Sculls. Then almost straight after GB win the Mens Coxless Four a discipline we have now won for the past four Olympic games. In the afternoon, at the Velodrome the Womens Pursuit Team win gold in a new world record time. And then between 9 & 10pm three more gold in the greatest hour ever for British Athletics. First Jessica Ennis wins the heptathlon with a new British Record. Literally a few minutes later, Greg Rutherford wins the long jump. So to cap it all off Mo Farah wins the 10,000m, 80,000 fans going crazy, tvs across the country being screamed at in joy, it was the most amazing day which even though I was only watching on TV was proud to be part of.

Then 12th August: In the morning Ed Mckeever becomes the inaugural Olympic Champion at K1 200m at the Canoe/Kayak Sprinting. Then Mo Farah becomes the double Olympic champion by winning the 5000m. At the Excel around an hour later Luke Campbell became Britain's first bantamweight boxing champion since 1908. Finally, although it wasn't a gold, Tom Daley put his personal heartache twitter abuse & disappointment from the 10m synchro event behind by finishing 3rd in the Mens 10m Platform, thus winning Britain's only 7th medal in the diving discipline. He did all he could of, he got a medal & now he can go to Rio in 2016 & probably have a more realistic chance of getting gold. Two saturdays. Two days that Great Britain were at their sporting best!

  







So there you go. The Greatest Show on Earth is coming to an end. Stay tuned as tomorrow I shall be looking a bit more at the Olympic legacy & how it affects me in particular.

Thanks for reading see you soon :)