"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
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