Liverpool's Problems!

Share this:

In the 70's and 80's Liverpool could do no wrong, whether domestically or in Europe. They were the best team in Europe, and were the envy of the old 1st division. Clubs in South America would show replays of Liverpool's games to their players, as this was considered the way to play football. Playing from the back, passing the ball with accuracy and keeping possession, a distant memory of today's frantic football.

So where did it all go wrong? You can point to a few things that caused the cracks:

• The sale of midfield enforcer, talisman, and captain, Graeme Souness to Sampdoria.
• The Hillsborough tragedy, something that no one should have to go through. My sympathies to all the victims and their families. The whole city was affected, along with the players.
• Losing the 88/89 League title at Anfield against Arsenal, with the last kick of the game, and the psychology that their invincible home advantage had been ripped apart by some London outfit.
• The arrival of Alex Ferguson to Old Trafford, and the youth policy he introduced.
• The movement away from buying players, and slowly teaching them the Liverpool way. Playing new players in the reserves, unless injuries force otherwise. 
• Being slow to commercialise the brand compared to other rivals.
• The whole shambolic transfer policy of buying hyped up players, Babb, Westerveld, Diouf, Scales, to mention just a few from back in the day. Let alone today's flops like Moreno and Markovic.
• The club's previous owners, Gillet and Hicks, saddling the club with around £300m of bank debt and taking Liverpool FC to the brink of administration. The club were lucky not to be summoned a winding up order, from R.B.S.
• The ground not being expanded sooner, although this is now currently happening.
• The fan base is not being tapped like other clubs, especially with Liverpool's success and history.
• Then there's the current owner, Fenway Sports Group. Do they understand football, and the fact that London clubs are getting bigger and more successful? Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are all in the capital, it's where most players want to live and play.

If Liverpool had decided to not expand Anfield, they could instead build a new stadium on the edge of the city, like Atletico Madrid have done. An 80,000 seater stadium, with conferencing, banqueting, room hire, trophy room, wedding room hire, tours and stadium hire.

Maybe Liverpool are obsessed with the fact they haven't won the league in 27 years. Yet the other five big clubs have something that says they are still ahead of the curve. Liverpool need to look back into their glory years and learn the lessons of why they were so successful. Four European cups in eight years, not something that can be achieved these days. Barcelona managed four in ten years, and this is the great Barcelona team of 2005-2015. So comparing like for like is difficult, but there was something about that Liverpool team of the 70's and 80's. What the future holds is anyone's guess, but it's hard to see Liverpool winning the league this coming season. 

Guest written by Kully Bahia

Photo by Robert Cutts

If anyone else is interested in showing their writing skills to a larger audience, whether it be about recent football related news or topics like betting and staking strategies, please email info@topfootballtipster.com