In the second of our four part series we look at the faded giants from the Mersey. As anyone who grew up in the eighties will know, Liverpool were the team of that decade. A succession of managers followed up the work of Bill Shankly and created a true European giant that year after year would challenge for the then European Cup.
This was of course in the good old days when winning a European trophy was based on proper knock out football as opposed to today’s seeded group stages. It also meant travelling behind the “iron curtain” on dodgy airlines, staying in 2-star hotels in Dresden, Bucharest and the like, and flying back to the UK just in time to prepare for the Saturday game which would kick off at 3pm – and all this with a squad of 15 or 16.
So what has gone wrong with the Scousers? Well, to be frank, they have been under performing for 20 years on the domestic front, with no league titles since the formation of the Premiership. After a their great comeback against Milan they appeared to be making progress and came close in 2008/09 to claiming the Premiership and they seemed to be getting back to where they once were. However ,to keep progressing, a team must improve each year and to do so the cash has to be flashed and good players replaced with great players. Liverpool’s problems, I believe, are mainly in the board room and we have all seen how the lack of cash, dodgy chairmen (in this case 2 dodgy chairmen!) and managerial uncertainly can cause a club to implode – take a bow Newcastle, Leeds, Wednesday, Pompey, Southampton etc. Liverpool were also unlucky with injuries to Torres and Gerard as well as a few of the new signings which certainly did not help their cause at all. The continual debates about Benetiz were also an unwanted distraction, but the guy didn’t help by making comments such as guaranteeing 4th place.
But ultimately they are a club that are potentially in financial meltdown and I can’t see this changing without new owners coming in, and such owners need to very, very wealthy indeed to find say £350 million to buy out the yanks, fund a £500 million new stadium and splash another £150 million on 3 or 4 true superstars. This is a big ask in the current financial climate and an even bigger one without Champions League football to tempt the big money men and also the big players.
So to conclude: Liverpool were on a hiding to nothing in the Champions League this season and if Benetiz can win the Europa Cup it would be a hell of an achievement, especially as the final could well be his last game as manager if the mighty Juve prove too much of a temptation. I am afraid the red half of Liverpool could be in for rocky few years.