Liverpool Football Club are undoubtedly one with a rich, heart-warming history and the passionate roar of you’ll Never Walk Alone is almost certain to tug at even the most phlegmatic football fans heart strings. Players such as Dalglish, Souness, and Rush graced Anfield in the 80’s with their talents and brought home six league titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, five Charity Shields (one shared) and two European Cups.
However, in more recent years the club have struggled to gather the required momentum in order to land the prize they have longed for since those glorious days, that of course, is the Barclays Premier League. The stark reality is they are a long way off that feat now and dare I say it, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard aside Liverpool would be languishing in mid-table year upon year.
And yet, some media outlets continue to be puzzled by their plight, focusing on them week in week out at the expense of teams who are doing equally as well as them despite the gulf in grandeur and perhaps it is this that dictates their view on them.
That word plight has been instigated by numerous factors both on and off the pitch, Hicks and Gillett have played a major part in that, dragging the club deeper and deeper into debt to fund their own ventures and ultimately they must bear the bulk of responsibility. The other side to it is perhaps the sale of players such as Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and the bizarre sale of Robbie Keane for them to be gradually replaced by players of lesser quality.
They are now lulled into an inevitable reliance of their two main men, the evergreen Gerrard and the world-class Spaniard to try and ease their recent woe. This was reflected at Old Trafford when despite Manchester United belittling their rivals, Gerrard acted as inspiration, goal scorer and leader but the mediocre players and an out of sorts Torres that surrounded him that day meant it was to no avail. Most of them cut peripheral figures and offered a guileless reminder that Roy Hodgson faces a lengthy rejuvenation of one of England’s great clubs.
What is clear is that despite their stature in world football, their current situation is a far cry from wild suggestions of an immediate restoration to being title contenders and even the manager blessed with the virtue of common sense which has been absent at times in his predecessors is bearing the signs of frustrating.
He said: At the moment our major problem is dealing with expectations, There are a lot of new players [and] uncertainty over the ownership of the club and the minute you are not top of the table people are saying this is not good enough. That anxiety will play upon us but we cannot do more than we are doing”
What Liverpool need is time, without the frustrating media scrutiny of their demise which is understandable due the clubs size but easy to get your head around given recent events at the club.