Why don't you become the fan of another football club? My mom asked me casually, as though asking me to replace an old shirt with a new one. Liverpool seem to be losing everything. And I have been asking myself- why am I a liverpool fan. Why do i get slightly depressed everytime they lose? I live in India and I don't really care about the Indian cricket team, like half a billion do, here in our great nation. And then it came to me, like a splat of crow's poo on my old shirt that needs replacing anyway.
There is a little bit of character and personality involved. I am not talking about teenaged idiots who support manchester united for no reason or because they know beckhem (or the more recent phenomenons of Ronaldo and Rooney) played for united. I am talking about the mature fan. A mature man united fan loves a method to win. Its usually the guy who does an MBA and then works at an MNC. Not an analogous example because you might be arty farty and a Man united fan at the same time. But you will have this formula to victory, this ruthlessness when it comes to defeating easy opponents. Like Shankar and James Cameroon who make comercially successful films in Tamil and Hollywood respectively. Two wingers, exceptionally good and powerful strikers. You will see a crowd of players in the box as the cross comes in. Even the hardcore man united fan will agree with me when I say man united with suck big time if Rooney left just like they lost most of their firepower with Ronaldo. Not much midfield creativity involved. Mid fielders either break play or pass it too the wings, thats it.
As for an Arsenal fan, two words- sheer class. Midfield creativity reigns, with movement so beautiful that even a match that ends in a draw will be an edge of the seat thriller. There is this dedication to this philosophy at all costs. No over the top spending and investing in young talent (analogous perhaps with having the young hot girlfriend/boyfriend who has no brains but you teach her/him everything). But in all that style some substance is lost. Barcelona too as a team can be tactically outsmarted as Benitez and Mourinho have demonstrated. There is this lack of maturity in all this adventurism.
Before I come to Liverpool I have to talk about Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man City. One word- spendthrifts. The spoilt rich kid, very cranky, wants everything at any cost. Chelsea and teams like Real Madrid and the recent Man City have a very good scope of being all conquering and all powerful. If you have the money you can buy talent, good management, trophies and maybe a big fan following. But only to an extent. Real din't want Capello anymore, because now that they had all the trophies in the word, they wanted what their arch rivals had- style. Style and passion are priceless.
Now lets make a stop at Anfield. I must accept that initially it was a whim a fancy that I became a Liverpool fan. But over the says I identify a lot with Liverpool. To the extend that even as they sink to an all time low, 7th place in the league, I don't wanna change my old t-shirt. Here is the reason why-
"What my club represents is very important," he says. "If you know what your club stands for and you are part of it you will play better because it means more to you. Every time I pull on a Liverpool shirt I know it's more than just a game. Liverpool has a mentality, an identity, I like. They are a hard-working people's club. They are huge but with a humility."
I am quoting someone who became a liverpool fan very recently. There is one word for liverpool- 'Passion.' We don't have a plan like Man united, we don't have Arsenal's style and we ccertainly don't have oily money. We run around the ball and chase it like mad men on big european nights. If you see a liverpool players run on big nights then you will get exhauted watching them go at it. Stevie G and Carra will make you wince in pain with the tenacity of their tackles. Reina will pull stunning save after save. Agger will suddenly pull the trigger from distance. Dirk Kuyt though not the classiest player in the world will be everywhere, all the time, how he manages that I will never know. Aurelio is back.... and we all know how this guy can cross. Glen Johnson thought erroneous in defence is stunning with his forward runs. Alas Xabi Alonso has left, the midfield mastermind was certainly a force to reckon with. The spoilt rich kid plucked him away, and Benitez the Champions League hero has gone seeking greener pastures. But we still have our talisman, the author of the afore mentioned quote- El Nino.
But even he won't stay if we don't win anything this season. I qoute Davil Villa his strike partner for Spain-
"They have to prove they are capable of challenging on all fronts this season, otherwise he will be gone. Torres is happy at Liverpool in every sense apart from the football.
"He loves the city, the fans and the players. He will not sign for Manchester City because, for him, money is not the most important thing but if Liverpool fail to win anything again I'm sure he'll be at Chelsea next season."
Sometimes passion is not enough. In the world cup which recently concluded there were many Liverpool players who played for various countries. Skertel for Slovakia who made it to the group stages but lost. Agger for Denmark who lost in the group stages itself. England had Stevie, Carra and Johnson but were mercilessly slaughtered by Germany. Germany then went on to thrash Argentina who had Javier Mascherano as captain. Kuyt and Torres made it to the finals and both lost even though they were in opposing teams. Torres limped out with an injury, a display which represents liverpool's last season.
But from the Ashes shall rise another liverpool bird with Roy leading the way, singing- You will never walk alone.
