Bill Shankly: True Working-Class Hero

He changed Liverpool's strip to all red. The red of revolution made the players seem bigger and fiercer.

He was a proper man of the people and thought it part of his job to write to fans personally and even called on fans at their homes to discuss how the game had gone. This wasn't PR puffery, this was his way. He saw football as pure working-class art; of the people, by the people and if the team failed, then he had failed the people.

He would give tickets away to fans. It's no wonder the fans adored him really. He paid them respect and took notice of them. He saw them all as part of the same thing. They all won and all lost together.

Read Full Article John Nicholson, Football 365

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

It's May 2009 in the Cat and Fiddle pub on Stanley Road, Bootle. Two fella’s are sitting at a table motionless, staring into their pints, Refusing to acknowledge what is being beamed out to the world on the Big Screen in the corner.

"Thought you'd have gone to West Brom lad"

"Nah, couldn't be arsed mate, i'm fed up with it………. I never thought i'd see this day when these cunts equal our League Title's record."

The screen in the pub is showing footage of Manchester United players running round the pitch with the Premier League trophy, the fans delirious knowing that they have finally ended Liverpool FC's reign as the team to have won the most league titles.

"Sickener innit? You know our problem don't ye lad, too many draws, look back to the likes of Stoke and Portsmouth at home? The week before Stoke, we beat Man U, the game before Portsmouth, we beat Chelsea away, and then we go and draw against them shite teams."

"Tellin' ye...the team and the crowd are just not up for it in them lesser league games, and we'll never mount a decent title challenge until both the team and the supporters go into these games and give it their all.....I just wish I could turn back the clock to October 2008 when we'd just beaten Chelsea and we're sittin at the top of the Prem. I'd do absolutely everything that I possibly could to drill it into our players hearts that it was our year. And if we, the supporters, believe in them and could transfer that belief from the terraces and into their minds…then we would've done it. We'd've stopped this fucking nightmare! We’d beaten the best, we just had to then beat the rest.”

“I know mate, I know….can’t turn back the time though can we. Just got to focus on next season now, see who we buy in the summer, and then hope we mount a decent challenge…..aaaah who am I kidding? We’re always out of the title race by January…can’t see that ever changing….”

The two fella’s gulp down the last of their pints and shuffle out onto the street, Sky Sports is now showing footage of the Man U game, “Beautiful Day” by U2 accompanying the celebratory scenes at the end...

…then, the music stops,

And you realize that it’s not May, it’s not 2009, it’s October 2008.

You’ve got your wish. The time has been turned back and you’ve got that second chance to make a difference.

So what are you going to do with it?

Cos I don’t wanna be sitting there watching those cunts run round whatever pitch they clinch it with their 18th League Title… FUCK THAT!

We know we, the supporters, can make a difference. I’m not arrogant enough to suggest we’ve won games ourselves (ok, maybe the Chelsea semi 2005 like) but we DEFFO make a difference.

So as long as we do our bit off the pitch, We might not be watching them horrible twats celebrating their 18th League Title come May 2009.

Singing, flags, banners, getting’ in the ground a bit early etc. Sound. No problemo.

What about something different though,

What time does our Team’s Coach arrive?

What about a proper mob of die-hard Redmen waiting on Anfield Road for the Team Bus to turn up. That could give them a bit of an edge, seeing a load of contorted faces, clenched fists and banging on the side of the coach instead of a gang of blerts with Anfield Arnie Autograph books.

Some of our younguns could get down to Melwood the training session before a game, let them know that WE mean business and we DEMAND them to mean it too.

Things like, if ye see Riera doing a bit of shopping in the Allerton Tesco, Don’t blimp his trolley to see what scran he’s just bought, Grab him and scream down his ear How important it is that we beat Fulham this Satdee!

Cos ye know what la, I’d hate to be watching that shower of bastards with number 18,
knowing in the back of me mind that there was something more I could’ve done to prevent the horror show of what we’d be witnessing.

Oh and just to re-iterate, man u could be winning their 18th League Title in May 2009.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Thanks to Gilly la

Ending Chelsea's 86 game unbeated run!

Hats off to the lads - top, top performance. Made it look so easy in the second half. Chelsea looked lost, couldn't muster up a single real shot on goal even though they started brightly.

Gerrard was immense today, some lovely tackling and unlucky to get booked, Riera is proving himself a great purchase in every game, Xabi is returning to his 2005-06 form (thank God the Barry deal fell through), and Babel keeps showing the amazing potential he has, would love to have him get more time on the pitch..

Fantastic result although lets not get carried away as its still only October. Lets hope for a strong run in until christmas when traditionally our form pics up for the second half of the season.

Update on Skrtl's inury!

Rumours coming from the hospital claim he refused anaesthetic..as he claimed it was for wimps. He then operated on himself with a tin opener, whilst the surgeon held a candle so he could see.Aftet the procedure it was found they had operated on the wrong knee without anaesthetic. Martin Skrtel didn't flinch but asked them to hurry up and get the other one fixed so he could go for a jog today.As he requested before arrivial his hospital bed is made of nails and sulphuric acid and yesterday a LFC spokesman stated what everyone else already knew "Liverpool football club would like to confirm that this injuy proves that the only person hard enough to injure Martin Skrtel,

is Martin Skrtel.



Above is a picture of Martin Skrtl charging himself before a match.

More on Ryan Babel

Following on from our 'Ryan Babel: The Rapper' vids last week, here are a couple of very interesting articles on him from last year:

Towering Babel unawed by Liverpool's football temple
By Simon Kuper, FT - Published: September 15 2007

Ryan Babel still lives alone in Liverpool - or accompanied only by the Lord, as he sees it - but he needs company. "We're still deciding whether my mother will join me, or my girlfriend," the footballer confides. "In Holland I hadn't moved out of my parents' home yet. That's a big step." Can he boil an egg? "No, that doesn't work."

Though Liverpool paid £12m for him this summer, the Dutch striker still seems something of a naïf. Above that big body is a little boyish face, with slight buckteeth and the faintest beard. His hair is shaven into a neat square.

Babel is 20, but you would guess him to be younger. Talking in the Dutch national team's beach hotel beside the dunes the other day, he offered a refreshingly innocent view of England and its football - a game he has all the qualities to conquer.

Babel was born in Amsterdam, but his accent reveals family origins in Surinam, the former Dutch colony on South America's northern tip. There are only 70,000 Amsterdam Surinamese, but they produce more footballers per capita than possibly any other ethnic group in the world. Their stars - Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids - would staff half a world 11, and behind them are many other Dutch internationals and hundreds of good professionals.

Babel joined Ajax Amsterdam aged 11. Everyone saw his gifts - the big kid who moved like a gymnast and did wonders with the ball - but he rarely scored. Nobody could quite work out what he was for. Criticism was unceasing. Two Ajax youth coaches told me about a kid by the weird name of Babel, who, when the legend Marco van Basten had arrived to help coach his team, remained entirely blasé. "Aren't you pleased Marco has come?" one coach asked him. Babel just shrugged beneath his baseball cap. "Mwaaa," he said.

Nonetheless, by 18 he had become the youngest man to score for Holland since the war. Yet when Van Basten, by this time Holland's manager, inquired after his career plans, Babel replied: "I'm going to go into music, coach." A devoted rapper, he has approximately 5,000 songs on his iPod.

In the beach hotel, Babel recalls the chastisements of Ajax's coach Henk ten Cate, another Surinamer. If Babel got too intricate trying to dribble past a defender, Ten Cate would scream: "Ryan, you're the fastest in Holland, dammit! Just kick the ball and run."

Babel never became a key player for Ajax, but over this summer he improved quickly. "Purely because of confidence," he told me. In June he led Holland to victory in the European Under-21 Championships, during which the Dutch football journal Hard Gras noted this vignette: Babel, at a gymnastics training session, standing on a balancing bar with a ball on his foot.

Rafael Benitez, Liverpool's manager, had had Babel watched since the boy was 16. This summer Benitez signed him. Entering Liverpool's legendary Anfield stadium, Babel was unawed. "At first it did nothing to me. It still doesn't." Doesn't he like legendary grounds? "It doesn't matter to me. I feel happiest if the stadium looks decent." He does admit to touching the legendary "This is Anfield" sign before taking the field, but only because his team-mates do.

His bigger priority in Liverpool was finding a church. "I drove past a couple, but in principle you can't understand people in Liverpool. It's a very strange dialect."

Stranger still were British taboids. Benitez, who is "like an uncle", instructed him: "If they ask something, they want to hear A, but you think B, and you say C."

In training, Babel noticed that Liverpool's players didn't berate each other as was customary at Ajax. If he screamed, "Where's your control?" everyone looked at him uncomprehendingly. Another surprise was how much Liverpool practised defending. "We are very compact, and then we come out with two, three passes, like madmen, and shoot."

Yet judging by his first, good performances, he has Benitez's licence to run with the ball. "Of course. When it comes to attacking in matches, he has said almost nothing to me. I have tasks only when we defend."

At Ajax, Babel had learned his trademark but ineffective "hip shot", struck from underneath the body with almost no backlift, from Gaston Sangoy, an obscure Argentine reserve. At Liverpool, he imitates a more celebrated team-mate. "I just use Steven Gerrard as my shooting coach. He really can shoot."

Physically, surely, Babel is already complete? "A big body doesn't mean you're strong. I understand from Robin van Persie at Arsenal that Julio Baptista isn't strong at all, even though he's a massive guy." Is Babel strong? "I feel strong."

Are Liverpool, top of the league, strong enough to win their first title since 1990? "At first, when people said we had to be champions, I thought, 'Well, I don't know about that.' But now we're growing." Not half as fast as Babel is, though.


Ryan Babel top of the class
Liverpool’s Dutch striker is learning fast after a quiet start to his Merseyside career and hopes to make Tottenham pay today
Jonathan Northcroft, Sunday Times - October 7, 2007

The pupils of Shorefields Technology College speak a total of 26 first languages – and that list does not include Scouse. It is one of Liverpool’s most multicultural schools and its catchment area, Dingle and Toxteth, among the UK’s most deprived. A class of 12-and 13-year-olds have a special visitor. “Babel, will you sign this?” “Can you have a kickabout with me mates, Babel?” they say, not quite believing enough of Ryan Babel’s presence to use his Christian name.

But these kids are sharp. Their teacher asked them to think of questions before the Liverpool player arrived at the college and a hand shot up. “How much does he earn a week?” Up went another. “I want to know what car he’s got, bet it’s a Porsche Boxster.” The class are nonplussed when informed this most grounded £11.5m budding superstar tools about in a club Volkswagen Jetta.

Babel is about to get something fancier for his garage but it is obvious that he favours real life over celebrity life. He moves easily among the children, at 20 closer to them in age than he is to Jamie Carragher, and converses shyly but on their level. He is here to take part in a workshop on racism run by the Anthony Walker Foundation. Anthony was murdered in a racially motivated attack in Merseyside in 2005 and his charismatic sister, Dominique, talks about her brother before dividing the class into discussion groups. Babel goes round them taking part and, carefully, completes a worksheet. Two hours of what should be posttraining rest time have gone by the time he leaves, but he is smiling.

“It was important for me to come today because I also suffered racism when I was younger, so I know the feeling. I think Liverpool did a great job to pick me to help with this campaign. I was able to tell the kids about my experiences and how to deal with them,” the Dutch forward says. “There was racism towards me in school and, actually, I was rough enough to say something back. I wasn’t scared and spoke out, in a normal way, and after, it wasn’t a problem.

“In the UK you have a lot of different cultures and in Holland it’s the same. Right now, Muslims have the worst time of all. The politics are very against them. Before the Muslims it was Surinamese people – my community – which was having the trouble.”

Babel was raised in De Bijlmer, a tough estate in Amsterdam and home to many of the city’s 70,000 immigrants from Surinam, a former Dutch colony bordering Brazil. No community on the planet, per capita, produces so many top footballers: Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids sprang from there. Babel is seen as latest in the distinguished line. He made his debut for Ajax shortly after his 17th birthday and at 18 became Holland’s youngest international goalscorer in 68 years. The great Dutch striker Marco van Basten was his mentor. “When he was my trainer in the Ajax reserve team he told me small things a normal, regular trainer wouldn’t teach you, details to improve my game,” Babel says. “He was a striker and I’m a striker also and because he was such a smart player he could teach me a lot about the mental side.

“He was a killer in the box. In the beginning my game was not about scoring. My goal was just to dribble and give some nice action and I was satisfied but he made me think, ‘Hey, you’re a striker, you have to score’. After a practice game he’d ask how many I’d scored? I’d say zero. He’d say, ‘But you’re a striker’. That changed the way I think and was good for the learning process.”

Babel’s natural athletic speed (his sister, Janice, is an emerging sprinter who hopes to go to the Olympics) led Ajax to play him on the flank, the position he has occupied for Holland and since joining Liverpool. His balance, touch and physique have drawn comparisons with Thierry Henry, and the hype is sometimes wearying. “To come is easy but to stay is more difficult. It became very hard in Holland because the expectation levels from the crowd and the media were so high. Every week I had to play very good and it did not always happen like that,” he says.

Henk Ten Cate, the Ajax manager, would tell him to clear his mind and “just kick the ball and run”. Ten Cate is now wanted by Chelsea to work as assistant to Avram Grant. “He’s a very good trainer. If he goes, I think he will put Chelsea back on top. He’s also from Surinam,” Babel says. “He can be clever, he can be easy, he can be hard, depending on what’s needed. He’s just a good manager of players who can work in a lot of different situations.”

At Anfield, Babel is finding out about expectation all over again. He says today’s game with Tottenham is crucial, given Liverpool’s curious slump since beating Toulouse 4-0 and Derby 6-0 consecutively. Babel, with clever control and icy finishing, would have pleased even Van Basten with the goal he scored – his first in England – in the rout of Derby but he has not played a full 90 minutes since, nor has he been involved at all in Liverpool’s past three matches.

Another of Rafael Benitez’s selection mysteries? “I’m relaxed,” smiles Babel. “I knew before I signed the contract he was working with rotation and it was up to me to go with that or not. I’m trying to work very hard every day and I’m ready if he needs me.

“Right now, I just see the beginning in terms of how I want to develop as a player. I see this as a learning year. In Ajax I grew up playing with 4-3-3, I only know that system. Liverpool is something new. I was a left-winger at Ajax, here I’m a winger and a midfielder, and have to do more defensively.

“I’m learning a lot about what the movements are in each position in midfield and up front, and things seem to be going faster than I’d imagined. After, I will try and focus on one position. I prefer to play as a striker and hopefully I’ll get the chance one day. And I will take it, definitely.”

In training he studies others. “Alonso, Sissoko, Crouch, Kuyt . . . their movements and visions. Gerrard is great to watch if you want to learn how to shoot properly and I’ve already asked him a couple of times how he can manage to keep the ball low from long distance. Torres is good for seeing his movement and his finishing. Rafa is very patient and talks a lot about my game.”

His education about Merseyside is enhanced by participating in Liverpool’s widespread community work, the Shorefields visit having been organised as part of the Premier League’s Creating Chances programme.

One thing is annoying Babel. In a recent profile – published in the Financial Times of all places – a journalist alleged that he would rather have been a rapper than a footballer and he was struggling to cope in his new flat, unable even to boil an egg. The only thing the article got right about his private life was, deeply religious, he is still looking for the right church in Liverpool. Babel’s girlfriend has just moved over and is about to begin a university course in the city and Benitez need not worry about nutrition. “I can take care of myself,” he says. “That is the first thing my mum taught me before I went out of the door.”

Ryan Babel, as the wide-eyed kids of Shorefields heard, stands on his own two feet.

The REAL Ryan Babel

Did you know football wasn't his first choice of career?

Here's Ryan Babel, the rapper:

One Two Three

About F*cking Time!!

What a game! Hats off to the lads we've pulled off a great result even more-so in the absence of two of our best players! This should set us up nicely for the coming weeks and give the lads much needed confidence and belief!

Once again Utd sat back and let us dominate as they've done on their last two visits to Anfield, only this time there was no lucky winner for them and our resilience came through. Brilliant result.

Oh and just incase you missed it in the news, here's a vid of the massive anti-hicks/gillette march before the game. About time we were rid of this cancer thats holding our club back. You lying bastards, get out of our club!

PS. Cheers to GimpusMaximus from F365 for the pic.

Isles of Scilly..!

Go to www.adidas.co.uk > Performance > Football > Dream Big > Isles of Scilly!

4 parts in all. Must watch!!

Feeling Blue :-(

Not being sarcastic either. They were the better side on the night and deserved to go through.

What a fantastic game though!?! Edge of the seat stuff! and much better than the dross served by the two otherwise entertaining sides in Utd and Barca. That Drogba is shit-hot when he stays on his feet! Also, it was good

I'll be backing Chelsea 100% to win it obviously and probably more so since I quite like that grant fellow. Seems to be a genuinely nice person trying his best to do a job to the best of his abilities despite taking stick from his own fans and the media. Yes he's not as entertaining as Mourinho but he's got class and dignity, and its good to see him refraining from mindgames (Rafa should've done that!) unlike the classless prick that was Jose Mourinho. Special one my arse, special needs one more like.

As for Chelsea, a trained monkey could get results with the quality in that team and that shows Mourinho up really. With that side and his transfer / wages budget, anything less than a treble should be conidered a failure.

I might do a season review later with a bit on our potential new owners as well.

BELIEVE!!

You'll Never Walk Alone Liam Harker

There is a general consensus amongst football fans that the boardroom antics of George Gillett, Tom Hicks and Rick Parry have degraded one of the world’s leading clubs and reduced the Anfield outfit to a “laughing stock.”

But, between the stories of ownership turmoil and unsettled managers there emerged a tale that showed the rest of the footballing world that the Liverpool spirit has never been stronger.

The story was the tragedy of young Liverpool fan Liam Harker, a die-hard reds fan who was struck down with cancer and told he had just two weeks to live after a long, but ultimately futile battle against the disease.

The 17 year old’s dying wish, to spend the rest of his days in a signed shirt, was taken up by his father who contacted the club and made Liam’s request on his behalf.

Liverpool’s response was not only to offer Liam the shirt, but furthermore to give him the chance to visit the training ground and meet the players and staff, including Kop heroes Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Rafael Benitez.

Unfortunately, he was too weak to accept the invitation, but nonetheless the club gave Liam a signed shirt, publishing the story on their official website on the Friday before the Reds’ Premiership meeting with Fulham.

Few could have predicted the fans’ response to Liam’s heart-rending plight. Following a huge supporter initiative and the story appearing on several unofficial sites, a plan has been formulated to make and display a banner for Liam during the Chelsea match and have it shown on TV so he can see it in his final few days, displaying the ethos behind the club’s legendary song.

The banner has now been made, along with several flags that will fly in the Kop during the match.

It is stories like this that show the true spirit of our national game, with football once again displaying its capacity for compassion and togetherness to support an individual who, like many of us, feel the bond shared by a country through its love of the sport.

So, even though Liverpool’s American owners seem to be doing their level best to tear the club apart from the inside, the strength and solidarity shown by the heartbeat of the club, the fans, is holding as firm as ever before.

WHY LIAM HARKER WON’T WALK ALONE

KOP TO FLY FLAGS FOR DYING REDS FAN LIAM

Lets hope the lad can make it until the final and pass away with a big fuckoff smile on his face. Fuck you Cancer.

Who's crying now biatch!

I WILL MAKE LIVERPOOL CRY

Quaresma plans to break Merseyside hearts, though, making him an obvious target for a volley of boo’s from the Kop.
The young Portuguese winger’s confidence knows no bounds and he relishes his trip to Anfield.

He told The Daily Star, “If we play our best then we will make Liverpool fans cry at Anfield.”

“They will weep with despair.

Why we should all be showing our support for Rafa tonight!

And if you aint signed PETITION already, get on it!

Goals from Liverpool v Cardiff

Nabil El Zhar
Stevie Gerrard

We've got the best midfield, in the world!!!

The many faces of Dagger!

And we're back.

MAKE US DREAM!

And we're here again.

Nervous as f*ck as we wait for kickoff tonight. For whatever happens after kickoff, the only thing that will matter is that we are here tonight. And damn proud of it too.

Gannaro-scary-as-a-kitten-Gattuso has been mouthing a lot. Or maybe its words lost in translation, or the british media trying to spice things up a bit, but I'm sure once on the pitch, the one thing that will matter to both sides is not personal grievances, but that famous trophy.

Milan are hurting after 2005, oh they are hurting real bad.

They say they want revenge.

But so did Chelsea.

All it will take for Milan to disintegrate is one early goal and lets hope we can make it happen. Those tired old legs, running extra hard chasing the game from there on, won't last the whole 90 minutes against our mighty, mighty f*ckin reds.

The memories of 2005 are fresh and they know it will hurt even more this time if they aren't able to extract revenge. They'll make mistakes, they will panic. And that, hopefully, will bring Milan's downfall.

You'll Never Walk Alone


Steven Gerrard:

"We've shown on plenty of occasions, particularly in big cup finals, that no matter what the situation, we'll never give up. We'll have exactly the same attitude tonight.

"It gives you a lot of confidence when you look around the dressing room and see players who will perform on the biggest stage and can be matchwinners.

"We have lads who've played in World Cups, European Championships and massive Champions League games, so there's no sense of going into the unknown with us anymore. There are leaders all over the team.

"We also have a manager we know we can trust to prepare us in the right way. He proved it at Valencia and now at Liverpool that when it comes to the big occasions, he knows what we need to do to win. It's up to us after that.

"From a personal point of view, some of the finals have gone well for me. I'm realistic enough to know you can't produce those kinds of performance every time, but I'm going into it full of belief and I can promise I'll be doing everything I can to win it.

"People have paid a lot of money to see us perform, and the least all of us can do is give our all to make them happy. We all want the same thing, and it's an honour for us to have another chance to do what we did two years ago."

Dubai Reds!

Watch out for this fantastic Dubai Reds banner at Athens tomorrow!





If you don't have Dubai Reds in your bookmarks, sort it out!

Is it an Omen?

Jordin Sparks sang this amazing rendition of YNWA on American Idol this week. Check it out.