There was once was a glorious dream that was the 'The Liverpool Way'. A cherished ideal that transcended the inherent superficiality of football; a unifying philosophy that instilled an inalienable pride in its followers; a cherished set of principles that encapsulated everything that was admirable about Liverpool FC. Well, thanks to the Herculean hypocrisy and irretrievable ignorance of the Pro-Benitez Cult (and the fans the follow in their stead), that dream is almost dead.
After a mere a 4 months in charge, many fans are calling for Roy Hodgson to be sacked. These 'fans' - whipped into a frenzy by the insidious influence of the Pro-Benitez Cult - have been professionally and personally denigrating the man in every way possible, whilst completely ignoring the reality of his situation.
A recent example of this came earlier in the week, when one influential fan site posted an article titled 'End of an Error: Why Roy has to go". It was indicative of the reactionary, knee-jerk thought-process that has poisoned the thinking of fans this season, some of whom have been completely unfair towards Liverpool's manager.
The Ultimate Hypocrisy
Throughout Benitez's tenure, all we ever heard from his disciples were excuses about why he was unable to be successful, with the most common being the following:
* Hicks and Gillett as owners.
* Not enough money being provided for transfers.
* Having to sell in order to buy players.
* Working under an intolerable/uncertain ownership situation.
According to the Pro-Benitez Cult, nothing was ever Saint Benitez's fault; there was always a reason for his underachievement. And even after finished 7th in one of Liverpool's worst overall seasons for decades, the above reasons were constantly advanced to explain his underachievement.
Now, in an amazing about-face, none of the reasons for under-performance relentlessly used to defend Benitez apply to Roy Hodgson (!), even though he has had to operate under even more intolerable circumstances:
* The ownership situation was even more uncertain when Hodgson took over; Hicks and Gillett were still at the club; their was open warfare between Hicks, Gillet, Purslow and Broughton, and Hodgson had to try and sift through the wreckage of last season with all out civil war breaking out in the Anfield Boardroom.
* Momentous, distracting court cases that affected the very future of the club were taking place whilst Hodgson tried to pick up a demotivated team suffering a confidence crisis, and obviously unsettled by off-field events (and several players admitted as much)
* Hodgson also had to deal with a complete change of ownership, and all the internal turmoil/uncertainty/anxiety that brings (including speculation about so-called release clauses in his contract).
* And what about transfer spending? If you apply the spurious logic of the Pro-Benitez Cult, then Hodgson has ALSO had to sell-to-buy, has he not?! Liverpool sold Mascherano, and the total spent on Meirelles, Poulsen, Konchesky et al pretty much adds up to Mascherano's sale fee. This also means that Hodgson has a tiny net spend; again, using the twisted logic of the Cult, this means he's had no money to spend!
Well, it must do because this is PRECISELY what the Cult argues about Benitez. How can Hodgson prosper with no money to spend, a miniscule net spend, and having to buy to sell?!
Imagine the shitstorm of protest that would've erupted if Benitez was still in charge; we'd be hearing about how he had no money to spend; had to sell to buy; had to operate under intolerable conditions/court cases etc.
(I do not subscribe to buy-to-sell/net spend viewpoints above - I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy of fans defending Benitez then failing to offer Hodgson the same time and understanding, despite him being in the same situation as Benitez)
That is why it is the ultimate hypocrisy: The Cult will excuse Benitez with the reasons advanced above but they will not apply the same reasoning to Hodgson; they expect him to just turn up, ignore everything going on and mould a fantastic team after 4 MONTHS IN THE JOB.
It's pathetic, and makes a mockery of the 'Liverpool Way', and the Liverpool FC fanbase.
No one is denying that Hodgson has made mistakes, but you simply cannot intelligently call for his head after 4 months.
The same pig-ignorant approach applies to Hodgson's signings, with Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen both been subjected to endless abuse. I've seen some Pro-Benitez Cultists argue that Poulsen is 'the worst player to ever play for Liverpool'.
Unbelievable. POULSEN HAS PLAYED 9 TIMES FOR LIVERPOOL. How can anyone form that opinion after 9 games?! And in those 9 games, Liverpool's record is:
W3
D4
L2
Unbeaten in 7 out of 9 games. Considering Poulsen's role is as DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, a key role in the team when it comes to PREVENTING THE TEAM FROM LOSING, then it would see that Poulsen is doing a pretty good job in that regards.
But this again is indicative of the Olympic-class ignorance of some of Liverpool's fans. They go around parroting negative soundbytes picked up on LFC message boards but if you asked them to back up their view with anything approaching a fair, coherent argument there would be deafening silence,
And before anyone tries to twist things: The Benitez situation is different; he was in charge for six years, and had enough time to build something at Anfield. Criticising the manager after that amount of time is perfectly acceptable, especially if the team is performing badly.
And I never once called for Benitez's head until the final few months of his reign. I specifically stated in several articles that he should NOT be sacked mid-season, and should only be sacked at the end of the 2009-10 season.
Calling for a Liverpool manager's head after 4 months whilst ignoring the context of his early reign is (IMO) utterly shameful, and anyone who has done that should feel ashamed.
You can always tell the unreasonable, ignorant anti-Hodgson fans - they will ridicule him in a personal manner by calling him 'Woy', and joke about his voice/physical appearance etc.
Is this what being a Liverpool fan is all about? Is this 'The Liverpool Way'?
As I said: shameful.
Fans should surely be supporting the Manager, especially as he'd only been in the job 4 months. Attacking the manager in such circumstances = attacking the club.
Thus, in my opinion, people calling for Hodgson's head *after 4 months* are anti-LFC.
Jaimie Kanwar
After a mere a 4 months in charge, many fans are calling for Roy Hodgson to be sacked. These 'fans' - whipped into a frenzy by the insidious influence of the Pro-Benitez Cult - have been professionally and personally denigrating the man in every way possible, whilst completely ignoring the reality of his situation.
A recent example of this came earlier in the week, when one influential fan site posted an article titled 'End of an Error: Why Roy has to go". It was indicative of the reactionary, knee-jerk thought-process that has poisoned the thinking of fans this season, some of whom have been completely unfair towards Liverpool's manager.
The Ultimate Hypocrisy
Throughout Benitez's tenure, all we ever heard from his disciples were excuses about why he was unable to be successful, with the most common being the following:
* Hicks and Gillett as owners.
* Not enough money being provided for transfers.
* Having to sell in order to buy players.
* Working under an intolerable/uncertain ownership situation.
According to the Pro-Benitez Cult, nothing was ever Saint Benitez's fault; there was always a reason for his underachievement. And even after finished 7th in one of Liverpool's worst overall seasons for decades, the above reasons were constantly advanced to explain his underachievement.
Now, in an amazing about-face, none of the reasons for under-performance relentlessly used to defend Benitez apply to Roy Hodgson (!), even though he has had to operate under even more intolerable circumstances:
* The ownership situation was even more uncertain when Hodgson took over; Hicks and Gillett were still at the club; their was open warfare between Hicks, Gillet, Purslow and Broughton, and Hodgson had to try and sift through the wreckage of last season with all out civil war breaking out in the Anfield Boardroom.
* Momentous, distracting court cases that affected the very future of the club were taking place whilst Hodgson tried to pick up a demotivated team suffering a confidence crisis, and obviously unsettled by off-field events (and several players admitted as much)
* Hodgson also had to deal with a complete change of ownership, and all the internal turmoil/uncertainty/anxiety that brings (including speculation about so-called release clauses in his contract).
* And what about transfer spending? If you apply the spurious logic of the Pro-Benitez Cult, then Hodgson has ALSO had to sell-to-buy, has he not?! Liverpool sold Mascherano, and the total spent on Meirelles, Poulsen, Konchesky et al pretty much adds up to Mascherano's sale fee. This also means that Hodgson has a tiny net spend; again, using the twisted logic of the Cult, this means he's had no money to spend!
Well, it must do because this is PRECISELY what the Cult argues about Benitez. How can Hodgson prosper with no money to spend, a miniscule net spend, and having to buy to sell?!
Imagine the shitstorm of protest that would've erupted if Benitez was still in charge; we'd be hearing about how he had no money to spend; had to sell to buy; had to operate under intolerable conditions/court cases etc.
(I do not subscribe to buy-to-sell/net spend viewpoints above - I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy of fans defending Benitez then failing to offer Hodgson the same time and understanding, despite him being in the same situation as Benitez)
That is why it is the ultimate hypocrisy: The Cult will excuse Benitez with the reasons advanced above but they will not apply the same reasoning to Hodgson; they expect him to just turn up, ignore everything going on and mould a fantastic team after 4 MONTHS IN THE JOB.
It's pathetic, and makes a mockery of the 'Liverpool Way', and the Liverpool FC fanbase.
No one is denying that Hodgson has made mistakes, but you simply cannot intelligently call for his head after 4 months.
The same pig-ignorant approach applies to Hodgson's signings, with Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen both been subjected to endless abuse. I've seen some Pro-Benitez Cultists argue that Poulsen is 'the worst player to ever play for Liverpool'.
Unbelievable. POULSEN HAS PLAYED 9 TIMES FOR LIVERPOOL. How can anyone form that opinion after 9 games?! And in those 9 games, Liverpool's record is:
W3
D4
L2
Unbeaten in 7 out of 9 games. Considering Poulsen's role is as DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, a key role in the team when it comes to PREVENTING THE TEAM FROM LOSING, then it would see that Poulsen is doing a pretty good job in that regards.
But this again is indicative of the Olympic-class ignorance of some of Liverpool's fans. They go around parroting negative soundbytes picked up on LFC message boards but if you asked them to back up their view with anything approaching a fair, coherent argument there would be deafening silence,
And before anyone tries to twist things: The Benitez situation is different; he was in charge for six years, and had enough time to build something at Anfield. Criticising the manager after that amount of time is perfectly acceptable, especially if the team is performing badly.
And I never once called for Benitez's head until the final few months of his reign. I specifically stated in several articles that he should NOT be sacked mid-season, and should only be sacked at the end of the 2009-10 season.
Calling for a Liverpool manager's head after 4 months whilst ignoring the context of his early reign is (IMO) utterly shameful, and anyone who has done that should feel ashamed.
You can always tell the unreasonable, ignorant anti-Hodgson fans - they will ridicule him in a personal manner by calling him 'Woy', and joke about his voice/physical appearance etc.
Is this what being a Liverpool fan is all about? Is this 'The Liverpool Way'?
As I said: shameful.
Fans should surely be supporting the Manager, especially as he'd only been in the job 4 months. Attacking the manager in such circumstances = attacking the club.
Thus, in my opinion, people calling for Hodgson's head *after 4 months* are anti-LFC.
Jaimie Kanwar
