With hope in our hearts, Anfield can believe again http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...296146691.html May 5th, 1966 DAVID ADAMS United may surpass Liverpool’s league record but, with the king back at Anfield, their reign will be short-lived When you walk through the storm Hold your head up high And don’t be afraid of the dark At the end of the storm There’s a golden sky And the sweet silver song of the lark WE CLUNG to the Anfield anthem, but it was difficult to hang on to the unerring faith that it espouses. As Liverpool Football Club lurched from one crisis to another, the storm was seemingly without end. Our dreams were more than just tossed and blown; they were reduced to tatters, and then resurrected as nightmares. At one stage it looked as though the team might be relegated and the most successful English club ever forced into liquidation, such was the debt it had been saddled with by its owners. A fire sale of the club’s best players seemed inevitable. It is difficult to raise one’s head, much less hold it high, when the proud and once magnificent institution that is the repository of so much of your love and so many of your dreams has been reduced to a tabloid laughing stock. I’m sure I wasn’t the only Liverpool stalwart haunted by thoughts of how fast and how far once great clubs like Leeds and Newcastle had fallen. But last October the storm eventually did pass and a golden sky began to emerge over Anfield again, when New England Sports Ventures (now Fenway Sports Group) bought the club. A quick internet search confirmed the new owners were of the right calibre – just as 10 minutes on the internet in February 2007 had shown that the then new owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, almost certainly weren’t. I shed a tear when Bill Shankly retired and bucket-loads of them after Hillsborough. I was close to crying again in October, only this time with sheer relief. The skies were golden again, but the lark had yet to sing. Our previous manager but one, Rafael Benitez, had stood four-square with the supporters, and fought the previous owners until he was exhausted. They eventually sacked him. Roy Hodgson, a manager with a distinct mid-table mentality, succeeded Rafa. He was immediately out of his depth at a club with the history, traditions and world stature of Liverpool. He tried to apply the same methods that had worked for him at innumerable second-rate outfits around Europe. But his journeyman football was the very antithesis of everything that Liverpool stands for. We have been raised on entertaining football; we expect our team to take to the field believing that they can beat whoever is lined up against them. It wasn’t long before Roy had steered a demoralised and confused Liverpool to just above the relegation zone. Roy is a nice man, apparently, but so too are lots of other people who aren’t capable of managing Liverpool. In January, to sighs of relief all round, including probably from Roy himself, he was sacked and “king Kenny†Dalglish installed as interim manager until the end of the season when he will surely be awarded a long-term contract. It is impossible to exaggerate the esteem in which Dalglish is held by everyone connected with Liverpool. He was the club’s greatest player, one of its best managers, and is that rarest of creatures in professional football, a man of the highest integrity. Kenny and his wife Marina gave so much of themselves in support of the families of the 96 supporters who perished at Hillsborough in 1989, he had to retire, emotionally shattered, from football for a while. Dalglish has instilled confidence, unified the club, and brought a smile back to the faces of everyone associated with Liverpool. You could sell tickets to his sharp-witted press conferences. Players, who until he arrived had seemed totally lost, have responded to his personable man-management style by taking 30 points from his 15 league games in charge (second only to Chelsea in form). Better still, thanks to Kenny and his training staff, they have begun to play with the dash and verve expected of a Liverpool side. In every respect, Dalglish epitomises the much-lauded “Liverpool wayâ€. At last, the sweet silver song of the lark can be heard around Anfield again. Even the sale in January of top striker Fernando Torres failed to dampen spirits. Dalglish responded in the Liverpool style of old by replacing him with the Alan Shearer-esque Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, who is showing flashes of brilliance reminiscent of Dalglish in his heyday. If Manchester United win the Premiership this season they will surpass Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles. I would prefer if they didn’t, but will lose no sleep if they do. It is only a matter of time before they are playing catch-up again. The storm is ended, the king is back, and Liverpool Football Club is on the march again. There is now more than just hope in our hearts, there is belief again.
Nice piece. I never thought I'd be in such high spirits while the scum are about to surpass our record.
Its only a record and hopefully please god now with King Kenny back we can take it back of them which will be all the sweeter....YNWA
The above article from the Irish Times last Thursday (5th May) got a response in the "Letters to the Editor" section in todays Irish Times most probably from some Scum supporter.
I just started a thread on this accidentally when I read the letter. It's frightening how ignorant some people can be.
Exactly how i feel too , they can have the record it just goes to show how of an inferiority they feel because they are obsessed with our record and club .
Strange alright that the Irish Times published this original letter. You'd normally expect something like this to be in a blog or forum.
Isnt it great how up beat Lfc fans are for the future even in the face of the Mancs surpassing our great record,i reckon King Kenny needs no more motivation than just this to wrestle the title back off them and is relishing the chance to be able to do so!!!! Just goes to show how one man can change the mood of a club especially when he holds every epitomy of what LFC stands for so close to his heart and it has definately rubbed off on the players.Pride is back once again.Future looks good.
Well said Superfan- so you like The King ???? He stands out amongst men an athlete supreme He proudly rubs shoulders with Europe"s cream No need to coach youngsters , There"s no need to teach Let them see the perfection of Kenny Dalglish There"s been some great names in the Anfield past Ron Yeats and St John have been two of the last But the Trophies at Anfield are sure to increase With a name for the future - that"s Kenny Dalglish . .