IrishKop.com

Happy birthday Justy

CHARMAC — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:52:56 GMT

Have a great day Mate ;)

Liverpools Scouting model/structure

ROCCO — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:28:07 GMT

With all the restructuring at the club I would have thought getting in the best scouts around the world or even a new head scout like Carr at Newcastle the head scout from Porto/Lyon/udinese or just look at all the scouting structures of all 4 clubs* and see what we can change with ours ?

Personally after all this restructuring going on at present I'd hope that who ever is in charge of scouting has a new blue print on how are scouting is done and Udinese model would be a good start but not the way the players use the club as a stepping stone to a bigger club or that Udinese are happy to sell on as soon as a big profit can be made but how they get the players in the first place .

The way we have signed players for a long time had been lazy and lacking imagination.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...e.2/index.html

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/edi...ese-model-why-

Home comforts - Rome 84

byrnetred — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:44:12 GMT

Nice little read about the 84, the last time a home team lost in a European cup final

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...e-7766965.html

"Liverpool had surmounted the terribly unfair challenge, which Uefa will now ensure will never happen again, of having to beat opponents in their own hot and hostile backyard." These words appeared in a contemporary match report of the 1984 European Cup final when Joe Fagan's Liverpool overcame the odds at the Stadio Olimpico, home of their opponents, Roma.

It was the third final of its kind but unlike the first two occasions � which yielded home triumphs for Real Madrid in 1957 and Internazionale in 1965 � this time the hosts were beaten, Alan Kennedy's penalty ensuring a 4-2 success for Liverpool in the concluding shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.

Contrary to the reporter's assumption, however, it has now happened again and Chelsea's players must tonight seek to match Liverpool's feat of 28 years ago when they take on Bayern Munich on the Bavarian club's home turf. It is a tall order yet Liverpool's example � and the testimony of those who have played on these occasions � suggests it is by no means a mission impossible.

Those were different times, of course, and Chelsea, unlike Liverpool in Rome, have at least had the benefit of training on the Allianz Arena pitch. Mark Lawrenson, the former Anfield defender, remembers being sent "to some park and you wouldn't walk your dog on it, it was that bad. Joe Fagan said to us, 'They obviously want to make this as difficult as possible for us.'"

But Liverpool, already three-times European champions, were not easily intimidated. They may not have had a detailed briefing of Roma's strengths and weaknesses but, they had in Graeme Souness a man on a mission on his last appearance before joining Sampdoria. The Scot led Liverpool on a full circuit of the pitch before the game � "they gave us unbelievable stick," Lawrenson says of the home fans � and sent out the same defiant message to Roma's players in the tunnel.

Kennedy, Lawrenson's old defensive colleague, takes up the story. "I remember standing next to them in the tunnel and they looked taller than us, with an air of confidence about them. But Graeme Souness was looking them straight in the eye and saying, 'I'm as good as you if not better than you and I'm going to prove it out there.'"

Liverpool had already showed their hosts they would not be rattled when filing past the Roma dressing room singing the Chris Rea song "I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It" at the precise moment Nils Liedholm, Roma's Swedish coach, was giving his team talk. "They must have thought, 'Oh my God what are they doing?'" adds Lawrenson.

Chris Rea is unlikely to feature on the iPod in the Chelsea dressing room yet Liverpool's story offers the London team encouraging parallels. Like Liverpool in 1984, they have won at Benfica in the quarter-finals and successfully defended a narrow 1-0 lead in the away leg of their semi-final. Where Chelsea performed the miracle of Camp Nou, Liverpool won 2-1 at Dinamo Bucharest with a display that led Bobby Robson, the watching England manager, to burst into their changing room and declare it, Lawrenson recalls, "the best away performance in club football I have ever seen".

As a consequence Liverpool were ready for Roma and Kennedy believes the same should apply to Chelsea. "They must take heart from their performance against Barcelona � that was so professional, so well-organised, with everybody doing their job. That's what we did. We had players on the pitch who didn't need reminding or telling what they had to do."

Manager Fagan's instruction to his players in Rome was to get an early goal to quieten the home crowd and both Anfield old boys warn Chelsea against sitting back. Fortunately, Lawrenson suggests, they possess in Didier Drogba a player who could have a similar galvanising impact as Souness did at the Stadio Olimpico. "It may be Drogba's last game for Chelsea and how much would he want to go out absolutely bullying Bayern Munich at the back?"

Bayern have been unstoppable at home in this season's Champions League, posting seven straight victories, but playing a final in front of your supporters brings its own pressures. Just ask Francesco Graziani, the former Roma striker. One of two home players to miss his spot-kick in 1984, he begins his conversation with The Independent with the line: "You're making me cry just thinking about it."

His melodramatic tone echoes a book written about that final by his namesake Massimiliano Graziani, a Roma fan and journalist from Italy's national broadcaster RAI, who likened Kennedy's winning kick to the "eruption in Pompei". As a measure of the expectations surrounding Roma in 1984, it is worth recalling that on the day final tickets went on sale, there was a near-riot as 15,000 people turned up to find only four ticket booths open. "Against Liverpool, perhaps we were too nervous, perhaps we felt too much expectation," Graziani says.

Like Bayern, Roma had a 100 per cent home record en route to the final, confirming their place with a 3-0 success over Dundee United that overturned a two-goal defeat in Scotland. Graziani dismisses the rumours that Roma bribed the French referee, Michel Vautrot, that night and instead dwells on their misfortune against Liverpool. "If we had money to spend on a referee we would have done it for the final," he laughs, citing the "possible foul" by Ronnie Whelan that led to Roma goalkeeper Franco Tancredi spilling a cross in the lead-up to Phil Neal's fortuitous early goal.

He also points to the misfortune of Roberto Pruzzo, scorer of Roma's equaliser, who left the fray because of illness but does acknowledge the "character" showed by a Liverpool side who passed the ultimate test of nerve in the first European Cup final shoot-out. Liverpool had lost a dress rehearsal 5-1 to their youth team and Steve Nicol missed their first kick Mbut with Bruce Grobbelaar performing his "spaghetti legs" routine, Bruno Conti and Graziani both shot over.

"I'd never seen before a keeper like Grobbelaar who was acting like a clown," Graziani admits. "We all try to distract our opponents and he did that better than us." For Kennedy his decisive conversion provided "probably the greatest feeling you could ever have" but Roma's loss had a tragic postscript. A decade later to the day, their captain, Agostino Di Bartolomei, shot himself dead after suffering from clinical depression.

Looking back, Conti � now Roma's academy director � says it was inexperience more than anything that cost the Giallorossi that night. "Liverpool were used to playing these important matches, whereas for us it was the first. I saw their players looking calm, composed during the penalties." Like Graziani, he insists home advantage was more a help than hindrance, though another veteran of a home final is less sure.

Sandro Mazzola's Inter beat Benfica at San Siro in 1965, retaining the trophy they had won in Vienna in 1964, yet he remembers an uncomfortable victory. "There was more tension than if we'd played elsewhere and prepared somewhere differently. It was more difficult than a final played abroad for us," says Mazzola. And encouragingly for Chelsea, he argues that home support can be a double-edged sword on such occasions. "Our supporters really got behind us, but at the same time that only increased the sense of responsibility.

"[Bayern] shouldn't try and rush things because they're in front of their fans. It is not easy. They need to keep clear heads." Chelsea will wish otherwise, and history gives them hope.

Home comforts? Previous finals

1957 Real Madrid 2-0 Fiorentina

In only the second season of the European Cup, Real retained their title in front of 124,000 at the Bernabeu. Alfredo Di Stefano and Francisco Gento struck in the final 20 minutes. Real would retain the trophy for a further three years.

1965 Internazionale 1-0 Benfica

Having beaten Real the previous season, Helenio Herrera's side retained the trophy at San Siro, thanks to Jair da Costa's goal shortly before the interval. Rangers and Liverpool were beaten in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.

1984 Liverpool 1-1 Roma [aet, 4-2 pens]

Roma lost out to Joe Fagan's side at the Stadio Olimpico. Phil Neal put the English side ahead, but Roberto Pruzzo equalised. Penalties were required, with Bruce Grobbelaar's wobbly legs going down in folklore as the Reds won for a fourth time in seven years. James Mariner

Sharon Curley

Captain_Morgan — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:39:08 GMT

Is coming back into all your lives this summer, you can't stop her,

Making her debut next sat v Bosnia

Pics to be posted this week, those who know, know!!

Newbie is what they call me ;-)

Gavink83 — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:53:49 GMT

Alrgt fellow reds, only joined there today, was recommended by a another member (pat) Been a liverpool fan for 18 years, love the club, a bit too much sometimes, well thats what the wife tells me anyway !!
Hail from the sunny south east, wexford boyo !! Anyway any info/tips ya's can share on the site would be appreciated, look forward to joining the crew on a trip to anfield in the near future or are newbies allowed and how do i lose the newbie tag !!!!!!!!! Gavin is the name by the way, gavink83

Rafa, by TAW...

F@ces — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:47:10 GMT

There are a lot of things I hate about the beautiful game; our ugly, flawed, gratuitous, imperfect beautiful game.

I hate clubs charge nearly �60 for 90 minutes of football and that our own club isn�t much better. I hate when fans still expect tickets to be a fiver while singing the name of their �20million striker.

I hate electronic turnstiles, electronic scoreboards and video screens. I hate pies. I hate the Upper Centenary and the fact it�s called the Upper Centenary. I hate Football Manager, Championship Manager, Fantasy Football and Wigan Athletic.

I hate fans who dress up as Elvis, Superman and Budgie the Little Helicopter. I hate fans who dress in Henleys and emit the cry of the Neanderthal any time the referee blows his whistle.

I hate inane punditry. I hate Alan Shearer and his crimes against fashion telling me that he passed it there, shot there and it�s a goal. I literally hate Jamie Redknapp and his tight, testicle-twisting trousers. Literally. I hate Gary Neville for talking more sense than both combined.

I hate Robbie Savage, Tim Cahill, Rio Ferdinand, David Moyes, Kiki Musampa and Garth Crooks, not to mention Emmanuel Adebayor, Scott Parker and the entire population of Middlesbrough. I hate Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones. I despise Rio Ferdinand.

I hate a fair portion of the media and those who think the entire media is corrupt, biased or full of liars. I hate bloggers who think they�re journalists because they can open up WordPress; I hate journalists who think they�re bloggers because they have a Twitter page.

I hate football managers and their droopy faces, so reminiscent of a mashed-up Echo left in the gutter on a rainy November morning. I hate how they dangle their faces out of their expensive cars, links themselves with every striker available in world football and pander to the media in order to secure the England job. I hate the England job.

I hate Roy Hodgson. I hate Manchester United fans who sit upon their high horse while that same horse tramples on dignity and decent human behaviour. I hate the fact Goodison Park has an escalator. I hate Goodison Park.

But there�s one thing I hate more than any of that.

After any defeat, be it big, small or insignificant, there�s always one person who stays behind as the Kop disperses onto buses and into pubs. They sit there long after the final sounds of disappointed applause dissipates into the night; they sit there shortly before the stewards get ready for their post-match operation.

Television, naturally, picks up on this. It�s been viewed so many times. A perfect end to the narrative. The full stop; the final scene. The heartbreak and despair of the sport encapsulated in one shot of a supporter, head in hands, unable to move. The aftermath is poignant for some, hilarious for most.

I�ve never understood it. I never want to understand it. A little over 18 months ago, I became everything I hated.

For 120 minutes, I stood on the Kop watching Liverpool�s next stroll into another European final. Hamburg.The Reeperbahn. Another anecdote to tell; another memory for the scrapbook.

Fifteen minutes after Diego Forlan ended Liverpool�s Europa League hopes, I was still sitting down. Numbness hit.

I loved a lot of things about football.

I loved watching my club take on Europe�s titans; better still, I loved watching those titans demolished by our own. Each victory another verse in Liverpool Football Club�s epic.

I loved the enthusiasm from opposing fans when we entered backdoor bars. I loved answering questions about Istanbul, Steven Gerrard and You�ll Never Walk Alone. I loved Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Porto and Eindhoven.

I loved sharing these moments with friends. I loved sharing hotel rooms and airport lounges with them; I loved that eight-man round, even if it did cost the same price as my flight.

I loved Anfield and how it transformed when the floodlights radiated and Zadok the Priest reverberated. I loved how the buzz along Walton Breck Road carried the crowd like a conveyor belt towards the ground. I loved being one solitary brick in that wall of noise.

I loved watching Cannavaro, Zanetti, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, Del Piero and Messi. I loved watching Gerrard, Carragher, Hyypia, Luis Garcia, Alonso, Mascherano, Agger, Kuyt.

I loved Rafael Benitez.

Rooted to the plastic red seat, I stared at the empty Anfield pitch. The floodlights started to dim, the reverberations eased. Everything I loved was slowly decaying; everything I hated was strengthening.

I knew defeat to Atletico Madrid would signal the end of Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager. I knew some would be given what they wanted.

Rafa�s influence at Liverpool stretched far beyond football. Far more important than the 2-1 win at Camp Nou was the night before, crammed into a bar eating tapas and drinking sangria until the early hours; far better than beating Milan, Real Madrid or PSV were the moments around that � the moments still talked about to this day.

More than any trophy, signing or 90 minute lesson in football management, Rafa gave us experiences we still remember and allegiances we still cherish. Rafa keeps giving, too � this time away from football. This time, he and his wife Montse give to the city of Liverpool through the Montse Benitez Foundation; they give themselves as fine ambassadors to the city.

That is why I�m angered when I see anything uncomplimentary written about Rafael Benitez. To debate his merits as a manager is fine. To debate the impact he has had on the city of Liverpool, both during and after his time as manager, is foolhardy at best and ignorant at worst.

Hate is a strong word. It should be reserved for only those who have harmed this football club, its supporters and the city.

Redknapp, Shearer, escalators at Goodison Park and all the other aforementioned items are not targets of hate, just a mild irritant to the landscape mentioned with tongue planted in cheek.

But I do intensely dislike those who felt the need to force Rafael Benitez out of Anfield; I feel an intense dislike for those who still don�t appreciate what he does. I dislike the fact some see a European Cup, an FA Cup and countless fantastic nights as a failure; I dislike it when those people don�t realise that Rafa�s legacy is a lot more than that.

I hated the fact I couldn�t tell him this in person as a supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

That was until he walked through the door of Parr Street during The Anfield Wrap�s 10th podcast.

I�d met Rafa before, both personally and professionally, when he was Liverpool manager. This time, I was meeting him as a supporter; this time, I could thank him for everything he did for Liverpool Football Club and the city of Liverpool.

He greeted us all with a warm smile � a smile some in the press told us never existed. It did exist. It existed at Istanbul and Cardiff. It existed at Old Trafford when Andrea Dossena put his side 4-1 up; a carbon copy of the smile four days earlier when Real Madrid were demolished at Anfield.

I used to argue I would rather have the cold steel of a European Cup rather than a warm smile. I now realised they were not mutually exclusive.

He sat down and spoke passionately about his football and his charity. He listened to those he sat with; he answered questions from both journalists and supporters. By the end of the podcast, there was no distinction: it was no longer a host, a few journalists, some fans and Rafael Benitez on the Anfield Wrap podcast; it was eight Liverpool supporters talking football with each other.

As he left, I shook his hand. I wanted to say thank you for Olympiakos, Juventus, Istanbul, Cardiff, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Old Trafford and the countless wins over Chelsea and Everton. I wanted to say thank you for the work both him and Montse were doing for the city.

I wanted to say thank you for speaking out against Hicks and Gillett and putting the club and supporters ahead of himself; thank him for being the glue of my hefty mental scrapbook bulging with moments from his time in charge, shared with people I consider great friends. I wanted to thank him for making our ugly, flawed, gratuitous, imperfect beautiful game just that little bit more beautiful for us.

I shook his hand, placed an arm upon his shoulder and uttered: �Cheers Rafa� before walking away. An opportunity missed.

I just cling to the hope Rafa knew, as he looked me in the eye, why I was saying thanks. He always did have fine attention for detail, after all.

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/01/rafa/

Euro 2012 - Apres Match...

F@ces — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:58:21 GMT

Here we go again...

LFC bets

Daz — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:26:25 GMT

Ok just starting this thread for anyone to post their bets / tips solely related to Liverpool.

At the minute, focus is on the next manager prices. I layed Martinez last night at slight odds on. If any news comes out regarding anyone else getting interviewed / interested, they'll go odds on too and they'll be layed. Learned my lesson after the last Ireland vacancy. The amount of people that went heavy odds on after rumours etc. There was alot of money to made. Anyway could go tits up if Martinez gets appointed quickly but thats the risk I guess.

Even Rafa last night at one point went to 19/1, this morning was back to about 8s and is now trading at 11/1. Definately money to be made

thoughts.?

Happy Birthday Charmac

MrsPepe — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:04:47 GMT

Hope you have a great day:)

Kenny Dalglish - Letting go with thanks.

liamo3 — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:19:12 GMT

Sorry lads & lasses need to get this out of my system.....

As a 14 year old lad you took me to the streets with a swagger that I could beat anyone in football. I remember that year so well, writing a letter to you begging that you'll win the FA cup for me birthday. Little did I know you'd end up giving me the best birthday present ever, the double.

You then went on to master the game and gave us brazilian football with the likes of Barnes Beardsley & Aldo giving us the best football we had ever seen. The biggest regret of that era was for us never to witness the slaughtering of AC Millan by Liverpool football club.

When you left us after the Derby it was probably on a par with the great Bill Shankly leaving us. But we understood how such a tragedy, a crime like Hillsborough could take its toll on you as manager of our great club and so we said farewell. Unfortunately with your departure came the demise of LFC.

You did come back with Blackburn and gave the Kop it's biggest cheer in a long time when you won the league again. I suppose we could nearly touch with our finger tips what might have been if you were still here.

Football changed and money started to eat into this great sport and we honestly flattered to deceive over the next 20 years. With the exception of 2001 & 2005 the years have been unkind to Liverpool. We became also rans in league competitions and yes we won the odd league cup here and there but we were not the same team of the 80's and that was extremely hard to live with.

We nearly got ourselves back on track in 2005 when we won the biggest club competition in the world. Yes Rafa was the closest we got to the heights of your great achievements of the 80's and just for that moment in time we were made to believe again. One other thing that Rafa did was introduce you back to the fold and recognised that this club needs its heritage and its history intact as much as it needs great players. A master stroke that probably led to the saving of the club.

We entered one of the darkest periods of the clubs history in 2008, when we, as one of the greatest institutions of world football were brought to our knees because we let 2 charlatans come in and rape something we love with all our hearts and thus made us watch it as they did it. But we didn't take it lying down and we took to the streets we took to the ground we even took to hotel lobbies to fight for our right to survive. Although we won over a lot of the football world eventually, we had to endure civil war among ourselves and when Rafa went and Hodgson came in we all wondered were the club would end up. We did manage to get rid of the cancer of that time and that's because we as fans were given a great gift passed down from Shankly to yourself that was bred into us that we are Liverpool FC and we are different.

However as a fanbase we were totally split and there was only one person that could have ever brought us back together and in January 2011 you walked back through those famous Shankly gates again and your first home game was a Derby and you could sense a true healing process was about to take place. From Jan to May you made us play a blinder that season and it probably hasn't helped you in the long run as expectation was so high afterwards. However you went into your first full season and although at times it wasn't great we still had great times. You battered the Everton 3 times you got us back to Wembley again and you showed some of our younger fans what it was like when Kenny was King of the Kop.

You handled the press like you were a fan. I know some will disagree and say we handled things badly last season. But you did put a lot of people back in their box and you did it because you loved us the same way we love us. You stood by the players rightly or wrongly. And you kept to the old tradition of doing things behind close doors. For once I could sense the siege mentality of old.

It's with a heavy heart we now let you go but we will do it with the same dignity that you have shown us and the club, upon leaving. One thing I will take away from your second appointment is you made me feel like a kopite again you built some of the bridges that needed building and who knows what might have been if given that little bit more time. I sincerely hope the club recognises some of this and learns from mistakes of old.

Kenny Dalglish will always be cooler than the Fonz! He will always be a hero of mine. See yea Kenny!

YNWA

Martinez Leaves Wigan - Confirmed.

CrazyHorse — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:50:56 GMT

Looks like he is on his way lads...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/1421073.stm

votes for football awards

djdwainec — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:42:42 GMT

This year i set up a football team in the wicklow league from scratch. we got to a cup final in our first year and didnt win it but was good to get there. Anyway they are now taking votes for player of the season and im trying to get my captain a few votes as he has been great this season. If you could spare a minute please click the link below and in division 3 enter Craig Doyle as player and Wicklow Celtic as the team. Thanks

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9W3Z8N9

Poll on people's choice of manager

masterbenji — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:22:33 GMT

While reading through the 'Kenny's Successor' thread I can see alot of us have a different view on how should be our next manager so I thought to run the poll to see what the majority of us would like as well as the rumoured candidates

New Director of Communications

ROCCO — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:41:26 GMT

Guys from TAW just tweeted:

Congratulations to @JenChang88 on his new job as director of communications of Liverpool Football Club.

Is this true ?

Recommend a plumber in the Navan/Meath area

Timemachine — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:24:27 GMT

Folks is there any Plumbers here or can anyone recommend a good plumber in the Navan area?