My Footballing Moments of 2012 - Part 2

Final part of my footballing moments for 2012 begins with my favourite moment.

It's hard to believe it took 23 years for it to happen but finally the REAL truth about what happened on that sunny day of the 15th of April 1989. When 95(almost 4 years later Tony Bland fight for life sadly ended and became the 96th) football supporters of my own club never came home from a football match in Sheffield. The subsequent blame apportioned to the fans by a local MP, South Yorkshire Police and the media ran with it. To this day the story than ran in a paper than shall remain nameless has been boycotted on Merseyside.


1,346 days since the disaster, the Hillsborough Independent Panel's work was published to the world. It was vindication for what the families and survivors had been saying for 23 years and a lift off many of their shoulders. A victory and an inspiration to all parents but also for the survivors who were there that day.

The biggest cover up in British legal history was unfurled before the world's eyes, the "self-pity" city they were called by outsiders. To me Scousers should be an inspiration to many people and showed the fortitude to battle for what was right. Liverpool and its people(including Evertonians who have stood shoulder to shoulder with Liverpool FC throughout these long years) should never be tarred with that moniker ever again. It is a city like most in the North of England but just has that something special. Never more so over these 23 years.


What was more poignant was the first home game at Anfield was non-other against our old foes Manchester United. Been at Anfield that day was the most emotional I have experienced as a Liverpool supporter as for all our triumphs as for what happened on the 12th September was the greatest moment in this history of our great club. The subsequent quashing of the original accidental deaths verdict by the coroner in 1989 at the High Court was the clincher.

The families await the new inquests, hopefully for the likes of Anne Williams, the mother of 15 year old Kevin who died. It cannot come soon enough, the woman is a hero and like all the families deserve their justice for their loved ones.

My next favourite moment of the year also relates to the Hillsborough disaster. A touching moment in the game at Goodison Park between Everton and Newcastle. The song chosen by Everton ended up been the Christmas Number 1 in the UK by the Justice Collective raised money for the families cause. But the below video will live long in the memory from that game and shows despite the rivalry those Blues are deep down salt of the earth.

In terms of on the pitch there has been a lot of highs and lows in 2012. Change of manager, inconsistency et al....Bellamy's performance against Manchester City enabled the Reds to progress to Wembley, Suarez's second hat-trick at Carrow Road are just a couple that missed out. Below are my footballing moments(in not any given order) on the pitch for Liverpool in 2012:

Gerrard scores the first hat-trick in a Derby since Rush scored 4 at Goodison over 20 years ago. In the process ruining David Moyes's tenth anniversary as Everton manager.

Obviously beating Everton is sweet, the Gerrard hat-trick was immense having been there at Anfield that night. But going into the semi-final at Wembley in April with Liverpool struggling in the League. Everton went in as favourites and despite taking the lead up popped Suarez and then the much maligned Andy Carroll to send a glancing header to send Liverpool into the final.

First trophy in six years, the drought ended in a dramatic League Cup final against Championship outfit Cardiff. As then manager and Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish completed the full set of domestic honours as a manager, as the Redmen captured the cup on penalties. Charlie Adam's miss will be remembered for obvious reasons because it was such a shit penalty(although Neymar would later in the year put that to shame with his miss).

The man is a genius, Luis Suarez. His first hat-trick at Carrow Road will live long in the memory especially the goal from the halfway line almost. To hit the ball on the run like that and get it over the keeper from that distance takes a lot skill.

Finally, the man again. This goal summed up what a special player Luis Suarez really is. An unbelievable pass to pick him by Jose Enrique against Newcastle earlier this season (2012/13 season) was the stuff of sheer brilliance. To take the ball coming from that distance on his chest despite the attention of Fabrizio Collocini  and to then deftly take it passed Tim Krul with one touch was just unreal. Relive it again.

My hopes for 2013 is progression and more consistency for the Redmen.

My Footballing Moments Of 2012 - Part 1

Another year draws to a close. A year that we have seen some brilliance in the world of football. Below is Part 1 of my moments in 2012:

In March, a little genius only further enhanced his reputation with an unbelievable 5-goal haul. The venue Camp Nou, Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen. Lionel Messi did something no other player had done in the Champions League era. The goal that made more history for him, his 5th goal of the night:

The summer of 2012 will be remembered as a nadir for football supporters in the Republic of Ireland, when the national side headed to Euro 2012. In a difficult group, outclassed the side failed to perform to the required standard and headed home early. Their group rivals Italy and Spain would progress. Both sides would end up in the final. The final was the crowning moment for the Spanish side, a game they completely dominated and the scoreline reflected their dominance over the Italians. Below is a link to the longer version highlights of the final that for the football purists was a joy to watch and see the greatest International side in my lifetime make history:

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/spain-4-italy-0-longer-highlights/

Another moment for me was from the much derided competition the Europa League. The final in Bucharest served notice to the rest of Europe if we didn't know already what a talent was on shown. Radamel Falcao light up the Romanian night to help Atletico Madrid win the Europa League for the second time in 3 seasons and dispatch fellow talented Basque's of Athletic Bilbao 4-0.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/atletico-madrid-3-athletic-bilbao-0/

Adding this next moment of the year sums up my love for the craziness and something different about some footballers. Back to Euro 2012 this moment comes from and from the enigma that is Mario Balotelli. Many despise him others like me like him, a talented player but a complete nutcase at the same time. Going into the semi-final against the much fancied Germans, Italy's moment of the tournament came. When a defence splitting pass from Montolivo sent Balotelli clean through and dispatch an unstoppable shot beyond Manuel Neuer. A rifled shot into the top corner for Balotelli's second and in the end the clinching goal that sent Italy to the final. The pose celebration summed up the brilliance and madness that can be Mario Balotelli.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/20-italy-mario-balotelli-v-germany-2/

As title clincher's go like 1989 :( , this was literally down to the last kick of the season. Manchester rivals, City and United battling it out on a Sunday afternoon to be crowned the Champions of England. Moments of that afternoon come flooding back but probably two moments stand out for me. Of course Aguero's winner set up by the above aforementioned Mario Balotelli but along with that moment was Phil Jones's reaction(not going to be harsh on him with the weird photo) at the Stadium of Light. Knowing City had scored to deny his team-mates the title. 

The two moments capture the elation and joy, but also the shock of a professional footballers dream of the League title medal been snatched away from him at the death. The fine line between success and failure was never more apparent in those last moments of the 2011/12 league season.

Tomorrow Part 2, purely focused on my own club Liverpool. Should be interesting.

Transfer Window - When Will The Silliness End?

With the impending January transfer window 3 days away, one of those modern day football rules that was brought in a number of years ago. I wonder when all this silliness end?

The current transfer window set-up is a wet dream for the likes of Jim White and Sky Sports News. Unending narrative of the build-up from day one to the last day of the window, we see come August or January.

Does it serve a purpose to have Bryan "Swanno" Swanson each and every day on his big iPad version of a TV spouting the same old bullshit? Or David Craig standing outside Sunderland's training ground? And Harry Redknapp hanging out his car window on the way out of the training ground with his latest tale of bullshit?

What is the point of it all, in actual fact its pointless gimmicks that pander to an already saturated football landscape.

Like me if you can recall the old transfer window(there wasn't one). The days when clubs could sign players at any stage during the season, the impact that the signings could change a season from a good one to a great one. It was simple and served a purpose.

It's replacement for me it has made a manager and a football club's inner workings more complicated than it needs to be. The impact is hitting football supporters in the pocket because of over-inflated wages been paid to players who are signed in a panic.

Until the silliness ends, the cycle will continue and subjection to gimmicks which don't need to be associated with a transfer of a player.

Reds Bullied At Britannia

It was the same old story at the Britannia for Liverpool in the Premier League. Another disappointing result at the hands of Pulis's men, a bogey side for the Redmen since they got promoted. Brendan Rodgers selected the same starting 11 that featured in the 4-0 home win over Fulham last weekend. The Redmen got off to a fantastic start, when Suarez turned Shawcross only for the former Manchester United trainee to pull the jersey off the back of the Uruguayan. For the first time this season a penalty for Liverpool which been a long time coming so much so that the travelling supporters could be afforded to have a party in the away end referring to the chants "We'll have a party when Suarez gets a pen" in the past few months.

Liverpool legend and captain Steven Gerrard stepped up, dispatched the penalty to the left of Begovic thus sending the keeper the wrong way in the process. 1-0 Liverpool after 1 min. Rodgers couldn't have had a better start, but from there on a weak underbelly that has been shown on a number of occasions this season filtered through the heart of this Liverpool side. The presence of Kenywne Jones and Jonathan Walters caused Agger and Skrtel problems all night, so much so the ease of Stoke's 3 goals cannot be understated. Liverpool gifted Stoke 3 goals from 3 set-pieces, the players knew what to expect and disappointingly for Rodgers some of the players when into their shell once Stoke scored the equaliser. Only for Reina, who hasn't been at his best for a long time now kept the score level(before Stoke took the lead) with a few saves especially the save from Matthew Etherington's great effort.

Stoke have their critics, personally I don't like them but you have to give credit where credit is due. Stoke are effective, the Britannia is probably the hardest away day for any side. The win moved Stoke up to 8th vacating Liverpool in the process. Liverpool now lie 10th at the halfway mark of the season, 25 points and unless Rodgers wins against QPR come Sunday he will have the unenviable record of equal to Roy Hodgson's points tally after 20 games. Whilst the football this season has been decent, results are the currency.

Rodgers is learning as a manager, the naivety of the team selection yesterday is a sign of this. For Fenway Sports Group(FSG) they will have backed the manager to the tune of 50 million if the deals for Ince and Sturridge do go through. The worry for me as a Liverpool supporter is are the club pigeon holing themselves again to buying British talent at inflated prices. We have been burned in the past which is well documented for our sake and Rodgers they need to hit the ground running.

On Sunday we need to start getting consistency fast. Half term report is debatable on which side you're on, there are Rodgers apologists(which I would count myself in that group because sacking him will only further disillusion me what Liverpool FC is). Then there is the Rodgers haters - we have seen it before with popular managers(Rafa), once the bandwagon gets going and media hysteria is whipped up there is only going to be one outcome.

As we go in 2013, in February it will be 4 years since we beat Real Madrid home and away in the Champions League. It seems such a long time ago with the upheaval we have seen at the club in that time. From on the brink of administration/liquidation in October 2010 to where the club is now, patience is a virtue and unfortunately its going to take that virtue before we get back to where we were. Getting bullied at the Britannia like we did only gives a further indication the rebuilding the owners need take on board.

Off the pitch the inexperience is as much as it is on the pitch at times. 3 points on Sunday for the moment should be the main focus to bounce back from last night's defeat. Like we did after the defeat to what can only be described as the worst Villa side side since Brian Little's vintage.

Heaping more pressure on Harry Redknapp would be even sweeter.

Hillsborough: Justice Is Nearing

Today, 19th December 2012. 23 years after the inquests into the deaths at Hillsborough began in Sheffield, the families and people of Merseyside experienced the anguish of those resulting inquests. From the cut off point imposed by the coroner of 3.15 to the resulting verdict Accidental Deaths.

Since the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report in September, only did the world know what the people in the city of Liverpool knew all along had come to light. The disaster effected the families but also the people who had survived and suffered with the aftermath, some didn't cope.

The Attorney General's petition to the High Court to quash the inquest verdicts which the families had campaigned for years. Anne Williams, a hero to any parent has gone to lengths no parent should have to ever go to find out how her son died at the age of just 15. He was alive after the cut off point, like many of the families Anne never collected her son's death cert. The cause of death -  accidental death - was written on Kevin's like all the other people who died that.

Thankfully today another wrong has been righted, albeit too many years later when the likes of Anne has had to suffer unbelievably over that period. The Lord Justice quashed the verdicts and has ordered new inquests, for everyone now will come the new inquests. It's a pity that the new inquests are not going to take place in Liverpool, which it should of been. Despite that, justice is getting that bit closer. For all the groups, HFH, HJC and the HFSG, survivors 2012 has been a year of vindication.

Whenever the new inquests begins, the focus now should be on convictions of the people of the day. The FA, who criminally as the organisation of holding the match in a ground that was unsafe deserve to be in the dock alongside Bettison, Duckenfield et. al. For now, the Justice Collective single "He Ain't Heavy He Is My Brother" help it get to Number 1 for Christmas and help these extraordinary people complete their journey.

Homage to Messi

After his goalscoring feats last night he overtook Gerd Mueller for the most goals in a calendar for both club and country but what also went unnoticed was he passed Barcelona's legendary other goalscorer Cesar Rodriguez. Whose 190 goals in La Liga was broken as well last night as Messi took his tally to 192 goals.

But in homage to Messi, here are all his goals in 2012 so far (86 goals):

As Mundo Deportivo's football report said about Messi recently in its full column, "There are no words" .

At the age of 25, 314 goals in 428 senior appearances both at club and national level, those words above sum up this genius in a nutshell. Gerd Mueller's glowing words this morning are just another feather in hat but Messi takes it in his stride. What he said last night after record breaking goals shows how humble for one so great, Messi said:

"The record is great for what it means, but the most important thing is that the team won and that we maintained the distance with the teams behind us," 

"When the year starts the objective is to win it all with the team, personal records are secondary."

He did also add to the above, "I'll try to score more goals to make it more difficult for the next player that tries to break it."

Resident Spanish football writer Sid Lowe wrote: "There are no more superlatives to describe Messi.", for  further read check out Sid's article on the following link below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/dec/10/lionel-messi-86-goals-record

Few have said he needs to win a World Cup to be considered the greatest, I don't why this is used as a negative to beat Messi with, not as if he can win the World Cup at 25 on his when there isn't a World Cup taken place this year. Which despite breaking Gerd Mueller's record because he hasn't won the League, Champions League and World Cup in the same takes away from his achievement is the biggest load of rubbish I have seen in a long time.

It's not many times you will see genuinely a genius like this in his element, when you have two of them as football lovers its great to watch them(Messi and Ronaldo) go ahead to ahead to be the greatest. Having never seen Maradona, Pele in his hey day but having seen Zidane. I thought Zidane would be the greatest I have seen watching football, but two have come along and surpassed them. In particular Lionel Messi, for breaking records this year which have stood for 40 years both by one of the greatest goalscorers in European football is unreal. Last season, finishing with a tally of 73 goals on top of 29 assists he broke Mueller's other record for most goals in a season in European football history. 

For all the above, I just want to pay homage to Lionel Messi. The little man who was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency who has already become one of the greats of a game long in history by the age of 25. Only more to come I hope. 

Jordan Henderson - A Case For The Underrated

Underrated. A word that is described as "Underestimate the extent, value, or importance of (someone or something)". 

In the past players can become synonymous with this word but others view the player as useless, shit or what a waste of money. It's not the players fault the club paid the fee but it can become a noose around the neck when your own fans become critical of the said player.  

Jordan Henderson is this one player, other than Lucas Leiva in his early Liverpool career and even since still criminally underrate the Brazilian. Like Lucas, Henderson came with a reputation "England's future". Since he made his debut for home town club Sunderland, his performances attracted interest from the big clubs in England, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City were among the chasing pack keeping a close eye on the talented youngster. 

When Damian Comolli and Liverpool came calling in the summer of 2011, Henderson left his home town club to join the Reds for £16 million pounds. A hefty fee for a young player to carry, which he did throughout his first season at the club. At 21 years of age, he was written off like Lucas before him by the majority of Reds. If I have learned anything from the Lucas scapegoat era, it is foolish to write someone so young, they need to be giving the time to adapt playing for a club like Liverpool. Players usually retrieve into their shell and never come out, if anything Henderson will have learned a lot from his fellow team mate on the art of redemption. 

His performances this season seem to suggest he is coping with the pressure, but what is a major thing for a player so young its confidence. Despite been used in a deal to get Clint Dempsey(which would have been a massive mistake on Rodgers and the club's part), he has come back from that and on current form is probably out of Allen, Gerrard and Sahin our in form midfielder. Jordan is becoming more positive going forward and using his energy, pace aligned now with his confidence which Rodgers has instilled in him. His performances in the last month have been major progression, his role in the win against Wigan a few weeks ago has now got some his detractors sitting up and taking notice that he does have some qualities. 

The last week have probably been the most eye catching for Reds everywhere. His performance and getting the winner in Udinese on Thursday night was his best performance in a Liverpool side without much European experience that progressed to the last 32 of the Europa League.  We come to yesterday, Liverpool 2-1 down away at one of the toughest away grounds in English football. Rodgers made the decision to bring off Lucas playing in his second game from return and gave Liverpool more energy which was badly needed considering Mohamed Diame's performance. Despite Diame, going off soon after with his unfortunate hamstring injury, once Henderson came on, his pace and positive forward thing play forced West Ham onto the back foot. 

Forcing West Ham to defend with a higher line, Liverpool were now continually finding space behind West Ham's full backs as Sterling began to exert as much pressure down the left as Henderson was on the right. Once the equaliser came down the left, when a free flowing move set up Joe Cole for the equaliser. There was only going to be one winner from here on in, with McCartney now drawn into Glen Johnson, a neat pass into the space allowed the runner(Henderson) move into space and deliver a clever ball into the box towards Shelvey. Whose presence, enabled a deflection off James Collins to loop over Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the West Ham net.

A massive win for Liverpool, and week for both the club and Rodgers. But from a personal point of view a even more massive week for Jordan Henderson who is showing for someone so young, that we should never write them off. For one thing, I hope he continues his form because his qualities are an asset to the style Rodgers wants to play. Could this week be a defining moment on both accounts. Lucas had his in December 2008 at Newcastle, could West Ham 2012 be Henderson's? Time will tell but it will be intriguing to see how the rest of the season goes for the north-east man to blossom into a player that is clearly there. 

Diving? - An art skill, sensible or a disease..The Media Protrayal!

As a writer or a journalist working for the broadsheets or tabloids you have to be impartial.  I know myself it can be hard especially when you are new to writing. Which makes what I seen this morning from the "Daily Fail"  brings it intriguingly into focus the way the English media portray the virtues of a particular issue to what they said in the past.

I mentioned in the last article about one particular journalist who with "little old England" mentality. A lot of football people are seeing(finally) that the Premier League isn't the best league in the world as heads turn to the Bundesliga. But what did the journalist instead of showing impartiality do, well have a look at the last article http://late-kick-off.blogspot.ie/2012/12/football-finance-fans-fighting-back.html. People will know I am referring too, but his colleague I am referring to today is the main guy on Sunday Supplement,  who branded Gareth Bale's diving as the following: "It’s not cheating, it’s sensible." 

Some Spurs fans might think I am having a go here at Gareth Bale, this couldn't be further from the truth. What we are at witness here as a good mate of mine said "Xenophobia" of the British media on a weekly basis when it comes to Football. While diving in Italy and Spain is viewed as an art skill, after the criticism of foreign players by the media this year alone are they now changing tact? If so hypocrisy is now taking over as much as the Xenophobia. The foreign disease they say, yet players home grown from the football system in England are diving if not as much but more than their foreign counterparts. But today it's described as not cheating but sensible. Would the same be said for example about Luis Suarez? Other than Bale he is the only other player that seems to get it in the neck on a consistent basis. This is not about loyalties here, this is about what I would view as institutional racism at the heart of the football world that the authorities have no control over. 

This was never more evident how the governing body of football viewed the racism cases of both Luis Suarez and John Terry. Everyone knows the headlines of both, similar cases but like the media have done over and over again their disdain for anyone foreign were shown up in the headlines that the Mirror produced for the resulting cases. Easily, and I don't know why but the Mirror could have been sued for defamation of character by Luis Suarez as the FA did not deem him a racist nor did Patrice Evra. But it doesn't suit the narrative much like today's piece.

Whichever way supporters look a diving on the football pitch, the one thing it will bring up is debate after debate. The defence of the indefensible as football supporters is a given right but can be viewed as blind loyality. I have been a victim of this regarding our own controversial pantomime villain Luis Suarez at times. But when Xenophobic virtues are targeted towards one person constantly there comes a time when blind loyalty doesn't matter its the principle of defending a fellow human being who is been victimised for the sake of profit. That should not be allowed in any free society, it's capitalism gone truly beyond the realms of social responsibility to the public. 

If anything the Leveson enquiry and resulting report only puts more into scope how bad the media is regulated in England. When it is regulated hopefully rubbish articles like today can be struck off by an editor on the grounds of stupidity. 

If you want to read more on the article written by the Chelsea supporter by all means go have a look because honestly it would be worthless to advertise a useless newspaper as that publication is on here. Have a look at the one I am referring to but also the doozy that is basically saying Joey Barton is a gay hero football needs...apparently. Award winning journalists ladies and gentlemen.

Football Finance: Fan's Fighting Back?

We have seen it over the last number of year's of club's fans fighting back against the way the club is being run. My own club Liverpool experienced this when the first supporters union in the British game was formed by a number of supporters in the Sandon(where LFC was founded) on a November night. Spirit of Shankly, set the precedent that we seen in Manchester, Portsmouth and recently as last weekend in North London.

The Black Scarf Movement, a group of Arsenal fans wondering "where has their Arsenal gone", its well documented since the move to the Emirates from Highbury that Arsenal have failed to win a trophy. For the majority of Arsenal supporters patience is wearing thin, but the circumstances surrounding this should bring it home how clubs view football supporters. In September just gone, an article written in the Guardian by Daniel Harris summed up how clubs view us: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/sep/27/arsenal-ticket-prices

Football clubs need to remember without football supporters, clubs would seize to exist. The amount of money pouring into the game you would think ticket prices would decrease on some level as was set out at the beginning of the Premier League's formation in the early 90's. Comparisons with the Bundesliga on this level are totally the opposite, whereas the German clubs encourage the passion of their supporters with ticket prices as much as getting into a League of Ireland game in here Ireland. A couple of week's ago, one particular journalist portrayed the report regarding arrests at German football games as a disease.

When in fact if he actually researched it further he would have noticed that the arrests are minimal compared to the arrests at Premier League games. Unfortunately this particular journalist trumpets "the little old England" myth that the Premier League is the best league in the world but for supporters paying to go to games this couldn't be further from the truth.

The Football Supporters' Federation has encouraged good things among supporters groups, the Black Scarf Movement at Arsenal much like their rivals at Liverpool and United have protested against the systematic "raping" of supporters. It was bound to come to a head especially when a club like Arsenal are now being run as a business and not a football club representing its supporters. Recently at the North-London derby, th cheapest ticket was £92(sterling), madness. The news that Portsmouth supporters could be about to take control of their club should be something that all supporters of all clubs should be aiming for. Until this happens the soul of football will be lost among players such as Liam Ridgewell wiping his arse with 20 pound notes on the toilet.

Football supporters money is been used to pay the likes of  fat cat jokers who clearly have no love for the game and in it for the money. Not all players are like the above mentioned but if I was a West Brom supporter and seen the likes of any Liverpool player doing that, I would questioning what is the future of football. Football supporters need to unite in a common cause as Arsenal supporters showed on Saturday: "kicking greed out of football".