By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 10 January 07.

After a pair of defeats like the ones that we recently suffered at home to Arse-nil , we have to ask ourselves how useful is it to get seriously depressed about what is, after all, just another couple of games out of just another season. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as disappointed as anybody; I just don’t see the point in dwelling on it. Rather, I’d prefer to try and put it all in perspective and see just how trivial a couple of losses can be.

Looking back over the years that I’ve been a Red, it’s truly amazing how many trophies we’ve actually won. It’s often been said that we are the most decorated football club in English history, but of course the critics always ask “But what have you done lately?” The only answer to that is to point out the treble of 2001, the League Cup of 2003, the European Cup of 2005, the FA Cup of 2006, and of course a couple of Charity Shields and UEFA Super Cups to go with them. If the question is being asked by one of those smug supporters of one of those other “big” clubs, it might be worth pointing out who we beat on the way to winning those trophies, and then ask: “So, what have you done lately?”

But what exactly do we mean by lately? If we want to consider the past fifty years, we can look back to when we were just a once-promising club that had some success in the League, but not much else. Going back forty years to 1966 we are now looking at a club that is definitely on the rise. After being built up by the legendary Bill Shankly they have just won two League titles as well as our first ever FA Cup, and have also become a force in European competition. Now let’s look back over the past thirty years from 1976 to 2006, which is after all just a blip in the long history of the sport (our recent FA Cup win was in the 125th final of that competition, with our own club now 114 years old). With this period we can see a much clearer picture. By this time Bill Shankly had built up a second great team, winning the League, FA Cup, and UEFA Cup, and then handed the management over to Bob Paisley. In the thirty years since 1976 we have won no less than ten League Championships, five FA Cups, seven League Cups, two UEFA Cups, five European Cups, and a plethora of other lesser trophies, cups, shields, etc.

We’re not just living on past glory by looking back in this way, since it clearly points out the continuing greatness of our club. In the early part of that thirty year period, English football was dominating Europe with Football League clubs winning seven of the eleven European Cups from 1977 to 1984. Nottingham Forest won two and Aston Villa won one after each winning the League to gain entry to the competition, but where are those clubs now? During the same period of time, the much esteemed Man Ure had fallen down to the old Second Division and then made their way back up. Also consider that Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Leeds United, Tottenham Hotspur, and other once legendary clubs have failed to maintain their once proud status.

Our worst League finish, not just during those thirty years but all the way back to our resuming play in the First Division in 1962, has been eighth place (twice), and there have only been six years in all where we finished out of the top five. That’s truly amazing consistency to say that we have spent forty four years comfortably in the upper third of the table while all of those others have either been relegated or in serious danger of it at least once.

What is perhaps even more amazing is realizing that we have had several barren periods where we have won very little in terms of silverware. For the six years from 1966 to 1972 there were no trophies won. Then we went on to win three in Shankly’s final two years, before an unmatched nine year run of success under Bob Paisley. Kenny Dalglish took over from Joe Fagan who had won three in the first of his two years in charge, with King Kenny picking up five in his five and a half years. Our last League title was won during Dalglish’s last full year as manager in 1990, and then during the next ten years until 2000 we won an unimpressive two trophies (FA Cup in 1992 under Graeme Souness, and League Cup in 1995 under Roy Evans) before Gerard Houllier’s side won another four major trophies over the next three years.

This pattern of winning trophies in clumps between barren years is quite normal, even for some of the other allegedly great clubs. Arse-nil went for a period of eighteen years from 1971 to 1989 without winning the League, while Man Ure were blanked for twenty five years from 1967 to 1993. Chel$ki take the prize for their fifty year gap from 1955 to 2005 before winning only their second of three titles. As for European competition, Man Ure went thirty one years between their two European Cups, easily surpassing our twenty one years from 1984 to 2005 between our fourth and fifth (Arse-nil and Chel$ki have yet to win it).

Finally, if you want to compare total major domestic and European trophies won by the current top four clubs, we can count eleven for Chel$ki, twenty six for Arse-nil, and thirty two for Man Ure. You’re probably thinking by now that we must have won more than any of the other three, and you’d be absolutely right. We have a total of forty, comprising thirty two domestic and eight European trophies.

The fact is that we have been so spoiled over the years that we now feel seriously disappointed if we don’t win something every year. It could well be that after two magnificent seasons under Rafa we are destined to be without silverware this time around. That is, if we don’t count the Charity Shield from the beginning of the season. We have to look back at our past forty or fifty years and see what we have achieved and how we have continued to achieve greatness during that period. Surely we will continue to do so in the years to come, even if it is not to be this time around. As one of my favourite banners says: “Liverpool FC – Pride in our Past, Faith in our Future.” And, as I always say: “There’s always next year.”

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at Keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 16 January 07.

After the frustration’s of the two Arsenal defeats last week it was a relief to be playing Watford in the next game. With no disrespect meant to the Hornets, this was a great opportunity to score a few goals and get confidence and morale back. That was exactly what happened as we strolled to a three – nil win. Rafa certainly appeared to be thinking of using this game as a chance to put last week behind us with an attacking formation of playing three strikers, Bellamy, Kuyt and Crouch.

Watford were pretty awful on the day and it was clear to see why they are bottom of the Premiership, but that shouldn’t take anything away from our performance, particularly that of Craig Bellamy who was directly involved in all three goals. Bellamy has been superb since that court case got dropped and is proving to be a real bargain at six million pounds. Crouch is our top scorer this season and again scored two against Watford, but I feel that Bellamy and Kuyt is our best strike partnership up front. Crouch adds a lot with his height and the way he holds the ball up, but I feel Bellamy and Kuyt are better and more reliable at putting chances away. With their pace and non stop running they really give opposing defenders a hard time and can usually be relied on to be in the right place in the box when a goal scoring chance comes along.

Up next is what I believe to be our biggest game of the season so far as we entertain Chelsea at Anfield. This is a terrific time for us to be playing them and is definitely our best chance of beating them in the Premiership since Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are currently missing Petr Cech, John Terry or Claude Makalele and rumours of dissention behind the scenes have them looking very vulnerable in recent weeks. I think if we go after them with a strong attack and keep Drogba contained we will win this match.

There is plenty happening off the pitch too this week for the Reds. The takeover from the Dubai investment group should be completed any day now. According to Rick Parry, speaking on Radio Merseyside on Monday, both parties have been working round the clock finalise the deal and it is now just a matter of completing the paperwork as they are happy with everything. When asked if there will be money to finance new players in the transfer window, Parry did not give a definite answer but did confirm that strengthening the first team is the current priority.

It is expected that Lucas Neill will leave Blackburn this week with Anfield currently the favourite destination for the Australian defender. I will be really happy if that deal goes through. Fifa have also confirmed today that they have received a request from Liverpool to sign Javier Mascherano on loan from West Ham. Unfortunately as it stands Mascherano cannot play for another club this season as he also turned out for Corinthians in Brazil and the Fifa rule is that a player can only play for two clubs in a FIFA season that runs between July 1st and June 30th. Liverpool have asked for dispensation to allow us to sign him as Rafa appears keen to strengthen our midfield with Zenden and Garcia long term injuries and Sissoko still not back from his broken shoulder, although he’s expected back very soon.

This could be a really big week for Liverpool and now that the pain of last week is behind us I’m excited about the season’s potential once again.

What do you think? Give Ste your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com.

Submitted By LFC Vancouver member Phil Speed, 14 January 07.

Did you hear about all the fighting during the game? There was a kick off every 15 mins.

Michael Jackson said next day he wants to join Liverpool as he fancies bein slapped around by 11 kids.

The Liverpool players did a promotion at Toys R Us the next day were they were givin games away.

What do you think? Give Ste your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com and he will make sure Phil gets them!

Standings as of 18 January 07. Congratulations to Ste for correctly guessing Rafa's starting XI for the Bolton match!

Rank	Member	Points
1	Lance	21
2	Dennis	19
2	Ste	19
4	Kevin	18
5	Andy	19
6	Mark Aston	16
7	Keith	11
8	Glenn Whyte	10
9	Dave Curtis	9
10	Quentin	5
11	Glenn Whitt.	3
12	Chris Cole	1

To enter the members contest see the rules below.

RULES:

• Only open to paid LFC Vancouver Members.
• You list the names of the players you think will start the next LFC match.
• You must submit your list to lfcvancouver [at] gmail.com at least 12 hours before kick-off.
• This contest will include every match that LFC plays this season. Starting with Blackburn.
• The member(s) that correctly guess the starting XI will be awarded 5 points.
• At the end of the season the player with the most points will win the prize.
• What is the prize? It is a surprise!
• The standings will be included in each week’s newsletter.

Scoring System:

• 11 Correct picks = 5 points.
• 10 Correct picks = 3 points.
• 9 Correct picks = 1 point.
• 0-8 Correct picks = 0 points.

YNWA/JFT 96,

Andy Neumann