By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 30 March 08.

After Liverpool’s incredible run of seven consecutive victories, the headlines were dominated by praise for Torres, Gerrard and Mascherano. This has been a regular occurrence throughout this season and I do not dispute that these three players have been awesome and fully deserving of all the praise they consistently receive. However there is a player who has been giving fantastic efforts for Liverpool for the last ten years and he has been especially impressive this season. I am of course referring to Sami Hyypia who has been superb and he had another terrific game in the derby. Once again Sami has been largely ignored in the media and I thought it was time to put that right.

At the beginning of this season Sami was expected to be playing mostly as cover for Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger, whenever they needed a rest. I expected him to mostly play in the domestic cup competitions and during busy periods such as over Christmas and New Year. When Agger fractured his metatarsal in September, Sami was called into action to partner Carragher full time. At the time it was expected that Agger would be back within a couple of months but when he re-injured it in training it has turned out that he’s now been out for five months.

I admit I was very concerned that Sami would not be able to step in full time because of his age. At 34 years old Sami is now in the twilight of his career and I did not believe he would be able to handle playing virtually every game. I was wrong and so were those that considered him past his best. Sami has stepped in and played thirty six games so far this season, and in all of those games he has rarely made any mistakes and has popped up with three goals so far.

If it hadn’t been for the goals of Torres, I would suggest Sami as my choice for the player of the season. He has defied his age and he has proved that you don’t need to have a lot of pace when you have intelligence. Sami has the ability to think a few moves ahead which gives him vital extra seconds in a defensive situation.

Since the arrival of Martin Skertl in the January transfer window, Sami has been able to enjoy some well earned rests in the second half of the season. The encouraging displays from Skertl have suggested he will be difficult to drop from the side and with Agger due back from injury very soon, it’s likely that Sami will become fourth choice at centre back. However it’s clear that Rafa still considers Sami to be an extremely important player for Liverpool. This was confirmed when he was chosen alongside Skertl in the huge game at Inter Milan, with Carragher switched over to right back. This may be a formation we see a lot more of over the coming year, especially if all four of our centre backs are fit.

Although Sami has been linked with other clubs, Rafa has offered him a one year contract extension and made it clear that he wants him to stay. Rafa said recently;

“I spoke with Sami and showed him our interest. He is a very good professional.

"It is not just about his experience, it is about him being a good player. He has played a lot of games this season, and the idea for next season is that he can play and fight for his place.

"This will be good for us. One of the positive things is that, because he is a good professional and has a lot of experience, he can give the other players advice.

"But I also think he can fight for a position against the younger players. He has been an amazing servant for this club.

"When you see a foreign player playing for the same team for 10 years, everyone must be really pleased.”

I am sure that Sami will sign the contract extension and I really do hope that he does. I fully agree with the comments from Rafa, I think that Sami still has a lot to offer the club and in fact I hope that Sami stays with the club after he retires from playing. He has more than earned a position thanks to his decade of service (some of which as club captain), and Liverpool FC will be a far poorer club without him in it. Daniel Agger has spoken many times about how much Sami has helped him develop his game since he arrived at Anfield and I cannot think of anybody better to assist in the future development of defenders for many years to come.

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

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 22 March 08.

Some players in Liverpool’s history have been considered great enough to be included in the official website’s “100 Players Who Shook The Kop.” Some other players have been considered memorable for their unique personalities or otherwise, and have been included in humorous lists such as The Liverpool Way’s “10 Players Who Shook The Kop (With Laughter). Then there are those who managed to make both lists – Titi Camara is one of them (Djibril Cissé and Erik Meijer are another two). What can be said to be common to all three of those (other than that they were all strikers) is that they had a short but eventful career with Liverpool. If you’ll excuse the pun, it’s perhaps appropriate to say that Titi Camara’s Liverpool career came and went in a flash.

Adoubacar Sidiki (Titi) Camara was born in Conakry, Guinea, on November 17th, 1972. His skills developed to such a level that at the age of seventeen he was signed by French club St. Étienne in 1990. At this time, he was a highly rated young prospect, scoring sixteen goals in ninety four Ligue 1 appearances, and it wasn’t long before he was making his mark in the game and developing into a talented striker. In the summer of 1995 he was sold on to Lens, where he scored fourteen goals in sixty three appearances, and who in turn sold him on to Olympique Marseille two years later in 1997.

Titi’s career at Marseille began well with a run of thirty one games in his first season, but only scoring two goals. His second season was an improvement on that with six goals in thirty Ligue 1 games, plus a couple more goals in the UEFA Cup. By this time he had developed a reputation for being fast, being able to shield the ball while running at goal, and scoring spectacular goals. As Marseille had finished in fourth place at the end of the 1997-98 season, they were entered into the UEFA Cup for the following season. Marseille went all the way to the final, where Titi Camara had a chance to show his talents in front of a world-wide audience. It was not the best of performances as Marseille lost 3-0 to Parma. In Ligue 1, Marseille finished in second place, and would be entered in the Champions League for the following season. Marseille had several quality strikers at that time, including Fabrizzio Ravenelli, and Christophe Dugarry, both of whom were typically selected ahead of Titi for many games, preventing him from having a consistent run of appearances. The chance to play Champions League football was not enough to keep him at Marseille, and so when Gerard Houllier offered him the opportunity to sign for Liverpool, he took it with little hesitation, becoming the first Guinean footballer in England, for a fee of £2,600,000.

Liverpool were of course a club famous throughout Europe, and Titi Camara knew a lot about them from watching them in Premier League and European matches on television. In one instance, he was amazed at how the supporters would get behind the team when they were losing as much as when they were winning. Referring to the Manchester United match at Anfield (May 5th, 1999) he recalls:

“The atmosphere was something else. When Liverpool went 2-0 down the fans never got on their backs. On the contrary, they tried to get behind them. That is beautiful and it doesn’t happen in France. It was clear that the Liverpool fans like people who give everything. I can’t wait to play there.” [Liverpool scored two late goals from a Jamie Redknapp penalty and another (appropriately) from Paul Ince, to make it 2-2].

Titi Camara’s debut for Liverpool came on the seventh of August, 1999, against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. It was also the debut for Sander Westerveld, Erik Meijer, Vladimir Smicer, Dietmar Hamann, and Sami Hyypia. It was a dream start as Liverpool won 2-1 with goals from Robbie Fowler after 75 minutes, and the winner from Camara nine minutes later. Titi’s goal came after a powerful 25 yard shot from Fowler was parried by the keeper, falling to Titi just inside the area, where he placed it into the net with a left footed strike. He’d had a fair number of chances up to that point, but one thing that became his trademark there and then was his unpredictability. There were earlier chances that were not attempted to be taken, followed by chances that came unexpectedly out of nowhere.

As soon as he appeared at Anfield he became a crowd favourite. His beaming smile and his entertaining tricks with the ball delighted the fans and infuriated the opposition. It seemed at times that he was just teasing defenders as he flicked the ball up, turned as it came down, backheeled it to a teammate, surged forward to take another pass, and then suddenly unleashed a shot at goal. Only a few weeks before his arrival, people were saying Titi who? Suddenly, here was some player to have come apparently out of nowhere, and he really was some player! Jamie Carragher described it well:

“When he first came, the first three or four months, we all thought, ‘What have we here? – Pele?’ Every time you gave him the ball he was flicking it over someone’s head or scoring some great goals.”

At the other extreme, he was also becoming well known for making a mess of the simplest moves, such as passing to a teammate only a few yards away, losing possession, and shooting wildly off target instead of passing for a better chance. He was hot and cold through the season, and it was trying Gerard Houllier’s patience as he asked for and expected more consistency from all his players.

Titi’s most memorable incident was at Anfield, against West Ham, on October 27th, 1999. Liverpool were attacking the Anfield Road end as usual in the first half, and were finding it extremely difficult to break down the Hammers’ defence. Rigobert Song and David Thompson combined to make some space down the right flank, with Song overlapping as far as the goal line, where he crossed the ball low into the centre for Camara to bundle the ball into the goal just a minute before half-time. The joy of the go-ahead goal was soon turned to confusion when Titi collapsed and wept as emotions overcame him. It turned out that his father had passed away during the previous night, and even though it was a devastating loss to him personally, he insisted on playing as he was the only fit striker available on the day. That one incident was enough to put him firmly in the rank of hero with the Liverpool faithful, and strengthened a bond that had been developing since the beginning of the season.

Unfortunately it was not enough for Gerard Houllier who played him less as the season wound down, preferring to leave him on the bench. But recurring injuries to Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler meant that Titi Camara was playing more than the manager had planned. His goalscoring during that period was a respectable one goal every three matches, but it wasn’t good enough for a club (or a manager) with higher expectations. Houllier’s aim was to qualify for Champions League football the following season, which needed a minimum of a third place finish, and so he had signed Emile Heskey from Leicester for a club record fee of £11,000,000. It could be argued that it was that decision not to play Titi so much in the later stages of the season that caused Liverpool to miss out on a Champions League berth. The Reds were winless in their last five, scoring none, and losing away to Bradford in their last chance match of the season.

The first season at Anfield for Titi Camara was a case of mixed fortunes to say the least. On the one hand, he had played in a total of thirty seven matches, scoring ten goals, second to Michael Owen. But that total of appearances included thirteen as a substitute as he was increasingly being demoted to the bench for much of the second half of the campaign. Gerard Houllier’s practice of rotation, combined with his insistence on playing Emile Heskey with Robbie Fowler or Michael Owen, meant that Titi Camara was soon seen as a fourth choice striker.

The 2000-01 season didn’t start out with much promise either. Missing out on Champions League football was a disappointment, but at least there was the consolation of entering the UEFA Cup. That is, it would have been a consolation if Titi had been included in any of the plans. The situation went from bad to worse as Gerard Houllier left Titi out of every game, demoting him to the reserves. It wasn’t good enough for him, and he definitely let it be known! That then made the situation worse still, and when a transfer request was handed in it was not expected to be denied. Houllier couldn’t quite hide his sudden disdain for the Guinea international in an interview (on the official website):

Titi got injured at half-time in the pre-season friendly with Parma on August 12th. He is the only player I know who has got injured without playing. The injury was so bad that he could only come back seven weeks later. I don’t know what kind of injury he had. So his first game for us was on October 2nd against Manchester United reserves and then he went away to play an international match in Guinea. He came back on October 11th and then we played three games against Derby, Leicester, and Slovan Liberec. He was not involved in the first two but was on the bench for the game with Liberec. The following day he came to see me and said that he did not want to play for Liverpool and that he wanted to leave. If he doesn’t want to play for Liverpool and wear the red shirt, then that’s it. He has told me he wants to be placed on the transfer list, so he has been. Now I will meet with his agent and see what we can do. It disappoints me for the fans and I don’t think it’s being fair on the club. Why he wants to leave I don’t know. I can’t accept that someone who has been available to this club for only 10 days, during which time we played three games and won all three, wants to leave because he is not in the team.

It was in fact the game where he was on the bench (Liberec) that signalled the end of the relationship. He was sent by Houllier to warm up along the touchline for the entire second half, but with no intention of using him as a substitute in a match that cried out for some creativity in attack. Sometimes it’s strange how a manager will talk at length about how a new player he has managed to sign is the biggest coup of his career, and then a year or so later the same player is completely out of favour and up for sale.

One possible destination for Titi was Preston North End (managed by David Moyes) who were interested in taking him on loan for the remainder of the season. They needed a player to replace Erik Meijer who was already there on loan from Liverpool, but was in the process of being sold to Hamburg. Another possibility was Wolves, who were also looking for a player on loan. In both cases, the clubs were offering regular first team football, even though in a lower division. In Houllier’s opinion, a loan deal was not good enough, and so when West Ham offered £1,500,000 in December of 2000 his career went south. He failed to make much of an impression with the Hammers, with only eleven appearances and no goals by the end of the 2001-02 season. His reputation became so bad that he’s often described as the worst player ever for West Ham!

One more chance was given in the summer of 2002 when he had a much more impressive pre-season, but he was soon sent out on loan to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad. From there he made a permanent move to Al-Siliya in the summer of 2003, followed by a final move back to France to finish up his career at Ligue 2 club Amiens. At least at those clubs he was able to rediscover his goal scoring prowess, and was also able to continue to play for Guinea. His international career was quite successful with appearances in the African Nations Cup in 1994, 1998, and finally in 2004 where they reached the quarter-finals.

One bizarre event in the career of Titi Camara was his selection for a commemorative t-shirt for an Irish clothing company. It was sold along with other shirts celebrating other famous players such as Maradonna, Valderrama, Robbie Keane, and Henrik Larssen. There doesn’t seem to be any particular reason for the inclusion of Titi, but it was apparently a very popular seller.

Titi Camara retired from competitive football in 2006, and was hoping to return to Guinea as the head coach of the national team, who had qualified for the African Nations Cup once again. That move was not successful as he was overlooked in favour of Robert Nouzaret. His next move was hoping to run for president of the Guinea Football Association, but was disqualified from the election for lack of experience. The rules of the Guinea FA require candidates to have at least four years experience at managing a team or an association.

It would be no surprise if Titi’s memories of his days with Liverpool were less than complimentary, but in fact he speaks as fondly of those times as much we speak fondly of him:

“At Liverpool, I was lucky enough to be playing for a great club but unfortunately things didn’t go well with Gerard Houllier. The memories I have from Anfield will stay with me right until my final days. It’s not that I lacked ambition. The first season went very well, but after that Gerard Houllier wanted to stop me playing for Guinea. He wasn’t happy when I left and when I got back, he decided to sideline me. It was sad for the fans, because I’d given quite a lot to Liverpool and I’d also learned a lot from Liverpool in return. That’s part of a footballer’s life. There are times when a coach decides a footballer’s fate and it’s sad.”

There must be something special about a player who is so fondly remembered even though he effectively only played for one season at Liverpool. You just have to mention the name Titi and it brings a smile of remembrance for a wonderfully entertaining player who lit up the game for so many, even though it was for so short a time. When Liverpool supporters were asked to vote on their top ten players of all time for the “100 Players Who Shook The Kop”, Titi Camara came in at 91 – ahead of players such as Nicholas Anelka and Nigel Clough.

Video of Titi Camara:

Titi Camara

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

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 03 April 08.

We started off the Ray of Hope Appeal with a very successful collection during the Inter Milan second leg match back on March – 11th and now it’s time for the next stage in our fundraising campaign, which is a raffle to take place on Saturday April 5th to coincide with the Arsenal v Liverpool Premier League match.

We have a really good selection of prizes available, as you’ll see below. We’ll be selling tickets before the match, and at half-time, and the draw will then take place immediately after the final whistle. Please note that we’ll be watching a recorded version of the match at 9am, due the ridiculously early kick-off time.

Raffle Prizes:

We have two brand new shirts available, generously donated by Chris Cole of Run Inn. The shirts are a current away white, and a classic 1990 home red. Don’t forget that Chris has a good selection of LFC wear available at his Kerrisdale store, and will give a 10% discount to LFC Vancouver members.

Next, we have a couple of donated shirts from our good friends and long-time LFC Vancouver supporters Russell and Louise. These area from their personal collection, and they have been very kind in providing these to help the cause. One is a 1997 away shirt, and the other is a current season home shirt.

Next up we have the LFC Baseball Cap, donated by Padee Singh. Paddy passed along a few of these just before the Inter match last month, and suggested we could sell them to members to raise money for Ray. We sold four of them through an e-mail notice last Sunday night within an hour, and we have another one (or possibly two) available for the raffle this Saturday. Thanks Padee, that was a very pleasant and unexpected surprise.

I have decided to donate my own “This Is Anfield” scarf - it’s not easy to part with it, but it’s for a good cause and I hope that whoever wins it will wear it with pride and think of others who are less fortunate than us each time they wear it.

Next up is a signed First Edition copy of “Red Revival” by Paul Tomkins. This is being donated by LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, who won it last season in the “Guess the Starting XI” contest. Thanks Ste, I don’t know how you can part with that – I have a copy of my own that I don’t even like to loan out (so please don’t ask!).

Last but very definitely not least is a very special non – LFC / non – football prize, which is a fantastic golf bag. This prize is donated courtesy of a professional colleague of mine, Eric Gibbons, who is the branch manager of Chamco Industries in Surrey B.C. Chamco has been a leading supplier of pumping and compression equipment in western Canada for over forty years. Eric is a dedicated Arsenal supporter, and we often have some good banter between us concerning our beloved clubs. When I told Eric about the Ray of Hope Appeal, he jumped in enthusiastically and came up with what I think is an outstanding prize for our raffle. Thanks Eric, that’s very generous of you and your company to donate this for the campaign.

We may also have a few other prizes donated in the last couple of days before the draw on Saturday, but these ones shown above are all confirmed and ready to be won. Tickets will be $5 each, or five for $20. Considering the value of the prizes, that’s a bargain! The process will simply be that the first ticket drawn will have first pick of the prizes, and then subsequent winners will choose from the remainder until they are all gone.

Also keep in mind that some of these prizes would make excellent gifts if you don’t have any interest in them for yourself, and of course let’s also keep in mind that the best gift of all will be the money raised to help Ray and other sufferers of Parkinson’s disease.

Good luck everyone, see you all on Saturday.

Thanks again to our sponsors for this event:

Standings as of 03 April 08.
After a break, the contest results are now current and being updated!

Rank	Member	Points
1	Dennis	58
2	Pat	45
3	Dan	25
4	Mark	24
5	Glenn	22
6	Richard	20
7	Ste	16
8	Keith	14
9	Kevin	11
10	Andy	3
11	Luvdeep	1
11	Chris	1
13	Blake	0

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.
• 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