StartingPrice
Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip
- Feb 13, 2004
- 32,568
- 10,280
Exactly.
I suspect that a lot of our younger fans just don't appreciate their history enough to understand just why we have every right to aspire to the very top* and a lot of our older fans are used to seeing one of the former Big Five shoot themselves in the foot and be conspired against by circumstance.
* At the point at our rivals jumped, gleefully on the CL/EPL money train while we went sailing down the swanny with one paddle, we had won one less trophy than the Goons, and while you could point to their superior league title record, we could point to our 3 European trophies to their (then) zero; likewise, with United, we had approxmately the same number of trophies, and while their European Cup had greater prestige, we (again) had three European trophies to their one - and yet no-one found it incongruous that they should aspire to the very top, or that there was an ongoing media countdown from the last time they had won the league. The only team to be streets ahead of us, as with everyone, was Liverpool, but even that was thanks largely to Bill Shankley and an astutely managed chain of managerial succession. When Shankley took over, we had won the league twice in a decade, been the first team to win the double, the first team to win a European trophy (I think, the dates work) and held the record attendance figure, whole they were the smaller team in Liverpool and in the (then) Second Division (the equivalent of the Championship). The way folk make the period of dominance enjoyed by Liverpool and United, and the Goons relative trophy glut coinciding with our drought thanks to (swanny trip) really does my head in. We can aspire as high as we want...and have every right to do so. The only question should be whether we can achieve it. And right now, we have seven players of quality with a year in EPL, and a years' experience full stop, as well as several other top quality players, and one of the best, if not the best, youth set-ups/youth personnel in the country. No-one knows how it will work out with a new Head Coach and the squad we have, but there is more reason to be excited than not, IMHO.
Just to clarify: I'm not writing Liverpool off, by any means. They are a year ahead of where I expected them to be, thanks largely to a great reason aided by a fair chunk of luck, and keeping Suarez last Summer even though it meant going against their requirement of cutting the wage bill. But their best two players are Gerard and Suarez. Gerard is approaching a season too far, and Suarez will be sold. Their squad isn't particularly deep and wasn't pushed by European football last season. I expect teams to give them less space next season - much like they did with us under Redknapp when they figured out that attacking us and leaving acres of space was lethal. I don't think that will suit either Sturridge or Sterling, neither of whom has even passed the one hit wonder test, yet. And there is no guarantee that their incomings will make any more immediate an impact than ours did. What they have over us is their renown and a higher revenue, which will allow them to attract and pay the better quality players that having a year in CL should do - and that was why I was so peeved that we seemed to see our season out with a whimper from the Spurs/Liverpool game at the Lane, on. We needed to hammer home our recent superiority because they are a serious danger right now. But I still see nothing to state absolutely that they will cement a place in the top four. They have been relatively eclipsed recently for a reason - and that is that Citeh, Chelsea, United and the Goons all have higher revenues than them.
I think we have every right to look forward to, at least, a good push at the top four. Anything else, I couldn't say until we see all transfer dealings, how much players have improved (The Beatles, in particular), and how well we adapt to The Poch's ways, for our part.
