Home > Football > A year of Dumb and Dumber - it's time for Liverpool fans to State our case

A year of Dumb and Dumber - it's time for Liverpool fans to State our case

February 6 marks the first anniversary of the Americans' buy-out at Anfield. A year of lies and mismanagement is enough for Anfield supporters to show their TRUE colours.

by Tetteh Otuteye on 20 January 2008

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When Tom Hicks showed up to buy our beloved Liverpool Football Club, he and his miniature partner, George Gillett, seemed to be the best a man could get.

They definitely knew how to talk the talk; making promises about financial backing and money available to buy "Snoogy Doogy" - if that's who Rafa wanted - gave them some initial popularity; their talk of safeguarding the history and legacy of our great club endeared them to some, and at least eased the concerns of some of our more sceptical fans.

However, we soon discovered that these promises were vacuous and (as they say in Texas) we quickly realised they were as full of wind as a corn-eating horse. They quickly back-pedalled with their talk of signing “Snoogy Doogy” turning to caution against spending like “drunken sailors”, and their persistent reference to our club as a soulless "franchise" didn't earn them too many friends.

'We must loudly and vociferously register our protest, and make it quite clear that we detest their lies and mismanagement'

That said, we weren't going to bicker over vocabulary. If they wanted to call it a franchise, we might not like it but, being Americans, it was easy to understand - that lot tend to speak funny (not to mention spell words like "colour" wrong - but that's a whole other topic).

I, for one, gave Hicks and Gillett the benefit of the doubt, figuring that even if their number one motivation was making a profit, then being astute business men (as we were led to believe), they would quickly realise that the best way to make money off the field would be to win trophies on it, and the only way to win trophies on the field would be to invest in talented players to compete with your rivals.

You can imagine how my heart sank when I read the following quote ascribed to Mr. Tom Hicks:
"This business has to do with fan affinity and brand devotion. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with winning.” (http://ickscorner.wordpress.com/2007/12/28/we-feel-your-pain-liverpool/). An ABOMINATION!

Compare this attitude to that of our previous owners. The man whose family had owned a major part of the club for generations, whose family hailed from Liverpool and who knew what an honour and a privilege it is to be involved with the greatest club in the world:
"Liverpool Football Club exists to win trophies. It has no other purpose" – David Moores.

These words echoed the sentiment of the man who made our club great, the legendary Bill Shankly, whose statue's plinth reads: "Bill Shankly - he made the people happy".

Even our previous manager, Gerard Houllier, whose fortunes on the field faded despite having a large transfer budget, once said: "Our job is to make the fans happy. When we win, 45,000 people go home happy. When we lose, it not only affects them, it affects their cats."

So we now have a couple of morons in charge, who see our club as a franchise and an opportunity to make a quick buck (despite having failed to make a footballing or financial success in previous forays into the world's favourite sport - see the Brazil saga here http://forums.thisisanfield.com/viewtopic.php?t=24104), it is no wonder that many of us now regard February 6, 2007 (when the Hicks and Gillett buyout took place) as indeed a very dark, sad period in the history of our club.

I thus propose that all Liverpool fans attending the home match against Sunderland in two weeks' time wear black and wave black flags to mourn this terrible anniversary. The Americans have recently released a statement suggesting they will not be looking to sell their stake in our club, so it appears we are stuck with them for some time to come. But we must loudly and vociferously register our protest, and make it quite clear that we detest their lies and mismanagement and see their involvement with our club as a putrid canker.

Let’s not tear up any season tickets, let’s not part ways with the club we love – as Manchester United fans did when the Glazers took over (it appears they got the right Americans and we got Dumb and Dumber). We MUST continue to support our club through thick and think, regardless of the fools who have sullied our city with their evil presence.

Through the wind and the rain, we sing each week, and while we will continue to support our club, we must publicly register our discontent with these idiots, and wearing black as we mourn that fateful day a year ago will send that message loud and clear.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007 was indeed a day that will live in infamy for many years to come.

Comments (12)

by Ian on January 20, 2008

Cracking atricle. I suggest this article be published everyday until the sunderland match otherwise not all fans will read it.

by Declan Naughton on January 20, 2008

These men have no honour and must be dismissed at all costs.They are doing a lot more than they are letting on.What we see is only what they want us to see, I fear its much worse than we think.

by dave on January 20, 2008

These snakes are an affront to everything Liverpool Football Club stands for. I assume they now realise that they will not receive a warm welcome at games- remember everyone... Wearing BLACK at the Sunderland game sounds like a great idea. Let's do it.

by dave smith on January 20, 2008

I think it's about they realised football in this country is not just a day out for a picnic like their silly sports in USA like padded rugby and grown men playing rounders but a way of life that is taken very seriously in the uk and leave us alone and sell to somebody that apprecies this meybe DIC who at most are supporters

by Kop on January 20, 2008

Stunning article, I agree 100% my thoughts exactly... Liverpool has never been about brands, and finance these two astute business men have made their home work well and their plans were precise before they invested in the club but they haven`t considered one major thing and that is the supporters! They didn`t realize that for the supporters Liverpool is not just a football club but a symbol of their faith and hope, a passion if you like thus the whole story ending the KOP against The yanks and let me say here the Americans have quite an adversary.. I have a feeling that now they do realize that it`s them 2 who have to retreat and pack their lugagge and go do business else werw, On the other hand we don`t know much about DIC (who most probably will end up the owners by the end of this season) So if we have to go and wear black on the Americans anniversary let`s not just do it for them but also as a symbol that we won`t take no sh** from no owners that are planning to turn LFC into a Circus show for the sake

by TelfordKopite on January 20, 2008

DIC in Parry and the clowns out - there is no other option. Any Liverpool fan who truly understands the situation will agree. This is a further ramification of the inability of Parry and his self serving greed. He and the Americans are on the brink of destroying what the great Shanks and great boards of the past built up over generations, its inexcusable and unjustifiable - this is not the Liverpool way! Get the Arabs in, some proper business me nwith capital and who want whats best for the club, the sooner the better! YNWA

by Saxon Paige Vickers-Buckley on January 21, 2008

It's funny, but whenever anyone writes about Americans, they do it in such a way, that is, were it anyone else, it might me termed "bigotted", shallow, a caricature and so on. If you have a problem with them, have a problem with them, but this constant TV knowledge stereotyping is a. pathetic, and b. is an excuse for avoiding serious thinking. Then again, your knowledge of Americans is gained from two-weeks frying in Orlando and Pravda - sorry the BBC - and the dross you buy from U.S. networks, what can be expected but childish quips and so forth. The simple fact you equate Yanks with Americans says it all.

by Tetteh on January 22, 2008

I happen to live in the U.S and I'm quite familiar with Americans. No, Americans are not all stupid, loud, war-mongering twits. I do not hate Hicks and Gillett because of where they are from (even if their love of the media glare isn't uncommon in these parts). It's their lies and mismanagement that I detest, their failed promises and their view of the club as a franchise to bleed dry for their own profit (since it's a business that isn't about winning). oh, and as far as calling Americans "yanks", it's a common phrase used to refer to Americans the world over - kind of like calling Brits Pommies.

by Saxon Paige Vickers-Buckley on January 22, 2008

I've been married to a "Yank" (a real one, from Massachusetts) for 15 years, and have three children, all of them born over there, in North Carolina...NOT "Yanks". I'm passingly familiar. My problem is with certain throw-away phrases and yes, the stereotyping, that would not pass muster if we were talking about someone from Angola, or Brazil, or Poland, or Japan etc. Lets just look at Randy Lerner... anyway, it was a "shotgun blast" (as they say). If they are somebeeches (as they say in the South), then they are ...but whether they eat Carolina-style BBQ (they probably don't, no class), or Chabata bread or Hibachi steak has nothing to do with anything. Somehow, I think we agree...but I do get miffed when folks who haven't been further west than Colwyn Bay, and take the BBC seriously, and think the US is all "Nip-Tuck" wax onbnoxious about "Yanks." There's some good eggs over there (as you know). Cheers.

by DJ on January 22, 2008

At The Shi** HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH AHA

by Marc on January 22, 2008

I've never seen such vitriol directed at an entire group of individuals for the stupidity of two! I am an American and really have a tremendous amount of respect for The Liverpool Way. I initially thought that a few uneducated, rash supporters were making anti-American statements because they simply did not know any better and were afraid this great club was beyond repair after embarrassing headline after embarrassing headline. But I'm afraid this is widespread and there is simply an effort to disparage everything American. Period. No distinguishing these two idiots from the rest of the "herd". I suppose I can do the same thing and disparage, rip apart the stereotypical shortcomings of the people in England but would that make the team play any better on the pitch? If it makes you feel better to implicate ALL Americans like myself it will be a long, long rest of the year. Oh, and to the administrator, when you say "PERSONAL ABUSE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED", does that apply to an entire country also?

by tom hallahan on January 22, 2008

i live in the us, and have done for almost 15 years now, and its basically a culture clash between how americans see their sports and how how the brits do. in the uk, all sports teams are rich in tradition and culture. it would be unheard of for a team owner to pull a team from its home town and relocate it in a "larger market". in the us, sports tradition is non-existant (possible exception for some of the older baseball teams). teams move to wherever there is money. their sports are geared around television, and they even have "commercial time-outs", so the TV networks can show ads. george gillette comes off as a genuine fan, but Hicks seems to be just that - a hick. they have no concept of the deep emotion and loyalty, and life-long commitments that fans of clubs like Liverpool make to their team.