Editorial
By Steve Kelly
From Issue 46, Spring 2000
Thanks as ever to all of my contributors, but
it might have taken longer to list the people
and subjects I've omitted! Apologies to Ed Graham,
Soul of Scallies, the Fatman, The Scarlet Fountain
Pen, J T and others for excluding their stuff.
Apologies to everyone else for (a) no in-depth
stuff on Robinson (although, as with Moran, it's
difficult to write about people who are behind
the scenes) (b) still no book reviews (they'll
be the last ones I ever get sent!) (c) nothing
about United's extraordinary Brazilian debacle
(there's too much about them as it is) (d) no
Hillsborough update again, although it's been
difficult as things have gone quiet before the
private prosecutions. There is an article about
the club's obnoxious attitude to the HJC, however.
I'm writing this just as it's been confirmed that
FIFA are trying to 'unite' the world's football
calendar. I can't help feeling there is a secret
plot to destroy the game from within - that a
hero like Platini should lend his once-proud name
to these extraordinary moves is heartbreaking.
Still, I'll save all that (and more) for issue
47.
The timing of Peter Robinson's retirement/resignation
was curious indeed. While you can only acknowledge
his efforts and the work he must have put in for
this club over an amazing 35 years, I've never
really warmed to the man. It seems strange to
me that he is being called Mr Anfield and has
even been credited with our glory in certain quarters,
but the success of his work for astute chairmen
like Williams and Smith does not exactly correlate
with his work for a duffer like Moores and wasters
like Souness and Evans. Perhaps he wasn't so all-knowing
or all-powerful after all? He seems to have avoided
any real flak for the trophy-challenged 90's,
even to the point where he claims to have opposed
the 'joint manager' venture. His repeated requests
for more seating areas were a major irritant throughout
the 80's, and whenever you can hear a pin drop
at the 'new' Anfield I always think of those statements
and the lack of a fight to keep the old Kop. Football
has moved into an era where even the supporters
are now talking about how much money the club
can make, and can look at their hugely overpriced
tickets without even registering a shrug. If it
were me, that is not a legacy I could look back
on with any real pride. Did he "move with
the times" - or did he help shape them? To
be fair he was, by all accounts, instrumental
in getting Houllier here and though it's still
early days we may have cause to thank PRB profusely
for that. That would certainly be a nicer way
to bow out.
I can only read the words "shit-stirring
Manc bastards" into the Daily Mirror's claims
that Houllier will follow his friend Peter out
of the door. I know that is the last thing the
latter would want, and I believe Gerard is too
far into the job in hand for him to abandon it
now. We should read that (and the continuing Fowler
'speculation') as a sign that United are casting
worried glances at Anfield once more. We have
been in the wilderness for far too long, and our
recent performance there certainly registered
on the Sphincter Scale if Exlax's ludicrous remarks
are anything to go by. When are we ever going
to get any luck there? The cover makes a joke
out of it, but they get away with murder all the
time and it is everywhere they go now - even in
Europe, since Bordeaux was bloody typical. We
can point out all the advantages they enjoy, sure,
and issue 46 is full of such theories - but I'm
not going to get too wound up by it all until
we're clearly the second best team in the country.
That hasn't happened yet, but we're closer than
we've been in years. Rather than frothing at the
mouth about a Champions League place because of
the money involved (the cost of everything in
football is spiralling upwards anyway), I'm more
inclined to get excited because it means we're
in the top three, and a lot closer to the championship
as a result.
Derby and Newcastle saw welcome reversals of our
usual form. Up until then, we had the same points
against the top ten as we'd won against the bottom
ten - that's not the way you win the league. In
fact, we're top of the Top 5 table if you know
what I mean. Sixteen points at least from the
Mancs, Leeds, Arsenal and Chelsea shows that we
can do the business when self-motivation isn't
a factor. Poor performances so far this year against
Spurs, Blackburn, Watford (even though we won),
Boro and Sunderland (who are bottom ten material)
displayed a lack of creativity when we have to
make the running and when we are the 'scalp'.
Joe Royle suffered a similar fate at Everton,
and I'm not entirely convinced by Houllier's efforts
in such games. I'm not too thrilled about Heskey
in any case, and the eventual fee was absolutely
frightening, but once he's here you wouldn't expect
him to be bunged onto the right wing in his second
match so that Erik Meijer could play up front!
Still, there's no denying the team as a whole
really puts in the effort nowadays. The cover
leaves no room for doubt about who the star performers
are this season, and sometimes I think my own
overall scepticism on our future chances springs
solely from a reluctance to put the mockers on
the whole thing! I am smiling a lot more nowadays,
though. No, honestly………
Thanks for buying this issue. I've been looking
even more slothful recently, because of the prolific
'Red All Over The Land' and 'The Liverpool Way'.
Both are proving you can produce a lot of fanzines
and keep up a good standard, so I'll definitely
do at least one more issue next season. The Liverpool
Fanzine Quarterly that comes out five times a
season……… hmmm, I quite like the
anarchic sound of that. I'll have set dates and
deadlines for each issue, fixtures permitting
(just spotted the flaw in that plan!), and I'll
go to print with however many pages I've got ready.
It'll never be less than 44, I swear. Please keep
writing in, I'll let you know about 2000/2001
deadlines in issue 47 - and there will hopefully
be an e-mail address too. Pen, paper, stamps and
envelopes seem to be going out of fashion. Shame,
really, but even tatty old fanzines like mine
have to move with the times, I suppose.
Let's hope the Reds continue to do us proud, and
I'll see you all after the summer.
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