RED WATCH: French joy was too short-lived

Dec 19 2007

IT DIDN’T take long for the euphoria generated by the excellent victory in Marseilles to dissipate.

No sooner had the heroes of the Stade Velodrome returned to the country than a succession of disappointing news stories started to trickle out of Anfield.

First up was the robbery at Steven Gerrard’s house, the sixth such event which has occurred at a Liverpool player’s home while they were away on club or country excursions.

Now forgive me, but it seems to me that you don’t exactly have to be Slipper of the Yard to have spotted a pattern emerging here. Once three or four had occurred would it be expecting too much that the police, club and players might have taken some form of preventative action?

I realise that our local constabulary cannot devote resources to round-the-clock protection for a small group of well-paid footballers, but couldn’t some form of heightened surveillance have been deployed?

For that matter, wouldn’t it have been wise of our heroes to devote some of their considerable wages to hiring additional security while they’re away from home, even if it meant delaying the re-gilding of the bathroom taps for a couple of weeks?

Friday then saw the announcement of the ticketing details for the Luton FA Cup tie in January.

The club’s much-criticised competition-specific loyalty scheme reared its ugly head again, but managed to reach new heights of absurdity in the process.

As we went out of the cup last season after just one home game, the ticket office intelligentsia decided in their wisdom to delve into the history books and reward those who went to all three away cup games two years ago.

Why on earth this should afford any special privileges is beyond me, unless it’s considered due reward for being able to recall whether you went to these matches or not, or for not succumbing to some deadly disease in the meantime.

God help us if they ever revive the Screen Sports Super Cup from 1985/86; I’m sure I’ve thrown my ticket stubs away from the Norwich game.

Why can’t they allocate tickets for these games just as they do for the league games?

Yet more disappointment however loomed on the horizon.

The much-heralded ‘clear-the-air’ meeting between Rafa and our absentee landlords took place on Sunday night, offering the opportunity to put right the blunders of the last two weeks, and re-ignite the sense of shared ambition and objectives that has boosted spirits since the arrival of the American investors.

Anticipating a major announcement, reassuring us that all was well and that manager and owners were now in complete accord, I sat glued to the internet, desperate for something to lift my spirits.

What did we get?

A brief, terse statement more akin to the start of a Middle East peace process, with references to ‘amicable and constructive’ discussions and other mealy-mouthed expressions doing nothing to calm fears of dissension in the ranks. Why are we so bad at this?

And then the final straw...our beautiful, iconoclastic stadium is no more.

A ‘scaled-down’ version is to be built instead, due to rising costs.

For those of us who have watched in despair as Anfield has declined in recent years, with its second-rate scoreboard and lack of large or small screens around the ground, this simple phrase conjures up images of sub-standard materials, cut corners and restricted leg room.

Please say it ain’t so.

With a week like this, it’s a good job we didn’t lose a match to our closest rivals, or I’d be really cheesed off.