Sorting passion from the jibes

Feb 7 2007 Red Watch by Andy Proudfoot, Liverpool Daily Post

NOW let’s get this straight. When Rafa Benitez called Everton a “small club”, he was clearly misquoted.

His remarks were taken out of context. They were lost in translation. He was talking generally about clubs with no money, no hope of breaking up the Big Four. Clubs that must scratch about to make a living. Clubs that wear blue. Clubs that proclaim themselves ‘The People’s Club’, and plaster it all over their stadium as if it were some unassailable truth rather than an ingratiating comment by a new manager anxious to buy himself some time with his adopted supporters.

Despite Rafa’s protestations, his words were clearly fuelled by frustration following our disappointing failure to break down a resilient Everton defence. Unwise but understandable. So do they warrant the reception they received, the howls of protest from Evertonians inundating the phone lines and the letters columns?

Personally I don’t care how the opposition play when they come to Anfield; those who opt for safety first are merely being pragmatic, and acknowledging that they can’t hope to match Liverpool in an open, flowing game. Defence is as much a part of football as attack, and there was much to admire in the determination of Alan Stubbs and Co as they repelled increasingly predictable Liverpool crosses. I’m even prepared to concede the ‘bragging rights’ for this season, given the result at Goodison earlier in the season.

But I’m not going to accept the ‘moral victory’ claimed by supporters who hours earlier had directed some particularly nasty chants at nearby Liverpool fans; or by a manager who bemoaned the amount of money at Liverpool’s disposal as if it were the gift of some Russian sugar daddy rather than the fruits of years of success on the pitch, or provided by a Liverpool family that had once bankrolled his own club with equal generosity.

So maybe both managers need to lighten up a bit, and keep some semblance of proportion. But equally, we should all recognise passion when we see it, and let a few harmless jibes pass without filling the airwaves with fatuous arguments about who is the bigger club.