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8 Dec, 08 | Tags: Balderdash | Giz a Job | Legends | Video

After all those years of struggling along with nobody wanting to "Giz a Job" I've made it as a professional footballer. I saw dat Graeme Souness once and told him that he looked like me, well I saw him play football and I said "I can do dat". So I went down to Melwood, said I was an Israeli international, told Rafa to "Giz a go" and here I am. So it's no longer Boy from the Blackstuff but Boy scoring past Blackburn Rovers; as we saw on Saturday. However, some of the lads haven't been as lucky as me and dat's why I'm here, I've set up a recruitment service and I'll tell ya wha, in no time at all I've had plenty of fellas coming in here saying "Giz a job, giz a go. I can do dat" so lets see if they can. I'm no stranger to recession and unemployment so I'm gonna give a helping hand to these poor jobless sods.

 

First up we have Roy Keane, now I was a bit unsure about this guy at first. A) He played for the mancs and B) He walked away from a job when things got a bit tough, a bit scared of hard work. Well, I've got something right up his street, something nice and easy for Roy. It's that time of year and shopping centres across the land are looking for people to dress in red, have a shabby beard and sit on their backside all day. That's right, Roy can be Father Christmas. He's got the necessary experience as his defence have been giving away presents to opponents all season. Only sticky point might be that he hasn't been dealing too well with those kids who start crying when the don't get what they want, let's hope El Hadji Diouf doesn't come and sit on his lap.

 

That's Roy sorted, if he doesn't like this one I hear there's a managers job going at his old club. No not that one, Catering Manager, make sure there's enough prawn sandwiches for everyone.


14 Nov, 08 | Tags: Legends | Match Previews | Why I Love...

Don't you just love Sports Report on Radio Five Live? Firstly, there's the theme music (see here) which is legendary especially when interspersed with the right headlines:

Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Neville breaks leg as United lose to Hull"
Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Cahill arrested for punching fan he mistakes for a corner flag" Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Liverpool smash 7 past Bolton at the Reebok"

Well, we can all dream can't we? Then it's over to James Alexander Gordon to read out the classified results and his inability to say the word "Wanderers", hence the title to this post.

Anyway onto tomorrows match. A home banker for Bolton seeing as Rafa has just been named "Manager of the Month" for October. Is the award still a curse? I can't remember if it's been banished by now. Well let's ignore superstition and fallacy and concentrate on the football. We need a serious improvement from Wednesday night but seeing as probably only Dan Agger will be starting on Saturday from the XI that started on Wednesday that seems a bit irrelevant. So the Spurs game is irrelevant, superstition is irrelevant, what is relevant? Will Torres start? That's relevant, I reckon he'll start on the bench with Mascherano replacing Benayoun from the last league game against West Brom. We have a problem at right back with Arbeloa suspended and Degan out injured... that goes without saying really. Carragher could shift over with Hyypia coming in or a league debut for Stephen Darby could be on the cards. I'd opt for the youngster after Sami's midweek performance.

Bolton have shot up the league after stringing a couple of results together and for us this would be a great opportunity to put Chelsea under pressure by winning before they play. It's nicely poised and on a personal level a Liverpool win is a necessity, I can't have Bolton Ed; Magic Mick, lording it over me in the World of Catflap!

All together now: "
Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur..."


10 Nov, 08 | Tags: Latest News | Legends | Tenuous Link | Why I Hate... | Why I Love...

Last week saw new Argentine National Team Coach Diego Maradona visit Melwood (and some 2 bit establishment down the road) to check in on Javier Mascherano. I thought I'd use this opportunity to show a clip of Maradona because there's not much we like more than watching a fat bloke taking the piss out of defenders!

I used to hate Maradona, it obviously stemmed from the infamous "Hand of God" goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. That was around the time I remember first watching football, it was after the '86 Cup Final where Liverpool sealed the double, and as much as the football in that World Cup I remember the sticker book I had where the smaller teams, such as Morocco, had to make do with 2 players per sticker and also that there seemed to be a giant spider above the pitch at the Aztec Stadium!!!

Maradona was just a cheat, he knocked us out off the World Cup by cheating and that's it, sod that 2nd goal, it was all about his handball. He also played for Argentina, what's to like about Argentina? It was all about Brazil for me as a youngster, I used to watch video after video of the old Brazilian teams, Pele was God and the list of amazing players is too long for this 350 word post. Why like Argentina when you've got Brazil? Argentina were just a bunch of island invading cheats, Brazil's rivals and England's enemies and Maradona WAS Argentina when it came to football.

And then you grow up. You like your legends to have a bit of an edge, a nasty streak, the "troubled genius" syndrome or the fact that they're just plain old bonkers!!! Sadly Maradona become a caricature of himself due to a large appetite for food and also South America's other famous export. The clip show's him at his skilful best but also kicking people in the nuts, rolling around in mud, yelling into the camera, doing kick-ups with water bottles and generally being a mad bastard!


21 Oct, 08 | Tags: Legends | Video

There can't be many players who are regarded as legends when they only play for a club for 2 full seasons, John "Aldo" Aldridge is one of them. When a club loses a player of the calibre of Ian Rush most clubs would struggle to find a replacement, we found Ian Rush Mk II. Like Rush, Aldridge was a natural goalscorer and even had a tremendous mustache to replace Rushie's outgoing face fuzz. I stated in a previous blog that Aldo's first season in 1987/88 was the first season that I was obsessed with football and that year he was Top Scorer in the old 1st Division on our way to the league title. I felt great sympathy for Aldo when he was sold after we signed Rush back from Juve. Aldo continued to score goal after goal but Rush was the prodigal son and Aldo had to make way. He left after scoring a penalty at The Kop end and threw his shirt and boots to his adoring public.

Aldo left having scored 63 goals in 104 games and won a league title, the FA cup (he scored the opener against Everton in the 1989 final), the golden boot and the hearts of every Liverpool fan. Success followed at Real Sociedad; where he was their first ever non-Basque player and then at Tranmere Rovers where he became player-manager. In total he scored 476 goals in 889 goals, a record in post-war English football.

However, it's not just for footballing reasons that Aldo is a legend. Everyone remember's his touchline fracas during the 1994 World Cup Finals whilst playing for Ireland. His X-Rated language and fist shaking showed how much Aldo was desperate to get on and how much he clearly cared. He still cares very much for Liverpool. As a life-long Liverpool fan you can tell how much he cares in his unashamed and wonderfully biased commentary on City FM. There are many examples of him just screaming as Liverpool score a late winner as the other commentator tries to keep his professionalism. A legend in so many ways.



29 Aug, 08 | Tags: Legends

It’s fitting that today’s legend is Robbie Fowler. 14 years ago yesterday Anfield witnessed the Premier League’s fastest ever hat-trick as the prodigious 19 year old tore apart Arsenal’s mean defence in under 5 minutes. Fowler scored 128 goals for Liverpool with over 30 league goals in 3 consecutive seasons but it wasn’t just the number of goals that Robbie scored that lead him to become known simply as “God” but also the diverse nature of them. His 4 against Manchester United in the 95/96 season perfectly illustrate this. A sublime chip and ferocious drive into the top corner in at their place and a curling free-kick and delicate finish at Anfield. At this time people were hailing him as the new Jimmy Greaves and greatness was surely to follow. Unfortunately a succession of injuries took his edge away and then Gerard Houllier did the unthinkable and sold him to Leeds. Houllier clearly didn’t fancy Robbie and I’ll never forgive him for forcing Robbie out. I was at university in Leeds at the time and I remember actually crying when the tragic news was confirmed. Rafa brought Robbie back to Anfield in 2006 and a few goals followed but his time away had seen more injuries that had taken their toll but all the same it was great to have him back where he belonged.

 

It wasn’t just the goal that made Robbie so loved, he was a local lad with a sense of humour and the crowd could immediate relate to him, unlike say Michael Owen. This humour lead to trouble with the authorities; the “Bottom-showing” incident with Graeme Le Saux and the “Cow Eating the Grass” incident when he snorted the goal line after scoring against Everton. Houllier was the one on the grass after thinking up that excuse! Despite this Fowler had a good heart, his show of support of the striking Liverpool Dockers earned him a reprimand from UEFA but his attempt at turning down a penalty at Highbury earned him praise from the same people.

 

Robbie Fowler: Local Lad turned Goal Machine. In God we Trust.

 

 


Formed 1892. 1901- 1st League title of 18. The Kop. Shankly Arrives- promotion, first FA & UEFA Cups. Shankly Retires, Paisley takes charge- 1st European Cup & adds 2 more. Fagan’s Treble. Dalglish – Heysel, The Double & Hillsborough. Souness- high price transfers, low league finishes. Evans- Return to the boot room, but no return to glory & the last day of The Kop. Houllier’s 2001 Cup Treble. The Rafa-lution- Istanbul: We’ve won it 5 times!!!


 

 

Liverpool Editor
Adam Yates

 

Liverpool Vital Stats
  • Name: Liverpool FC
  • Nickname: The Reds
  • Founded: 1892
  • Ground: Anfield
  • Capacity: 45,362
  • Chairman: George Gillett & Tom Hicks
  • Manager: Rafael Benitez
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