Slakr is a big fan of CaughtOffside’s policy of allowing unedited reader content. Reader Keith’s rant about Liverpool bending the rules however has him fuming.
Like about 300 of you who posted your comments, I’m disgusted by the “article” from Keith about Liverpool answering to No One. At a time when more and more clubs (including potentially my beloved ‘Pool) are being sold to offshore millionaires, its ridiculous to claim that a club like Liverpool with a Chairman that listens to and is himself a fan answer to no-one. The club answers to me. And to the hundreds of thousands like me that have supported the club over the years.
Now to Keith’s points about Liverpool being above the laws of the game. Liverpool finished fifth in the Premiership despite a pretty phenomenal effort on Everton’s part to gift it to them (Everton is the poor man’s Tottenham, even when it comes to incompetence clearly). At the same time Liverpool single-handedly caused an explosion in interest in the Champions League and in football with their heroics against Milan. Whatever else Keith may think, its hard to argue that any other team did more for the sport of football than Liverpool did that year. What happened as a result is that the English FA knew that they didn’t have to make the same decision that the Spanish FA had done previously (yes, Liverpool weren’t the first winner not to qualify). Rather than bumping Everton (as they should have done), they stuck to their guns — knowing full well that UEFA couldn’t deny Liverpool a spot after that final. Blame the FA if you like, but Liverpool deserved to be in the Champions League last year.
Keith is also misguided about Mascherano clearly. As the FA’s ruling clearly stated, he may have played for two teams during the calendar period for this season, but because of the disconnect between the dates of the Brazilian and English seasons, its not clear that he has played for two teams this season. Given that, and the general dodgyness of the transfer to West Ham, its not surprising that they chose to waive what is a pretty stupid rule to begin with.