Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Liverpool Soccer Club

Crap.

Liverpool has been sold to the USA.

I can't believe this shit.

I'm gutted that Liverpool has been sold to the Americans.

I strongly believe that Liverpool, being an English club, should remain in the hands of the English. However, success and trophies in today's football demand high finances, so it is inevitable that Liverpool will soon be sold, probably to an overseas investor.

When Thailand's ex-premier, Thaksin Sinawatra's bid to takeover the club failed, I was elated. Didn't last long though, when DIC and the Americans launched their bids.

I would have preferred DIC over the Americans, as they seemed to be passionate fans of the club (though if they were, I think they should have persisted in trying to acquire the club, instead of giving the club a deadline to take it or leave it) but it was really, to put it frankly, choosing the lesser of the two evils for me.

I can't believe that people from one of the few countries in the world to call football, 'soccer', are now owners of the club. People of a country who view football as a fourth rate sport, behind their beloved basketball, baseball and 'football' (NFL).

But what's done is done, and there's no use moaning about it. I only hope that the takeover will lead to greater success for the club (
I've heard that the ex-chairman and GM of the club, David Moores and Rick Parry, will still be helping to run the club, which is all good), especially the capture of the Premier League, but I do hope that this will not be at the expense of the tradition, culture and history of the club, which is what Liverpool have in abundance. Money may bring in success, but tradition, culture and history can never be bought.

Things are already looking ominous for the tradition of the club. The new owners have announced they may consider selling the naming rights for the club's new stadium, which will prevent the new stadium from retaining the name of the old stadium, Anfield. The name 'Anfield' is synonymous with Liverpool Football Club and its success, and plays a tremendous part in the history and culture of the club. The two are inseparable, Anfield has been part of Liverpool ever since the club was born 115 years ago and it is difficult to think of Liverpool without thinking of Anfield, so it will be blasphemy if Liverpool do not have Anfield as the name of their home ground. Can you just imagine Liverpool playing at Nike Stadium or McDonald Stadium?

I do hope that the new owners will drop their incredulous idea of selling the naming rights of the stadium and that this is not the start of a ton of similarly bad decisions.

Only the future knows what is in store for Liverpool Football Club.