Media Bias

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He had posted before that he's on the spectrum but his Facebook and Twitter have both been deactivated by him now.

Again, we only have his word on the matter, not saying he isn't Autistic, I am merely saying that some people are cunts and love to hide behind mental illness to excuse bad behaviour (which makes people with real mental illnesses suffer more.)

Again, I want to be clear, not suggesting that's the case here, if he suffers with a genuine mental illness and that mental illness is a cause for this behaviour then I hope he gets the help he requires.
 
LOL people are suggesting that vicente bloke is an undercover gooner trying to tarnish our reputation? Who the fuck would buy a ticket to a rivals game and plaster their face all over social media being racist just to ‘turn everyone against spurs’

:dembelelol:

Fucking RAWK 2.0 this forum
 
LOL people are suggesting that vicente bloke is an undercover gooner trying to tarnish our reputation? Who the fuck would buy a ticket to a rivals game and plaster their face all over social media being racist just to ‘turn everyone against spurs’

:dembelelol:

Fucking RAWK 2.0 this forum

Sort yourself out mate, I simply said that some people are cunts and I wouldn't put it past someone to do something like that, it’s not some big conspiracy where I think it happens regularly, I have seen plenty of rival fans sneaking in our end over the years doing stupid shit and getting kicked out, it’s not tin foil hat RAWK level delusion to consider the possibility.

I know that isn't the case now anyway because I have just seen his youtube channel among other things.
 
I don't think Autism is an excuse for racism personally, I know many people with Autism that do not resort to racist behaviour, I have also read many studies on Autism as my son is on the spectrum and have never seen any studies remotely suggesting there is a link, especially to the degree in which the video shows.

Not saying it doesn't happen or it isn't a possibility but I am merely saying I haven't seen evidence to speak to the contrary from medical sources.
I wasn't making excuses for him, just stating what i know.
 
Look, I am not going to sit here and waste my evening having a huge back and forth, you came at me with the ”Don’t you think it's best to not rip into someone when there is a distinct possibility that he has a mental illness” line, which is you saying I should have immediately assumed he has a mental illness because he was being a racist twat.

You even said yourself he was ”acting like a twat” and this is AFTER you assumed he has a mental illness, yet in another breath you decide to call me out because I said he looked like a bellend who doesn' support the club? My point is, what were you looking to gain from calling me out other than to try and make me look like someone who doesn't have empathy for people with mental illness?

I didn't fly off the handle mate lol, I am simply pointing out that YOU are the one making snap judgements here, self-projection at its finest.

I am not pretending to be a moral crusader am I? I did call the bloke a racist, he still is a racist, the evidence suggests so, I am also judging.you for your reaction to my post, if that hurts your feelings then so be it.

Well, you don’t have to tell me that either, anybody with any sense knows that being a racist makes you a cunt, it really goes without saying so you don’t have to get the foghorn out, if you feel that is a better way forward then I take no issue with that, I however speak on what I see, which is a bloke being racist to someone and until the evidence comes out that speaks to the contrary or confirms he has a mental illness then that will remain the case.
Again read my post, I made no personal remarks towards you. I've even apologised in the event that you misunderstood my post and took it personally. Really don't see what else I can do here.

If Totti Totti 's post is true and he has indeed got a mental illness then sleep easy tonight mate and well done. I'm just glad I chose to take a step back and not to wade in with a pitchfork in my hand. Not much else to be said is there?
 
Again read my post, I made no personal remarks towards you. I've even apologised in the event that you misunderstood my post and took it personally. Really don't see what else I can do here.

If Totti Totti 's post is true and he has indeed got a mental illness then sleep easy tonight mate and well done. I'm just glad I chose to take a step back and not to wade in with a pitchfork in my hand. Not much else to be said is there?

No personal remarks or attacks, seems legitimate...feel free to continue sitting on your supposed moral high ground mate.

I will sleep easy because I have already said numerous times that if the mental illness is a cause for his behaviour I hope he gets the help needed.

I have not ”waded in with a pitchfork” by saying what he said is racist and calling him a bellend, mental illness or not, what he said is still a racist remark is it not?

You are speaking to someone with mental health issues, who has suffered with them for over 10 years of my life, suppose I try to make you feel guilty for not knowing that about me?

No I wouldn't because unlike you I am not on a soap box trying to tell others how to behave because of moral crusading.

I am done with this conversation anyway, I have no issue with what you are saying and I think one can view him as making a racist remark and still believe he has a mental illness, one doesn't have to make the other redundant unless we are talking about someone with no cognitive recognition of what they are saying which doesn't seem to be the case, although that is my own personal opinion.
 
I think there are two options here

1 - He's Autistic and racist, not appropriate for him to behave that way at football, ban/suspend him until he can conduct himself properly.

2 - He uses Vincente Spurs like Ali-G/Keith Lemon as a satirical character, He's hiding behind Autism to get away with what he's said. Ban him.

We're not going to know if he's on the spectrum or not, unless you believe someone on the internet saying "spoke to his sister/mum/uncle and he's Autistic". The club need to do the investigation and decide the appropriate action.
 
Being autistic doesn’t mean you can’t be a cunt. Yes there’s an argument for diminished responsibility, but the actions themselves remain the same.

If an autistic person raped and murdered my mother I wouldn’t just brush it off and say ‘oh well, he couldn’t help himself’. I’d hate him, and want him taken out of society.

He’s a piece of shit, mentally ill or otherwise.
 
Interesting article all about media/fan bias by Henry Winter in The Times today:

Football has always been a kick in the tribals. Rival fans lash out at the lauding of Liverpool, just as many fume at headlines celebrating Manchester United’s revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and seethe at the deification of Mauricio “But what’s he won?” Pochettino.

It’s the supporter’s staple of insularity often stained with jealousy, almost amplifying love for their own team by loathing others. It’s being a fan. Opposing supporters fulminate at the lengthy eulogies bestowed on Manchester City under the visionary Pep Guardiola, whose team was acclaimed as the greatest in Premier League history a month ago.

The focus has changed, the pendulum swinging more in Liverpool’s favour now. The media, far from fickle, simply reflects form and there is plenty of uplifting work, on and off the field, to reflect and respect now with Liverpool.

The possibility of Liverpool winning the title — and it needs stating again and again that a defiant, dynamic City still stand in their way — causes apoplexy among many. Talk to fans of other clubs and they frequently claim a media love-in with Liverpool. One Chelsea diehard totted up the number of former Liverpool players working as pundits and, exhausted, stopped at 44. Manchester United alumni fill studios, too.

Most of the former United and Liverpool pundits are pretty objective. Press boxes are neutral, and the three or four Liverpool fans by birth among the main 50-odd football writers are, to this observer’s eye, consistently balanced. Yes, they salute Jürgen Klopp and his team, just as they have City under Guardiola, United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Chelsea under José Mourinho and Woolwich, for the most part, under Arsène Wenger. And yet there is this perception of Liverpool being the media darlings. During an instructive debate on social media over the past 36 hours, one supporter retorted, and doubtless spoke for many: “Facts don’t matter when it comes to hating Liverpool.”

Why? What is it about Liverpool that stirs such antipathy? The tasteless “always the victim” chants from United visitors can be consigned to the shameful shadows where they belong when set against the bravery of so many Liverpool campaigners fighting for justice over Hillsborough. (During the run-in, April brings the 30th anniversary of the disaster, which will keep even the thought of a mere trophy, a mere sport in proper perspective).

Opposing fans accuse Kopites of a sense of entitlement, of living in the past, singing “we won it five times” about their European Cup feats, but great clubs do cherish their history. And if Chelsea fans’ banner of “making history, not reliving it” is a dig at Liverpool, they cannot also slam the Kop for revelling in the present. Isn’t this what every fan wants? A proud past and a future full of hope? Liverpool are in a good place then.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Ff6740af8-0d3a-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Firmino is one third of a Liverpool front three that has been whipping up a stormALAMY
Rival fans spluttering about what Kopites will be like if they were to end 29 years without the title should imagine their own reaction if they had waited that long. Desperate for the trophy. Those holding on even longer, the likes of Everton and Spurs, should take heart that persistence may be rewarded. Even if Liverpool fail to outrun Guardiola’s champion thoroughbreds, there is so much to admire.

Liverpool possess many principles that should be valued even more in a changing, more corporate world. The game should be about glory, about trophies, which Klopp’s men chase and the Kop craves. Football should not be about the battle for fourth, the amassing of dividends for shareholders or who has got the biggest, busiest megastore. Liverpool seem to have the balance right between one foot in the community and one foot in the commercial world.

So those who decry the Kop, who believe that Liverpool fans are a “cult” with their banners and anthems should not forget that it was Liverpool supporters, along with Woolwich’s and a few others, who led the fight against Premier League clubs’ avarice on ticket prices.

In February 2016, the Kop called their owners out over the scandalous £77 charge for a seat for 90 minutes in the new stand, staging a walk-out and chorusing “you greedy bastards, enough is enough”. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), in fairness, backed down (although some issues remain). Liverpool’s chief executive, Peter Moore, recently took to social media to address fans’ frustrations about the members’ ticket sales process. There seems an accountability at Anfield not always found among elite English clubs.

Just talk to Woolwich fans. They would love to talk properly to their increasingly distant club. At Liverpool, FSG appointed Tony Barrett, formerly a football writer of The Times, as head of club and supporter liaison, a conduit between the terraces and corridors of power. When Liverpool visited Roma last May, it was Barrett, standing outside the Stadio Olimpico with many fans and too few open gates, contacting Uefa, urging them to react quickly. Uefa rarely respond with the requisite speed but Barrett got them to, preventing a bottleneck. No wonder his unstinting commitment to fans’ welfare earned him an award from the Football Supporters’ Federation. Other clubs are considering following Liverpool’s example, liaising better with supporters. Good.

Liverpool do many things right, keeping club close to community.

They have a manager in Klopp who cares, who used his Christmas message to hail the NHS and the work being carried out at Alder Hey hospital “with absolute world-class staff supporting those brave children and parents fighting some of life’s most important battles. I cannot tell you how high my respect and admiration is for everyone there”.

Most clubs would love Klopp representing them so passionately, engaging with fans, clearly loved by his players. And yet, beyond the bonhomie is a driven, almost ruthless figure, drawing fully on sports science to prepare his team. Liverpool even employ a specialist throw-in coach.

Klopp is about marginal gains as well as inspiring man-management. He is a man who understands his environment, whether dressing room, stand or surrounding streets, and connects with them emotionally. How many other managers do? Mourinho didn’t.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F3b5efbda-0d3d-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Liverpool have kept their soul amid their pursuit of the Premier League titlePHIL NOBLE/REUTERS
Klopp’s players are committed to their community work, like their peers elsewhere of course. Everton’s are exceptional. Woolwich In The Community has been changing — and saving — lives since 1985. Liverpool players certainly understand their responsibilities. The captain, Jordan Henderson, organised a whip-round at Melwood for Fans Supporting Foodbanks and met up with Liverpool fan Ian Byrne and Evertonian Dave Kelly, two of the driving forces behind this vital initiative. A foodbank van is stationed on club land on Anfield Road on match-day. Moore is a regular contributor and there is a drop-off point for donations in the Anfield shop.

Liverpool have kept their soul, not always easy for a club in the money-obsessed Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold hosted a lunch for the lonely and disadvantaged on Christmas Day, Henderson funded an event for underprivileged or disabled children two days before Christmas and handed out presents, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain visited a charity in Toxteth. Many players do this, as they should, using football as a force for good, but it is worth noting in the feverish debate about Liverpool that their squad is a collection of good characters as well as good players.

On the pitch, their talent is clear. It is important for the overall lustre of the Premier League that such a thrilling team, who have never won the title in the present format, are in contention. That might add a fistful of dinars to the next overseas broadcast deal. Everybody benefits.

Anybody who loves exciting, fearless football should appreciate the attacking from full back of Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson towards the predatory poetry in motion of Mo Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, who can whip up a storm in an instant.

As one Liverpool fan posting on the Red And White Kop forum observed: “We aren’t walking through the storm now — we are the storm.” The storm has built gradually and shrewdly under Klopp, a lesson to clubs, whatever the vicious views of rival fans.

Stan Kroenke, Woolwich’s absentee owner, could certainly look at what his compatriot John W Henry oversees at Liverpool: an outstanding, balanced recruitment structure, investing properly in ability, seeking out bargains such as Robertson at £8 million and also spending £75 million on a centre back of Virgil van Dijk’s commanding nature, rather than Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, defensive makeweights who cost Woolwich £53 million between them. So ignore the tribal screams; Liverpool should be seen as a model club in many ways.
 
Being autistic doesn’t mean you can’t be a cunt. Yes there’s an argument for diminished responsibility, but the actions themselves remain the same.

If an autistic person raped and murdered my mother I wouldn’t just brush it off and say ‘oh well, he couldn’t help himself’. I’d hate him, and want him taken out of society.

He’s a piece of shit, mentally ill or otherwise.
It’s not the first time a video has surfaced of him being racist, either.

The club were right to ban him and his chum, autistic or not.
 
Interesting article all about media/fan bias by Henry Winter in The Times today:

Football has always been a kick in the tribals. Rival fans lash out at the lauding of Liverpool, just as many fume at headlines celebrating Manchester United’s revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and seethe at the deification of Mauricio “But what’s he won?” Pochettino.

It’s the supporter’s staple of insularity often stained with jealousy, almost amplifying love for their own team by loathing others. It’s being a fan. Opposing supporters fulminate at the lengthy eulogies bestowed on Manchester City under the visionary Pep Guardiola, whose team was acclaimed as the greatest in Premier League history a month ago.

The focus has changed, the pendulum swinging more in Liverpool’s favour now. The media, far from fickle, simply reflects form and there is plenty of uplifting work, on and off the field, to reflect and respect now with Liverpool.

The possibility of Liverpool winning the title — and it needs stating again and again that a defiant, dynamic City still stand in their way — causes apoplexy among many. Talk to fans of other clubs and they frequently claim a media love-in with Liverpool. One Chelsea diehard totted up the number of former Liverpool players working as pundits and, exhausted, stopped at 44. Manchester United alumni fill studios, too.

Most of the former United and Liverpool pundits are pretty objective. Press boxes are neutral, and the three or four Liverpool fans by birth among the main 50-odd football writers are, to this observer’s eye, consistently balanced. Yes, they salute Jürgen Klopp and his team, just as they have City under Guardiola, United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Chelsea under José Mourinho and Woolwich, for the most part, under Arsène Wenger. And yet there is this perception of Liverpool being the media darlings. During an instructive debate on social media over the past 36 hours, one supporter retorted, and doubtless spoke for many: “Facts don’t matter when it comes to hating Liverpool.”

Why? What is it about Liverpool that stirs such antipathy? The tasteless “always the victim” chants from United visitors can be consigned to the shameful shadows where they belong when set against the bravery of so many Liverpool campaigners fighting for justice over Hillsborough. (During the run-in, April brings the 30th anniversary of the disaster, which will keep even the thought of a mere trophy, a mere sport in proper perspective).

Opposing fans accuse Kopites of a sense of entitlement, of living in the past, singing “we won it five times” about their European Cup feats, but great clubs do cherish their history. And if Chelsea fans’ banner of “making history, not reliving it” is a dig at Liverpool, they cannot also slam the Kop for revelling in the present. Isn’t this what every fan wants? A proud past and a future full of hope? Liverpool are in a good place then.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Ff6740af8-0d3a-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Firmino is one third of a Liverpool front three that has been whipping up a stormALAMY
Rival fans spluttering about what Kopites will be like if they were to end 29 years without the title should imagine their own reaction if they had waited that long. Desperate for the trophy. Those holding on even longer, the likes of Everton and Spurs, should take heart that persistence may be rewarded. Even if Liverpool fail to outrun Guardiola’s champion thoroughbreds, there is so much to admire.

Liverpool possess many principles that should be valued even more in a changing, more corporate world. The game should be about glory, about trophies, which Klopp’s men chase and the Kop craves. Football should not be about the battle for fourth, the amassing of dividends for shareholders or who has got the biggest, busiest megastore. Liverpool seem to have the balance right between one foot in the community and one foot in the commercial world.

So those who decry the Kop, who believe that Liverpool fans are a “cult” with their banners and anthems should not forget that it was Liverpool supporters, along with Woolwich’s and a few others, who led the fight against Premier League clubs’ avarice on ticket prices.

In February 2016, the Kop called their owners out over the scandalous £77 charge for a seat for 90 minutes in the new stand, staging a walk-out and chorusing “you greedy bastards, enough is enough”. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), in fairness, backed down (although some issues remain). Liverpool’s chief executive, Peter Moore, recently took to social media to address fans’ frustrations about the members’ ticket sales process. There seems an accountability at Anfield not always found among elite English clubs.

Just talk to Woolwich fans. They would love to talk properly to their increasingly distant club. At Liverpool, FSG appointed Tony Barrett, formerly a football writer of The Times, as head of club and supporter liaison, a conduit between the terraces and corridors of power. When Liverpool visited Roma last May, it was Barrett, standing outside the Stadio Olimpico with many fans and too few open gates, contacting Uefa, urging them to react quickly. Uefa rarely respond with the requisite speed but Barrett got them to, preventing a bottleneck. No wonder his unstinting commitment to fans’ welfare earned him an award from the Football Supporters’ Federation. Other clubs are considering following Liverpool’s example, liaising better with supporters. Good.

Liverpool do many things right, keeping club close to community.

They have a manager in Klopp who cares, who used his Christmas message to hail the NHS and the work being carried out at Alder Hey hospital “with absolute world-class staff supporting those brave children and parents fighting some of life’s most important battles. I cannot tell you how high my respect and admiration is for everyone there”.

Most clubs would love Klopp representing them so passionately, engaging with fans, clearly loved by his players. And yet, beyond the bonhomie is a driven, almost ruthless figure, drawing fully on sports science to prepare his team. Liverpool even employ a specialist throw-in coach.

Klopp is about marginal gains as well as inspiring man-management. He is a man who understands his environment, whether dressing room, stand or surrounding streets, and connects with them emotionally. How many other managers do? Mourinho didn’t.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F3b5efbda-0d3d-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Liverpool have kept their soul amid their pursuit of the Premier League titlePHIL NOBLE/REUTERS
Klopp’s players are committed to their community work, like their peers elsewhere of course. Everton’s are exceptional. Woolwich In The Community has been changing — and saving — lives since 1985. Liverpool players certainly understand their responsibilities. The captain, Jordan Henderson, organised a whip-round at Melwood for Fans Supporting Foodbanks and met up with Liverpool fan Ian Byrne and Evertonian Dave Kelly, two of the driving forces behind this vital initiative. A foodbank van is stationed on club land on Anfield Road on match-day. Moore is a regular contributor and there is a drop-off point for donations in the Anfield shop.

Liverpool have kept their soul, not always easy for a club in the money-obsessed Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold hosted a lunch for the lonely and disadvantaged on Christmas Day, Henderson funded an event for underprivileged or disabled children two days before Christmas and handed out presents, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain visited a charity in Toxteth. Many players do this, as they should, using football as a force for good, but it is worth noting in the feverish debate about Liverpool that their squad is a collection of good characters as well as good players.

On the pitch, their talent is clear. It is important for the overall lustre of the Premier League that such a thrilling team, who have never won the title in the present format, are in contention. That might add a fistful of dinars to the next overseas broadcast deal. Everybody benefits.

Anybody who loves exciting, fearless football should appreciate the attacking from full back of Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson towards the predatory poetry in motion of Mo Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, who can whip up a storm in an instant.

As one Liverpool fan posting on the Red And White Kop forum observed: “We aren’t walking through the storm now — we are the storm.” The storm has built gradually and shrewdly under Klopp, a lesson to clubs, whatever the vicious views of rival fans.

Stan Kroenke, Woolwich’s absentee owner, could certainly look at what his compatriot John W Henry oversees at Liverpool: an outstanding, balanced recruitment structure, investing properly in ability, seeking out bargains such as Robertson at £8 million and also spending £75 million on a centre back of Virgil van Dijk’s commanding nature, rather than Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, defensive makeweights who cost Woolwich £53 million between them. So ignore the tribal screams; Liverpool should be seen as a model club in many ways.
‘Why do so many fans claim there’s a media love in???!!!!’

*Proceeds to write a 10,000 word Liverpool love in* :pochunimpressed:

Vomit.
 
Interesting article all about media/fan bias by Henry Winter in The Times today:

Football has always been a kick in the tribals. Rival fans lash out at the lauding of Liverpool, just as many fume at headlines celebrating Manchester United’s revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and seethe at the deification of Mauricio “But what’s he won?” Pochettino.

It’s the supporter’s staple of insularity often stained with jealousy, almost amplifying love for their own team by loathing others. It’s being a fan. Opposing supporters fulminate at the lengthy eulogies bestowed on Manchester City under the visionary Pep Guardiola, whose team was acclaimed as the greatest in Premier League history a month ago.

The focus has changed, the pendulum swinging more in Liverpool’s favour now. The media, far from fickle, simply reflects form and there is plenty of uplifting work, on and off the field, to reflect and respect now with Liverpool.

The possibility of Liverpool winning the title — and it needs stating again and again that a defiant, dynamic City still stand in their way — causes apoplexy among many. Talk to fans of other clubs and they frequently claim a media love-in with Liverpool. One Chelsea diehard totted up the number of former Liverpool players working as pundits and, exhausted, stopped at 44. Manchester United alumni fill studios, too.

Most of the former United and Liverpool pundits are pretty objective. Press boxes are neutral, and the three or four Liverpool fans by birth among the main 50-odd football writers are, to this observer’s eye, consistently balanced. Yes, they salute Jürgen Klopp and his team, just as they have City under Guardiola, United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Chelsea under José Mourinho and Woolwich, for the most part, under Arsène Wenger. And yet there is this perception of Liverpool being the media darlings. During an instructive debate on social media over the past 36 hours, one supporter retorted, and doubtless spoke for many: “Facts don’t matter when it comes to hating Liverpool.”

Why? What is it about Liverpool that stirs such antipathy? The tasteless “always the victim” chants from United visitors can be consigned to the shameful shadows where they belong when set against the bravery of so many Liverpool campaigners fighting for justice over Hillsborough. (During the run-in, April brings the 30th anniversary of the disaster, which will keep even the thought of a mere trophy, a mere sport in proper perspective).

Opposing fans accuse Kopites of a sense of entitlement, of living in the past, singing “we won it five times” about their European Cup feats, but great clubs do cherish their history. And if Chelsea fans’ banner of “making history, not reliving it” is a dig at Liverpool, they cannot also slam the Kop for revelling in the present. Isn’t this what every fan wants? A proud past and a future full of hope? Liverpool are in a good place then.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Ff6740af8-0d3a-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Firmino is one third of a Liverpool front three that has been whipping up a stormALAMY
Rival fans spluttering about what Kopites will be like if they were to end 29 years without the title should imagine their own reaction if they had waited that long. Desperate for the trophy. Those holding on even longer, the likes of Everton and Spurs, should take heart that persistence may be rewarded. Even if Liverpool fail to outrun Guardiola’s champion thoroughbreds, there is so much to admire.

Liverpool possess many principles that should be valued even more in a changing, more corporate world. The game should be about glory, about trophies, which Klopp’s men chase and the Kop craves. Football should not be about the battle for fourth, the amassing of dividends for shareholders or who has got the biggest, busiest megastore. Liverpool seem to have the balance right between one foot in the community and one foot in the commercial world.

So those who decry the Kop, who believe that Liverpool fans are a “cult” with their banners and anthems should not forget that it was Liverpool supporters, along with Woolwich’s and a few others, who led the fight against Premier League clubs’ avarice on ticket prices.

In February 2016, the Kop called their owners out over the scandalous £77 charge for a seat for 90 minutes in the new stand, staging a walk-out and chorusing “you greedy bastards, enough is enough”. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), in fairness, backed down (although some issues remain). Liverpool’s chief executive, Peter Moore, recently took to social media to address fans’ frustrations about the members’ ticket sales process. There seems an accountability at Anfield not always found among elite English clubs.

Just talk to Woolwich fans. They would love to talk properly to their increasingly distant club. At Liverpool, FSG appointed Tony Barrett, formerly a football writer of The Times, as head of club and supporter liaison, a conduit between the terraces and corridors of power. When Liverpool visited Roma last May, it was Barrett, standing outside the Stadio Olimpico with many fans and too few open gates, contacting Uefa, urging them to react quickly. Uefa rarely respond with the requisite speed but Barrett got them to, preventing a bottleneck. No wonder his unstinting commitment to fans’ welfare earned him an award from the Football Supporters’ Federation. Other clubs are considering following Liverpool’s example, liaising better with supporters. Good.

Liverpool do many things right, keeping club close to community.

They have a manager in Klopp who cares, who used his Christmas message to hail the NHS and the work being carried out at Alder Hey hospital “with absolute world-class staff supporting those brave children and parents fighting some of life’s most important battles. I cannot tell you how high my respect and admiration is for everyone there”.

Most clubs would love Klopp representing them so passionately, engaging with fans, clearly loved by his players. And yet, beyond the bonhomie is a driven, almost ruthless figure, drawing fully on sports science to prepare his team. Liverpool even employ a specialist throw-in coach.

Klopp is about marginal gains as well as inspiring man-management. He is a man who understands his environment, whether dressing room, stand or surrounding streets, and connects with them emotionally. How many other managers do? Mourinho didn’t.

methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F3b5efbda-0d3d-11e9-a440-fb17d0e61415.jpg

Liverpool have kept their soul amid their pursuit of the Premier League titlePHIL NOBLE/REUTERS
Klopp’s players are committed to their community work, like their peers elsewhere of course. Everton’s are exceptional. Woolwich In The Community has been changing — and saving — lives since 1985. Liverpool players certainly understand their responsibilities. The captain, Jordan Henderson, organised a whip-round at Melwood for Fans Supporting Foodbanks and met up with Liverpool fan Ian Byrne and Evertonian Dave Kelly, two of the driving forces behind this vital initiative. A foodbank van is stationed on club land on Anfield Road on match-day. Moore is a regular contributor and there is a drop-off point for donations in the Anfield shop.

Liverpool have kept their soul, not always easy for a club in the money-obsessed Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold hosted a lunch for the lonely and disadvantaged on Christmas Day, Henderson funded an event for underprivileged or disabled children two days before Christmas and handed out presents, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain visited a charity in Toxteth. Many players do this, as they should, using football as a force for good, but it is worth noting in the feverish debate about Liverpool that their squad is a collection of good characters as well as good players.

On the pitch, their talent is clear. It is important for the overall lustre of the Premier League that such a thrilling team, who have never won the title in the present format, are in contention. That might add a fistful of dinars to the next overseas broadcast deal. Everybody benefits.

Anybody who loves exciting, fearless football should appreciate the attacking from full back of Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson towards the predatory poetry in motion of Mo Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, who can whip up a storm in an instant.

As one Liverpool fan posting on the Red And White Kop forum observed: “We aren’t walking through the storm now — we are the storm.” The storm has built gradually and shrewdly under Klopp, a lesson to clubs, whatever the vicious views of rival fans.

Stan Kroenke, Woolwich’s absentee owner, could certainly look at what his compatriot John W Henry oversees at Liverpool: an outstanding, balanced recruitment structure, investing properly in ability, seeking out bargains such as Robertson at £8 million and also spending £75 million on a centre back of Virgil van Dijk’s commanding nature, rather than Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, defensive makeweights who cost Woolwich £53 million between them. So ignore the tribal screams; Liverpool should be seen as a model club in many ways.

Article talks about bias not existing and then goes on to be the most biased article I have ever read, almost vomit inducing.

Where was this article when we have been competing with our constraints and all the great things that have been done by our club?

Truly pathetic honestly, the writer proves everyone’s point.
 
Anfield: the victims, the anger and Liverpool's shameful truth | David Conn

This is one example of the scummary of Liverpool FC, not to mention the defending of a racist among many other scummy things.

The problem is, the media is INFESTED with pool pundits, if they win the league we won’t hear the last of it, there will be open top bus parades, documentaries on TV everyday, a statue built for Salah and Klopp with his gurning twat face.

I honestly can’t think of anything worse than them winning the league, it would be the worst thing to happen to the PL since its inception.
 
Anfield: the victims, the anger and Liverpool's shameful truth | David Conn

This is one example of the scummary of Liverpool FC, not to mention the defending of a racist among many other scummy things.

The problem is, the media is INFESTED with pool pundits, if they win the league we won’t hear the last of it, there will be open top bus parades, documentaries on TV everyday, a statue built for Salah and Klopp with his gurning twat face.

I honestly can’t think of anything worse than them winning the league, it would be the worst thing to happen to the PL since its inception.

That's fuckin' filthy.
 
Interesting article all about media/fan bias by Henry Winter in The Times today:

Football has always been a kick in the tribals. Rival fans lash out at the lauding of Liverpool, just as many fume at headlines celebrating Manchester United’s revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and seethe at the deification of Mauricio “But what’s he won?” Pochettino.

It’s the supporter’s staple of insularity often stained with jealousy, almost amplifying love for their own team by loathing others. It’s being a fan. Opposing supporters fulminate at the lengthy eulogies bestowed on Manchester City under the visionary Pep Guardiola, whose team was acclaimed as the greatest in Premier League history a month ago.

The focus has changed, the pendulum swinging more in Liverpool’s favour now. The media, far from fickle, simply reflects form and there is plenty of uplifting work, on and off the field, to reflect and respect now with Liverpool.

The possibility of Liverpool winning the title — and it needs stating again and again that a defiant, dynamic City still stand in their way — causes apoplexy among many. Talk to fans of other clubs and they frequently claim a media love-in with Liverpool. One Chelsea diehard totted up the number of former Liverpool players working as pundits and, exhausted, stopped at 44. Manchester United alumni fill studios, too.

Most of the former United and Liverpool pundits are pretty objective. Press boxes are neutral, and the three or four Liverpool fans by birth among the main 50-odd football writers are, to this observer’s eye, consistently balanced. Yes, they salute Jürgen Klopp and his team, just as they have City under Guardiola, United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Chelsea under José Mourinho and Woolwich, for the most part, under Arsène Wenger. And yet there is this perception of Liverpool being the media darlings. During an instructive debate on social media over the past 36 hours, one supporter retorted, and doubtless spoke for many: “Facts don’t matter when it comes to hating Liverpool.”

Why? What is it about Liverpool that stirs such antipathy? The tasteless “always the victim” chants from United visitors can be consigned to the shameful shadows where they belong when set against the bravery of so many Liverpool campaigners fighting for justice over Hillsborough. (During the run-in, April brings the 30th anniversary of the disaster, which will keep even the thought of a mere trophy, a mere sport in proper perspective).

Opposing fans accuse Kopites of a sense of entitlement, of living in the past, singing “we won it five times” about their European Cup feats, but great clubs do cherish their history. And if Chelsea fans’ banner of “making history, not reliving it” is a dig at Liverpool, they cannot also slam the Kop for revelling in the present. Isn’t this what every fan wants? A proud past and a future full of hope? Liverpool are in a good place then.

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Firmino is one third of a Liverpool front three that has been whipping up a stormALAMY
Rival fans spluttering about what Kopites will be like if they were to end 29 years without the title should imagine their own reaction if they had waited that long. Desperate for the trophy. Those holding on even longer, the likes of Everton and Spurs, should take heart that persistence may be rewarded. Even if Liverpool fail to outrun Guardiola’s champion thoroughbreds, there is so much to admire.

Liverpool possess many principles that should be valued even more in a changing, more corporate world. The game should be about glory, about trophies, which Klopp’s men chase and the Kop craves. Football should not be about the battle for fourth, the amassing of dividends for shareholders or who has got the biggest, busiest megastore. Liverpool seem to have the balance right between one foot in the community and one foot in the commercial world.

So those who decry the Kop, who believe that Liverpool fans are a “cult” with their banners and anthems should not forget that it was Liverpool supporters, along with Woolwich’s and a few others, who led the fight against Premier League clubs’ avarice on ticket prices.

In February 2016, the Kop called their owners out over the scandalous £77 charge for a seat for 90 minutes in the new stand, staging a walk-out and chorusing “you greedy bastards, enough is enough”. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), in fairness, backed down (although some issues remain). Liverpool’s chief executive, Peter Moore, recently took to social media to address fans’ frustrations about the members’ ticket sales process. There seems an accountability at Anfield not always found among elite English clubs.

Just talk to Woolwich fans. They would love to talk properly to their increasingly distant club. At Liverpool, FSG appointed Tony Barrett, formerly a football writer of The Times, as head of club and supporter liaison, a conduit between the terraces and corridors of power. When Liverpool visited Roma last May, it was Barrett, standing outside the Stadio Olimpico with many fans and too few open gates, contacting Uefa, urging them to react quickly. Uefa rarely respond with the requisite speed but Barrett got them to, preventing a bottleneck. No wonder his unstinting commitment to fans’ welfare earned him an award from the Football Supporters’ Federation. Other clubs are considering following Liverpool’s example, liaising better with supporters. Good.

Liverpool do many things right, keeping club close to community.

They have a manager in Klopp who cares, who used his Christmas message to hail the NHS and the work being carried out at Alder Hey hospital “with absolute world-class staff supporting those brave children and parents fighting some of life’s most important battles. I cannot tell you how high my respect and admiration is for everyone there”.

Most clubs would love Klopp representing them so passionately, engaging with fans, clearly loved by his players. And yet, beyond the bonhomie is a driven, almost ruthless figure, drawing fully on sports science to prepare his team. Liverpool even employ a specialist throw-in coach.

Klopp is about marginal gains as well as inspiring man-management. He is a man who understands his environment, whether dressing room, stand or surrounding streets, and connects with them emotionally. How many other managers do? Mourinho didn’t.

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Liverpool have kept their soul amid their pursuit of the Premier League titlePHIL NOBLE/REUTERS
Klopp’s players are committed to their community work, like their peers elsewhere of course. Everton’s are exceptional. Woolwich In The Community has been changing — and saving — lives since 1985. Liverpool players certainly understand their responsibilities. The captain, Jordan Henderson, organised a whip-round at Melwood for Fans Supporting Foodbanks and met up with Liverpool fan Ian Byrne and Evertonian Dave Kelly, two of the driving forces behind this vital initiative. A foodbank van is stationed on club land on Anfield Road on match-day. Moore is a regular contributor and there is a drop-off point for donations in the Anfield shop.

Liverpool have kept their soul, not always easy for a club in the money-obsessed Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold hosted a lunch for the lonely and disadvantaged on Christmas Day, Henderson funded an event for underprivileged or disabled children two days before Christmas and handed out presents, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain visited a charity in Toxteth. Many players do this, as they should, using football as a force for good, but it is worth noting in the feverish debate about Liverpool that their squad is a collection of good characters as well as good players.

On the pitch, their talent is clear. It is important for the overall lustre of the Premier League that such a thrilling team, who have never won the title in the present format, are in contention. That might add a fistful of dinars to the next overseas broadcast deal. Everybody benefits.

Anybody who loves exciting, fearless football should appreciate the attacking from full back of Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson towards the predatory poetry in motion of Mo Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, who can whip up a storm in an instant.

As one Liverpool fan posting on the Red And White Kop forum observed: “We aren’t walking through the storm now — we are the storm.” The storm has built gradually and shrewdly under Klopp, a lesson to clubs, whatever the vicious views of rival fans.

Stan Kroenke, Woolwich’s absentee owner, could certainly look at what his compatriot John W Henry oversees at Liverpool: an outstanding, balanced recruitment structure, investing properly in ability, seeking out bargains such as Robertson at £8 million and also spending £75 million on a centre back of Virgil van Dijk’s commanding nature, rather than Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi, defensive makeweights who cost Woolwich £53 million between them. So ignore the tribal screams; Liverpool should be seen as a model club in many ways.

What a load of drivel.
 
Match Of The Day Alan Shearer disgraced himself by agreeing with the cheat ref who booked Harry Kane for diving in the same match the ref gave loads of dives to Wolves players which helped them win.

Danny Murphy stated before him, it was NOT a dive and the Wolves player stuck out a leg which caught Kane, which was true. The Shearer shocked the panel supporting the ref and declaring Harry Kane was a "diver" in that incident.

Gary Linker then quipped, "He's probably jealous of Harry's MBE". Shearer has only a CBE.
 
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