Arsenal News » Are you Leeds United in disguise? The crisis at Liverpool and why Arsenal are different

It has taken me a long time but finally I have found something to like about Rafael Benítez.

When he answered the question about how he rated the ref and said, “the referee was perfect” I really did smile for the first time ever in a Benitez interview.

It reminded me of Stephen Fry’s famous schoolboy quip, after he had answered a teacher back at Uppingham School (which coincidentally is just up the road from where I live).

“Don’t try to be clever, Fry,” said the master.

“No sir, of course not sir,” said Fry.  “Exactly how stupid would you like me to be sir?”

I wonder, is there something in the FA’s voluminous rule book that says that being sarcastic about a ref qualifies as “bringing the game into disrepute.”  I can just see the lawyers having a field day with that one.

But for Liverpool that was the only bit of light relief in a period of unremitting doom.

Liverpool joined the Football League in the same year as Woolwich Arsenal (which you will know if you read the day to day football happenings of 100 years ago on www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk)   But while Woolwich Arsenal failed to win anything Liverpool had considerable success, until slipping into a long period of second division nothingness which only ended with the arrival of the modern era at the club.

But this season’s anniversaries (20 since winning the league, 25 since Heysal) shows how far away from the old days we have come.   They did, a few years ago, slip out of the top four for a year, but then got UEFA to change its own rules to allow them to carry on in the Champs League.

With an arrogance which somehow ignores the last 20 years without a title, they somehow still see themselves as a big club.

The application round for stadia to be in the England bid for the World Cup showed their attitude.  There was a genuine feeling at the club that it was nonsense for them to have bid to be a stadium.  “You can’t conceive of a World Cup in England without Liverpool being involved,” was the sentiment expressed.

The bravado hides the reality, the crisis is denied, even though it is deeper than at any time since all that stuff about football being a game of life and death.

The club clearly needs some new players but a lack of focus on a production line of youngsters coming through the youth and reserve team, and gross financial mismanagement by the owners to line their own pockets means there’s no kiddies and there’s no buying.  They are stuffed.

Fernando Torres is their striker, Gerrard is their midfield, and after that…

Benítez had to face the ignominy of being told to sell before he could buy last summer, and the same is true for January.  There is not a penny left, and the bankers want their £310m back.

Actually that shows you what a bunch of sharks RBS are.  When they renewed the loan last summer they wrote to everyone interested saying that they thought Liverpool was a secure investment and the bank were keen to support them.  What they didn’t say was, “and we want the money paid back over five years starting this year and that will just about stuff you as a club.”

Tom Hicks and George Gillett are blamed by the fans for the mess, and yes of course it is true – they took the money that should have been used for the new stadium and used it to pay for the buying of the club.  Effectively they got the club for free, and expected to be able to sell it quickly.

Now no one wants to buy – and that is the problem. Most people blame this on the economic collapse.  But I don’t think that is the whole story.  Part of the problem – a major part in fact – is the sheer arrogance of the club, an arrogance based on a long run of success under Shankly and those who followed.   That success generated a view that the club has an automatic right to play at the top level, despite years of failing to win the league.

That’s the problem – it is a club built on a totally false belief – and that is what makes it so like Leeds United and Nottingham Forest.  Big clubs, big traditions, total self-belief, utter collapse.

If Liverpool do not crawl into 4th in the league in 2010, then their revenue next year will go down dramatically, and that is when the real trouble starts, because if no one wants to buy them now, even fewer people will want to buy them next year.

Liverpool has players for sale: Dossena, Babel, Degen, Voronin.  Trouble is, no one is very impressed by them.

So, no Ramsey or Wilshere, or Vela making their way through the ranks.  No Jay Emmanuel Thomas lurking just behind.  No money to go out and buy without selling, and no one wanting to buy what you have for sale.

What’s left?

The owners could put money in, if they sell one of their other clubs.  But why?   Not because they love Liverpool or even understand football, certainly.   They would only do it if they thought they would get the money back times two.   And it is hard to see how that will happen.

Potential very rich owners will look at Chelsea and Man City and think, actually success can come but is not guaranteed.   And they will know they could end up having to deal with someone like Hughes – which is not a pleasant thought!

Thus we compare with Arsenal.  One debt, being repaid month by month on a mortgage, just like a house.  A never-ending production line of young players either produced by the club from the age of 11, or brought in their later teenage years.  A reputation that makes every youngster want to play for us.  A huge profit made on every home match.   Constant progress in the Champs League going back ten years or more.

Of course in a desperate attempt to argue, those against us will say two things…

a) You haven’t won the league for a few years

b) You haven’t won the Euro Cup at all

Both are undeniable, but neither affect our income.  The ground is still full, the Euro income is still secure, the TV money is still secure, the new ground is in place and is being paid for out of revenue.

Four vital points, and Liverpool fail on three of them.  Of course we all want to win the league and the Euro Cup, but that’s not it.  Even on the one point Liverpool can revel in – the ground is still full – they don’t actually benefit half as much as Arsenal, since each match at Anfield generates less than half the income each match at Arsenal generates.

The meltdown at Liverpool has either begun, or it is just around the corner.  Roll up, roll up, enjoy the show.

(c) Tony Attwood 2009

• One hundred years ago Arsenal played Liverpool twice in three days.  Follow the story on the blog
• Read about Arsenal’s endeavors 100 years ago in the book Making the Arsenal which follows Arsenal in 1910 through the diary of a Fleet Street journalist.
• Read what Arsenal Independent Supporters Assn said about “Making the Arsenal”