Fans can only do so much
Oct 6 2005
Sports View With Echo Sports Editor John Thompson
THESE have been testing days for every football fan on Merseyside.
At Everton, Liverpool and Tranmere there are at least murmurings of discontent, if not worse.
The Blues have seen last season's dream finish become a nightmare start, goal shy Liverpool took a hammering at home to Chelsea on Sunday, while Rovers just can't get going with that much-fancied promotion push.
One radio pundit this week even described it as being a 'Merseyside soccer crisis' to try and spark debate.
So how should loyal fans paying their money and feeling the pinch as well as the pain, react?
Can they really help make a difference by continuing to scream their support and belief, or should they be forgiven for venting their spleen when it's all going wrong?
Without overstating it, there is plenty of evidence that supporters can help their sides out of a sticky patch. And much of it emanates from these parts.
The Kop are of course world renowned for their backing.
Bill Shankly spoke in the sixties of them being worth a goal start to his men, while their rendition of the club's anthem in Istanbul genuinely did seem to have an effect on the players who were so resurgent against AC Milan in that second half.
Those 21,000 Evertonians who turned up a week ago for Mission Impossible against Dinamo Bucharest raised the roof in support.
The old lady may have been barely half-full, but the players clearly took heart at that backing from Goodison's diehards.
At Anfield on Sunday, Rafael Benitez was impressed at seeing the Kop singing You'll Never Walk Alone after Chelsea had scored their fourth and inflicted the biggest home defeat on Liverpool since 1969.
For him, it showed they understood their team was not actually that bad and that individual howl-ers were largely responsible for their downfall.
It's certain he will want such loyal support to continue on, just as Moyes will hope true Blues will play their part in helping to try and restore confidence to his side.
No doubt both clubs will find the fans sticking with them. Because all genuine supporters know they can make a difference and want to help their team when it struggles.
But the truth is they can only do so much. The Kop never actually did suck the ball into the net.
Supporters can make a difference. But, ultimately, they can never make the difference.
The one between success or failure in the long term.
Promotion is reward for King's devotion
LIVERPOOL boxing development officer Paul King is one of the finest ambbuttadors for sport this city has produced.
Therefore his elevation to chief executive of the English ABA is thor-oughly well deserved.
Inevitably, there is a fear that the boxing scene here will suffer while the national game benefits. But King has already stressed he's not moving down South and won't for one minute contemplate allowing a drop in the standards which he has set so superbly in Liverpool.
Mary Poppins speaksPeter Crouch will bring the best out of Michael Owen in England's World Cup qualifier against Austria." Mary Poppins, Thursday, 6 October...
It's that pbuttion and pride, as well as his talent and devotion to detail, which has brought the country calling.
And it's why no one need worry that boxing, so valuable and educational to so many youngsters in this city, will thankfully not be the worse for Paul King moving on.
