Liverpool’s glory days are still a thing of the past

The sadness I felt watching Liverpool celebrate the beating of Cardiff on penalties in the final of the Carling Cup (yes that’s Carling the quality lager), was quite cathartic.

The feelings match those I get when watching Leeds United, and thinking of Peter Lorimer and Johnny Giles, or Nottingham Forest with Trevor Francis and John Robertson.

You know that feeling, the one where a once great team, slide into an abyss in which there seems to be no comeback, as they seek to spend to recapture their former glory days but only end up with Charlie Adam and Andy Carroll, an ageing Steven Gerrard, a slow Jamie Carragher and a bank balance that neither supports the Stadium or team that the fans dream of.

In the case of Leeds, Forest, and others like Sheffield Wednesday, all pretence of greatness is gone.

In the case of Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Everton the dawning realization has hit and they now accept mid-table mediocrity as their new normal.

In a few cases like Chelsea and Arsenal, the dawn of reality is hitting home as their fans see the slide happening, and the odd good result gives hope of reversal of the slow decline they witness in most games.

But in the case of Liverpool there is this deception, a collective deceit in which fans and players believe things can change in one season while the team shows steady decline.

We know that feeling, those of us who began as fans in the glory days of the Busby Babes only to see the team fall away, to relegation and managerial failure. The days when Carlos Sartori led the line and that Jim Holtom shored up a leaky defence alongside Martin Buchan. George Best left us to drink in the US and the older players retired.

Not that Carragher and Gerrard are Best and Sir Bobby Charlton, but they are pale imitations of Tommy Smith and Graeme Souness. They are also fading away as we watch them play in the Cups as though they are Champions League finals.

The league is over for Liverpool, it was at Christmas.

The time is up for the Club as their old stadium reflects their tired and expensive team of flops, who are actually more at the level of Villa and Fulham than Arsenal and Chelsea, and far below the Manchester clubs.

Liverpool need to accept their new reality, like Everton have.

Kenny Dalglish is not a king, he is a false prophet, with no quick fix, a man who’s words are as hard to understand as his tactics, a team who make more headlines off the pitch than on it, a club that reflects its City, the recent Capital of Culture.

A fading half redeveloped place where things didn’t get quite finished before the economic crisis hit. like the half finished team, the money ran out before the project was done.

Now the truth hurts, the future isn’t bright, Glasgow Rangers showed economics are reality, and Liverpool FC don’t have the money, the time or the value to change the path they are on.

Like Leeds United, the big Clubs will sing about you forever more, but now more in pity than admiration.

Enjoy the Carling Cup, and like the sponsors product know that in the words of John Cooper Clark  great teams turn into poor ones ” as quick as lager turns to piss.”

Bye bye Liverpool, and thanks for the memories because it’s all you have left.

Steve Burrows @ifollowsteve

For more Football Blogs and opinion from football fans around the world