Terrace Talk

That famous banner held high by the UTD fans in November of 1989 after a frustrating 3 years under Alex Ferguson is now the stuff of folklore. On hindsight, the impatience demonstrated by UTD’s fans in those lean years seems quite foolish given the glory years that followed.

Substitute Rafa for Fergie, and you capture the same sort of sentiment that in recent times has been whispered among Liverpool fans clamouring for a return to our own glory days. Apparently Rafa’s steady progress isn’t happening quick enough for a few amongst the faithful. It’s unfortunate that some amongst us are leaning towards the same precipice that our arch enemies the UTD fans were saved from jumping over when the UTD board wisely kept faith in Fergie’s long term plan.

Without the boon of a benevolent billionaire’s big bucks to boost a team’s title ambitions, it normally takes quite some time to turn a club’s fortunes around and transform the team from top to bottom. Both Fergie and Wenger can testify to this fact. Unfortunately, a combination of lazy journalism and over-inflated expectations have contributed to Liverpool fans losing this perspective.

I’ve heard it said that Rafa has been given money and time and yet Liverpool aren’t doing well. In response, I only point out that Wenger (aside from winning the title in his first year with the team he inherited) didn’t win anything for 4 years. Fergie didn’t win anything of significance for 7 years.

Rafa is only in his 4th season, and each year has seen the side strengthening. And while Rafa won the CL with a team he inherited, the relative weakness of that team (think Igor Biscan, Traore, Smicer, Baros, Cisse, etc.) and the way he tactically masterminded our CL win, makes me give him more credit for that than I give Wenger - because the team he inherited at arsenal, with Overmars, Bergkamp, and several other big players was simply far better.

As far as wether to give Rafa the boot or not - I couldn’t disagree with the lazy journos more. I think many fans got a bit too giddy in preseason with the arrival of Torres, and suddenly forgot that you don’t bridge the gap that Rafa came here to find between Liverpool and the other top teams in England overnight. What Rafa’s doing is transforming the team from top to bottom. From the 1st team (or teams!) to the youth team. Much like what Wenger accomplished at Arsenal, Rafa’s transformation will take time. In the time Wenger wasn’t winning anything, many people were asking for his head. Now that his young guns are firing, his critics have forgotten the barrage during the lean years.

Hopefully Liverpool’s new owners will have the same patience with Rafa that the UTD board had with Fergie, and I’m sure in time, Liverpool fans the world over will have something to sing about – and perhaps the UTD and Liverpool rivalry will once again be what it was in the not so distant past.