That's the thing, you get some posters here who watch youth games and even I admit I don't (mostly because because of shitty TM, can't wait to have my Unifi installed again). When it comes to the first team, I do my level best to catch any game even if it means I get 4 hrs sleep and have to get up early for work the next day. I don't do this to prove I'm a better fan, on the contrary I do so because to be pretty darn honest, a strong overwhelming guilt overcomes me whenever I miss a game. Even if we're down 3-0, with 5 minutes to go and no chance of winning, I can't bring myself to turn off the telly. Makes me feel like I'm abandoning the team. It's like I said, I feel bad not supporting the boys even they don't know I'm watching. I don't care as I don't do so because I want some form of recognition, I do so because it makes me feel better about myself.

I just spent 30 minutes the other day in a bar explaining to a girl why I love LFC and why I would even fathom getting not one but two tattoos? You know how people need guidance? Some look to religion, well I look to LFC. I told her that whenever I'm down, I look to the club for strength. I recite the lyrics to YNWA. A couple of years ago, I was going through the darkest time of my life and each time I saw our lads take to the field, my worries went away if just for 90 minutes. I can't describe it in any more details. It's why it never bothered me what competition we were in just so long as we were playing.

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Added on May 18, 2011, 4:30 pmOn a separate note, I'm grinning from ear to ear at the moment. Just came out of a meeting with a representative from LFC. My hands were shaking as he handed me his namecard and I saw our club crest on it. We spoke a little on Liverpool and about me and how I became a fan. His pen had a Liverbird engraved on it as did his thumbdrive. Made me wish I was working for LFC!

Anyway we can expect to see more of LFC in the region over the next few years. The club is working hard at securing commercial partners and I got to know a couple of facts :-

1) Malaysians ranks 4th in terms of unique visitors to liverpoolfc.tv, our official website. This is a world ranking! We're behind the UK, US and Ireland. Well done boys!
2) Indonesia has the 2nd highest number of LFC facebook fans in the world! Well done neighbours.

I asked when the PC to announce ticket prices for July's game will be held and they're still working on it. Doesn't sound like it will happen until next month so be patient. He promised me an LFC thumbdrive and I'm looking to collect when he comes back in July!

Over the moon I am.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: May 18 2011, 04:30 PM

marko marin? i saw he played yesterday in a replay between wolfsburg and kaiserslaurten. he was heck of a player. promising. drifting from flank into the center and laid a beautiful pass to Torsten Frings.

owh. ok. thanks for correcting me there.

no worries bro. the one i mentioned wasn't a LYN member. just some friends of mine in the real world.

Crap source from the daily mirror but Hazard is super! Hope we get him.

errr, actually when we a competing in 2 or 3 competition, does it's look like a champion material?

Well Duke,in no way did i undermine our achievements.
If u read properly u would have seen that i said the europa has lost its prestige since it changed name from the UEFA cup.
No.2,those and rawk are not those who frequent the games.
U should look at lfctv comments and also lfctv forums.
I also said our squad will capable to challenge for the league if there was no distraction in the form of europa since our squad
is currently only good enough for a competition at a time.We are no man utd where we can field second string team and win a ucl semifinal by a big margin.
hope u read my posts carefully before starting a debate.I am not in a position to talk about our treble since i only started watching football in late 2001
and had no idea about those achievements as i was a kid.

Since I don't read to well admittedly, perhaps you can tell me why the Europa Cup has lost it's prestige? It is still Europe's 2nd tier competition as was the UEFA Cup. Qualification for it hasn't differed in England at least. If anything it's a matter of perception. It isn't as marketed as heavily as the Champions League of course but it doesn't mean that winning it should be any less significant. If your perception is that it's a useless competition, then even if we do qualify for it and win, it will mean little to you but not to me. I savor any win and any game. I left a wedding before even going into the hall the other day just to rush back for the Newcastle game.

When we won the UEFA Cup in 2001, we beat Alaves, a side we've not heard of since. Hardly a prestigious final as the great Johan Cruyff insinuated but a final nonetheless and what a final it was! Too bad not many remember although it was just 10 years ago.

Who says those at RAWK don't attend games? Seasoned posters like Wooltonian and Garsonite don't attend games? Paul Tomkins is an author and he attends games. In fact I've corresponded with him personally on RAWK via PM.

I'm sure there are reasons for and against qualifying for the Europa League and we are obviously in opposite camps. Just like the League Cup, the Europa League can be used as an avenue to give the ressies some competitive European exposure at worst.

On the issue of Sunday games proving somewhat of an annoyance as some posters have indicated, well it's an annoyance to us given that some of us have to work the next day, but I can stomach that for the sake of the team. I know we don't watch games because it's convenient right?

This post has been edited by Duke Red: May 18 2011, 06:21 PM

Just sharing my experience a little.
Went to the Newcastle game. It was indeed awesome. Since we bought the tickets through an agent Thomas Cook, we didn't had a choice for the seats or anything. Sat almost near the away fans. So naturally we heard them throughout the game. Almost in the distance we hear the fields of anfield road but mainly i can see the away fans making noise even going 1,2 and eventually 3 goals down.
Put me into a new perspective on how the game is played. I mean from the television we could see alot of space but from field they really are narrow and the could see the pressure from defending team. Almost went to the Fulham game a week later but we didnt know they were selling at the booth, realising that all the tickets were sold out by then.
Stayed at the Liner Hotel if anyones wondering.

the way of a.young said probably he not interested to join us.. hope we'll not get him.. so much overrate and hardly improve the shirt sale >:(

Valencia is damn greeeeeeeedy.......

Well thats your opinion then.Still doesnt change the fact that i think it is a useless competition and all the time i end up disappointed.
Whats worse is the players dont give a damn about playing in it.U can see the disinterested look on gerrard,reina,torres face when we played.
We belong in CL not europa.
I am a fan but im not ready to call myself a fanatic.

juan mata? he usually play behind main striker. carroll-mata combination with suarez demoted to the wing?

Agree with Duke, we don't watch the team at our convenience, we watch the team for the team itself. It doesn't matter what competition are they in and what so ever they are called, if its strengthening the team , besides having FA Cup & League Cup in the calendar, it doesn't matter. The team could use those experiences in Europe competitions and play as well as they could in the other Domestic competitions. The exposure into games is more of important then counting number of competition the team needs to play.

Point is , every single competition is fairly important for the growth of the team. Duke, i remember watching the game us and Alaves 16th (17th on our calendar), can't recall if it was 2.45 or 3am. I woke up earlier like 2am and was waiting for the team news. The scoreline at full time was 4-4 with Cruyff scored equalizer at 88th or 89th , if i'm not mistaken. Waited and waited till 2nd half of the Extra time. Gary McAllister took the free-kick in the last ditch, and headed in by Delfi. I just couldn't shout out loud, since the rest of the family members were sleeping.

Just teared away.. 2000/ 2001 massive season it was for us..

Fairplay. I'm just saying it isn't that it lost it's prestige. If you think it is a useless competition now, it was a useless competition then. If history is anything to go by, we do belong in the Champions League but it's arrogant to think that we're too good for the Europa League when we've lost 13 games this season and 11 the last. Based on those stats, we can't event take for granted we'll qualify for it every season because as it is, we very likely may not.

I can't say for certain the first team players look more disinterested than they did in the league at the time. Hodgson's reign wasn't exactly filled with enthusiam and optimism. You mention Reina but he has stated himself that qualifying is important for development (http://www.premierleaguenow.com/story.php?title=Reina:%20Europa%20League%20a%20must%20for%20Liverpool%20development&team=liverpool). Like I said earlier, it will give the youth and reserves valuable exposure. If not for lesser competitions like the League Cup or in this case, the Europa League, when else will they get a chance to play competitively?

It was dude. 5 cups in a season. Doesn't matter that some call it the "Mickey Mouse treble". Fact of the matter is not many have won 5 in a single season. Nice picture this of two living legends kissing the cup. The players look well chuffed to me. Winning is winning. Westerveld had a good season and I thought he would be our no.1 but his form deserted him. He could kick like a mule but wasn't very popular in the dressing room. He thought he was the best keeper in the world and I know for a fact after reading his biography that Robbie wasn't exactly his biggest fan. No one was.



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2000 / 2001 was one of my proudest moment as a fan, i was a big fan of fowler and it was exciting to see him lifting a cup after another, with hypia of course.

im partially agree with rotuham though, europa cup certainly lost its spark compare when it was still uefa cup. im not sure why, maybe cause CL have been promoted heavily, indirectly leading europa cup as a "loser" cup. how many of us watch porto vs braga in europa cup final anyway, im not even bothered to know who wins the cup.

Sander Westerveld eh? i remember that his error in the game against Bolton proved to be his last game for Liverpool before his exit.

i agree with what bro sKyWiR3pT3lTd are saying. True, some fans here did mentioned that Liverpool will be best at focusing on domestic competition so that they won't have many games to play and have a chance of winning one of those competition they are in but like sKyWiR3pT3lTd said, with Liverpool involved in many competitions, the chance for the youngsters and reserves to play are high since the first 11 surely will need to be rotated.

Received text about some photo gathering in Stadium Shah Alam this coming sunday. Is this event sanction by LSCM ?

It's definitely the case of the latter i.e. heavy marketing of the Champions League. Think about it. With the rich becoming richer, everyone gravitates to the top. Gone are the days you'll find someone supporting Norwich, QPR, Southamption or Wolves. They may not have come in droves but I remember the days friends of mine became fans of these clubs because back in the day, few clubs bar Manchester United focused on the commercial element of the game. All that is changing now and the fact that I met with the bloke from Liverpool yesterday who is seeking commercial partners proves that. In time, more and more people will only support the bigger clubs or watch the biggest tournaments.

which is very sad... sooner or later, the biggest clubs will find no reason anymore even to even play in the local leagues and will break out to create a league of their own....

u mean like the once proposed phoenix league to bring Rangers and Celtic into Premier league?

i mean the once proposed breakaway European Super league by G14... UEFA manage to stop it then....but once the gap between mega-clubs and the others grew bigger and bigger, it will be harder to resist...