Liverpool are finished, aren’t they? The season has been a disaster on the pitch, the club is divided off it by joint-owners who want out but are reluctant to sell in case such a deal benefits the other. The manager cannot be sacked however bad his team performs because Liverpool simply cannot afford to do so.
Although all this was true a mere month or so ago, Liverpool have improved of late. The ten-man victory over bitter rivals Everton was massive in terms of significance if not three points. They did not concede the latest battle in the war for fourth place to Man City, as many expected they would. The recovery of Alberto Aquilani from injury and the poaching of Maxi Rodriguez on a free add new edge and creativity going forward.
While they can recover in the league to stave off the assault on the Big Four from the likes of City, Villa and Spurs (in that order), their real hope of salvation from the mire they find themselves wading in is to win that massive tournament that is the Europa League.
Can they do it? Liverpool proved in the win against Everton and the 2-0 defeat of Manchester United earlier in the season that on their day, in a one-off match of great significance, they are capable of beating anyone. Although their 1-0 victory against Unirea was anything but convincing they still lead the tie and didn't concede the away goal.
Do they want it? To win this tournament would mean finishing ahead of teams such as Juventus, Valencia, Benfica and Villareal. That would rescue a scrap of pride from this disastrous season. Now the comical group stage is finished the knock-out format will suit Liverpool…
What the hell am I talking about? This trophy is the most worthless scrap of tat to be churned out of UEFA’s vile, money-grabbing bowels. Mickey Mouse himself would blush at the prospect of being mentioned in the same breath as a trophy with less value than the champagne that eleven embarrassed professionals will drink out of during the ‘celebrations’ at the end of the final, wishing they hadn’t been knocked out of the real deal, the big show: The Champions League.
Liverpool’s only hope is to gain a bit of revenue from the Europa in order to feed their growing debt and offer bigger wage packets to Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres in a desperate attempt to keep them at the club that they have been dragging, kicking and screaming, away from the open jaws of mid-table mediocrity for some time now.
It’s simple. This season is about damage limitation. The league is more important to Liverpool. Whilst winning the Europa League will give them five minutes of half-hearted pleasure in May, losing fourth place in the Premier League could be the beginning of the end: No Champions’ League revenue, a stadium that can’t compete with their competitors and a big red hole in their finances, growing by the second. (By the way unlike the old UEFA Cup if Liverpool did manage to win the Europa league they qualify not for next season's Champions League but...The Europa League again!)
Yes, United are further in debt, but while they continue to challenge at home and in the Champions League they have a fighting chance of matching the huge interest repayments saddled on them by merciless cash leaches from America and represent a more attractive prospect to new investors.
That people like Hicks, Gillett and Glazer can be allowed to do this to clubs the size of Liverpool and United; footballing institutions and part of our national heritage, is a scandal.
Yes, Liverpool are capable of winning their second-rate European ‘trophy’, but if they do not finish in fourth place this season their troubles have only just begun, Europa League or no Europa League.
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