Just Enjoy It

It's a bright and sunny Thursday morning. Last night Liverpool booked their place at Wembley for an FA Cup semi final after beating Blackburn 1-0 in the replay. It was a solid, professional performance.

After back to back defeats to Man Utd and Arsenal, leaving our Top 4 hopes hanging by a thread,  you could have been forgiven for thinking over the last week that we were facing relegation.

I don't know if it is a modern day malaise or it has always been like this, but you do feel that knee jerk over reaction, shameful criticism, abuse and fickleness from a significant set of so called supporters, whether that be Liverpool ones or any other club is a symptom of the modern world and modern game.

Twitter gives any old moron a voice, hundreds of soulless and trite blogs littered with gambling adverts and affiliate links vie for clicks and views with regurgitated and sensationalist clap trap.

Sky Sports News trundles along 24/7 peddling rumours and gossip leaked by unscrupulous agents and "sources" about training ground disputes or crisis meetings.

It's all rather depressing.

It's worth remembering what we're in this for. We're in it because for whatever reason we love football and we love OUR club.

Aside from perhaps my criticism of Lovren (who played really well by the way) I've always struggled with the idea of venomously criticising and slating the club, manager or players that are meant to be our own. I have never booed a Liverpool side, and I never will. Obviously you get frustrated, and there have been dark days where you could legitimately see that the club was in the wrong hands. Hicks, Gillet. I'm looking at you. You cunts. Hodgson I'm looking at you. Paul Konchesky,  I'm looking at you.

But we are a far cry from those days at the moment. We have owners who albeit are clearly money men (who isn't in football these days?) are money men with some values and a long term plan. I don't believe in the rampant commercialism going on at the club, but they are also making good decisions. Like the redevelopment of Anfield.

We have a manager who lives and breathes football, who relishes and understands the magnitude of being Liverpool manager and also happens to be one of the best young managers in the world.

We have an exciting, young and talented crop of players who genuinely seem to love playing for Liverpool and have a real togetherness. You only need to watch the celebration after the Blackburn goal to see that. They are, in the words of Neil Atkinson from TAW "a great bunch of lads."

I have listened to a lot of talk on The Anfield Wrap and read a lot of articles in fanzines recently bemoaning modern football. I am one who bemoans it more than most. But there have also been voices, commonly of lads from TAW who have lept to the defence of the some of the "tourists" and people who are supposedly the problem and looked at the rest of us and gone "yeah we know lads, it's not quite the game as we'd like it, but stop moaning and just enjoy it eh?"

If some of us, myself very much included put as much effort into bemoaning modern football as we did to trying to change it and just enjoying it along the way, we'd all be in a better place.

That goes for you; moronic twitterati. What do you want from all this? To be sat in your armchair as Liverpool win the league year after year and your accas keep rolling in? I bet you'd still find something to moan about. Get angry that we weren't as good as Real Madrid. Why don't you just go and support Chelsea?

Life isn't perfect. That's why it's enjoyable.

Tell you what, put your iPhone down.  Get off TheSportsBible. Get off Lucas' back and go the game. Get a couple of lads together. Even if you're not sat together.... make sure you meet an hour before for a pint. Have a laugh. Talk to human beings. Don't go in the fucking "fun zone." Go in The Flat Iron.

Make a banner. Make a flag. Get a bit pissed before the game and have a bit of a sing. Honestly, it's a laugh. Try it.

And if we lose, yeh moan and swear to your mates. Over a pint. Even post some semi pissed vacuous tweet if you must. But understand that Rodgers or Kolo or Gerrard haven't done it to piss you off deliberately. They're fuming too, you know. And you hurling abuse at them isn't going to help anyone.

I tell you what, supporting Liverpool is more of a laugh than supporting some sides. But do you know what? Lads supporting Luton... or Leyton Orient or Leeds probably have more of a laugh than we do. Because they let themselves enjoy it.

I am of the era that I can't remember the last time we won the league. Fowler is my hero. But I have seen us win a frigging European Cup. FA Cups. The UEFA Cup. Ask my mate who supports Swindon what he has seen them win? Then ask him how much he has enjoyed watching them this season. They play some magic football you know. No, of course you don't.

So yeh.. we beat Blackburn. Felt good didn't it? We're going to Wembley. That's alright isn't it?

Let's enjoy it.