The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[GalwayBayBoy]

Nice article on Carra on the official site.

CHRIS BASCOMBE ON JAMIE CARRAGHER

You don't half write some crap you," Jamie Carragher said the first time he saw me at Melwood.

"Any chance of getting the man of the match right one day?"

Actually, he didn't use the word crap. It was much scouser.

It was also said in that typical Carragher way. Sharp enough to sound funny, but blunt enough to make a point. You'll have heard this tone many times since.

It's the one that confronted Geoff Shreeves of Sky, who was asked 'who's bigger than Liverpool?' after quizzing Carragher if Steven Gerrard could leave for a 'superior' club.

And the one that cut off the poor Paxman imitator in his prime who urged Carragher to describe the ethos of Liverpool.

"What are yer goin on about mate?" was the appropriate response.

Reporters, especially the most pompous, regularly come a cropper and provoke the same humorously contemptible comeback whenever they try to trip him up.

Fortunately, those of us with more experience have learned the hard way never to ask him questions which are dumb, patronising or both. And pity the individuals who dare attempt to catch Carragher with the use of statistics. He'll pounce as swiftly as he does when making last ditch tackles, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of Liverpool's history ensuring even the match day programme writers need to be on their guard when compiling career details.

Carragher's style of play echoes how he comes across to the media off the park.

Honest, dedicated, obsessive about football and always ready to go in where it hurts when he senses his club, team mates, city or family is getting a kicking.

How often do you hear him talking up players he feels are being unfairly treated? Probably because he's been there himself. After all, it took him the best part of five years to stop those letters to the ECHO saying Liverpool would never win the big prizes with players like him in defence.

The Kop sings about a team of Carraghers now, but it wasn't so long ago the one they've got wasn't appreciated.

If Liverpool take a beating, you won't see him quickening his step or accepting imaginary mobile phone calls to swerve reporters. If Liverpool win, he's most likely to slip away unseen while others take the credit. Such modesty isn't a calculated act.

Supporters regular call the ECHO with tales of Carragher's charitable donations, a contribution recently recognised when he was given the freedom of Sefton.

In 2002 he agreed to write a World Cup column on the condition the payments were sent to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, but didn't want that publicised (a few years later I decided it was information which deserved to be shared).

Proceeds from his forthcoming testimonial will go to charity.

Most players go mad if they're getting battered in a newspaper. Carragher gets more annoyed if he's made to sound like he's a world beater.

To this day, touch wood, the only time he's been angry with the ECHO was in 1999 when he was needed to play in the 'unfamiliar' role of centre-half because of an injury to Sami Hyypia.

"I'll fill Sami's boots," read the headline. Carragher thought it made him sound big-headed, as if he was putting himself in the same class as Hyypia. Eight years on, it may seem astounding to supporters a world class centre-half like Carragher would take exception to anyone putting him in a bracket he so clearly is. The notion he'd have to fill anyone's shoes is ridiculous. But it was all about the context. Creating an image of him bigging up himself, and more seriously demeaning one of his team mates, was unacceptable to him, and he made it known.

Fortunately, grudges don't last and he's got most reporters sussed. That's not surprising as he and Steven Gerrard are the most requested for interview.

It's a running gag in the reporting industry how when anyone starts on a newspaper, their first call will be to the Melwood Press Office to set up a meeting with Carragher, who has an inability to fail to be interesting and forthright in his opinions. Need a double page spread for your Saturday or Sunday supplement? Get hold of Carra and fill it with those condescending images about Bootle and scally kids made good (check the archives, it's compulsory all 'serious journalists' have to refer to this when writing about Carragher. If it's Gerrard, just replace Bootle with Huyton).

And do you think the race for the title is hotting up? It's nothing compared to the fight to write Carragher's autobiography when he decides to do it.

All the Jimmy Hill Sunday Supplement crew are desperate for the nod, and have been known to end interviews with an appeal to write it for him. He'll keep them all guessing, but his delay putting pen to paper is further evidence of his disinterest in the footballing cult of celebrity. He's got a Premiership medal to win before he divides his career into chapters.

Let's not forget, this is the fella who when asked if he'd sell his wedding photographs to Hello replied: "I'd rather sell them to The Kop Magazine for £1."

Legendary status - and let's not hear anyone say that's going too far - wasn't achieved overnight.

Across 10 years, Carragher has developed as the ultimate player of the people. The Kop loves him because they know he's one of them. He thinks like them, gives his all as if it was is only appearance for the club, and shows the twin ecstasies of joy and grief as and when appropriate.

If he wasn't playing, he'd be watching and travelling with the family entourage which never misses a game. How do we know? Because he did it in 2003 when he was recovering from a broken leg, joining his dad and cousin on the Happy Al's coach to Middlesbrough and shouting at the incompetence of El-Hadji Diouf with everyone else in the away end.
Steven Gerrard has been the heart of the Liverpool at the start of this Millennium. Jamie Carragher is its soul.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. He's also one of the greatest defenders Liverpool has ever had, and has many more years in red still to serve.
But you knew that bit already.

[derryexile]

Great article, the man is a great role model!

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Liverpool have signed 18-year-old Dutch striker Jordy Brouwer from Ajax.

The player joins goalkeeper Daniele Padelli and defender Emiliano Insua as the new arrivals at Anfield in the transfer window.

"We've made a good signing for the future in Jordy," club chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool's website.

"He had a youth contract at Ajax, but opted to build his career at Liverpool. We've monitored his progress and look forward to developing his potential."

[An Fear Rua]

Great article, the man is a great role model!

and he donates money to the poor too!!!

[GalwayBayBoy]

Liverpool have signed 18-year-old Dutch striker Jordy Brouwer from Ajax.

The player joins goalkeeper Daniele Padelli and defender Emiliano Insua as the new arrivals at Anfield in the transfer window.

"We've made a good signing for the future in Jordy," club chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool's website.

"He had a youth contract at Ajax, but opted to build his career at Liverpool. We've monitored his progress and look forward to developing his potential."

Good to see us finally investing in young European talent like Arsenal have been doing for the past 5+ years or so.

[Rossie11]

Glad to see them going Dutch for young talent.
Feel they are more suited to the English game than a young South American or Spaniard.

[AZOffaly]

Yeah, like Pierre Van Hojdoink (sp?) and Marco Boogers

[Mayo4Sam]

Great article, the man is a great role model!

It actually made me want to barf 

[Gabriel_Hurl]

I wouldn't exactly say they were young talent AZ

[AZOffaly]

I know, but they are Dutch.

I actually agree. I think Dutch and Scandinavians have a more immediate impact in England compared to Italians, Spanish or South Americans, with obvious exceptions of course.

[Rossie11]

Am sure you have Luis Garcia included in one of your obvious exceptions AZ.. 

[gawa316]

CELEBRITY KOP CLUB: DR KARL KENNEDY
Jimmy Rice 25 January 2007 
  Welcome to Celebrity Kop Club, a unique band of Reds who've risen to fame with hope in their hearts and a Liver Bird on their chest. The third inductee might come from OZ, but he has more than a little understanding of what it means to be a Red... 




Everybody needs good neighbours - so goes the theme tune of the popular Aussie soap. And it seems Anfield could soon be getting one of the best ever.
 
"Eventually I will move to the UK and I think Liverpool may well be the place I end up. It'd be great to be able to take my lad to Anfield," reveals Dr Karl, aka Alan Fletcher.
 
While Neighbours' fans are led to believe Susan is the love of his life, The Doc has in fact been cultivating an affair thousands of miles from Ramsay Street.
 
"I'm in love with Liverpool," he confesses. "I was attracted primarily because it was the home of the Beatles. I also have some distant relatives living on Merseyside, so the Reds were a natural fit for me.
 
"I've been over about five times in the last two years. Perhaps it's the Irish influence in the city, but I find Scousers to be incredibly friendly, open people with a delicious sense of humour."
 
Okay, so he loves our great city, and he's chosen the correct team. But it can't be easy being a Red Down Under, can it?
 
"No," admits the ultimate out-of-towner. "It's very difficult to see games because of the time difference; they're played in the middle of the night.
 
"The SBS television network shows all the football highlights, but I'm planning to get an e-Season Ticket to make things easier.
 
"I take my allegiance to LFC very seriously. I still have an enormous amount to learn about the team, though. My son and I spend a lot of time watching DVDs about the club and its great victories.
 
"My favourite is 100 Years of The Kop. I can only imagine what the atmosphere was like crammed into that stand watching the Reds at their finest."
 
The 49-year-old tries to get to as many games as he can while on tour with his band, Waiting Room. And he likes to reveal his support in another, more vocal fashion.
 
"I started singing You'll Never Walk Alone at gigs as a tribute to the club," he says.
 
"The great thing is that everyone loves to sing along with the song regardless of who their team is.
 
"We were playing the Walkabout in Nottingham on the night of the Champions League final. Minutes after we won I walked on stage and sang it wearing my shirt. The audience went wild."
 
Such is the force of The Doc, he's even managed to get a bunch of Evertonians singing their hearts out to our famous anthem.
 
"After the FA Cup win last year I was performing in Liverpool for the Edge Hill College ball. Again the crowd went berserk for it. Even the Everton fans joined in!"




KK is clearly doing his best to spread the Liverpool word, then. So how come YNWA never featured when he appeared on Soapstar Superstar earlier this month?
 
"We had no choice of songs for the show," scoffs The Doc, not hiding his irritation. "Sadly they didn't choose it as part of my repertoire."
 
Coming from OZ, The Doc's passion for the Reds has to compete with an unhealthy interest in cricket and Aussie rules. But when push comes to shove, there's only ever one winner.
 
"The thing is, because Aussie rules matches are high scoring, the crowds have frequent occasions to release their tension," he explains.
 
"The tight nature of the scoreline and speed of British football makes the game so much more exciting and tense.
 
"Football is very popular in Australia because of the big European population and the success of the Socceroos in the World Cup. The game is still dwarfed by Aussie rules but that is changing rapidly.
 
"When my son and I have a kick down at the park and we wear our Liverpool strips, many people stop and profess their support for the club."
 
This is the same strip – with FLETCH embezzled on the back – which he wears on the set of Neighbours, though he admits he's yet to convince any of his co-stars to join him in the Kop.
 
"I don't have any friends who support the Reds but I do have a mate who follows West Ham, and I've had some fun at his expense lately!" he says.
 
Despite a lack of Kopites in his address book, The Doc is friendly with another member of Celebrity Kop Club – as well as a current Liverpool player.
 
He said: "I met Euan Blair in London when he came to see my band at the Walkabout in Shepherd's Bush.
 
"Then I was working in Manchester recently and had the pleasure of meeting Harry Kewell. I had a terrific night with him and his darling wife Sheree."

[Hound]

Liverpool have signed 18-year-old Dutch striker Jordy Brouwer from Ajax.

The player joins goalkeeper Daniele Padelli and defender Emiliano Insua as the new arrivals at Anfield in the transfer window.

"We've made a good signing for the future in Jordy," club chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool's website.

"He had a youth contract at Ajax, but opted to build his career at Liverpool. We've monitored his progress and look forward to developing his potential."

Good to see us finally investing in young European talent like Arsenal have been doing for the past 5+ years or so.

Ajax said they were undecided as to whether to offer this Jordy guy a professional contract. Hopefully they're just lying to avoid the embarrassment of having lost a top prospect for no more than €50,000 in compensation. But it doesnt breed confidence - surely if he was any good he'd have been offered a pro contract long ago...

[Fr Ted]

I see that Salif Diao has eventually left Liverpool on a permanent basis and signed for stoke

Is that the last of the tripe that houllier bought?

[Mayo4Sam]

Not in the same league as diao but