Whether the past 10 days represent, for you, the tedium of an international break or thrills on the road to Rio 2014, the return to Premier football is welcome enough to justify bringing forward this weeek’s ‘Who are You?’. Sunderland play Liverpool on Saturday evening and we asked David Wooding*, a Reds-supporting journalist and broadcaster who runs political coverage at the News of the World’s successor, The Sun on Sunday, to talk about his club. Whatever we feel about The Sun’s role after the Hillsborough disaster, David had no involvement with the paper then** and this item from his own website indicates that he shares the broad view of supporters everywhere, using the term ‘slur’ to describe the disgraceful suggestion that drunken Liverpool fans arriving late for the FA Cup semi-final were to blame (from today’s damning independent report: ‘The evidence shows conclusively that Liverpool fans neither caused nor contributed to the deaths of 96 men, women and children’ …
Salut! Sunderland: What do you make of Liverpool’s worst start to a season in half a century?
David Wooding: I’m not as disappointed as I thought I’d be, because I realise we are at the start of a complete rebuilding exercise. My biggest worry is our lack of strike power. It is surprising we offloaded Andy Carroll just before the transfer deadline without having a replacement lined up.
John Henry seems to blame past owners and/or managers and says the ethos is to win … “we will invest to succeed. But we will not mortgage the future with risky spending”. Wise words or the prelude to a lengthy spell of mediocrity?
They are wise words indeed, but if that’s how they feel, why did they blow £131 million on, for the most part, a bunch of mediocre players last season? It is clear that poor Brendan Rodgers is paying the price for Kenny Dalglish’s disastrous spending spree. Sadly, in today’s Premier League you have to splash the cash if you want to keep pace with the nouveau riche at Chelsea and Manchester City, whose owners demand instant gratification.
***** Salut! Sunderland is making a donation to the Claudio Reyna Foundation, in honour of his 13-year-old son who died recently from cancer, of the small fee promised in return for passing on news of a new football fantasy league – still time to join -at ProSportex.com. Please enter the word “salut” in the “access key” section to show you came from here. Read about it here: https://safc.blog/2012/09/spend-spend-spend-fantasy-leagues-and-pools-syndicates/ *****
What were your feelings about the replacement of Kenny with Brendan Rodgers?
King Kenny is, and will always remain, a legend at Anfield. He is the finest player I ever saw in a red shirt and brought so many happy memories both on the field and in his first spell as manager. However, I was against his return as manager after Roy Hodgson’s departure. I never believe in turning the clock back and did not think he was the right man to take us forward. We’re an emotional bunch on The Kop and my pals genuinely believed he would turn things round. Clearly his return raised morale and paid dividends, giving us three trips to Wembley and some long overdue silverware. Kenny probably deserved another season, but then if he isn’t the person to take us forward, why waste any more time? Perhaps he should have stood down in May to avoid what was inevitable – it all ending in tears.
Is there any player in the current Sunderland squad you’d be delighted to see in Liverpool colours and do you think Jordan Henderson will ever become an Anfield favourite?
Adam Johnson is exciting to watch when he’s on form and our defence will have to keep a close eye on him. Sad to say, Jordan Henderson was probably the biggest disappointment of all our signings last season, failing to make any impact at most of the games I attended. He would probably have benefited from a season or two in the reserves but these days, young signings are thrown straight into first team action. Still, he is young, and who would have ever guessed that one of our most unpopular young midfielders, Lucas Leiva, is now a firm favourite.
How embarrassing was it to be a Liverpool supporter during the Suarez saga and do you think the club’s reputation suffered lasting damage as a result of its approach to it?
The whole affair was handled badly from start to finish and I hear the PR unit has been overhauled since then. It was an embarrassing chapter, poorly dealt with, but it doesn’t leave any lasting stain on the club or its fans. There were several things that should have been done differently but when Suarez was found guilty (even though it was one man’s word against another), the club should have accepted the eight-match ban as a sign of how determined it is to stamp out racism of any kind. That would have sent out a strong message, put the club on the moral high ground and handed it a PR coup. Liverpool could have said they expect this to be the FA’s minimum punishment for future incidents.
Tell me this season’s top four in order and the bottom three
Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United. Bottom: Southampton, Reading, Norwich
And where will our clubs finish if not in either of those groups?
Liverpool 5th, Sunderland 8th.
Name the greatest players you’ve ever seen for Liverpool and who should have been allowed nowhere near the club?
Kenny Dalglish stands out as the greatest ever and had a key role in so many historic games. Steven Gerrard is a close second, but the King’s medal haul gives him the edge. Others I was proud to have seen often were 1966 World Cup legend “Sir” Roger Hunt, and other local-born strikers such as Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush. Steve Heighway on the wing was a joy to watch as was the Keegan and Toshack partnership. A word also for Ian Callaghan, who in a magnificent 18-year career, was a young player in the team which won promotion to the top flight, he was in the first Reds team to win the FA Cup, collected five league titles, was in the side which won the European Cup for the first time in Rome in 1977 and the 1966 England World Cup squad. He played 865 games for Liverpool and was booked only once.
Perhaps the worst player to don a red shirt was Jimmy Carter. He is living proof that even the King makes mistakes. Kenny Dalglish signed him from Millwall for £500,000, handed him his old number 7 shirt and then quit soon afterwards. Carter lasted eight months before new manager Graeme Souness flogged him to Arsenal, where he sank without trace.
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Did the success of the Olympics make you blasé about the resumption of football or couldn’t you wait?
I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the athletics finals and watched a lot of the Games on TV.
What struck me most was not only the sheer commitment of the competitors but their generous sporting spirit. I will find it much harder this season to tolerate highly-paid footballers who aren’t prepared to put in 100 per cent for their supporters – or those who hurl abuse at opponents and officials.
Which leads on to the cheating question: who do you consider the worst culprits and what would you do to stamp it out?
Every team has them. We seem to idolise those who play for the club we support – and loathe them if they are the opposition. It ranges from shirt-tugging, to diving, time-wasting and gamesmanship. I’m afraid it’s all down to the referees. If they were strictly to apply the rules of ungentlemanly conduct then it would be stamped out in a seaon.
Is it club before country for you. Either way, explain why.
We’re not English, we are Scouse. So goes one of the Kop cries. It’s probably because it’s the team we support week in, week out and it’s important to have the bragging rights over the Toffees when Monday morning comes. But there’s something magical about a World Cup when, for just a few weeks, we’re all on the same side and even cheer on the likes of Wayne Rooney!
How will you follow our game and what will be the score?
Saturday is a working day for me (I only get to the Sunday games) so I will be watching on TV at my desk. Hoping for a lull in activity at about 5.30pm! I am much too superstitious a football fan to predict a match result – and I always get it completely wrong. So just for Salut! I shall break the habit of a lifetime and forecast a 2-0 win…for Sunderland.
* David Wooding on David Wooding:
I was born in Liverpool and was taken to Anfield by my father as soon as I was big enough to sit on his shoulders. My dad was football-crazy and a Class One referee and when he wasn’t officiating, took me to see the Reds, usually at floodlight mid-week games. I was lucky enough to be an ever-present fan through the long, glory years and was at the greatest games, including all seven European Cup finals. I gave up my season ticket reluctantly when I moved to London in the 1980s – but have since regained it and travel up to as many home fixtures as I can, and also see The Reds when they are playing in the capital. My son has followed in my footsteps and is a die-hard Red.
** Salut! Sunderland recognises the potential sensitivity of interviewing a journalist from The Sun for an article that appears by complete coincidence on the day of the Hillsborough report. In fact David Wooding was not associated with the newspaper until long after the time of the disaster and has in any case played his part, to quote his own words, “in helping the Hillsborough Independent Panel get to the truth”.
Interview: Colin Randall
“Sunderland finishing 8th in the league sounds about right. But Liverpool 5th? I can’t see it.”
No Bill. I don’t see it either.
Like many others, I was surprised (well astonished actually), when Rogers was given the job with a rather patchy cv elevated by the media’s delight over his couple of seasons at Swansea. A promotion from the Championship does not a PL manager make. I wasn’t expecting Rogers to last long in this job with an indisposable wad of cash to spend. The Liverpool owners are now running the club along the same lines as the Greek Finance Minister, and my expectation is that it will end in tears even sooner than anticipated.
Brendan Rogers doesn’t look like the man for this job.
Sunderland finishing 8th in the league sounds about right. But Liverpool 5th? I can’t see it.
I noticed a few things, Bill, that would suggest he lives in the past and is in self denial about a number of LFC problems and the national perception of his club.
If I remember correctly Callaghan’s booking was totally undeserved and came only a couple of seasons before his career began to wind down. He should have finished with an unblemished record.
A true gentleman!
That’s right. It was at the 1978 League Cup final replay at Old Trafford. We lost 1-0 to a Nottingham Forest penalty which was awarded, the TV re-runs later proved, for a foul outside the box. Callaghan was booked for a totally innocuous tussle for the ball. The referee on that night was Pat Partridge. DW
“He would probably have benefited from a season or two in the reserves”
That was The Liverpool Way, which differentiated them from all other clubs.
Guess who set about, deliberately, dismantling it and with it the legacy of decades?
That’s right, King Kenny!!
He may have been successful during his first tenure but IMHO he destroyed everything good about the club and LFC supporters are still paying the price for his ego driven ineptitude.
No mention of possibly the best, most talented player to don a Liverpool shirt – John Barnes…..?????????
Good point. He is my disloyal Liverpool-supporting daughter’s all-time favourite. I think she fancied him when she was 10
Maybe she just liked his tights?
John Barnes was a legend. The first player I ever saw score from his own half – at The Dell. But I have been watching them for so long it is impossible to cover them all.