A Vent to Kick Things Off

There’s no time like the present to take on a new challenge, right? And seeing as I still have a few weeks of holidays before uni starts, no job, and plenty to say on a whole range of topics, this was what happened..!

I was talked into this by some of my beloved White Collar crew on Twitter, and as it turned out, the day the topic of getting blogs came up, it was a day when I had I was feeling particularly outspoken. That was a couple of weeks ago now, but the following was what came out when I decided to have my first attempt at blogging, so I thought I might as well post it. Enjoy..?

So. Two words to kick this first post off.

Fernando Torres.

And just a few more, so you know what angle this post is coming from: What. The. Heck?!

Today (or, yesterday, technically) was the last day of the January transfer window for European football. The window is open for the full length of January (literally right up until midnight CET on the 31^st), and is an opportunity for all the clubs in leagues across the UK and Europe to take stock of their playing group, and make moves for players who can help fill any gaps that have become evident over the first half of the season.

Sometimes, you see a transfer coming. Take Xabi Alonso for example, another player I loved to bits for his supreme skill, and his passion for my beloved Liverpool FC. (his GQ looks didn’t hurt either =P http://twitpic.com/3rogks) But when our manager at the time tried really hard to sell him when he didn’t want to leave, he (understandably) became disillusioned. So, he played the next season, had what was without a doubt the best 12 months of his career to date, and then left the next summer with the support of the fans, who knew exactly what he’d been through and as much as we wanted him to stay, could see why he felt it was time to move on.

Not so with Torres. Nope, not the case at all.

This one hurt. A lot. Like I probably always knew it would, except I didn’t expect it to happen any time soon, so I hadn’t thought about how it would feel. I laughed at the stories of Chelsea’s £35 million bid, thinking, “ha, he’ll never go to them.” And then gasped when read that he had submitted a transfer request. I’m thinking, “what is going on? What on earth are you doing Fernando? And more significantly, why now? and, why Chelsea??” They have become one of our greatest rivals in recent seasons, I’ve seen it described as a new rivalry for modern times, and I agree with that description. If I could have picked any club I really didn’t want to see him at (aside from the obvious, being Manchester United and Everton), Chelski would be it.

There had been rumours about Torres moving on from the very first transfer window he spent at Liverpool. I never doubted his loyalty. He pledged his future and his allegiance to us, and we believed him. I read the book he wrote, almost as a tribute to the fans of Liverpool, in which he described LFC as his only English club, the only club he could or would ever play for in the country (if you’re interested, the book is now selling for a measly £4 on Amazon…). But clearly, that supposed loyalty was nothing more than him paying lip service to a club he thought would give him the chance to win the trophies he so longed for. Liverpool’s passionate fans took him in to their hearts, and believed he could be a new hero in the vein of legends who had come before him – like Dalglish, Rush, and Fowler, just to name a few. When we failed to deliver success and silverware within three seasons, he up and left for what he believed to be greener pastures, a club that could give him medals to put in his still-empty cabinet. Only time will tell if he made the right decision…