Rafa Benitez.

MyRAWK el-Presidente William Tan takes a look at potential candidates for Rafa’s hot seat if the gaffer decides to pack his bags for Italy.

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The exhibitionist = Jose ‘the Special One’ Mourinho

The diver = Jurgen Klinsmann (dived a lot when he played in the EPL in the 1990s)

The bridesmaid (or bridesman??!!) = Claudio Raineri (the perennial runner-up ….. may change at the end of the Italian Serie A 2009/2010)

The sadist = David Moyes (current manager of Everton, can or not?)

The pessimist = Roy Hogson

The adventurous = Steve McClaren (just won the Dutch title)

The optimist = Frank Rijkaard

The sentimental = Kenny Dalglish

The unexplained = Chris Houghton (just won the championship with Newcastle)

The understudy = Sammy Lee

The conformist = Avam Grant (conformed to the parameters set by Abromovich and also the confines of Portsmouth and yet still continue as manager ….)

The illusionist = Martin O’Niell (his infamous illusion is make the team challenge for the title but at the end of the season, always outside top 5)

The graduate = Juande Ramos (‘graduated’ from Sevilla and spent one season in Real Madrid. Then he got the sack …. )

The messiah = Kevin Keegan (as Newcastle fans loved to call him)

The conqueror = Quiqui Sanchez Flores (Current manager of Atletico Madrid)

The one-season-wonder = Phil Brown (got Hull to EPL and then lost it when he blasted the squad in the middle of the pitch at half time last season!)

The battered = Ronald Koeman (beat his teams a few times but he won once when he was with Benfica in 2005/06 Champions League)

The bully = Sam Allardyce (need we say more??)

The nemesis = Alex Mcleish (haven’t been beaten by Rafa since took over at Birmingham City)

The victim = Martin Jol (victim of boardroom tussle at Tottenham Hotspurs a couple of years ago)

The pragmatic = Roberto Martinez (current manager of Wigan)

The emotional = Steve Bruce (he looks like he’s about to burst every time the camera zooms in on him!)

The nice guy = Zianfranco Zola (too nice to be manager)

The road runner = Jacques Santini (had a short stint with Spurs – 13 games and ran off!!)

The traveller = Guus Hiddink

The Michael Bolton look-alike = Bruno Metsu (the guy who conned Gerard Houllier in respect of the capability of El-Hadji Diouf in World Cup 2000)

Lastly not forgetting (though they will never leave current their comfortable nests nor will the Anfield faithful accept them),

The whiner = Arsene Wenger

The whiskey nose = Sir Alex Ferguson

And finally,

The believer = Rafa Benitez!! The incumbent and for those supporters who still believe he is the best for the club.

So, take your pick for the best candidate but remember though, LFC has no money to hire let alone spend money on players next season… unless new owners are found!

Scouse connection at the heart of LFC.

Update: Venue changed from Ecobar, PJ Trade Centre to The Library, e-Cuve due to some technical problems with Ecoba’s Astro service. Kindly take note of the change in venue and apologies from MyRAWK on the last minute notice and change of venue.

In our final BPL home game of the 09/10 season, we’ll be playing Chelsea and have the role of being “king-makers” in deciding where the Premiership Championship will head to. We face dilemma of either to go for the win and see if the team above us in the fight for the final Champions League qualification spot will falter, or entertain the possibility of “not wining” the match to stop our nemesis down the M62 – Man Utd from surpassing the 18 championships mark.

Come join the MyRAWKites this Sunday night, from 8pm onwards @ The Library, e@Curve, Mutiara Damansara or The Taragon Restaurant, Lorong Hang Jebat, Melaka to see for yourselves, how The Mighty Reds will solve this dilemma and conundrum. For nostalgic sake, it will also be the end of an era as this will be the final time we’ll be playing at home with a Carlsberg sponsored shirt as well.

Come wind or high water, we shall still be supporting LFC and we will never walk alone. So come on you Reds!

Are You Red Enough?

-MyRAWK-

A day that will never be forgotton by all Reds - April 15th.

Nothing brings people closer than a celebration or a tragedy. We celebrated league titles on open top buses through the city centre of Liverpool, and of course who can forget that chairman Mao speech by Bill Shankly after we LOST to Arsenal in the FA Cup.  And in recent times, note how scores of Liverpool fans celebrated with one another after the unforgettable 5^th European Cup win which enabled us to keep the cup, FOR GOOD!

One thing that bring more people across the globe together, is not the trophies we won, it’s not records we hold, it’s not great players we had/ have, although we cherish those, in my view, the one thing that Liverpool fans have over fans of all other clubs is a bond; a bond that started on one fateful day, 21 years ago, in Sheffield. Hillsborough is the home ground for Sheffield Wednesday and they were hosting the FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The game was just 7 minutes old when a stampede at the Lepping Lanes End, caused by crowd mismanagement by the police, resulted in the match being abandoned, and 96 of our fellow fans, our brothers and sisters and uncles and aunties if you like, all Liverpool fans, gave their lives for supporting the team they have come to love and be passionate about. Yes, I am talking about Hillsborough tragedy, and it is my belief that this has brought the fans closer, especially in dealing with bad times or when the team is not doing well because what could be worse than going to watch a football match and returning in a body bag?

Having experienced that first hand, just last week, when I lost a dear aunt to cancer, I understand how the tragedy has brought the club closer, as an entity, how it has brought the fans closer, and how the club recognized the role this tragedy has in the history of our club, to the point that the eternal flames were added to the club badge. Just as how my aunt’s passing made me reflect on things I usually don’t think about and how it brought our family closer together, is how Hillsborough gives us that bond, as fans all over the world come together as one to support the club, and now today, in paying respects and mourning the 96.

Today, marks the 21^st anniversary of the tragedy and today should be the day we put aside our petty differences, our disappointments of this season, over the chase for 4^th place, over the opinion we have over our players, the manager or owners (this might be a very big ask), and remember the 96 instead.

In times like this, where everyone, especially the newer, younger fans are obsessed with supporting the fancier clubs, or the club whose strip looks nicer, or who’s on top and how we are struggling to finish 4^th, perhaps should put all that aside, at least for a couple of days, and reflect on the 96. Think of what we would do if we made that journey to Anfield, and stand in front of the Hillsborough memorial. I know what I’d do, I would put a MyRAWK T Shirt on it, and tell them that they will never walk alone, for they are our brothers and sisters, and they will forever be in our hearts. And they should be, for they are part of the history, the proud history of Liverpool Football Club.

In this day and age where so many so-called fans don’t bother learning the history of their club and some even change clubs like how they change clothes, it is important for the true supporters to instill this in our younger fans, to tell them that, Liverpool Football Club is more than the 18 league titles, 5 European Cups, 7 FA Cups, 7 League Cups, 3 UEFA Cups and 15 Charity Shield wins. Yes, we should cherish these victorious moments, moments that made supporting the club proud. It is for this same moments that drew passion from the fans and supporters, which resulted in them taking the short 63 mile trip across town to Sheffield for the match against Nottingham Forest. I am not blaming the success of the club that caused the tragedy, but that this is part of the club’s history that we should all know, embrace and understand; that Liverpool FC is not just about winning, it’s THE people’s club, no matter how much the Tesco Club down the road keep telling us that they are the people’s club. We are the ones who display the mosaics on Truth Day, where the Kop was singing nonstop for 6 minutes right after kick off, to show the world that despite whatever reported by The S*N, the 96 were the real victims of the tragedy.

Speaking about The S*N, for those who are not in the know, immediately after the tragedy, they published news reports that spread lies about the tragedy, accusing Liverpool fans of not respecting the dead, doing many despicable acts to fellow fans who were lying on the ground, dead or injured. Till today, many fans still don’t read that piece of printed processed tree bark, and I make it a point to ignore all news from the same source on the net and articles taken from it that are published in our very own The St*r. I would urge all fans to learn about the lies spread by The S*N and how the government of the day  generally laid blame on the fans despite many coming out to admit that they should take the blame for their role in the tragedy. Recently, there are more reports about Scotland Yard coming out and apologizing to the families of victims and confess their mistake in failure to control the crowd as well as using wrong tactics / method for crowd control, resulting in the tragedy.

I am not asking you to become an extremist, or hate a certain people or group because of it, but because of the importance of this event to our history, to perhaps learn a bit more about it and remember that apart from the success, there are things like this that keep our feet on the ground. Also, during times like this, we could put aside how we feel about the team, the performance, the criticism of certain players, the questionable tactics by the manager, the squabbling owners, the finances and other things about the team that we care about, because 15^th April of every year, the focus should shift from the team, to the people who made the team who and what they are, the supporters.

Justice for the 96!

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Jonno ®

The Kop showing how they feel on the ownership crisis!

Finally the Anfield circus with the 2 Yanks has an ending in sight. Royal Bank of Scotland has put its foot down and demanded them to appoint a new chairman to helm the club and relinquish their ownership . These recommendations and conditions have to be met before an extension to the loan can be approved.

The slightly disturbing news is that the candidate to take over the chairman position is a life-long Chelsea fan – Martin Broughton. That being said, he has a proven track record as the head honcho at British Airways.  If the appointment goes ahead as expected, he will resign his post at BA and sit on top of the board instead of the 2 co-chairmen.

This latest development is good news to the long suffering and disillusioned Reds. The road to recovery is still a long and hard one with huge obstacles to over come. Irregardless, the biggest onee has been remove and let’s hope RBS / Barclays will find a suitable and appropriate buyer for our beloved club. The club deserves nothing but the best.

Personally speaking, who ever that takes over the club and the new chairman will be ill advised to remove Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre from the board. The two of them are the sole reason we’re still standing. They have worked tirelessly to help us rebuild the sponsorship and commercial aspects of the club. They are big assets to the future direction of Liverpool FC.

Looks like “the family silver” will be changing hands again no thanks to the short-sightedness of David Moores and the daftness of Rick “Crusty the Clown” Parry. Money talks and bullshits walk – how true!

-JonC-

Pepe - staying for the next 6 years! A future Captain.

Reina signs new deal

Pepe Reina has put pen to paper on a new six-year deal at Anfield, Liverpool Football Club can today confirm.

The 27-year-old, who has been one of the Reds’ star performers this season, has followed in the footsteps of senior stars like Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Daniel Agger and Dirk Kuyt by committing his long-term future to the club.

Reina told Liverpoolfc.tv: “I’m delighted to sign a new contract. It’s probably the best news of my life that I’ll be here for the next six years. Me and my family are really happy here.

“To play for Liverpool is very special. I’ve been here for five years and now I will be here for six more and it’s very exciting.

“It’s very important that my family love it here as well, as family life is just as important as my career.

“My wife told me from the beginning she was more than happy here. My kids enjoy it and they have picked up the scouse accent already. I am really proud of that.

“In the years ahead they will speak much more scouse too.”

** Taken from  liverpoolfc.tv

Fernando Torres: First player to score 2 goals in 4 consecutive matches at Anfield! ©Gettyimages

It was a European night in Anfield, but not in the usual competition as it’s the first time in Rafa’s reign that the club has participated in the Europa League, a competition last won by Gerard Houllier in 2000-01 season under the old name, UEFA Cup.

The team lined up in Rafa’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation with Pepe in goal. The defence featured an unorthodox backline consisting of Agger who was assigned the left back position, Kyrgiakos and Carragher in the middle with Johnson on the right back position. Insua having collected his second yellow card in the first leg of the tie, necessitated the reshuffled defensive lineup. The midfield also had to re-jig due to the unavailability of Maxi Rodriguez as he is cup-tied, having played for Athletico Madrid in the group phases. The midfield line-up was the usual Benayoun  (to replace the suspended Babel due to his sending off in the first leg), Mascherano, Lucas and Kuyt whilst Gerrard was up-front supporting the lone striker, Torres.

Benfica started better than Liverpool as the boys were rather tentative and had a to work hard to neutralise a couple of dangerous chances that fell to the visiting side . The Reds uncharacteristically started slowly but eventually got the break that the team needed when a corner was awarded on the 27^th minute. Gerrard’s floated cross was headed into goal but the linesman on the far side raised his flag for reasons only known to him as both the ref and the goal  lines-man (is this what we call these guys now-a days?) agree that it was not an off-side and the goal stood.

Two minutes later, Gerrard played a superb through ball to Lucas who then with consummate ease feint a pass and slotted past Julio Cesar for his first goal in 11months. 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate but it is not yet over as any goal from Benfica would even out the tie and wipe out Liverpool’s away goal advantage. Benfica did not give up and still tried to play their way into the game although Pepe was rather pedestrian between the sticks in the first half.

Liverpool’s deserved third goal arrived around the hour mark from a swift counter-attack. Lucas was struck between the legs as the Reds defended a free-kick inside the penalty box. As the ball rolled to Mascherano, he found Benayoun racing towards the Benfica half. The Israeli international then spread the ball wide to Kuyt, whose first-time cross was swept in by the on rushing Torres. Counter-attacking football at speed and at its best! Kuyt though, should be commended for his quality first time pass to Torres who had the easiest task of  tapping the ball into an open goal.

Benfica did pulled one goal back to set-up a tense final 20 minutes as a result of a free-kick taken by Cardozo, who struck the free-kick that took a deflection off Gerrard to elude the diving Pepe. Score was 4-3 to Liverpool and another goal for the visitors would even the tie at 4-4 and the favoured away goal ensure that they would qualify instead.

Luckily there was no sting in the tail as Liverpool continued to pressure for another goal and when Mascherano won possession in midfield, he cleverly lobbed the ball over the Benfica defence and Torres was through on a one-one with the keeper.  “El Nino” duly obliged the Kop with a sumptuous finish by chipping the ball over the on rushing keeper and secured the tie for Liverpool a 5-3 aggregate win.

All the men in RED played their hearts out! Kyrgiakos had a good game and managed to subdue Cardozo throughout the match with minimal mistakes and was everywhere in the back line to help snuff out the Benfica threat. Lucas had a very good game and scored his first goal for the club this season. Mascherano was at his biting best and hounded Pablo Aimar and Angel Di Maria out of the game.

Liverpool are now 2 matches away from the final and will meet Atlectico Madrid, Torres’s and Rodriguez’s former employers. If only Liverpool had played with this believe earlier in the season, we might have still been in the chase. But alas, Liverpool have to concentrate on Europa Cup (in its first re-incarnation) and the race for a top 4 Champions League position finish in the next few weeks.

-Will Tan-

Liverpool’s new 2010-12 home jersey, unveiled earlier today, was inspired by the classic 1989/90 version – the last season that Liverpool won the league championship. Here’s how they compare to each other.

The all-new home kit for Liverpool FC was unveiled earlier today, featuring new main sponsor Standard Chartered. According to the press release:

The adidas strip represents a modern interpretation of the one worn during the triumphant 1989-90 campaign, in which the Reds won title number 18.

Source: www.liverpoolfc.tv/shop/kit

Liverpool fans have had to swallow a number of disappointing defeats this season, but none more so than today’s 2-1 loss to bitter rivals Man Yoo at Old Trafford. A lethargic Liverpool squad turned up second best against a side led by the in-form Wayne Rooney and Park Ji-Sung. The Reds have now recorded 10 losses in the league, a huge dent to their Champions League aspirations.

However, on paper at least, Liverpool are capable of going on a winning run all the way until the end of the season against lower-ranked teams while Tottenham and Man City still have big games against the top 3. At time of writing, Liverpool lie 6th, behind Spurs and City who have 1 and 2 games in hand respectively.

Liverpool fans at The Library, e@Curve. Photo by Tan Pei Ru.

On a positive note, it was encouraging to note the sizable number of Liverpool fans who showed up at the Library today for the live viewing. Despite the forgettable season, folks still stood strong behind the team and hoping for a repeat of last season’s 4-1 stuffing of the Mancs on their home turf.

We were also very encouraged with sales of the Shankly “50th Anniversary” and “Torresism” t-shirts during the event.

Haven’t got yours yet? We’ve fittings from XS (for the cute ladies) all the way to XXL (for the macho males) still in stock, but running out fast. RM 35 for the Shankly white, and RM 32 for the Torres red tee.

You can get them either from our next live viewing (to be confirmed) or arrange for a custom delivery (Poslaju or pick-up). For enquiries, feel free to post them on the forum or write to info@my-rawk.com.