My Apology to Liverpool Fans

Yes, I believe now is the time for me to face up to facts and issue an apology to all the Liverpool fans out there.

When Fergie walked away at the end of last season, an uprising of Reds fans from Merseyside began to crow about how the domination of Manchester United was over, and how suddenly, despite lying in seventh, they could now win the title.

It was laughable and I lambasted them on my Facebook account by insisting that there were at least another five teams that were better than them. How wrong was I?

This season has seen Brendan Rodgers lead an astonishing transformation at Anfield. His belief in the youth set up at Melwood, coupled with his commitment to play concise, disciplined and entertaining football has seen Liverpool rise from mediocrity, to stake their place as front runners to win the title.

The transformation didn't begin in August though, like many would perhaps think. No, Rodgers, who seems to make a habit of proving people wrong (in particular the great Sir Alex Ferguson, started his club’s transformation in the January transfer window last year..

Fergie once echoed the words that there was no real value in the window, that it was almost impossible to get the best players and, in many senses, insinuated that it was mainly a portal for clubs who were in trouble to panic buy.

But Rodgers bucked this trend with the signing of Daniel Sturridge, a player who had previously been at Manchester City and Chelsea and not got the game time or backing of their respective managers, for whatever reason, that he was about to get at Liverpool.

Ferguson again offered his vision on the transfer, labelling it as a 'huge risk' and, whereas this has caused offence among many Liverpool fans as well as a stick for them to now beat him with, Fergie was right.

Taking risks is what has served Ferguson so well over the past 20 years and is, in many ways, what makes a winner.

The ‘Class of 92’ are the biggest example of this. ‘You can not win anything with kids’ are the immortal words sounded out by Anfield legend, and Match of the Day pundit, Alan Hansen.

It was a huge gamble by the Manchester United manager yet he was repaid for his faith back then in 1996 and prospered from it for many years afterwards.

With his former clubs, Sturridge was a player deemed to have an attitude problem, someone who was difficult to manage and on his way with failing to fulfill his true potential.

Rodgers, who worked at Chelsea in the past, obviously knew of his temperament but realised there was something in the lad if he was given the backing and faith. 

He knew it would be a gamble, but winners take risks in order to get to the top and so Rodgers hedged his bets with the signing, and what a signing he has been.

Not only has he introduced a second source for an unbelievable amount of goals over the 13 months he has been at the club, but he has also brought the best out of his strike partner, Luis Suarez, and even helped revitalise the captain, Steven Gerrard, who even the staunchest of Liverpool supporters could admit, had started to wane a little as he moves further into the twilight of his career

This brings me to the controversial Uruguayan or Liverpool’s Eric Cantona as I like to refer to him.

At the end of last season he was hated by everyone and problematically for Liverpool, he had got himself suspended for ten games for biting an opponent, which would mean he would miss the first six games of the 2013/14 season.

Don’t get me wrong, there is never a way I can like Suarez and the personality he carries with him, but since his return he has turned a corner in terms of his discipline and you can only admire his ability and performance, which have seen Liverpool rise as contenders to more than just a European qualification spot.

Of course this again is largely attributable to the manager and his risk taking. All summer Suarez was lined up for moves away to various big clubs who are already playing in Europe’s elite competition. A temptation which brought about a transfer request and a desire to leave the club.

But Rodgers was not about to let Suarez leave Liverpool without at least attempting to repay the club and the fans for sticking by him through his worst times.

He even had the strength to make Suarez, the club’s star player, train on his own as punishment for making a fuss about a potential move away, which could have torn the harmony at the club in two.

Through all of this though, Rodgers had faith though that he and his captain could get through to Suarez and make him see that they were on the brink of something special. Within a matter of weeks he had signed a new contract and the rest is on course to be a big addition to the clubs already impressive history.

The Suarez gamble has paid off and the Uruguayan has been in sensational form for the most part of the season, forming a formidable partnership with Sturridge and spearheading Liverpool’s return to the Champions League in style.

As I said I could never like the man, but his 'Cantona’esque' turnaround has to be admired and yes, every club would love a player of that ability in their squad, perhaps minus his controversial antics.

In truth the entire Liverpool story this season has been based on gambles and risk. Take Raheem Sterling for example, a young lad who couldn't stop letting his personal life effect his professional.

The manager sat him down and told him to go away and sort himself out if he wanted to be a part of Liverpool football club, knowing he could have potentially pushed away one of the brightest young talents in European football.

Yet Sterling has come back with the perfect response and this has transformed his performances on the pitch. Gone, is the lad who has potential but doesn't look strong enough to fulfill it and now, week in week, week out, he is the star man, creating and scoring goals from nothing and running defenders ragged.

There is no way I would have put him on the plane to Brazil six months ago, but now I would gladly let him fly it.

Jordan Henderson is another player who looked finished not so long back. Liverpool fans wondered why they had wasted their money on such an abject performer, but Rodgers again showed faith in the man.

At Sunderland, Henderson looked the real deal and obviously his manager now must have remembered this and realised that, with the right amount of nurturing, there was a top player ready to shine.

Stats show that he has been the best midfielder in the Premiership this season, not bad for someone who has probably been one of the worst for the previous two and again he will surely go to Brazil this summer as a potential starter, rather than staying at home wondering what could have been.

There are success stories throughout the Liverpool squad, all with similar background stories and all with the same common denominator and that is Brendan Rodgers and a crazy thing called belief.

If you ask United fans why we have been so successful over the past 20 years, they will tell you one name, Sir Alex Ferguson. The same respect should be applied when Liverpool fans look back over this past 12 months, with Brendan Rodgers.

He has galvanised a squad that had been strained first of all by the lack of motivational ability shown by Roy Hodgson and then perhaps the dated approach from an out of touch Kenny Dalglish.

That said the latter does deserve credit for getting that winning feeling back at Anfield with the trophy he delivered during his tenure and perhaps providing the launchpad for Rodgers to take the club on to bigger and better things.

Rodgers breathed new life into the players and they have responded by being unplayable for the best part of this season but it is not just the players he has effected in this way, it is the supporters as well.

I remember going to watch Liverpool play at Bolton a few years ago (my mate is an avid Bolton fan) and I was expecting a deafening atmosphere, created largely, with all due respect to Bolton fans, by the away support.

This was not the case, well not until they grabbed a late winner and I remember walking away from that game thinking what was up with the Liverpool support because having heard so much about their 12th man and seeing it at big occasions on the TV, it was always one thing you were forced to admire about the club.

I concluded that they had to be subdued by a lack of belief in the football they were watching. It wasn't what they had gone through three decades of watching and did not give them any hope of challenging, even for a Champions League spot.

But since the Rodgers revolution has kicked in, this couldn't be more different. They are now seeing football being played the way they have been generously treated to for many years. 

There is flair and discipline, the basics are done right and instead of sitting back and accepting their fate in games, this Liverpool team are making their own, like the teams of old.

It has given them an extra volume and the ability to believe again and when you believe in something you will give it that little bit more in vociferous support. .

To conclude Liverpool for 20 years have suffered the indignity of watching their biggest rivals win everything while they have been limited to short term gains, peaking with their Champions League success in 2005.

That must have been hard, none more so for their captain and talisman, Steven Gerrard. After years of trying, and millions of potentially good but often disappointing signings, they have finally built a team capable of competing and barring an unlikely capitulation in the final three matches, the great man will no longer be known as the greatest ever captain to never win the league title.

So to Liverpool fans I apologise for writing you off and salute what you have done over the last 13 months. It has breathed new life into the Premiership and given every United fan, like myself, a swift kicking while we are down.