... and where it's fake, or perhaps it's just me. I held back from reacting to the 'heartfelt letter' from Klopp to an 11 year old boy but f**k it. This is a kid from Maidenhead who's never been to a game but is 'a massive Liverpool supporter', loads like him in Berkshire I'd expect. He 'suffers from anxiety' over going to senior school so thinks the best way to quietly fit in is to appear in the national media and name the school. FFS his mother has labelled him 'an anxiety sufferer' ... ... great work mum, the bullies will definitely give him an easy time now So Klopp writes to him and says not to worry you're part of the Liverpool family with 'millions and millions of people just like you' ... ... presumably that means people with Sky subscriptions who choose their 'lifelong club' based on who wins the title that year. Liverpool probably has a population of a couple of million including Everton supporters and people who couldn't care less about football. So there's probably more of the 'Liverpool family' in Africa than in Liverpool. No wonder Liverpool want to sell their 'product' direct rather than bother with the likes of Sky. I hope it happens and the TV companies are eventually hung by the rope they crafted themselves. "The mother of an 11-year-old anxiety sufferer has been blown away by the extraordinary letter she never expected to get from her kid’s hero." https://www.foxsports.com.au/footba...s/news-story/32c7477bf9b96d873e737d9940e8db3b
I hate that Klopp manages Liverpool. I'm not huge into this kind of fluffy PR, sure it means the world to the kid though. I just like Klopp. I cannot help it. I've tried. ****ing Liverpool.
See Arsenal are paying their new player £150K a week whilst also making a mascot redundant in aid of cost cutting. That's modern football.
I cracked up when I saw Ozil saying he would pay the mascots salary, as long as he is an arsenal player. First off, how the **** is that not a volunteer job? Prancing around in a dinosaur suit for the club you love. Secondly, how much are we thinking that is? If it's more than £20,000 a year for what is maybe 35 day's work a year, dependent on cups run, they're being gauged. Ozil knows for a fact he is gone in the next 12 months. He's conservatively pocketed about £50m from his time at arsenal. He's paying out something like 0.001% of that out as a gesture. In doing so he's made himself look a hero and the club a bit of a bunch of arseholes. My hat goes off to the lad for sticking the knife in.
Is this just the modern day version of the long distance fan. There was always kids with Liverpool and Arsenal tops back when I was a lad but now there's much more TV exposure, you can play as them on FIFA/Champ Manager, follow them or more likely some of the players on twitter but like their 1980's ancestors never go to a game. That kind of connection to a club is completely different to mine with Sunderland. That's full of early doors memories going to games from one of the best periods in my life and then a whole load of other experiences associated with the lads on top of that. Even now, when we're at our lowest ebb and it all feels a bit **** I'm still gutted no fans are allowed as I'd quite like to go to a match whereas I'd guess most of the distance fans would be quite happy to watch on TV. Fair to say Liverpool would rather keep all that TV cash for themselves as well.
On the flip side, some clubs are capable of fantastic gestures. Just over a year ago, a boy I taught was taken seriously ill. Hed had no previous poor health and in the space of 15 minutes his parents were told to fear the worst. He was in a coma for 3 months and had suffered severe brain injuries. I emailed Arsenal and their response was incredible. Within 45 minutes they had arranged for Aaron Ramsey to write a page-long hand written letter to him. 'Gunnersaurus' recorded a DVD with a personalised message where he introduced the boy's favourite player (think it was Aubameyang). The chap I originally emailed even sent some of his personal memorabilia - a couple of scarves from cup finals and some programmes etc. A year later, the lad was walking and well on the road to recovery, when a limo turned up outside their flat. The whole family spent the day having a tour of the stadium, watched a match from Ozil's private box, and then the lad was taken into the dressing room by Robert Pires to meet the players at full time. It was an amazing gesture - all from one email asking for a little bit of moral support. I've never liked Arsenal, but I still get emotional thinking about how they changed this lad's life. I'm sure the joy and messages of support helped his recovery. I like to think that SAFC still do an awful lot for the community; from the autistic-friendly rooms in the stadium to the hospital visits at Christmas. It means a massive amount to the people they touch.
- there are more Liverpool 'fans' here than Chelsea (the nearest PL team) and very few admit to supporting Reading. Poor kid - he's in for some anxious moments in the playground.
I will share a nice story. When I was diagnosed with cancer a friend of mine who ironically is a mag knew Kevin Ball. Before my operation the lad arrived with a hand written letter from Kevin and a club signed shirt. It was a lovely gesture and fortunately at a dinner I was able to thank Kevin. Sometimes the little gestures are the most amazing pick me ups.
I was starting to think he was alright , then he made a ****ty little comment about Sunderland to try and make the mags laugh and, harmless though it is, it made me hate the ****er again.
