wrote this open letter to Stephen Hester, CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland, in August 2010.
Dear Mr. Hester,
Grobbelaar; Harkness, Hysen, Tanner, Burrows; McManaman, Molby, McMahon, Walters; Rush, Saunders
These names will mean nothing to you. In fact, these names, collectively, will probably mean nothing to most Liverpool supporters.
To me, it’s that biting October wind. It’s the moment the door is knocked upon and your granddad stands there. It’s a hat, cap, badge or a scarf as you walk down Walton Breck Road and catch sight of what will come to define you as both a football fan and a person.
Port Vale, Rumbelows Cup third round, 29 October 1991. My first match at Anfield. It wouldn’t be the last.
I studied Dickens and Shakespeare at great depth in university, but my memory can hardly differentiate between Macbeth and Magwitch. The midfield of McManaman, Molby and McMahon is a different story.
I remember seeing the ball hit the net from Rush’s header and hearing the sparse Kop roar. I will never forget the touch of my granddad’s hug as we scored as the smell of celebratory cigarettes filled the night air. My first taste of Liverpool Football Club.
Ask any Liverpool fan about their first experience and they’ll be similarly encyclopaedic, because that’s what supporting this football club is about. A mosaic of memories in your mind displayed every time you see your team play.
This football club has the most impressive mosaic of all. That famous Anfield roar on a European night originates from the voices of the thousands who have gone before us. Inter Milan, St. Etienne, Auxerre, Roma, Olympiakos, Juventus, Chelsea. Layer upon layer of the club's history being created by us, the fans.
Football is the purest form of escapism. For 90 minutes, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, married or single. For 90 minutes, it doesn't matter if you're a lawyer, a librarian or a landscape architect. You get lost in the experience of innocence.
Part of you drifts back to that night against Port Vale, or that league match against Norwich; that time when all that mattered in the world was who started up front.
That innocence has been ruined by snakes who slithered into our garden and offered David Moores the fruit of his labours three-and-a-half years ago. Moores devoured, and now Liverpool supporters have to suffer for his sin.
Now, it feels like we have to be chartered accountants to understand the football club. We’re sending letters to your bank using words and terms it’s not our job to fully comprehend. When my grandfather took me to that Port Vale game in 1991, he was taking me to watch a football match, not a business venture.
All of our actions and efforts to remove Hicks & Gillett are necessary evils. Just because we do it doesn’t mean we enjoy it. It will make us stronger and it will bring the fans of this football club together once more, but I look forward to the day we can all stand united over our support for a new left-back, as opposed to disdain for leveraged buyouts.
I don’t know what to believe, but I know the fact that this sort of business is our business is the most lamentable part of it all – Shankly’s holy trinity of manager, players and supporters is not sacred anymore.
Perhaps there should be intentions from those in power to do something with Liverpool Football Club that hasn’t happened from the moment David Moores accepted Hicks and Gillett’s bid.
Act with the best interests of the club, and its supporters, in mind - give us our football club back.
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I wrote this letter to John W. Henry this evening as the one-year anniversary of Fenway Sports Group approaches.
Dear Mr. Henry,
Reina; Jose Enrique, Carragher, Skrtel, Kelly; Downing, Lucas, Adam, Kuyt; Suarez, Carroll
These names will mean everything to you. In fact, these names, collectively, will mean everything to most Liverpool supporters.
It was the team that disposed of Everton in the Merseyside derby so callously, so superbly.
It was the team that possessed and displayed every important attribute – mental and physical - ensuring the man advantage from Rodwell’s red card was fully appreciated.
It was a team that had proven quality on the bench in Craig Bellamy and Steven Gerrard, as well as exciting young prospects such as Sebastian Coates, John Flanagan and Jordan Henderson.
But most importantly, it was a team. It was Kenny’s team. It was our team.
When I wrote the letter to Mr. Hester, it was our lowest ebb. I didn’t write that as a journalist, nor necessarily as a Liverpool supporter. I wrote it as someone who watched something he loved slowly die. I wrote it as a desperate plea for a stay of execution; a final attempt to stop the plug from being pulled on a 119-year-old institution.
I know my words alone did nothing. I doubt you even read them. But you read our words. Thousands of letters, e-mails, phone calls; thousands of people trying their best to educate others about the state of our football club. The individual words may not have been processed, but the collective vitriol was. My letter was just a mere cinder flying from the raging fire heading towards Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? It does if there’s tens of thousands of them, all at once, falling together, screaming to save their club.
When you, Mr. Werner and the rest of Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool last October, you saved that club.
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that.
People, rightfully, will focus on your transfer activity.
You brought in Luis Suarez, a player whom we just can’t get enough of; a player who we just can’t believe how little we paid for us. You brought in Andy Carroll, a player who – hopefully – Suarez will partner for years to come.
You brought in Jose Enrique, Jordan Henderson, Sebastian Coates, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Craig Bellamy. You respectfully relinquished those who no longer wished to play for the club and those who no longer possessed the talent to do so.
You allowed Kenny Dalglish to return to his rightful home; to have the chance to finish what he started over two decades ago.
But more important than any of this is, you ensured this happened at Liverpool Football Club. You ensured that there still was, and forever will be, a Liverpool Football Club.
You ensured I will forever be proud of a lot of our support.
I’ve always maintained that Liverpool Football Club will always exist as long as it has its supporters. During the final hours of Hicks and Gillett’s reign, this was proven true.
What started as 200 people in The Sandon pub on Walton Breck Road making a few grumbles of discontent turned into thousands acting with the club’s best interests at heart – all because those who were at the top of the hierarchy weren’t doing so.
The actions of Spirit of Shankly and other supporter groups – and to be a part of that while you were battling for the club – made me proud to be a Liverpool supporter again. It made me believe in those I stand next to on the Kop once more.
I remember touching down after the Champions League final defeat in Athens and feeling a five-minute vibrate in my pocket; those who were home had text me in the vague, misguided hope my phone would work beyond Dover.
Liverpool had lost a European Cup final 2-1, but more unsettling than that were the comments of Rafa Benitez after the full-time whistle. He was doing what was best for the club; it was at that point that the realisation set in – those above him weren’t doing so. I don’t think it’s been the same ever since.
Not until you emerged from that courtroom in London and assured us the club was in good hands once again. In just three years, 119 years of history could have been erased due to arrogance and greed. The only epic swindle was that they were allowed to do it for so long.
Thank you for being true to your word. You’ve been nothing but respectful to the culture of this football club, and consequently, the traditions of its supporters.
There's a vital link between the players and the fans, between the city and the football club. They work with each other and help each other.
The football club would not have 18 league titles or five European Cups if it wasn't for the city or the fans. The city wouldn't be what it is now if it wasn't for the football club.
In your first game, I left Goodison Park after watching personnel not good enough for Liverpool Football Club embarrass themselves and the football club. I knew you had a massive task ahead to rebuild the club from the debris of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and others.
Leaving this year, the personnel – and feeling – could not have been different. It shows that the club, even in 12 months, is heading in the right direction.
Thank you for Luis Suarez. Thank you for Kenny Dalglish. Thank you, Mr. Henry, for ensuring we will hear that famous Anfield roar on a European night yet again; thank you for allowing that mosaic in my mind to keep expanding.
Thank you for reminding me why we all wanted to support Liverpool Football Club to begin with; why those supporters who fought for the club would have made Shankly proud.
But most of all, thank you for giving us our football club back; for making sure remembering that game against Port Vale, my first taste of Liverpool Football Club, didn't forever taste of tears as I remembered a club that was no more.
Dear Mr. Henry
