The Mailbox debunks the notion that Liverpool always do right by players who want to move on. Also: insulting De Bruyne; and a red who wants City to win the Champions League.

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

Liverpool do the decent thing?
To Dave LFC, that kind of sanctimonious cobblers is exactly why most non-Liverpool fans I know can’t stand Liverpool.

You ‘respectfully let Coutinho go’?! Well yes it easy to be respectful when another team is throwing such a ridiculously large bag of cash at you that it has disrupted the transfer market ever since! A big part of the reason Spurs chose to ‘un-respectfully’ expect Man City to cough up at least £150m for Kane when he was in the prime of his career with plenty years left on his contract was because of the fee precedent set by the sale of Coutinho. And then of course City very respectfully tried to get Kane to engineer the move to force Spurs to accept relatively peanuts instead. How un-respectful of Spurs not to play along.

Oh and according to the BBC article from the time, Liverpool rejected 3 previous offers from Barca and a transfer request from Coutinho before finally letting him leave. How very decent and respectful.

As for Can…his contract was up, it didn’t matter how respectful and decent Liverpool were or weren’t, he was free to go regardless!
Tom, Spurs, Southampton

…Dave LFC feels Spurs should facilitate the departure of our best player to be more like the decent and respectful LFC. He cites three players for whom his team of moral champions allowed to leave, despite not wanting to let them go. Those three were sold because, in order:

Mane refused to sign a new contract
Coutinho was sold for over £100m
Can left on a free when his contract expired

Oh how the world of football could learn from these bastions of decency and goodness. If only LFC fans could learn that it really isn’t all about them and that lying through your teeth to make some f*cking weird points is just strange behaviour. Please, for the love of God, try and be normal you absolute bloody cretins. Members of your fanbase left hand grenades at the home of one of your most loved players; does that still count as decency and respect? Please stop moralising over football transfers. Players are sold if and when a bid is made that meets the selling club’s requirements.
thayden

…It’s Friday, so lets lob a grenade! Reading Dave LFC’s letter on how they treat players better than Spurs, may I ask, is there anything Liverpool fans don’t feel morally superior to other teams over? I feel they’ve really taken to heart the ‘club of the people’ thing, but the thing is, they’re not the club of the people, there is no such thing.

As an Arsenal fan, I would never claim my club to be better or morally superior to another, mainly because I know we’re not. Only this season the club have made decisions that benefited us, but were definitely not the morally correct thing to do. I skirt around the issue because I want the letter published, but you know what I’m talking about.

Is there a club that is more ‘holier than thou’ than Liverpool? I struggle to think of one. I think morality and football make for awkward bedfellows. The only thing the game cares about at the end of the day, is money.
John Matrix AFC

…Have to say Dave LFC’s letter this morning is the funniest thing I’ve read for quite some time. The argument that Spurs should just let Kane leave because he’s their best player and that’s being respectful is utter nonsense. As it is to suggest Liverpool have done this in the past. Coutinho was allowed to leave because Barcelona had an absolute mare and bid £130m for him which was an outrageous amount for an average player. Liverpool didn’t reluctantly let him leave. Oh, and the Liverpool fans showed their respect by booing him when he returned to play against them. Mane’s contract was running out and he had no intention of signing a new deal (as is his right). Again, not exactly Liverpool waving him off wishing him all the best even though he was apparently leaving for a worse club (who happened to win their league rather than finish 5th). A better example of Liverpool’s respect would be not honouring a buyout clause for Suarez when Arsenal bid for him, thus keeping him at the club because lo and behold, he happened to be their best player at the time and they needed him.

Just because Kane has carried Spurs the past few seasons doesn’t mean Kane is owed anything by Spurs. He is paid a handsome sum of money each year to play for Spurs having signed a contract that means he is paid regardless of his injury status. Can we stop this narrative that Spurs are somehow keeping Kane a prisoner and are forcing him to play for them. Why should Spurs just write off their biggest asset as a favour to him whilst every other club gets to ask for huge sums of money for their best players?
J

KDB or Gerrard?
Just watched a youtube video from sky sports where they put a series of choices to various pundits and players like ‘Carragher or Neville?’, ‘Messi or Ronaldo’ and ‘Tunnelgate or Pizzagate?’. One question was ‘KDB or Gerrard?’ and several people chose Gerrard.

Steven Gerrard must be one of the most overhyped players in the history of the Premier League if not *the* most.

I’m not saying he wasn’t a good player. Good timing, a good eye, decent shot and a determined attitude. He was an excellent midfielder in the same way Denis Irwin and Gary Neville were excellent full backs. In fact, in a best ever premier league XI, Neville and Irwin arguably get in either side of the centre backs for their consistency, longevity and medals. If you’re building a fantasy team of all time greats though, do either of those boys get anywhere near it? Not for me. Lahm, Marcelo, Cole etc etc miles ahead in terms of talent.

The fact Sky Sports even posed it as a question is an insult to Kevin De Bruyne and another manifestation of the kind of thinking which sees the likes of Harry Maguire command fees of £80million. I remember seeing Carragher question Henry when he said Scholes was better as well. F*ck sake, he wasn’t even the best midfielder at Liverpool when Xabi Alonso was there.

I’m not judging too much. As an Irish United fan, I really wanted Kevin Doyle at Old Trafford. Tribal bias is a real force. Time is a healer though. He’s been retired a while so a fair bit of time has passed now but hopefully you’ll get there eventually. (See also; Frank Lampard)
Eamonn, Dublin

Liverpool show Arsenal the way
Edu needs to change his approach in the transfer market. Why does Arsenal always begin by offering low figures and bargaining. Liverpool, on the other hand, always stun other clubs by quietly working in the background before the signings are declared public? The Vlahovic and Mudryk situations were an unwarranted distraction. Let’s hope there is no such drama for Declan Rice.
Carey Yiembe

Hands across Manchester
United won the treble. I was there. Great times. best night of my life (after kids etc etc)
United wanted to stop the Man City treble by winning the FA Cup.
They failed.
After that point, I will be supporting City.
I come from Manchester and would much prefer a local team to win the ECL than a team from Milan (much as I do love going to milan)
Not a Bitter Red

Read more: Ranking all 30 Champions League finals as Man City prepare for Inter in Istanbul

City animosity
In reply to Lee from Hornsey asking why City fans seem to care so much that “people don’t like the club”, that’s a bit wide of the mark.

Life as a City fan is constantly being told we’re not allowed to enjoy anything, and that if we do then we’re evil. That’s the environment we live in, and ok it is what it is, but it’s not really surprising that people respond negatively after years of it.

People can debate back and forth about right and wrong (as they are entitled to), but if City fans say we don’t care about it all then we get accused of defending human rights abuses or brushing them under the carpet. If we say we do care what others think then we get told we shouldn’t care and to enjoy the football.

I’m sure this will get read by lots of people as a “woe is me” complaint, but it’s just the reality. Why don’t City fans just ignore the barbs and enjoy the football? Because no one else lets us. We are a product of our environment, just like everybody else.

Finally, on a related but still separate note – if fans of other clubs and journalists who claim to be so worried about morality (since Pep started winning) wanted to be more constructive and maybe even get City fans onside, they could start talking about how punishing City’s alleged crimes could be the first step in a campaign to get big money out of football entirely, rather than the end goal being to make City bad again, after which football’s problems will be solved.

But I suspect that will never happen, and that it is only City fans who will be asked to compromise and explain themselves and self-flagellate again and again and again going forward.

Regards,
Alex, Manchester

…Lee & Mike D. It’s not that City fans are extraordinarily defensive, it’s just that when we see utter bullshit spouted and dressed up as fact by the likes of Waaaaaaaliam, well, that needs challenging. Plenty of people don’t like City but that’s ok, I dislike the large majority of other clubs for solid reasons too, but I don’t write in here telling massive porkies or deliberately distorting the truth to suit the particular narrative that others want to press.

I do like the way that fans of non-entitled clubs appear to be on the same page as us, when it comes to the vitriolic nonsense, because they don’t have an axe to grind. When we were on the lash in Ealing (nice place it is, too), last weekend, we bumped into fans of clubs from all over the place. Preston, Sunderland, Brentford and Birmingham City were represented and they all stressed that they wanted us to win against Inter. So, obviously not part of the cabal of entitled fans who hate us because their particular noses have been put out of joint.

In essence, say what you want but at least be truthful rather than your particular version of the truth and if you hate us, suck it up because we don’t care but we do care when it strays into the realms of fantasy island.

Definitely helping
Levenshulme Blue, Manchester 19
PS, in fact, it’s very rare indeed that we Blues write in about other clubs anyway, we just write in to defend ourselves from those who obsess about City whilst supporting other clubs. I mean, really, what’s that all about?

…I can’t help but echo the sentiments of Lee from Hornsey. When you’re as relentlessly successful as City are right now, the dislike from rival supporters will start pouring in at some point. You can try, but you’ll never be able to run from it.

It’s been a full decade (where does the time go?!) since Man United last won a league title, and they’re still widely reviled by most non-United fans. I’m fairly certain we’ve never been anyone’s second team. Though admittedly the disdain probably only lingers now because of how dominant the club was under Fergie, rather than any recent success. And it isn’t helped by the fact that a lot of our fans are absolute dicks on the internet.

But I digress. Honestly, City fans should try and view the animosity towards their club as a compliment. It means you’re doing better than the others, and they resent you for it. I’m not going to comment on the source of that success, because lord knows enough other people have. But that’s neither here nor there. The fact remains that if you’re the top dog in your league, everyone else is going to be gunning for you. Especially if you’re winning things as efficiently as City have been for the last 6-7 years. It just comes with the territory.
DJ, MUFC India

2023’s Salah or KDB
So I have to ask the question. Chelsea are going to sell all this young talent. Havertz, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic etc. plus the loan army they will surely sell to balance the books.

Which ones will come back a year or two after these transfers to become the next KDB, salah, etc. and help premier league rivals dominate whilst Chelsea and Boehly struggle with a bunch of players gettting paid on 7 year contracts that they will never be able to move on to other clubs.

Liverpool, Citeh and I would think Newcastle are watching…
Eric, Fulham (yes I know we won’t benefit from Chelsea’s stupidity because we don’t have the money to pull these moves off, but it is still funny to watch)

Carson 2-0 Buffon
I’ve been reading the mailbox, all the comments about tainted Champions League triumphs and whos would be the best treble. Frankly, I don’t care, I want City to win purely because it’ll mean Scott Carson (he’s in Citys 23 man final squad) will have 2!!! champion league medals, that’s 2 more than me, 2 more than Gigi Buffon and 2 more than the recently retired Zlatan. It’d also mean he’s gone 18 years between Champion League wins, previous record a measly 13 years for Man U’s Edwin Van der Sar.
Tony

Happy for Hammers
It never ceases to disappoint me at the tribalism in football. Fair enough, fans of some London clubs (thinking Spurs, Millwall) may resent West Ham winning a trophy, but the rest of us? Why are we so unhappy at their joy? Good luck to them I say, as a Liverpool supporter. Proper fan base, loads of history but more than all that it was a pleasure to watch how delighted the players and fans were on Wednesday night – that’s what it’s all about surely?

Yes, if it was Man U, or City, I would have turned off the TV, but the rest of football – a Villa, Wolves, Brighton for example, I am happy for them.

And the sneering? Does no one remember there was always a third European trophy until the late nineties; the Cup Winners Cup? Won by Spurs, Arsenal, Man U and Chelsea – the last three in the 90’s. I remember clearly the joy it gave those clubs – those BIG clubs.

Get over yourselves. Well done the Irons.
ANON

Bitter bubble
I can’t believe no one has congratulated the referee for winning West Ham the Conference League on Thursday. Without him bottling Said Benrahma’s red card, then West Ham would have been down to 10 men for half an hour.

Unsurprisingly none of the English commentators mentioned that going into the crowd to celebrate was an automatic yellow card. Having already been booked for a ridiculous dive Benrahma should have seen a second yellow for his stupidity.

Enjoy your tainted title Hammers.
Weldoninhio BAC

Cultural insensitivity?
Hey Oliver, just so you know, literally 7 of the 10 clubs in Switzerland’s top flight start with FC.

Your remark about the naming conventions of clubs in the Saudi League demonstrates a lack of understanding and respect for cultural diversity.

It is important to approach conversations about other cultures with an open mind and willingness to learn. Making sweeping generalizations and dismissive statements about the naming conventions reflects poorly on your own cultural awareness and sensitivity.

The Saudi football league, like any other league in the world, has its own unique identity and traditions. Instead of belittling and disregarding them, it would be more constructive to engage in a meaningful discussion about the league’s ambitions, development, and potential challenges it may face.

It’s important to approach discussions about different cultures with respect and sensitivity, considering the diverse perspectives and traditions that exist around this globalised world. It’s crucial for us to foster understanding and celebrate cultural diversity, especially when engaging in discussions about sports. This enables us to appreciate the richness that different cultures bring to the global footballing community.

That’s what makes the World Cup such an extraordinary tournament no? With teams from all corners of the globe, it brings together a rich tapestry of cultures, playing styles, and passionate fan bases. This diversity adds a captivating element, making the World Cup a true global celebration of football. It fosters cultural exchange, unity, and appreciation for different traditions, while breaking down barriers and inspiring millions across continents. It serves as a powerful reminder of the unifying power of the beautiful game and its capacity to transcend borders.

Or would you prefer it were only contested by players that played for clubs named with United, City, Sporting, Athletic, Real, Club, FC?
Varun, Mumbai, LFC (Indifference is not Banter)

Welcome return
F365 dictionary!! It’s back – one of the greatest features that made me fall in love with this site!!! Will we have to put shoes on our heads also?
Alistair, Singapore

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