Always look on the bright side
“Watch us rise up the table now,” they said.
Three wins and 11 goals later they’re all looking rather pleased with themselves and our third spot.
We’re coming to terms with the investment news and the rather gleeful reaction of Chelsea fans in particular. One chinless wonder in a national newspaper could barely contain himself.
Let me translate: “Hurrah! We’ve totally inflated the transfer market again when it looked like it might settle down, we’ve sent wages through the stratosphere and now you’ve got to hawk your soul in order to keep up so you can take some flak for a change. Ain’t life grand?”
No, it isn’t. God knows what our board gets up to behind closed doors.
But in public at least they still carry a convincing air of disconsolate necessity in keeping with the way most of us feel right now.
The money would obviously come in handy but hopefully we’ll have the good grace to look slightly bashful about it.
And we still need exceptionally shrewd judgment. Bob Paisley once said there’s no such thing as a long ball or a short ball, just the right ball.
He could have said something similar about expensive or cheap players, but at least we may have a significant choice either way from now on.
A mythical Reds boss could be given nothing and produce Fowler, Owen, Carragher and Gerrard. A not-so-mythical manager could be given tens of millions and come up with Heskey, Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou, Cisse, Ziege and Barmby while still being peeved he couldn’t get Lee Bowyer — literally from the sublime to the ridiculous.
No matter what people like me think, money is about to play an even greater part in our future. I can still recall wiping away a teenage tear when we won the European Cup with players bought from Northampton, Wrexham and Scunthorpe. But as a far better writer than I once said, the past is a different country, they do things differently there.
The Dubai speculation was responsible for some healthy debate about the manager’s ability in the transfer market. Alonso offered up a timely reminder on Saturday that even £10m (€14.9m) can be a bargain sometimes.
We shouldn’t get too carried away though. Charlton are in a frightful mess. In his final years at Anfield I’d actually started to see the funny side of Djimi Traore.
On Saturday he wrecked his new side’s chances before they’d got into the game — and nearly sliced Pennant’s head off into the bargain.
The healing elixir of laughter was in short supply for the next 70 minutes as we made a stroll in the park look like climbing Everest in the nip.
Charlton were dreadful, pitiful actually. If we’d only spaced out the goals it’s doubtful we could have much to complain about, but leaving it 1-0 for so long made everyone skittish.
The longer it went on, the more you were convinced misfortune lay around the corner, but those pesky optimists were right once more.
Bellamy has come back in and made a real difference. We looked cumbersome in the first three months but we’ve played some quick breakaway football in the last few games.
Even in cruise control Gerrard picks up all the plaudits. How many times can you back heel the ball to an opponent before you eventually realise the folly? It was a casual, occasionally reckless, display that evaded the notice of journalists who watch him through rose-tinted blinkers at times. Great goal, though.
The last one we conceded was at Arsenal. Unkind souls would claim they were the last decent team we’ve faced, and the last time we were losing.
We drew the short straw in Europe, which is fair enough. We couldn’t keep getting the likes of Leverkusen and Benfica forever.
They seemed rather pleased with themselves but then they always do. Maybe it’s having two European Cups that makes you that way. I shouldn’t say this but I’m always secretly pleased when Chelsea wind them up so much. Some of the indomitable spirit they showed in the Nou Camp wouldn’t go amiss when we go there.
How much did you pay for that, by the way?
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