El Hadji Diouf
There have been several players in Liverpool’s recent past who have enjoyed the best football of their careers at Anfield and inscribed themselves into the club’s history with memorable performances. Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres — to name but three — either spent all of their careers or, in Gerrard’s case as good […]
What do the summers of 2002, 2009 and 2014 all have in common? Liverpool ballsed up every one, that’s what. On those three occasions, the Reds had a wonderful chance of kicking on after near-title-winning campaigns, only to come crashing back down to reality after recruiting poorly and allowing rivals to pull clear again. Gerard […]
Nothing scares me more than the debut of a big money player. It takes me back to the passage in Carra’s autobiography where he discusses the signing of El-Hadj Diouf from Lens. ‘The Serial Killer’ (and we can assume that he gave himself that nickname) cost Gerard Houllier £10m – the equivalent of about three […]
“‘Stevie G’ was a very good player, people like him in Liverpool but he never did anything for his country. I am Mr. El Hadji Diouf, Mr. Senegal, but he is Mr. Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that.” Well, somebody let Diouf near a microphone again and he […]
Following the announcement yesterday that the Centenary Stand will soon bear the exalted name of Kenny Dalglish, it was interesting to note the response from some fans. For many of an older vintage, like your columnist, there was an understandably emotional reaction to the honouring of a man we had worshipped on the field and […]
Many past Liverpool managers have experienced utterly disastrous summer transfer windows. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers all spectacularly failed to build on near title-winning seasons in 2001/02, 2008/09 and 2013/14, respectively, with dross such as El Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Philipp Degen and Alberto Aquilani bought in. Even Kenny Dalglish, for all his […]
I know that some of you will have read that headline, tutted to yourself and thought, “we say that every year”. You’re right, to be fair. Every summer that comes along, we tell ourselves that this is the one that will see Liverpool reach the next level. The one that will finally end the wait […]
