
Tony Evans: Missing Out On Bellingham Could Be A Blessing
The international break gives everyone a chance to take stock. Where do Liverpool go in the final third of the season?
The ideal scenario would be to knock Manchester City out of the title race and then bring them back into play by beating Arsenal – dispatching Chelsea on the way. It is a tricky run of games, though. The season could be over very quickly.
Is there any reason to be optimistic? It’s still hard to believe that a …

Tony Evans' Column: Klopp Needs To Start Inspiring The Players Again
What’s worse than an international break? An international break that’s overshadowed by a sense of crisis.
Bournemouth. Madrid. Neither performance was good enough, neither was acceptable. Jurgen Klopp’s demeanour in the Bernabeu afterwards was worrying. He is a bad loser but that didn’t show.
You can moan all you like about FSG – and, yes, the owners could do a better job of running the club – but there are enough good players at the manager’s disposal to be doing …

Tony Evans: You're The Luckiest Generation of Liverpool Fans, Ever
Sometimes, in the cacophony of cryarsing that surrounds football, you forget what makes the game great. It should be fun but some people make supporting a club seem like hard labour.
And then Liverpool spank Manchester United 7-0. It was an experience of pure, uplifting joy.
I’ve always thought that I came from the luckiest generation. The first team I watched had Yates, Hunt, St John and Thompson in it. Then it got better. Emlyn Hughes, Keegan, Toshack, Uefa Cups …

Tony Evans: Good Riddance to a Horrible Man
The guilty men of Hillsborough will die in their droves in the next few years. They go to their graves with their reputations intact, having enjoyed the honours and status bestowed on them by a rancid country. Those honours should have been stripped from them.
Sir Bernard Ingham died last week. Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary was arguably the worst of the Hillsborough liars. He seemed to delight in upsetting those who suffered at Sheffield Wednesday’s ground on April 15, 1989. …

Tony Evans: No Government Should Be Able To Buy Liverpool FC - Not China, Qatar or the USA
It comes around about once every decade. The Scouse vs. Wool, Local vs. Out-Of-Towner debate is a Liverpool staple. This time it’s got a new twist. The suggestion that the club could be bought by Qataris has added an extra wrinkle.
You’re racist if you object to despots.
Tuesday marked the fifteenth anniversary of the formation of Spirit of Shankly as a response to the ownership crisis caused by George Gillett and Tom Hicks. They are still fighting the good …

Tony Evans: 'The Unlawful Killings' & Refusing to Allow The Banterfication of Hillsborough
How was 2022 for you? The answer has to be “crap” in a general sense. From a Liverpool perspective it’s been a mixed year.
We forget quickly but the first five months were as uplifting as any period in my supporting life. The quest for the quad was special. To go into the last week of the campaign with the possibility of winning all four trophies was an astonishing feat.
The final two games were disappointing and Paris was disheartening …

David Johnson "The Assassin" - An Underrated Liverpool Legend
David Johnson always suffered by comparison with the man who replaced him. Over the years dozens of conversations about the great 1978-79 team have included the line, “Imagine if Rushie would have been a couple of years older.”
Johnson’s contribution to the club has too often been overlooked. He was an international-class performer and that he was overshadowed says a lot about the greatness of the team at the time.
But it’s not his ability that me and my mates …

Tony Evans: The Pantspissers Have Been Squealing
The football authorities have developed this unhappy knack of taking something special and ruining it. Generally, it’s in pursuit of money. The World Cup is a perfect example.
Switching focus from the domestic season to a tournament and back again in a six-week period doesn’t work. In a World Cup summer, the season ends, there’s space to readjust before international competition begins and a similar process happens between the final and the new league campaign. There’s a sense of completion …

Tony Evans: The 'FSG Outers' Got What They Wanted
The dreams of FSG haters are about to be fulfilled. It was always just a matter of time. You know the saying, though. Be careful what you wish for. It might come true.
Some people may relish the thought of petro-states or oligarchs. There are hardly any out there these days. If a Manchester City-style takeover takes place, it would present a huge moral quandary.
It shouldn’t in one sense. Clubs ‘belong’ to people in different ways. Owners have the …

Tony Evans: The Henderson Haters Will Never Go Away
Jordan Henderson has a new autobiography out. It will make for interesting reading.
Henderson is the most misunderstood and maligned player of the FSG era. He was bought for a position where he was rarely used. Kenny Dalglish envisioned him and Stewart Downing pinging crosses in for Andy Carroll but it never happened. Why? Luis Suarez came along and plan A got junked. From early on he was forced into unfamiliar roles.
There was also the suggestion that he was …