Where did all the heroes go? (Apologies in advance as this is not an upbeat article).

AN ARTICLE By Alan Cronin

My faith in modern football is at an all time low. Money has corrupted absolutely and it seems nobody can resist anymore. Former would be greats Michael Owen, Torres, Saurez and then Coutinho threw that all away when the grass or maybe the Euro elsewhere appeared greener.

During the noughties we all dreamt of a team of Carraghers . Nowadays he is unbearable, self obsessed  and busy playing the media game alongside his good pal Gary Neville. He keeps Schtum when his paymasters decide what he should or shouldn’t say even when it comes to corrupt officials or VAR controversy. Even Roy Keane Junior would absolutely despise the man he has become. Plays the game better than anyone. Even the legendary Stevie G couldn’t resist the lure of the riches in the middle East.

All of this seems small potatoes to the disappointment I felt over 2 men I thought were above all this.
Two men I idolised more than anyone in football. Jordan Henderson and Jurgen Klopp. Anger towards Henderson and more just a feeling of disappointment towards klopp. I could never hate Klopp.
Anger towards Henderson over trading all his morals and principles for money, only to compound the matter by insulting everyone’s intelligence by saying he didn’t move for money, it was the for the challenge in a new exciting league etc.

News of Jurgen Klopps new job hasn’t seemed to have garnered as much spotlight as the Henderson move. My initial reaction was Ugh I don’t like this at all. I was aware of the way Red Bull Leipzig is perceived in Germany and it seemed at odds with everything we had seen and heard from Jurgen. This is a club that was only formed in the 90s and quickly rose through the divisions backed by Red Bull money. German football fans pride themselves on footballing history and things being done the ” right way”. As such they are seen as similar to City In England and I just find the Jurgen move hypocritical of him and of fans that say he can do what he wants.

Jurgen was once quoted as saying he would never buy a £100M player and wanted to things differently and he copped a bit of stick over the Nunez signing and Caceido bid. I never really minded this as I reckon he was taken out of context a bit and the quote was from around five years before the Nunez signing. What I think he really meant was he wasn’t going to build a team with this type of signing in every position. He also proved every word by finding unheralded gems while also promoting from the academy.

I was as impressed by the man off the pitch as I was on it. I hung on his every word as he just always seemed to have the right answer to each question and just totally bought into the club, its history and the City. His Socialist leanings matching perfectly with the majority of fans too and you would be hard pressed to find a fan to have a bad word to say about him. So to hear the news that he was moving to an organisation that was at odds with everything we have seen from Jurgen just left me feeling extremely disappointed.

Seems like money always wins in the end even to the squeaky clean untouchable idealistic ones. I would have liked to hear him address the criticism but all I have heard is him talk about is how excited he was to get back into football and why he took the role. The backlash in Germany was swift and severe. Fans and players from his former clubs Mainz and Dortmund practically disowning him saying he is not the man he claimed to be. I’ll always love the man for making Liverpool great again and for making the fans believe but I will always wonder about his sincerity and whether behind it all if he wasn’t just the greatest PR person ever.

I don’t expect every fan to agree with my point of view, it’s a feeling of disappointment more than anger.
Anyways don’t shoot the messenger Connor made me do it.