HISTORY TODAY
Liverpool have had their fair share of confused managers during their 30-years-and-counting wait for their 19th league title. There was Graeme Souness, who passed on the chance of signing Eric Cantona and went instead for Istvan Kozma. Roy Evans, who threw nine men up front and wondered why David James and Phil Babb could never keep the door shut at the back. Brendan Rodgers, who didn’t think the logic of that envelope thing through but went ahead and said it anyway because the cameras were rolling and he was short of new material. Legends all.
But none were as muddled, baffled, bewildered or perplexed as Mr Roy, whose vaulting ambition was to establish Liverpool as a top-half team, but whose methods, which had famously translated from Halmstads to Orebro to Neuchâtel Xamax, failed to work when up against the might of Blackpool, Northampton Town and a team managed by Mick McCarthy. As a result, his 31-game reign is now remembered by the denizens of Anfield with the sort of wry detachment that only 10 years allow. That chequered history also means that his Crystal Palace side are clearly a shoo-in to beat Liverpool on Wednesday evening, thus denying his old club the chance of becoming champions on Thursday night should Manchester City fail to win at Chelsea. You know exactly how these things work, and it’s not as though nobody else is thinking it.
Palace have been a thorn in Liverpool’s side before, needless to say, a tradition that stretches back to that FA Cup semi-final and peaked six years ago with the tragicomedy of Crystanbul. They’ve also won three times at Anfield in the last five years, remaining the last team to beat Liverpool in the league. Yes, the narrative writes itself, really, and should Liverpool fail to beat Palace, good luck stopping talk of a precipitous collapse that would make Devon Loch look like a real fancy boy. Especially as Liverpool’s next match is an away trip to Manchester City. Having said all this, should Liverpool rattle in five and Chelsea stuff City, The Fiver is claiming a fate-tempting assist. You’re welcome.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
It’s a bumper night of live football and our MBMers will be across all the matches. For the 6pm (BST) kick-offs, Barry Glendenning is on duty for Manchester United 1-1 Sheffield United, Ben Fisher will bring you Wolves 2-0 Bournemouth, Nick Ames will have updates from Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa and Will Unwin is on Norwich 0-1 Everton. At 8.15pm Scott Murray will be on hand for Liverpool 2-1 Crystal Palace.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’d more or less retired but I thought: ‘What an opportunity: eight games without anyone booing me’” – new Boro boss Neil Warnock on the benefits of closed-door games when the alternative would be getting hosed down by saucy invective from the stands.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
We think this is the latest Football Weekly, but there are so many of them these days we can’t be sure. We do know that this is the latest podcast from our Forgotten Stories of Football series: how John Crossan became football’s most harshly treated player.
FIVER LETTERS
“Re: Stadium DJ requests. My personal favourite has always been: Gleeful cheering by a tiny contingent of away fans swiftly accompanied by the sound of 10,000 plastic folding seats returning to their upright position as the home crowd begin their dreary shuffle home. Frequently heard at Coventry’s Printer/Copier Arena, circa 2016” – Gary Bartley.
“I always thought Murcan crosswords were pretty easy, but Steve Alexander’s clue from the LA Times (Tuesday’s letters) proves I’m badly mistaken. While the answer is clearly ‘O, Arsenal!’, Mr Alexander offers at least two too few blanks and omits room for the exclamation mark. And quite how the solution conveys the requisite blend of hilarity and despair is completely beyond me” – Dave Scott.
“I’m also a Los Angeles Times crossword puzzler. Just like Steve Alexander, I’ve got a problem with a perhaps out-of-date clue. 15 Down, ‘Popular British political figure.’ I have ‘T_nybl_ir.’ Hmmm” – Mike Wilner.
“Tops marks to The Fiver for unearthing that photo of Roy Keane and Andy Townsend enjoying their Football-From-The-Stone-Age seminar with Fred Flintstone during the Jack Charlton era (yesterday’s Still Want Mores). I look forward to an image of Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris attending a London Bus Drivers’ Convention special session on parking with limited resources any day now” – Justin Kavanagh.
“Re: Alex Folkes’s question as to the purpose of stadium announcements in empty stadiums … surely you understand the irony of asking in a letter to the Fiver?” – Tony Christopher.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Tony Christopher.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Sean Dyche has said Burnley players were queuing up to denounce the “White Lives Matter” banner flown over the Etihad. “A lot of our players were disgruntled, and understandably so,” said Dyche. “This club does a lot of work in the community and we don’t want all our efforts undermined by a few people with an unacceptable message.”
PFA equality officer Iffy Onuora fears there will still be a lack of black leadership roles in football in 10 years’ time. “In 2003 … we had about seven BAME coaches. I think there is about five or six now, so that hasn’t changed,” he said.
Dumbarton manager Jim Duffy is recovering well after suffering a heart attack, the club said.
Harry Kane has kept Spurs in the hunt for a Big Vase spot after scoring in the 2-0 win over West Ham. “It was three points or nothing,” blabbed José Mourinho. “If we had not won tonight I don’t think we could have thought about Europe.”
Sergio Agüero will have surgery to fix his knee-knack on Thursday and only then will Pep Guardiola know if he’ll be back in time for August’s fun-sized Big Cup.
And Ole Gunnar Solskjær reckons Manchester United are “not too far away” from challenging for the title. There are 37 reasons to disagree with that view, mind.
STILL WANT MORE?
Jacob Steinberg has a big old natter with Joe Cole about coaching, Lampard and Werner.
And he wasn’t done chatting, because he has also been chewing the fat with Richard Nartey on what comes next for the defender released by Chelsea after 13 years.
From 5-1 down to winning 7-6 inside 20 minutes: has there been a better comeback, asks The Knowledge?
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
