This, in my mind, is emblematic of how fans filter the achievements of rivals. Belittling is the ‘first principle’ of tribal banter. I’ve almost certainly been guilty of such behaviour but it’s more stark when you see others doing it.
I’ve been a member of this forum for 12 years or so, in which time Liverpool have won very few trophies - certainly not in the first 11 years.
In that time I’ve been reminded on many occasions about Liverpool’s lack of silverware, particularly the lack of big trophies. I've been on the receiving end of some strong stuff at times, but it's part of the territory and that's absolutely fine. Sporadically, when the debate focused on who have won what, I was told that Liverpool had never won the World Club Cup – which was factually correct until this season. But once that trophy is won, it becomes a point of glib ‘banter’ with the trophy rendered pointless; the goalposts successfully shifted and we all move on with our lives…
But it goes deeper than winning the World Club Cup and the relative merits of such an achievement. The way of never losing at rivalry-based ‘banter’ is to permanently shift the boundaries of what defined as success and impressive. You're never wrong. You cannot lose.
Here’s my journey on this website over the past 5 years since Klopp joined:
- Oct 2015 – Klopp joins: “Yeah, but look at his last season at Dortmund, he’s a busted flush” a line designed to disregard the signing of an elite football manager.
- May 2016 – EL Final: “Yeah, but he just loses finals” Despite visible rapid progress (which was not anticipated in Oct) this line was used to undermine a solid achievement.
- May 2017 – Top 4: “Yeah, but you’ll be found out in the CL” – this despite being told all season that Top 4 was well-beyond Klopp’s Liverpool given the strength of the rest of the Top 6.
- May 2018 – CL Final: “Yeah but Klopp loses finals – he’s been found out again” Despite breaking a goalscoring record on the way to the final the achievement is defined as failure. In just over 2.5 years Klopp had almost reached the zenith of European football and look back to Oct 2015…this wasn’t supposed to happen but it did so let's disregard it anyway.
- May 2019 – 2nd with 97 pts: “Yeah, but you’ll never win the league with Pep at City”. Imagine that being considered THE reason back in Oct 2015.
- June 2019 – Win CL: “You beat Spurs, well done…and you still can’t win a league”. Goalposts shifted again.
- June 2020 – Win PL: “You lost to Watford” a record 7 games to go is no real achievement, obviously but cherry-picked ‘failures’ are placed front and centre as if they, somehow, define the narrative.
My point here, is that the thing Liverpool
don’t achieve is the thing that’s focused on…and even if something is achieved (World Club Cup) it’s met with ‘banter’ laughing emoji as a form of deflection.
There are posters on here who have stuck to the narrative outlined above with absolute diligence. Always questioning the achievement while regularly predicting an inevitable downfall. This form of cognitive dissonance is common amongst fans as it’s self-help therapy. Zoom out, get some perspective and you realise it’s just blind optimism and wishful thinking.
The very people who take issue with what I have written here are very much likely to be the very people who have pursued the narrative that ALWAYS places Liverpool as the failure; a perspective that is now so hollow that it’s almost become parody when you read it. If Liverpool don't get 101+ points this season there'll be a queue of posters taking tremendous comfort in this...therapy indeed.