Sense of Place

Landscape is an idea but place is a sense.
A landscape is seen; a place is experienced and known.
(Nicholson, Adam; author of Sissinghurst)

I am designing a house and somehow, the sense of place is important to explore and define in the design. Thinking hard on how to do that.

I got a crit just now and got some encouragement, so I am optimistic.

Now, thinking about a sense of place, I am referring to previous definition:

place n

7. the position or location where somebody or something belongs

How do you make someone feel he/she belong to a place?
Like, if you design a house for people that you don't know. Of course, the basic brief was given to me, but to actually create a sense of place?

Its a great challenge.

I love my Spirit of Shankly t-shirt

And guess what?
The Spirit of Shankly branch will be opening in Malaysia.
This is really great news.

LINK

Getting all excited about the 14 & 16 July 2011 events of training session viewing and watching the game... can't wait...arggghhhhhh!

Walk on II

I love this song. Want to sing it in karaoke...
U2 made this song for Aung San Suu Kyi
It's about an insurmountable struggle that an individual has against oppression and being in captive.

Walk on

And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage that you can bring...
And love is not the easy thing...
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind

And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it
Walk on, walk on...
Stay safe tonight

You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away
A singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom

Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can't sell it, or buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

And I know it aches
And your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Home... hard to know what it is if you've never had one
Home... I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home
That's where the heart is

I know it aches
How your heart it breaks
And you can only take so much
Walk on, walk on

Leave it behind
You got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you feel
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress-up
All that you scheme...

The Day is going to flow into another day

The Day

It is going to flow into another day
I am going to hear footsteps in the bleak corridor
A mosquito is going to fly into my window

I am going to drive my car and go out for lunch
But not today
I brought some bread and a quarter of a pretzel to work

Nowadays I am not that hungry
Something is making me full
My stomach gets tighter
My heart beats as usual, maybe a little faster

The sun burst through the clouds
The fine rain caresses the damp earth and tarmac
Slippery man-made surfaces I'd avoid

The Day

Its going to flow into another day

The Song of The Reed

I really enjoyed Rumi poems and in particular 'The Song of the Reed'.

Other translations from this website.

5. Rhymed (Abbreviated) Translation by Nicholson, 1950

THE SONG OF THE REED

1. Hearken to this Reed forlorn,

2. Breathing, even since 'twas torn

2. From its rushy bed, a strain

3. Of impassioned love and pain.

7. "The secret of my song, though near,
7. None can see and none can hear.

A. Oh for a friend to know the sign

B. And mingle all his soul with mine!

10. 'Tis the flame of Love that fired me,
10. 'Tis the wine of Love inspired me.

13. Wouldst thou learn how lovers bleed,

35. Hearken, hearken to the Reed!"

--Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson. From "Rûmî: Poet and
Mystic (1207-1273): Selections from His Writings" (London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1950). [Lines indicated by a capital
letter are invented and have no basis in the Persian text.]

We are all in this together

What is a partnership? Is it right to let the other suffer?

A partnership happens when you let in someone else as collaborator to your scheme.

I think this U2 song is about that. About making it in the end. There is a beginning and an end and endless cycle in between...of discovering and learning again and again.




U2's "I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight"

She's a rainbow and she loves the peaceful life
Knows I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight

There's a part of me in the chaos that's quiet
And there's a part of you that wants me to riot
Everybody needs to cry or needs to spit
Every sweet-tooth needs just a little hit
Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot
How can you stand next to the truth and not see it?
A change of heart comes slow..

It's not a hill it's a mountain
As you start out the climb
Do you believe me or are you doubting?
We're gonna make it all the way to the light
But I know I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight

(rest of lyrics)

If you do not feel right about something, what do you do?

I am not proud of many things I do, but one thing I know, I never follow other people if its not right or if it does not feel right.

I have always had to fight and stand up for something I believe in.

In education, you see many injustice and in any endeavour for the good you need to make others around you focus on the task ahead.

If you feel something not right, you must correct it or try to encounter it rather than walk away.

Rafael

Rafa Benitez is my mentor. If people have been following my blog and even in my other blog, I have referred to him often. I miss him so much as the manager of Liverpool Football Club. Not that I do not appreciate Kenny Daglish, but Rafa, he has to come back. When he left the club, my heart broke. Many of us pray he takes over from Kenny Daglish after he retires.

Here is a latest video from the Hillsborough Anniversary when on 15 April 1989, 96 Liverpool fans died.



I just want to share one of the posters' comments in red and white kop forum. From a poster named Stussy:

You know what really got me as I watched Rafa at the memorial?


We saw Rafa lift the European Cup, we saw him win the FA Cup, we saw many large dissapointments, we saw us win some massive games, we had a rollercoaster ride with Rafael Benitez with lows and highs that make you dizzy just thinking about it. And all these times, he seemed to be the embodiment of Kipling's line about treating the two imposters of winning and losing the same, of how you 'keep your head when all around are losing theirs'. I remember Rafa saying when asked once about his coolness at point of goal scoring or winning, that he needs to keep cool because its his responsibility to think tactically and plan immediately for all the myriad of ways in which this goal changes the game, that its most important for him to immediately start planning and plotting and making strategic contingencies because when the team scores and goes crazy, he must keep control for the sake of his team. He is the general, he has to be like Napoleon or whoever, overseeing the game from above.


I think today all the emotion of Rafa's bond with the club, sitting on the Kop, when the Liverpool family was showing its unity, just poured out of him. There must have been a fair amount of pent up emotion from the end of his reign, the frustrations of it all, the ending of his formal link with the club on a low note. But the bond remains, especially with the families, who he became close to and supported, and he didn't have to be in control of anything, or immediately scramble to take mental notes. He could just be who he was, a Red, sitting on the Kop, with his friends who had lost their children following this club.


He gave us some of the greatest victories we have ever had, he almost won us the league, and he gave us what will probably never be surpassed as the single most romantic and mythical night in our history. It was always curious, seeing him standing there keeping his passions under control as we wept with happiness for what he gave us. For me that made me feel more affectionate towards him. To see him today seemed like he was reciprocating some of that emotion helplessly, albeit in very unique and extremely poignant circumstances. Its like his bond with us just got reaffirmed even more.

Blessings from my mother

It is so important to talk to my mother and get her blessings. Hard decisions have to be made, but when your mother understood why you have to do certain things than it is much easier. Somehow the bond you have with your parent, be it your mother or father is a strong 'glue' that is somewhat pliable and breathing. You need that breathable aspects where you find spaces in between the holes and moves forward, growing and developing.

Whatever age you are, it is important to stay alive.

Staying alive is based on how it germinate and grow and sustain itself. It is true with humans.

A difficult decision which could be easier

I am experiencing a difficult decision about my future. One would ask, at my age, I have done a lot of things. What more do I want to do?

I am sure there are people out there who has or is experiencing the same thing. Things get boring and same old, same old. You start doing stupid things, so that is the evidence of someone 'bored' or even frustrated.

Actually I have proven to turn a non situation to an opportunity. I have done that all my life, but this time its a real crossroad and where I go will take me to someplace which will not compromise the other.

Not going into details here but just saying, its hard and I have to make a hard decision in a cutting, precise manner, and just go with what I decide.

By today.

Something got me last night

I just posted on my facebook status that: Its no use faking it, it's between you and God.

Then I commented:

yup, suddenly it dawned on me that we interact with humans, but the thing is not between that person and I, but between God and I...whatever outcomes, whatever product...it's all about you and God. It's an incredible powerful thought.

The reason why I said that was it occurred to me that (probably not for the first time) whatever we do does not concern other humans, but only our relationship (if that is called) between us and God. I went to sleep last night thinking about why do I need something so bad. and when I went out to get it and got it, was it out of desperation. And whether need is just a "good way" to disguise 'desperation'.

What got me was that, the measure of our worth as human beings is not judged by other people but by God.

I can do whatever I want. The argument is, if I do things because of other people, I have the wrong concept of life. I have it all figured wrongly.

There is a difference when you do things for people or when you do things for God. I mean, prayer and ibadah, like my teaching people is all very clear that its for God or to aspire Godliness. But if we do things like finding a life's partner, is it for God? You see what I mean. Its not clear right. Of course someone who is learned in the Quran and religious texts, would inform me that in the Quran it says so like that. That if you need to find a partner who fits the bill so that you will aspire Godliness. So don't find someone who is not going to help you aspire Godliness.

Actually that is not what I meant. What I meant is, you do not have to find a life partner. You do not have to do what you do not have to do. Was it because of desperation that you got one? But you will reason out because of a need to have one. What if you discover that you do not actually need one in the first place and it was because of desperation you got one. And then you figured out that you did many many things before out of desperation.

How would you know you do not need a life partner? After you have one, perhaps, you will realise you don't need one. You wanted one and got one out of desperation. So now what?

Then you realise it was not because of you, but because of God. You did it because of God.

All your life was this long discovery process of finding God. Of having a relationship with God. Everything you do is because of God, not because of your need but because of God. Then it makes sense. It makes sense that you did what you did based on pure desperation or pure need (whichever word you fancy).

How true is true? How pure is pure? Is it frightening to discover that your pure intention was really pure? Thant you did what you did because it will lead you further in your journey and nearer to God.

You may feel like shit or feel bad, but does not mean that you are far from God.

Whatever we imagine

The power that holds within us is given to us to do what is right. This power can let us do whatever we imagine.

I was at a restaurant just now and I watched the people around me. They seems to be frail, weak and vulnerable. I saw them like organisms or mammals, easily broken or wounded. When I looked at them, I am like them. I am them. We are one. All easily gone in a second if a disaster strikes.

Some Sufi saying talked about a humanity reflected in nature. Like this poem by Rumi:

I sought a soul in the sea
And found a coral there;
Beneath the foam for me
An ocean was all laid bare.

Into my heart’s night
Along a narrow way
I groped; and lo! the light,
An infinite land of day

This idea is also reflected in the poetry written by William Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

(Continue)

To see a human in a grain of sand. To see yourself. 

We were created by God. 

To see endless possibility of whatever we imagine...

or the song lyrics of Whatever We Imagine by James Ingram:

Don't be afraid

I can meet you half way

We cant always know

Where the road ends up

But with some luck

I know we can go

Where-ever we imagine

Why should we wait

Later on maybe too late

Cause where can we run

When you see there's half a chance

That we might really become

Whatever we imagine

And I imagine you and me

Just taking shots at what we see

And if we falter

Take away the dust

And just outlast them all

You ought to see

All your heroes in me

But if we get wise

We can break the walls we make

And you can see in my eyes

Whatever we imagine

And I imagine you and me

Just taking shots at what we see

So let the walls go down

And we can try it again

Cause nobody can stop us now

Don't be afraid

Cause I'll meet you half way

You're not far behind

If we climb this hill

I know there's still a chance we can find

Whatever we imagine in our life


(Link to youtube)

This song was around in 1983, when I was in my 3rd year in UTM, Jalan Gurney, so it brings back memories and it takes me back to that time and how it feels to be at the age of 21.

I like the wordings:

(1) " You ought to see;All your heroes in me" and also;

(2) "You're not far behind, If we climb this hill, I know there's still a chance we can find - Whatever we imagine in our life"

It is so important to have optimism at all stages of your life, a strong positive perspective of  yourself. So in (1), when you are with someone, you would want that person to believe in you or when someone invest their hopes and dreams together with you, you 'need' to be strong for that someone, ie "all the heroes" meaning - all that you hope for in someone to take you there.

There are obstacles and challenges, and in (2) you will lead someone and never give up, cause whatever dreams and hopes are there so "there's still a chance we can find", so when you are going through life, it is important to keep your dreams alive at whatever age you are and never to give up. 

The Original

I am the original, not a duplicate and not produced from a copy-machine. I was not derived from a template, and certainly not made by humans. If you wish to process me, to become like others, you will be disappointed. Because I was made to be an original and cannot be cloned.

When people say that if we want to influence someone, we have to do that in an early age, I do not subscribe to that theory. You can change someone even when they are older. Actually you cannot really change someone as each individual have their own desires and what makes them move or driven.

Each individual, when she wants something, she will try to get it. He will 'cross the river' to get it. She will reach out across the barrier to grasp what she wants. 

The problem is when he or she gets it and its in the hands. He or she may not know what to do with it.

It is not that clear cut what life is about. People say that life is about growing up, getting married and having kids and the life-cycle rotates. The kids then go through the process. What is perceived to be easy on the eye is what it is - easy on the eye.

But life is more than that. When someone confronts me and ask me, why don't you? Why don't you get married and have kids (although in reality only adoption is possible now...ahem) but seriously, why should I answer?

Why should I have to answer to this question which probably that person who asked did not give it a lot of thought, nor is this person actually know me very well.

Yes, you do not have to answer. Because the most important thing is inside of you. Your desires and your movement forward in life.

Sitting in my driver's seat

Coasting down the highway of your life, you may observe how the season's changed. Brown leaves dropping listlessly and graphic trees casting winter's shadows leaving you yearning for the youthful summer's sun to bend things around. Turning down the road, you see something beautiful and original and you want to have it for yourself. So you stopped and admire its beauty and how it engulfs you by its purity. You cry a little and the few drops of tears wet your dry cheeks, refreshing your mood, reminding you of that something which you yearned for all these years. All the earth's powers resonate within your being and you thanked the Al-mighty for letting you on the secret about yourself. Knowing about yourself is precious.

UM need to prioritise

A great lesson that I learned this week (and its barely Wednesday) is that Universiti Malaya have to prioritise its people and not just interested in covering its "arse".

UM here means people working in management. People want to criticise me, fine, for bailing out from being Head of Department, whatever...but at the end of the day, you need to be in tune with the staff's problems.

Of course, its a 'kick on my head' metaphorically, now I get to feel this lack of 'people first' policy about this issue of the lift (broken down since 6:12 pm on Monday), but do I have to take this over and over again. I had to go to JPPHB myself and sort it out where the faculty should have sort it out for me.

Wasting my time and energy that could have been put to good use. Wasted a whole day yesterday.

Decent people

In life, you sometimes meet decent people. People who are sensitive and take great pains to feel for you. I wonder if I am a decent person. I try to be one.

The thing is I am beginning to be very selective about caring for people. I want to only care about people who are decent. I use to think that someone could change and I still do, but I may not have the time to thik about these people. I mean, I feel that I don't really want to care by thinking about these people in the "not decent" group. Why should I give even an aota of concern for these people? All they want is to further their agenda and on the way step and hurt people. What for should I concern about them at all?

The ounce of concern that I may leave aside for this "not decent" people would take space...I use to not think that way, but maybe you get more sensitive as you grow older and you just do not want to entertain any more. You just do not want to care any more.

Tired

Sitting in the Starbucks cafe while trying to do work, I see a table of three people believd to be office colleagues, chatting about whatever...

That reminds me of my office colleagues. Nothing wrong with them. But you see them too often. You see them more than your family, but unlike your family, they do not love you, nor care for you. Maybe a bit, in a neighbourly, humanly way, but they will not care for your mental or emotional well-being. In fact, they could very well be the source of your pains.

Sometimes you feel like this because you are human and it is not all hunky dory with office relationships. Some people they could even sabotage you and stab you in the back or do some evil thing like say lies about you.

It is a nasty world out there. Politics sucks big time.

Feeling Insulted

Recently, I was feeling very insulted. Accusations and insinuations about me not doing my job properly was being felt.

I think leaders or people managing other people have to be very careful not to insult others. Like someone said, the "how" to tell is an art by itself to explain what is wrong about that person. You don't just bulldozed and ram the person down with your accusations.

However, I have calmed down some what as finally I got what I need. But was it fair to make it difficult for me for weeks. I was just doing my job.

Roy Hodgson just have to go!

I read this article at the RAWK forum here (link)

Many Liverpool FC fans are worried about losing our best players, such as Torres and Reina, because of Roy Hodgson's incompetence as a manager of LFC. I wish I could write about it, but this piece of reading sums it very well with writing restraints and very well thought-out arguments:

Reading comments from certain quarters of the media you could be forgiven for thinking that currently, Liverpool Football Club might be thinking the unthinkable – sacking its newly-appointed manager after just eight league games in charge. Typically the arguments will be presented along the lines of ‘This is not the Liverpool way’, ‘for the sake of stability all managers need time to really bed in their methods and tactics and a club like Liverpool has made a virtue of that more than almost any other English club over the last five decades’.... the reasons why it is unthinkable will be paraded across the back pages, the phone-ins, the pundit shows and the post-match analyses. And they would be right, it is not the Liverpool way to sack the manager this early into his tenure. Unthinkable indeed.

However there is a more than reasonable case to argue that ‘the Liverpool way’ does not apply here. Roy Hodgson was appointed by a regime that any fan or observer of the club would simply not recognise as a custodian of that proud tradition. The Hicks and Gillett stewardship has been one characterised by lies, deceit, broken-promises, in-fighting, undermining of the manager, and insulting and misleading communications with the fans. The Liverpool way – as nebulous a concept as that might be – no longer holds sway, it was ejected from the club at the moment Hicks and Gillett arrived in town. The signs were all there that the club was not being prepared for ongoing success, the decision to not build the new stadium, the continued under-investment in the playing squad and the concurrent ongoing decline in available transfer funds, the increasing reliance on fan loyalty and spending power, rather than achievement on the pitch to guarantee the club’s future all pointed to one think... here was a club that was heading for the position of also-ran, another Newcastle United – big name, big fan base, revolving door managerial policy and little or no success on the pitch. Despite the protestations from the previous owners, the signs were there for all to see, the club under their ownership was being steered away from success in order to make it a ‘franchise’ that ticked over nicely creating a steady and respectable revenue stream – just another business venture, not a hallowed sporting institution with a glorious past and future.

No, in short the Liverpool way, was a concept and a way of running the club that no longer applied. Stability and development driven by success on the pitch was no longer an option. Which brings us neatly back to the present incumbent in the manager’s post, Roy Hodgson. Is it right for Liverpool fans to be demanding that he should be sacked? Is it right for the board to be contemplating sacking him? Is it right that certain columnists, pundits and ex-players should be arguing that it is a slur on the club to be even discussing it this early in the season? I think the simple answer is that Roy Hodgson was not brought in to the club under ‘Liverpool way’ conditions, he was a symptom of the old-regime and should be swept out with it. But of course it’s not enough to say ‘Hicks and Gillett brought him so he should leave with them as well’. There will, of course, be many other appointees from that period who have come in and done a sterling job who have every right to remain – at the discretion of the new owners of course.

So why does Hodgson need to go? It would of course be easy to point and laugh at his mediocre record in his long career – a trophy or two in Scandinavia, a number of high-profile failures (Internazionale, Blackburn Rovers) and a lot of very mediocre seasons with very mediocre teams containing mediocre players, playing with uninspired, utilitarian tactics. But that is not enough, that is the sort of thing that one would have hoped might have been looked at and noted during the recruitment process (and just in case Roy is removed I would at this point like to say that when I wrote that last couple of sentences, the name ‘Martin O’Neill’ inexplicably leaped into my mind – another one with no credentials for a job like this one – but more on that later). It needs more than a look at Roy’s dull as ditchwater career record. What is it that is making the fans so incensed? Here is a short investigation into the paucity of the excuses he and his supporters use, a look at his failure to represent the club and its fans in an appropriate manner, a brief view of his tactical and team-related failures. Look away now if you are of a sensitive nature . Nine reasons why Roy Hodgson needs to go and go soon:

1. The squad. Many of the pundits that are currently making excuses for Roy Hodgson are fixated on one particular aspect of the circumstances in which he is having to work i.e. this is Rafa Benitez’s squad, not Roy’s. The argument goes that it is unfair to criticise Roy when the resources at his disposal are of such poor quality, when his squad is so depleted, when Benitez, Roy’s predecessor, spent so profligately with so few obvious results or benefits. The first thing to say is that, yes, Benitez spent a lot of money. It is difficult to argue otherwise but what is overlooked so often is that most of that money was spent in the first couple of years of his reign, more recently it seems that there has been a ‘sell to buy’ policy which has continuously undermined squad depth and stability. It is also difficult to use the level of spending as an excuse to either support Hodgson or attack Benitez – despite Tom Hick’s post-exit claims that net spending for Rafa was around £150m in total in the three years i.e. in the region of £35m per each of the four seasons he was in charge (the actual net total is around £25m over all of the Hicks years – i.e. around £6m per season – according to detailed research from the Daily Mirror). That amounts to maybe one world class player per season, a few cheap youngsters with potential or bargain basement third choice options because the other players that were at the top of the shopping list were out of reach with budget available. I do not want to turn this into a justification of Rafa Benitez’s record in the transfer market but it does need to be recognised that the squad that Rafa left behind was not necessarily the one Rafa wanted – it was the one he was able to assemble on the (at times very limited) money made available to him. But more importantly, that whole argument makes it sound as if Benitez’s legacy was one of second-rate players with limited ability, no will to win and no long-term future, that Liverpool are a one- (Steven Gerrard) or two- (if he is in form and fitness, Fernando Torres) team. Is this really true? Simply, no, in addition to Gerrad and Torres there is Pepe Reina, a genuine world-class goalkeeper, and then there is a number of players who, if not world class, could in no way be described as ordinary – the tireless Dirk Kuyt was playing in the World Cup Final three months ago, there is Joe Cole, as naturally-talented a footballer as this country has produced in the last couple of decades, Daniel Agger, that priceless rarity – a genuine footballing centre half (significantly, a player more or less sidelined by RH)... the list could go on. This is not a squad lacking in depth or quality (a significant chunk of it formed the core of the team that was runner-up in the Premiership just eighteen months ago), but it is a squad lacking in proper investment from the board. But both the media and Roy Hodgson seem happy to dump that particular problem firmly at Benitez’s door.

2. Selection. And here it gets interesting. It is really a continuation of the previous point but needs to be stated separately for a specific reason. I’d like to discuss one particular game. But it’s not the only one where this criticism is appropriate. I just offer it as an example. Cast your mind back a few weeks and you will remember that Premier League Liverpool were beaten in the League Cup by League Two’s Northampton Town, the first time in living memory that Liverpool, whilst in English football’s top flight, have been beaten by a team from the lowest, fourth flight. Accusations and excuses flew, Roy was apoplectic with rage, famously standing in the bucketing Anfield rain forlorn and defeated. One of the many criticisms of the squad selection that night was that it was another indication of the supposed paucity of Benitez’s squad. Go back to that night and remember what the starting eleven was, and then who was on the bench. Gerrard? No. Torres? Nowhere to be seen. Stalwart Jamie Carragher? Nope. Dirk Kuyt then? Or Joe Cole? Pepe Reina maybe? No, no and no. Hodgson’s plan was to start with a second string eleven and then, if that didn’t work, fall back on a handful of inexperienced kids. Hodgson reacted angrily to the defeat. Ranted at his team. Pundits said look what he has to work with! Wasn’t Rafa terrible! I thought differently: what sort of clueless idiot puts out a second string team with no firepower on the bench to rescue the situation if it all goes horribly wrong. Let’s be clear: Benitez wasn’t the one to pick a group of inexperienced and youthful substitutes. Benitez wasn’t the one that gave his true match winners a night off whilst his team suffered the ignominy of defeat to such lowly opponents. Benitez wasn’t the one that left Hodgson with no get of jail card. Those decisions were made by one man and one man only.

3. Time. OK – so the next excuse that we get is that Roy is new to the role, new to the club, new to the players, his tactics will need time to bed in, he will need time to build the squad in his own way. The man needs patience! Get off his back! I am now in my fifth decade of watching Liverpool. In that time managers have arrived and left on a regular basis. In each and every occasion there has been an expectation (carried through to fulfilment in more or less every case) that any new arrival in the post would hit the ground running, start as they mean to go on. There has been a lot of media coverage about how this has been the club’s worst start to a season for x (insert your own number here – it seems to change with each passing result) years but one thing is clear, Hodgson’s has been a terrible start, a league table of the first eight games by each of the last eight managers suggests that his is by a long way, the worst.

Manager Won Drawn Lost Points
Bob Paisley 6 1 1 19
Kenny Dalglish 4 3 1 15
Joe Fagan 4 2 2 14
Rafa Benitez 4 1 3 13
Graham Souness 4 1 3 13
Gerard Houllier 3 3 2 12
Roy Evans 3 1 4 10
Ronnie Moran 3 1 4 10
Roy Hodgson 1 3 4 6

Yes. Look again at that table. One win only. Six points in total. Has he taken over in difficult circumstances? Tell that to Ronnie Moran who took over in the aftermath of Hillsborough. Has he taken on a squad suffering from a record of poor form? Compare that with Roy Evans picking up the pieces from the end of Graham Souness’s disastrous reign. But whatever the circumstances, these managers, for all their faults and foibles, knew how to start winning games. It could be argued that some of the older managers benefited from being part of the continuity of the old ‘boot room’ culture but that excuse was not availability to Houllier and Benitez and their starts were nowhere near as poor. Looking back at Hodgson’s record at his other clubs his is a history of poor starts. The problem is that unlike the other members of the mini-league shown above his tenures have rarely if ever lead to success in the longer term. A slow start in Hodgson’s case seems to be an indicator of ongoing underachievement, a method of lowering expectations, rather than an unsettled bedding-in period which eventually produces fruit.

4. Player acquisitions. So how has Roy gone about his start? How is he building for the future? The early acquisition of Joe Cole was generally greeted positively by Liverpool fans. His injury record is not great and the noises about wanting to play centrally rather than on the left where he had spent most of the last few years may have raised slight concerns, but there was a largely positive reception to the news that he had signed for the club. And then came Christian Poulsen. He had played for Hodgson before for Copenhagen in the 2000/01 season. Undoubtedly his form was impressive then, and his career has taken him to some of Europe’s more glamorous clubs – Sevilla and Juventus amongst them. The problem is that for most of the past few years his form and fitness have been questioned at length. His appearances in the Liverpool shirt (as well as his disastrous cameo for Denmark in the recent European Championship qualifying game against Portugal) have spoken eloquently of a player way past his prime. Hodgson seems to have paid for the player he knew a decade ago rather than one failing to do his job in the here and now. Then there is Paul Konchesky (or PFK as he has quickly become known – I’m sure you can work out what the letters stand for without my help). There was genuine concern amongst fans when Roy Hodgson took over the manager’s position at Liverpool that the team would be flooded by his favourites from his previous club Fulham – a squad largely made up of journeymen professionals and not-quite good enough for the top teams hoofers. OK – so the floodgates of that particular tide of mediocrity never swamped us as we feared it might (or at least not yet), but, just to give us an agonising hint of what Roy might be planning for when he gets some real money to spend, we have PFK. To be fair to him, he is OK. To be unfair to him, he should be nowhere near Liverpool’s first team. But this is the standard we all fear we will have to get used to. ‘Adequate cloggers’ I think might best sum up the players we appear to be aiming for. But then. But then. But then he does something extraordinary by buying in Raul Miereles. A proper, top-quality, genuinely talented, skilful footballing player who is at or close to his peak. What happened there? Oh, I see, Roy bought him to play him out of position. To make sure he didn’t use any of that talent, skill or peak fitness. And there’s the policy in a nutshell: buy embarrassing has-beens or adequate cloggers because that’s the level we are now aspiring to, or buy quality but make it look rubbish. I shudder to think what’ll happen if he is ever offered a significant transfer budget to fritter and waste.

5. Tactics. Which brings us to the tactics of the man who boasts thirty-five years experience. A walking encyclopaedia of football lore, coaching expertise and knowledge of the game. Or so you would hope. It transpires that what those thirty-five years boil down to is learning how to make do with limited resources. Take a team of limited ability and instil the best method of weathering whatever footballing storms superior opposition might throw at it, hit them on the break and maybe snatch a draw instead of the expected defeat or a win when a draw looked more likely every now and again. But that’s about it. We’re not that great so let’s set our stall out accordingly. Now I am no tactical genius, but even to my limited knowledge it seems that using that same tried and tested formula used to maintain mid-table anonymity or as a tool to help relegation fodder to survive isn’t quite the same one you need to use when you have some of the world’s best footballing talent at your disposal. You might just need to tailor your approach a little differently. It seems that Hodgson has taken almost the inverse approach to his usual one but ended up with much the same results. Where normally he sends out his teams of limited footballing and attacking ability to sit deep and absorb pressure and maybe snatch the odd goal, now he takes a team of obvious attacking ability and well, asks them to sit deep and maybe snatch the odd goal. Different set of criteria, same result. If I was being cruel I would say that he has spent so much of his career having to merely survive with modest means at his disposal that now he has genuine talent at his disposal he is so set in his ways, he has no idea what to do with it. Actually, that’s not cruel, it’s just blatantly obvious.

6. Englishness. So if all of this is true then why is he still getting a relatively easy ride from the media? This one isn’t quite so difficult to fathom out. Roy is English. Roy is not Spanish. Nor French. He is English. A proper English footballing success story. He guided Fulham, a plucky little English club side to a European final you know. He may not be as lovably roguish as every pundits’ favourite home-grown rent-a-quote dodgy dealer ‘Arry Redknapp, but he garners almost as much unmerited media attention. After the appalling treatment that was dished out to Rafa Benitez about his funny ways of doing things (zonal marking, substitutions timed almost to the (65th) minute, winning the European Champions League, that sort of thing) by Martin Tyler's Monkey and his snivelling cohorts at Sky, it was inevitable that the chance to champion an English manager into the vacant spot was too much for the tabloid mentality to resist. That he has proved subsequently to be completely out of his depth is hardly relevant. He’s ENGLISH! And that’s all that matters! I only hope to God that they (both the media and the club) will have learned their lesson – Roy’s replacement shouldn’t be another domestic dullard with limited experience outside of the foothills of early failure in the UEFA cup and the occasional visit to the exotic climes of Darlington or Mansfield on a domestic cup away day. In short the likes of Hodgson, Martin O’Neill and their ‘over-hyped for no other reason than their ownership of a British passport’ bandwagon is not a strong enough qualification enough for this job.

7. Nice bloke. And the other great factor quoted in his favour, and one that up until recently I always thought was true (to my shame) was that Roy is a very nice chap. I/We looked upon him not just as Roy but Uncle Roy. With his avuncular and pleasant tones, the fact that likes to read a book, that he is great friends with almost every other manager and referee. That he helps old ladies across the road. That he rescues baby kittens from trees. That he... forget all this. Read the next couple of points and then we’ll see how exactly ‘nice’ he is.

8. Confidence. One of the excuses currently being trundled out to excuse defeat and poor performances is that the team has no confidence. And it is probably true. Take Glenn Johnson, who normally attacks at will and no more than two or three months ago was scoring a glorious goal in an England shirt with an aggressive burst down the right, cutting infield to unleash a long-range shot that curled up into the top corner of Mexico’s net, currently looks like he is afraid of grass. The defence that for the last 7 or 8 seasons has been consistently amongst the two or three most parsimonious in the league now looks like it is offering SOGOF deals. Fernando Torres one of the two or three most feared strikers in world football looks like he has forgotten what a football looks like. So where has this all stemmed from? Defeats. Obviously. But look back at the mini-league table discussed earlier. The other managers all suffered defeats. But there was confidence to win there as well. Even his nearest rival at the bottom end of the table, Ronnie Moran had great wins in there – a 3-0 defeat of Manchester City and a 7-1 trouncing of Derby County. It suggests a belief and a confidence to play open, attacking football even if not everything else was going according to plan. Moran has gone on record as saying of that period "We started to get a few bad results and really we all had to share the blame.” Contrast that with Roy’s supposed outburst after the Northampton Town defeat where the starting eleven were told that they had all lost their places for the next game (subtext – you useless bunch are taking the fall for this one), or the aftermath of other recent games where he has been keen to push the blame almost anywhere than towards himself and his tactics. So it’s no wonder that the team appears to lack confidence, where once a siege mentality took hold at Anfield whenever there was a crisis now it seems the players are on their own because their manager is only wanting to save his own neck and doesn’t care who gets in the way. Which leads us neatly on to....

9. Representation. And this is perhaps the one area where Liverpool fans are really, really angry. All the other criticisms could possibly be put right given time, patience, honesty, investment and so on. But this is the one where Hodgson is beginning to place unnecessary pressure on the players, to undermine their confidence and, perhaps worst of all damage the reputation of the club itself. The evidence? Fernando Torres gets criticised by Mr. Ferguson for a supposed dive to win a penalty in the recent match at Old Trafford. Does Hodgson leap to his star striker’s defence and counter with a diatribe about the ridiculous and repeated theatrics of United’s Nani in the same game? No. He agrees with Mr Ferguson. And we wonder why El Nino looks short of confidence. The young, inexperienced and new to the club Jonjo Shelvey plays as a late substitute in the Northampton Town game and makes a positive and telling contribution, even if it ultimately doesn’t change the course of the game. Offered an opportunity in the post-match interview to say a good word about the lad who was making his competitive debut, Roy declines – it wouldn’t be appropriate apparently – Roy would much rather slag off the team that praise a youngster who played superbly. The choice: give the youngster a boost or tar him with the same brush as the rest of the shocking display? It’s the tar brush every time for Roy. And even where it doesn’t come down to specific players, the interviews and press conferences seem to be more about respect for the opposition and praise for great performances from the teams that we play against. What is going on? How is a team suffering from a crisis of confidence ever going to feel good about itself if every time the manager opens his mouth we hear nothing but how great the rest of the league is. It’s that cuddly Uncle Roy magic at work again. But over the last few days the whole thing has shifted and taken on a more sinister shift. His inexcusable attack on a Norwegian journalist this weekend was crass in the extreme – alienating not the just the journalist but worded in such a way that he managed to insult two whole countries into the bargain. And moreover, countries where Liverpool have a significant and loyal fan base.... one wonders for how much longer that will be the case with Hodgson’s insensitivity and defensive-aggressive bluster in play. His increasingly bizarre and peevish declamations do this club no justice and make both him and, by association, us, look ridiculous.

And that’s it really. Liverpool fans don’t expect the earth from their managers. Sure we had fantastic success under Shanks, and Sir Bob, and Joe and King Kenny, we had Houllier’s annus mirabilis and Rafa’s Istanbul game of a lifetime, but we know, we know very well, that these are not the things that count. Not really. For fans of Liverpool Football Club it’s the pride and the defiance, the buying into a mind-set and attitude that says ‘us against the world’, it’s about a legacy, it’s about having an awareness of your history and a hope for the future. Too much has happened to this club for it to ever be about just the winning or just the trophies. Roy Hodgson, in a very short space of time has taken almost all of that away. I am not just arguing that he needs to go because he isn’t doing a good job (but I’ll happily do so), or that I’m worried about where we might end up under his stewardship, it’s more this: he clearly just does not understand what it is to be involved in this club. He doesn’t get Liverpool. And because of that he will never connect with the fans, will never gain any respect or support and may well undermine whatever good work the players or the new owners might do. Stop it before it’s too late. Again, I don’t want to draw a comparison with Benitez but the contrast could not be more stark – Rafa was utterly committed to Liverpool – the city and its people, the club and its fans. He said this was his home, he fought many battles, some of them may have been fought unwisely but he fought them for the club he believed in and the joy he knew he could bring the fans. Roy meanwhile bends over, hums and haas, mutters about respect and bumbles on to the next crisis whilst telling everyone what a great and formidable club Northampton Town is.

Get out. Please. Get out now before you cause us serious and lasting damage.

Clean

Well...lots of things happened in the last week. Do not want to elaborate in detail here, but you get to a level where you get fed-up with certain things. It is just unacceptable and no, I am not just going to accept it. Silence is one way to deal with it. Irreverence is another way.