This week our landlord has hung his second player portrait above the bar to commemorate the second big name Premier League transfer of the summer.
Yes, James Milner will be joining Liverpool on July 1st after deciding not to renew his contract at Manchester City and with Memphis Depay having already agreed to join the Reds’ old foes Manchester United, everybody by the bar can’t wait to see more transfer business unfold as the summer goes on.
On the whole, our resident Reds fans are content with the signature of England international Milner who comes in to improve Brendan Rodgers’ midfield with the irreplaceable Steven Gerrard now set to embark on his new adventure over in Major League Soccer with the LA Galaxy.
Milner is energetic, strong and possesses a never-say-day attitude and can be deployed either on the flanks or more centrally and with a number of his England team-mates already at Anfield, it appears Rodgers is still intent on establishing a British core in his squad.
With Burnley’s Danny Ings set to follow Milner to Merseyside, it appears Liverpool are looking to get their business conducted early this time around and with Rodgers’ transfer policy having been scrutinised in recent times, you feel his new incomings will have to hit the ground running to get the fans back on side.
With more targets set to follow of course, we are taking this moment to reflect back on 2014/15 while identifying the 5 most outrageous moments of the Reds’ campaign.
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Click on Brendan Rodgers below to reveal the 5 most outrageous moments of Liverpool’s season.
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Mamadou Sakho going AWOL on derby day
Season in, season out, when the fixtures are released, Liverpool fans will look for four fixtures especially – Manchester United home and away and Everton home and away.
So for Reds defender Mamadou Sakho to walk out on Liverpool the morning of their early kick off with Merseyside rivals Everton back in September 2014 proved a huge childlike mistake on the part of the French international centre back.
The defender was left out of Rodgers’ squad with the Northern Irishman opting for a partnership of Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren and this decision proved too much for Sakho who was then pictured by Reds supporters fleeing Anfield.
Later admitting he made a “bad choice” – that’s putting it mildly – Liverpool’s 1-0 lead courtesy of who else but Steven Gerrard was pegged back in absolutely stunning style by Phil Jagielka with a wonder strike in second-half stoppage time, adding to the anger and disappointment of Reds fans who’d heard of Sakho’s ludicrous pre-game actions.
He eventually returned to the Liverpool fold but actions such as these are hardly going to endear you to the Kop are they?
What was Stevie thinking?
38 seconds; yes Steven Gerrard was remarkably only on the Anfield pitch for just 38 seconds in his last ever Liverpool game against arch-rivals Manchester United back in March.
In what was ultimately a play-off match for the team that would go on to secure much sought-after qualification to the Champions League, it was Louis van Gaal’s Red Devils who saved their best performance of the season for this famous old fixture, prevailing by two goals to one courtesy of a Juan Mata brace.
But after Rodgers’ big decision to leave a below par Gerrard on the bench until the second-half, when he emerged at the break, nobody could’ve predicted what was to happen next.
Seemingly too fired up to succeed against the old enemy, Gerrard illegally steamed into United’s Ander Herrera giving referee Martin Atkinson no choice but to send off the Reds legend who didn’t even last a minute on the field of play.
Queue a plethora of ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ type memes on social media that evening that had actually exaggerated his stay by 22 seconds!
Raheem Sterling’s BBC interview and subsequent request
Just the utterance of the name ‘Raheem Sterling’ sparks annoyance amongst our resident Liverpool fans given the circus-like headlines that have been following the England international in recent months.
Back in April amidst intense speculation that Sterling had his sights set on departing Anfield after turning down an incredible contract offer worth £100,000-a-week, the Reds ace conducted an extended interview with the BBC to confirm that he is motivated by trophies, not financial rewards as was being conveyed by the mainstream press.
The general consensus has been that Sterling has been incredibly ill-advised by his agent Aidy Ward, a name that we have become all too familiar with in recent times.
Not particularly coming across as genuine, more recently the news emerged at the tail end of the season that Sterling is actively looking for a route out of Anfield this summer despite being just 20-years-old and seemingly craving more than £100,000-a-week to sign an extension.
Left out of Brendan Rodgers’ starting line-up on the final day of the season against Stoke City to take the heat off of the midfielder, it remains to be seen where Sterling will be playing his football come the start of next season.
One thing’s for sure; the likes of club legend Jamie Carragher were extremely irate upon the receipt of the news of Sterling’s decision to take on a club of Liverpool’s history and stature at such a young age.
No fairytale endings for Stevie
For rivals fans everywhere, Steven Gerrard is departing Liverpool Football Club for new beginnings in North America with his tail firmly between his legs.
That said, you feel the Reds’ legendary number 8 hasn’t deserved the eventual storyline that has played out for him ever since that infamous huddle with his team-mates and utterance of ‘this does not slip now’ on the Anfield turf late last season.
Gerrard watched a first Premier League title disappear before his very eyes in those games against Chelsea in which he infamously slipped over and Crystal Palace last term before making a World Cup exit at the group stages with England after ill-judging a header into the path of Luis Suarez before then being sent off in his last ever game against Manchester United.
In his last season for Liverpool, Gerrard’s form has been mixed but after all of those disappointments, you can understand that Gerrard – an emotional character – has been a broken man at periods during 2014/15.
But after giving so much to the Liverpool cause down the years, surely he deserved to go out with something of a bang?
In the cold light of day, a fairytale ending simply didn’t happen for Gerrard however with Liverpool failing to secure a place in the FA Cup Final on his birthday, falling to Aston Villa in the semi-final before losing on his last ever Anfield appearance to Crystal Palace and then in emphatic style to Stoke City, 6-1 on the final day in his final appearance in a Liverpool shirt.
Nevertheless, that consolation goal at the Britannia came courtesy of Gerrard who is correctly billed as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever players.
You just feel he deserved so much more at domestic level!
Liverpool FC do ‘the Toure’ over in Dubai
Despite all of Gerrard’s disappointment in his final few months at Liverpool, ending his Reds career was something to be celebrated after he served the club with such distinction over a 17-year period.
And that is exactly what both he and his Liverpool team-mates did in dramatic style over in Dubai recently where caps of a seemingly half cut Reds squad singing the ever popular ‘Kolo-Yaya Toure’ chant emerged online following Kolo’s decision to sign a new deal with Liverpool.
With some hardened Reds fans annoyed at the clips that emerged just days after the Reds’ thrashing at Stoke City, others reminded them that if anybody deserved to go out with a bang – and a good old sing song to boot – it was Stevie.
Leading the troops with a dance move that can only be described as ‘the crab’, this Reds troupe was outrageous in every sense!
