Jacks Jackie Jackson

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So he'll be with us for a decade or so, then.

What a thoroughly miserable day it's going to be tomorrow. It's forecast to absolutely piss down and be freezing cold, there's one pub near the ground and nothing else for miles and miles around. Their jobsite fans will be loving it and rubbing it in with glee and we've got nowt on the pitch to give us much encouragement and hope of a win. It would be an upset if we came away from there with three points really. That's Liverpool Football Club being in fear of playing Stoke City lest we forget. Stoke City! They would have thought themselves fortunate to be allowed to play on the same football pitch as Liverpool Football Club once upon a time. I'm really looking forward to it. Looking forward to it in the way you look forward to a severe bout of influenza.

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If that's the case, then he's gone up in my estimation. I think it's the best thing all round. If he stays for the big pay-off and we continue our slide into mediocrity and beyond, then he'll lose a huge amount of the well-earned respect he's built up. Of course, if he gets the backing of the club - the full and unequivocal backing backed with hard cash - then the powers in charge at the club will go up in my estimation too. I for one don't think it's too later and would love him to come through this as he, us and the players that remain, will be the stronger for it. On the other hand, it's only right and fitting he shows some humility and offers to leave.

Words fail me. I have no faith in us getting 4th now and feel real despondency about the rest of the season. What do we have to look forward to? More humiliation and Thursday and Sunday football until we get booted out of the Europa league. What larks.

Well, to be fair, I didn't see the interview and maybe if I had, I'd have cringed but unlike yourself, I can't feel too sorry for someone who's brought a lot of this down on his own head. He's responsible for buying the players on the field and for getting the best out of them. We all know he's capable of doing it as we've seen the evidence but we want to see a competitive, combative team playing for each other, for him and for the fans and the benefit of Liverpool Football Club out there. One day he'll be gone and gone with a tremendous amount of money in the bank but you and me will still be here and still paying for the privilege of doing so.

The players pushed and pushed and pushed last season and came so close after a tremendous surge at the back end. In reality, the debacle at Boro on that bitter cold day did for us. Being asked to go through that again when they came agonisingly close last time, and being asked to do it without Alonso is, I feel, too much to ask and mentally, the players don't have the belief to do it and that lack of belief has spread throughout the club.

Mate, I love the club. You love the club and probably everyone posting on here right now loves the club but the difference is, none of us had much, if any, influence over what happened tonight. You write as if Benitez had no input into the team he manages getting beaten at home by a team struggling a full division below.

You feel sorry for Rafa? He looks shellshocked? And you blame the questioning as though it was of no relevance?

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Smug bastrard as well, he was. Saw him get a lot of stick at Villa one hot day as he stood at the front at half time. Thing is, none of his mates had come down the front with him so he had no one to back him up. I never did see him wear it again.

Ask him if he remembers me from signing my autograph book at that sports shop he opened on Hannover Street in 1966 will you?

I was only telling Elton John the other day how much I hate name droppers.

Former player though, inee? It'll mollify the fans while the board focus on their real ambition - to build a hotel at the stadium like Bolton's!

As I wrote, we may not agree with him but to call a passionate supporter and former idol an 'hysterical g*******' does your cause no good at all. Do you think there should be some sort of official stance outlining our unity and commitment to the present set-up and any deviation from that should result in people being ostracised as that seems to be where you're going with this.

'He's entitled to his opinion is such an empty phrase' is the sort of phrase bandied about by those who, in reality, will only tolerate someone else's opinion if it tallies with their own. Aren't your opinions strong and robust enough to withstand an alternative viewpoint?

Well we may not agree with him but there can be no doubts as to where his loyalties lie and he's a former professional who played in a successful Liverpool team so presumably knows what one looks like so he's as entitled to his opinion as anyone else.

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Yes, he's gone and done one. Slung his hook and departed.

For United we stand, Divided we fall, And if our backs should ever be against the wall, We'll be together, Together you and I.

It'll be higher than that but what I'm saying particularly to those who have a strong desire to see him have the surgery is that with the best will, the best surgeon and the best, most advanced techniques in the world, things can and do go wrong and you should be prepared to accept the possibility that an operation could result in a player never playing again. Yes, it's rare but it is one of the possible outcomes.

That would only make sense if it's possible to pay in on the gate. I assume Reading operate a similar system to most other football grounds and have a ticketing strategy? If so, the travelling Newcastle fans will already be in possession of their tickets and so it won't matter to Reading if they travel or not as they'll still have their money.

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I had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st. There's a few stories on their website today that are just laughable.