How much is Champions League qualification worth? Figures vary depending on what you take into account and who you believe, but £12m is one figure I can think of.
I can also think of what I’d do with that figure but that’s something to think about another day.
Another thing I heard last night, according to the commentary on the TV, was that Sami Hyypia is now second in the list of appearances made for the club in the European Cup. The only player standing in front of him now is Phil Neal. Or Phillip Neal as some commentators used to call him in an extremely annoying way. According to LFCHistory.net he’s made 51 appearances in the Champions League. Clearly he’s got that many appearances under his belt thanks in a big way to the new format of the competition. Thanks to last night’s qualifier win, we’re now guaranteed six games, regardless of how well we do. £2m a game if the figure I used is as accurate as I vaguely recall it being.
Lots of money coming in, but the cost is that we lost more players through injury. Steve Warnock was given a chance at left-back in the absence of John Arne Riise, and he soon left the field to join Riise and Carra as twisted ankle victims. The medical staff at Melwood are going to be busy though - with the injury to Momo Sissoko reportedly keeping him out for at least two weeks. No disrespect to Warnock, but that’s going to be a big loss if he doesn’t come back soon.
Last season’s defeat against Benfica in the first leg away from home saw us start our exit from the competition. It was also the night Momo damaged his eye. We didn’t look the same team any more with him missing. He does so much for the team, we’ll miss him again, without any doubt.
One game that stands out for me last season in terms of Momo’s performances is the FA Cup final. He was hurting, and hurting bad - but he just kept going. Steven Gerrard got a goal we’ll never forget to take us into extra time, but without Momo’s determination we might not have survived extra time. The injury means Momo can’t face that day’s opponent’s this weekend at Anfield - and how glad will they be.
Talk is he’ll be back for the derby on September 9th - I just hope he’s fully fit when he comes back. Everton really don’t like our Momo, especially seeing as he snubbed them last summer when David Moyes let it slip he’d nearly signed him. Always brings a smile to my face that one…
I wrote a piece earlier about Kuyt not arriving in time for the Community Shield today, and comparing today’s clash with Chelsea with the 1977 Charity Shield match with United. That day saw the arrival, for me at least, of the player that would soon become “King” Kenny.
Watching the game today from home, from the safety of my living room, perhaps it’s a bit hypocritical to comment on the empty seats, but I’m going to anyway. According to Sky, both sides were allocated 25,000 tickets, and Liverpool sold all theirs. Chelsea, and I find this shocking, sold only 13,000.
That Chelsea’s supporters would show some apathy towards this fixture doesn’t surprise me too much, but to show it in such numbers says a lot about a side that have been raised artificially to their current levels of wealth. And wealth isn’t a problem for most Chelsea fans either, so that’s not an excuse, and they’ve certainly not got as far to travel.
Being an artificially wealthy club, with a good squad brought in through the Russian’s money, Chelsea fans just aren’t geared up for a run of big games. Clubs like Chelsea normally have a chance of silverware just two or three times in a decade, so their fans just aren’t ready for two consecutive visits to Cardiff for the Charity Shield. Perhaps it’s as well that Liverpool knocked them out of last season’s FA Cup, because instead of complaints about not enough tickets there may have been complaints about far too many.
Some tickets did go on sale to Liverpool fans at the last minute, but this sort of apathy and disenterest should be noted by the FA for future big games. Chelsea have sold half of their allocation, Liverpool probably could have sold double theirs if they’d known in advance there’d be so many available. If Liverpool and Chelsea met in next season’s FA Cup final (wherever that’s going to be held) then Chelsea should get about a third of the allocation to the two clubs, Liverpool getting the other two-thirds.
Whether or not Liverpool win the game remains to be seen for now, but at least the supporters of England’s most successful club know how to turn out and support their team.