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| LEGEND SPOTLIGHT A series of three special interviews featuring Liverpool legends who were good enough to spare us some of their time during the 2007 Soccer Sevens here in Hong Kong. Alan Kennedy  Next in our series of Legends interviews is Alan Kennedy. The man who scored the winning goal in two European Cup finals was only with us for a few fleeting moments, but here’s what he had to say... You’re renowned now for being a rather entertaining after-dinner speaker. When you’re speaking to Liverpool fans, do you find them more knowledgeable than fans of other clubs? Yes I do, yeah. They know about their team, they know about their history and I think that’s important, you know. You look at other clubs who maybe haven’t got as much history as Liverpool but, you know whether it’s in the 90s or Champions League finals, whether it’s FA Cups, whether it’s League Cups, whether it’s league titles - Liverpool are still up there with the best. We just need to get back on form in terms of the Premiership, you know. We need to become a lot more consistent in terms of challenging the likes of Man United and Chelsea. Speaking of the Premiership, do you think next year will be the year or is it too soon? I think it’s too soon. I really do. I just think they’ve come a long way but they’ve still got one or two areas to fill. That needs looking at. But if you look at how Man United play, you look at how Chelsea play and Arsenal and Liverpool, everyone has a different system. People say Man United have been outstanding this year, and they probably have, but I think it’s mainly because of a couple of players who have been really, really outstanding. Ronaldo’s been fantastic. And I think Vidic has been a good acquisition. I know Liverpool were after him; we got Daniel Agger instead - there’s no problem there! But I think they’ve tightened things up and they’re a hard team to beat. But I think Rafa is progressively getting there. And I think with Gillette and Hicks coming in, I’m quite confident. But I think it will take another year just to bed one or two players in. I think they’ve got the makings of a very, very good team but I still think in certain areas they can tighten up. Given that they’ve got all this money coming in next year, if they don’t win the league will Rafa’s position be in danger? I don’t think so. I think everybody admires him. I talk to Liverpool fans, I talk to Mr. Gillette and Mr. Hicks and they’re very, very happy with what Rafa’s done. The disappointment obviously over the last week is not winning the Champions League but generally speaking the way things are going he’s doing the right job, he’s doing a very good job. Like a lot of other managers, they say it’s not just a two-year plan it’s probably more of a five year plan. And I think if you look this year, when he gets his two or three acquisitions, they get bedded in, I think you’ll see Liverpool challenging - I’d like to think at the end of the season. I think it’s going to be again a hard season. Liverpool [last season] progressed to finish third but still twenty-odd points behind the top team. And that really is too much for any team to pull back [in one season]. I’d like to think that they have enough. But I don’t want to be seeing the likes of Gerrard and Carragher out of it because, you know, they’ll be coming up to their 29s and their 30s and it’s got to be now that they want to do it. And Jamie Carragher, who’s the heart and soul of Liverpool, you think if he’s not going to win a Premiership then it will be very, very sad. How did you feel personally after the Champion’s League final last week? I was disappointed. I really was. I thought Liverpool really, once they conceded that goal just before half time, I thought they’re not going to get back into this game. I didn’t see them doing that. And that was a disappointment. I thought they worked hard, tried hard but when they went one-nil down I thought Liverpool just couldn’t quite raise their game enough to get on level terms. Kaka was the difference, if you talk about that. He was terrific. You have to say, take your hat off to AC Milan - they learnt their lesson from two years ago. I thought they were pretty decent. |
| Features and Submissions Original writing by Club members Peter Thompson - On a Wing and a Slayer 50,000 and Counting! A Greek Odyssey! We welcome submissions from our members. Send your contribution to: info@hongkongreds.com The Big Red Quiz All the questions and answers from our previous quizzes Chelsea v Liverpool - 17.09.06 Everton v Liverpool - 09.09.06 Sheff Utd v Liverpool - 19.08.06 Supporter Spotlight Find out more about our members Roger Shuttleworth Jon Wharton Ken Abela Meko Oh Lily Lam Chin Ian Agass Jason Li Rob Kelly Simon Betterton David Thomas Legend Spotlight Interviews with LFC heroes Mark Walters Alan Kennedy John Barnes Steve McMahon Referee Spotlight Focusing on the men in the middle Mike Riley Hong Kong Reds Around the World Our members in glorious technicolour Kiki Hon |
