WELL RED INDEPENDENT LFC SUPPORTERS’ MAGAZINE No.7 APR/MAY 2011

CONTENTS 4 Red round up 6 Paul Tomkins 8 Luis Suarez 10 Andy Carroll 12 Dominic Matteo 16 Hillsborough 28 Ian Callaghan 36 Season tickets 38 Lucas 44 405...the Devil’s number 46 Dalglish 48 Songs to sing 54 Torres revisited 58 Screen Sport Super Cup 60 Mags of the Day 62 Life in Liverpool matches

WELL RED magazine is by the fans, for the fans and is completely independent from Liverpool Football Club.

Please get in touch with your ideas and feedback at: editor@ wellredmag.co.uk We want letters, articles, tweets, rants on Facebook, whatever. If you don’t agree with something we’ve included in the magazine, tell us.

Even better, write your own article and tell us why.

It’s not a closed shop at Well Red. There’s no editorial line. We’ve got our own views on the Reds, who hasn’t? But we’re not afraid to print things that go against our stance – argue it well, make your case, and we’ll put it in.

NEXT ISSUE OF WELL RED

ON SALE: MAY 25TH

Editor: Gareth Roberts Email: editor@wellredmag.co.uk Website: www.wellredmag.co.uk Write to: Well Red Publishing Ltd, Office 113, Imperial Court, Exchange Street East, Liverpool, L3 2AB Twitter: @wellredmagazine Facebook: wellredmag

Boots are made for winning and that’s just what they’ll do

FOOTBALL boots say a lot. Once they were black and white, now they’re every colour under the sun. But just because they are different, it doesn’t make them better. Just because they are new, it doesn’t make them any more likely to bring success.

Kenny Dalglish’s boots are just like the man himself: understated, old school and class. Both Kenny and the boots can do just as good a job as some of their fancier-looking rivals.

Liverpool desperately needed to get back to basics. To restore the traditions that made the club great. In just a couple of months, Dalglish has done that. Where once there was a grimace and a tear on the face of the club, now there’s a cheery smile and a knowing look. We can’t quite say Liverpool are back – but they’re on the right road.

The demise of the destructive duo, Hicks and Gillett, seems like ancient history. The reign of Roy Hodgson already feels like a bad dream.

Some of the worst football ever seen at Anfield has been wiped from the memory. Liverpool were 12th when Dalglish took over and had been as low as 19th during Hodgson’s reign. Now we’re sixth and the form team in the league.

Talk of anyone else coming in at the end of the season has ceased and the vast majority of fans will happy to see the King on the Anfield throne come August. The owners, too, are impressed. And that’s got nothing to do with romance, shortsightedness, or anything else that was thrown at fans when the calls began for Dalglish to save our season as Hodgson dragged the club into a quicksand of mediocrity. Since Kenny cut his cruise short to captain Liverpool away from choppy waters, he’s hardly put a foot wrong.

Ok, the Reds are out of Europe. But as they hardly turned in a convincing performance throughout our involvement in the Europa League, is that any great surprise?

Even the hyper-critical fans have struggled to find fault, with the worst directed at Dalglish being the odd gripe about team selection or formation, both of which ignore Liverpool’s long-term Achilles heel – the strength of the squad. Most knew Liverpool’s strongest team was capable of more than it was achieving under Hodgson. Most also accepted that if you scratched below the surface the squad was thin – a legacy of the previous regime.

Such has been the turnaround under Dalglish that the statistics people throw around have started to become easier to stomach.

No longer is it the “worst start ever”, “poorest run since the 1950s”, “lowest attendance since tellys were invented” (made the last one up).

Now it’s talk of Liverpool being the form team. Of Liverpool taking more points than anyone else since Dalglish was appointed. Of Liverpool being two points off top spot if the league had started on New Year’s Day (all true as I write).

Dalglish has the team performing exactly how it should be. Not quite