Liverpool Football Club is for life.....

I'm not sure if it is my age or the nature of topflight football now, with its mercenary, Sky driven greed that means I no longer have heroes in the Liverpool team or in football in general. Instead I have respect for players with skill, endeavour, a hard-working ethic and honesty.

As the Hicks & Gillett era almost drained the life out of my club Fernando Torres was one player, who in days gone by would have been a hero of mine. Instead, now I admired his skill, his commitment to the team, the club and what it stands for, its supporters and the city of Liverpool. A shining light in the dark days the ownership brought onto the club.

My admiration was matched by the heroic status given to Nando by supporters to whom he was a hero, in the same way as Roger Hunt, Emlyn Hughes, Kevin Keegan and King Kenny were mine.

A player who matched many of the attributes of the players in my list whilst on the pitch, his scoring record speaks for itself, has ultimately, and for whatever reason, let down the club and its supporters by the manner of his departure. Either he lied all along about his love for the club or he’s had his head turned by the mercenaries now running and in my opinion ruining our game.

My youngest daughter has inherited my passion for the club and like many young supporters hasn’t been as fortunate as I was in the late 60s and 70s in supporting a club with integrity and a loyalty second to none. My heroes moved on with dignity and pride knowing that they had played for the best club in the land. Now, possibly approaching his peak, her hero has gone and let her down, as her Facebook status shows:

‎"I don’t see myself playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona or Chelsea or any other team I see myself playing for Liverpool."- Fernando Torres “My reason to be annoyed -.-''

My comment in response to that was simple:

“We are Liverpool - we have Kenny. He'll miss us more than we'll miss him!”

The reason I can be sure of this is that I feel that the club, in Kenny’s short time back in charge, is returning to its traditional values in as much as it can do in this modern “dog eat dog” world. We have owners who seem to be taking responsibility to run the club sympathetically – in “The Liverpool Way” if you like. And it’s like a breath of fresh air.

The nature of the modern game means that heroes are always liable to let their worshipers down but in Liverpool FC I now believe we have a club that we can be proud of again.

In essence I thank Nando for the service he’s given in his time here but he’s made his decision to move on and he’ll have to live by it. Owen didn't give Rafa a chance much to his detriment and maybe Nando's decision not to give Kenny time will prove to be his loss.

Heroes it seems are transient; Liverpool Football Club is for life.