Liverpool FC's inability to win the title since 1990 has been blamed on a various people over the years, including David Moores; Rick Parry; Graeme Souness; Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier and, most recently, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The real blame, however, for the club's abject failure to bring home the trophy Bill Shankly famously called ‘our bread and butter' lies solely at the feet of one man: former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela.

Steven Cohen, you might want to get a load of this. Some dynamite grist for your anti-Liverpool mill...
Spirit of Shankly? Spirit of Shankly?
Not much to add to this really. It's laughable and ironic that this band of staunch Liverpool supporters claims to uphold the good name of Bill Shankly - the very thought of singing merrily about the Munich air disaster would have disgusted and appalled Shankly.

COS Contributor Andrew Walker wonders if Rafa days are numbered.

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Liverpool fans have finally come to the end of their tether over Liverpool's form this season in the Premier and Champions league made clear by a deafening silence at the end of another loss at Anfield to Arsenal followed by an inept display at bottom of the table Portsmouth.

Gerard Houllier has told Liverpool fans to be patient with David N'gog during an exclusive interview with setanta.com.
The 20-year-old striker has come in for criticism for his lack of sharpness in front of goal, but France's technical director Houllier has urged fans and experts to give him the time he needs to settle.

Your weekly reminder that Steve Nash would rather be Bill Shankly than Bill Russell.

As the great Bill Shankly remarked: "Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.". It many cases we would be inclined to believe him. There are times when football captivates us so much that we forget that at the end of the day, [...]

Kevin Keegan once described Sir Bobby Robson as one of his ‘all time favourite football managers', and I'm sure that many Liverpool fans also have a soft-spot for Robson, a true legend of the game, who sadly passed away today.
A thoroughly decent man, Sir Bobby shared many of the same personal qualities as Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley and remained unaffected by the shallow excesses of modern football.

Come on Rafa!

David Silva has been linked with us longer than Bill Shankly it feels, but can anyone really see him coming to Anfield? surely by the time we sign him he will be past his prime, Aquilani I personally find a strange fit, I admit that I haven't seen that much of him and when I have seen him he seems ok rather than outstanding, his fitness record isn't great plus the success of the Italians in the EPL isn't fantastic.

It is all very well, in discussing Liverpool's woes, to invoke the spirit of Shankly. But how do you define it? You can make a start by listening to 73 minutes and 30 seconds of the great man giving his thoughts to John Roberts, the journalist with whom he collaborated on his autobiography two years after retiring as manager in 1974.

And my particular bugbear, this week, is bullshit-artists who try to over-complicate a perfectly simple game by waffling on interminably about formations and tactics; holding midfielders, players in the hole, galloping wing-backs blah, blah, blah snooze yawn in a bid to make out they're more clever than everyone else.

There are certain angles of the game that I think often get overlooked by the average football fan. For example, football psychology is of particular fascination to me, but it often gets swept under the carpet, or else ridiculed a la Glen Hoddle and his faith healer. But it should be of great interest to us, especially since the first really great football psychologist was one of our own.

Despite 8 defeats in 15 games this season, JODY DANIELS refuses to give up hope, and is confident that if Liverpool fans keep the faith, their loyalty will eventually be rewarded.
In my view, fans publicly chastising the club Manager/Owners (or accepting the pessimistic, bias and prejudiced stories written by the media) is totally against the spirit of Liverpool FC.

SOS - the embarrassing and xenophobic Liverpool FC 'fan' group that shamelessly uses Bill Shankly's name to legitimise their thuggish agenda - has hatched a dubious plan to physically restrain Tom Hicks and George Gillett from entering Anfield on their next visit. Perhaps now, Liverpool fans will finally wake up and realise that SOS is doing nothing but damage to the public image of the club and its fans?

div align="left"Liverpool FC has been blessed with the impressive contributions of many nationalities down the years, but the impact of Scottish players and managerial staff is arguably unequalled at Anfield.span class="fullpost"br /br /Quite simply, without Scottish influence, Liverpool FC would never have become the wildly successful world class club it is today.

Regardless of how football pundits dissect Alex Ferguson's managerial achievements as compared to the likes of Matt Busby or Bill Shankly, there is a begrudging admiration for the manner in which he fulfilled his promise to knock Liverpool "right off their fucking perch."

That was an ambitious gauntlet thrown by a budding manager who had just taken over the reins at Manchester United while Liverpool were dominant and had established a stranglehold on the titles.

Fernando Torres and Bruno (@ The Spoiler)
I bring you shocking "news" from this weekend's Sunday Express (a British tabloid with less class than Silvio Berlusconi):
"Sir Alex Ferguson is planning an audacious raid on Liverpool for Kop striking hero Fernando Torres.

It happens quite a lot nowadays in Liverpool. A man (or woman) walks into a room, bearing a small pin-badge on their clothing, and instantly gets the thumbs-up. The badge may be understated, but its emblem, and what it stands for, is most definitely not.
Arms outstretched, with a red scarf around his neck, Bill Shankly is captured forever in his most famous pose.

Granted that all LFC fans want us to succeed but to agree along with what the media have been calling for non-stop now would be ridiculous. They want Rafa's head to roll. And this after what Rafa has achieved even with so many obstacles (need they be mentioned again and again?) in front of him.

Here's something from the www.

Bill Shankly once said: "Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor". Against Fulham on Saturday, Rafa Benitez didn't aim for the sky or the ceiling; he didn't even aim for the floor! With his cautious approach and maddeningly incomprehensible decisions, Benitez went against everything Liverpool FC stands for and committed the ultimate footballing sin: he gave up and conceded defeat.

On the 30th May 2004 (before Benitez was appointed), I wrote a post on ThisIsAnfield.com arguing that Martin O Neill should get the Manager's job ahead of Benitez and Jose Mourinho. Five years later and O'Neill is apparently one of the favourites to become the next Liverpool manager. Well, my opinion has not changed: For me, O'neill is the only man for the job.

And my particular bugbear, this week, is bullshit-artists who try to over-complicate a perfectly simple game by waffling on interminably about formations and tactics; holding midfielders, players in the hole, galloping wing-backs blah, blah, blah snooze yawn in a bid to make out they're more clever than everyone else.

Jamie Carragher claims that most Liverpool fans respect Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. It's nice idea, but unless we're living in some alternate reality, I would argue that this is just wishful thinking.
As much as Liverpool fans would hate to admit it, Ferguson is the one of the best British managers of all time*, and is arguably the greatest living football manager.

Hot on the heels of Robbie Keane being dumped on the scrapheap by Rafa Benitez, Ryan Babel is seemingly on the way out of Liverpool after failing to hold down a first team spot. Who is to blame for these two expensive players failing to make the grade at Anfield?
I recently argued that Benitez is to blame for the failure of Keane and Babel to fit in at Anfield; the crux of my argument was based on the following facts:
1.

While tonight's game between conference leaders CD Chivas USA and Chicago Fire should be compelling, this Saturday's between two teams Sigi built should be one for the ages.
First you have the newfound rivalry between Crew and Seattle fans:
Designed by johntommervik.

Seeing as how the Ashes have started and England aren't - at the time of writing - being thrashed seven shades of black and blue by Australia (though there is plenty of time for that to happen over the next few weeks or so), we thought that now would be an appropriate time to have a quick look back at the (now dying) breed of sportsman that combined their summer sport with their winter sport.

There was only one Bill Shankly; he was the best manager this land has ever seen, and despite the claims of many a Manchester United fan, his achievements will never be equalled. Benitez is not, and never will be, the next Shanks, But could he be the next Liverpool manager to write his name into Anfield folklore?

Much has been made of the demise of Leeds United AFC. We are all familiar with the tale of gross overspending, Ridsdale's goldfish, and a descent into the third tier of English football. Football supporters have little sympathy for a club that reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2001 and are now playing in League One due to its own negligence.

Croatia have qualified for three successive World Cups since Independence, reaching the Semi Final in 1998. It's a remarkable record for a nation of 4 Million. It could be about to end.
Croatia may have been resurgent under Slaven Bilić, qualifying emphatically for the EURO 2008 tournament, pimping McClaren's England along the way, but 2007-8 was a long time ago.

Romanticism and nostalgia - both are integral to the Liverpool fan experience, and when one hears the words "Liverpool Football Club", you almost expect the word ‘history' to pop up somewhere. But what exactly does history mean in this day and age, and is it actually important to the club's prospects of success?

I got a call yesterday from someone reminding me it was the 28th anniversary of Bill Shankly's death.
It's hard to believe so many years have passed since that time.
Of course, it is 50 years ago this December that Shanks first took over as manager of Liverpool. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Alexander Caulfield and Kartik Krishnaiyer take a trip down memory lane in discussing the historic legacy and the managerial styles of both Bill Shankly (Liverpool) and Don Revie (Leeds United).

A must listen to show for fans of either club!

Be sure not to miss a single episode of the EPL Talk Podcast, the only Premier League interview show on the Internet.

Today's Sunderland defeat is clearly a devastating blow to Liverpool's title chances, after all, no team can win the league after losing 4 of their first 9 league games...right? WRONG. During the 1963-64 season, Bill Shankly's Liverpool team did just that!
I personally don't believe Liverpool can win the title this season, but as history proves, it IS theoretically possible, and it HAS been done before.

Bill Shankly once said: "A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best, and then make sure that you are." Truer words have never been spoken, and every Liverpool player needs to take that philosophy on board before it's too late.
In my "The good, the bad and ugly" article I mentioned that the problem with Liverpool this season is not that they're losing, but how they're losing.

Sir Alex Ferguson is assured legendary status in football and his achievements have been recognised by football fans worldwide - even those that prefer spending their days playing Football Manager than playing football.

Ferguson topped a poll carried out by Sports Interactive (makers Football Manager 2010) with 26 per cent of the vote.

Man United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been voted as the greatest football manager of all time. Sir Alex came ahead of some of the football greats such as Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Matt Busby.
This poll was carried out by the makers of Football Manager 2010, here are the top 10 football managers of all time, voted for by the public.

Sir Alex Ferguson has won 33 trophies in 22 years at the helm of Manchester United, and he was recently recognized for his tremendous success. The makers of Football Manager 2010 had Ferguson topping their poll of the Greatest Manager of All-Time.
The poll features other Knights of the Realm such as the late, great Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alf Ramsey but despite their fine records, none of them can match Sir Alex's two decade long domination of the English game.

Rafael Benítez has been unable to get beach-ball boy off his mind over the past few days. That's the kid who kicked off Liverpool's latest crisis by throwing an inflatable on to the pitch at the Stadium of Light.
Six days later, Benítez's side are on the brink of elimination from the Champions League after Tuesday's defeat by Lyons, their title aspirations are in ruins and Michael Owen and Manchester United are due in town on Sunday.

Paul Armstrong the editor of the iconic BBC production, Match of the Day joins us to answer everything you want to know about the show.

Topics discussed include the theme music from the program, the running order of highlights, why certain matches have more highlights, why some weeks have midweek MOTD and others do not, what MOTD2 is, and much, much more.

Like countless others at Anfield last Saturday, I made my way to the Hillsborough memorial which resides beside the Shankly Gates to pay my respects to the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives in British sport's worst ever disaster.
The match against Blackburn had ended over an hour earlier but there was still a queue of like minded people, some clutching bunches of flowers to lay in front of the eternal flame and others with scarves to adorn the marble monument.

A very happy Moyes

Reaching the FA Cup final was a long overdue reward for Everton manager David Moyes. As the Premierships' third longest serving manager, Moyes has brought consistent performances for a low budget club. It is worth considering that at Everton he has been subject to budgetary constraints that perhaps much of his fellow managers at clubs of such stature do not have to endure.