On the Couch / The power of positive interaction

Bill Perry was a talented left-winger for Rangers, a club once adored by many Jo'burgers. He was one of the first young South Africans to make it in the English game. Only 19, he won a FA Cup medal with Blackpool having had the privilege to play (and score) in the famous 1953 "Matthews Final" when Stanley Matthews, the most illustrious soccer man of his generation who'd never previously won a major medal, finally did so thanks to a remarkable injury time comeback, from 1-3 to 4-3 over Bolton.

When Bill came back south in the off-season, he gave loyal Rangers fans a chance to see the medal before local games. Some were even allowed to touch it. As a result, we insisted on not washing our hands for a week "because the Queen had handled it." Though no great soccer enthusiast, the young Elizabeth II, freshly on the throne, realized the importance of being at Wembley to award Matthews his medal.

Back in the good-natured 1950s (at least in sporting terms, or so it seemed), that kind of interaction between stars and fans seemed so natural. There were no fences between spectators and the field of play, and easy access after a game.

Half a century and more ago, a Cape boy Leon Fine, now an internationally renowned professor of medicine, was a youthful autograph addict. Proudly he'd nabbed the signatures of all the visiting England cricketers and also of the Springbok team bar one - the fiery South African fast bowler Neil Adcock.

One day at the famous Newlands ground, young Fine saw his chance: He swooped down on Adcock who was fielding on the boundary rope. "Can you sign, please sir?" Quick as a flash came the response, swift and ferocious like a fast Adcock ball, "F--- Off".

Most people aren't that good at doing more than one thing at a time. I bet Jose Pepe Reina is ruing the fact that he's not one of the few multitaskers, and that he didn't interact with the Liverpool fans behind his goal last Saturday at the Stadium of Light while preparing to keep the Sunderland forwards at bay. His mercurial predecessors in the Merseysiders' goal, the likes of Bruce Grobbelaar and Jerzy Dudek, would surely have done so, in good spirit or in anger. Especially when the young fan who was responsible for the weirdest ever Premiership goal threw a red plastic beach ball onto the field and so caused what will forever be known as "the balloon goal."

Reina must be sorely regretting depositing it in the back of his net rather than puncturing it or sending it flying back into the stands. Instead, five minutes into the game it blew out onto his six-meter line where, freakly, it deflected Darren Bent's shot past the hapless 'keeper, giving Sunderland an early lead from which Liverpool were unable to find a way back.

The fact of the matter is it should definitely have been ruled "no goal." Law Five states categorically that if there is interference with play by "an outside agent" the ref should whistle a holdup until the "agent" is cleared. Then, he restarts play with a drop-ball.

Almost as amazing as Reina's gaffe, Liverpool's ineptitude for the rest of the afternoon and referee Mike Jones' ignorance of a basic law, was the subdued Liverpool response. "These things happen," said coach Rafael Benitez, appearing unaware himself of the drop-ball rule. "It's a very technical question, but it has to be a goal," he reflected.

Maybe Rafa is just resigned to the fact that things can't get any more dismal. A few weeks ago Liverpool put in one of their worst-ever performances against Fiorentina in the Champions League and lost 2-0; that was followed by an unconvincing display in another 2-0 loss to Chelsea, then the Sunderland defeat and on Tuesday the fourth in a row, again to Fiorentina. Is it just that he sees no light at the end of a dark tunnel into which the Merseysiders have been plunged by their joint American owners who are constantly at loggerheads with each other? Or, perhaps he hopes the current deepening abyss will be relieved when one of the improbable pair sells out to Saudi royalty?

It just shows how low things can sink when owners are in it for the cash only, and have no genuine interest in the glory or wellbeing of what is historically one of the game's most illustrious clubs. Wigan's chairman, Dave Whelan, the wealthy former JJB sports gear boss, was on the BBC saying "we have no right to complain about rich foreigners coming in to buy up Premiership clubs [half the 20 top English teams are now foreign-owned] provided they're prepared to invest of themselves and their money. But,"

Whelan went on, "we've every right to condemn those businessmen - and indeed to urge steps be taken to outlaw the practice - who buy up clubs in order to deal with their own debts or to take out loans on the club as their asset, the kind of people who have no interest, other than financial, in the club's success."

Even non-Liverpool fans have been waiting to sing along with "You'll Never Walk Alone" ever since that magical comeback night in Istanbul four years back, when they won the premier European trophy and Benitez seemed destined to assume the mantle of inspired leadership of Merseyside's greatest-ever boss, Bill Shankly. Mention of the great Shankly makes one think that perhaps Liverpool are getting what they deserve - at least if one accepts the tone of a fascinating feature article this past week in The Observer.

James Corbett depicts Liverpool as "a second-rate football team until the arrival, 50 years ago, of Bill Shankly whose drive led them to dominate English football and then Europe. When he retired," charges Corbett, "the club continued to prosper - but Shankly found they were quick to forget the man who made them." (See: www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/18/bill-shankly-liverpool-manager.)

The Premier League management is certainly not going to help Liverpool out of its present troubles. "We won't be ordering a replay," a League spokesman confirmed, ignoring in the case of the balloon goal a rare precedent set by Fifa four years ago. Then the world body ordered a replay of a World Cup playoff between Uzbekistan and Bahrain after the referee was found to have made a mistake when disallowing a penalty scored by Uzbekistan and incorrectly ordered a free kick rather than instructed it to be retaken.

The League is staying true to the general mantra of soccer officialdom that "the ref's decision is final." The Premiership is clearly concerned that a replay ruling for the Sunderland-Liverpool game could open the floodgates to countless managerial appeals that would, in the description of one official, "set the game on a road to madness."

To complicate matters for Liverpool, they entertain Man United on Sunday: Sir Alex Ferguson must be licking his chops at the prospect of piling still more pressure on Benitez. Ahead of Sunday, Liverpool are warning all United supporters that they will be closely searched. That's because the Liverpool club shop has apparently sold out of the 10-pound "Beach Set" including the kind of plastic ball bearing the 'Pool logo that diverted the team's title prospects. United supporters are suspected of being behind the increased demand for Liverpool beach products because they are planning a "tribute" to Bent's goal.

With all this gloom in mind, is there a future on Merseyside for our Yossi, substituted by Rafa on Tuesday even though he'd scored? Yossi has always been such a Yeled Tov Yerushalayim - a "Jerusalem goody-good," though he hails from Dimona. What's more, loyalty should be the middle name of the national team skipper. But, maybe this unhappy time is cause to think of jumping ship. Perhaps they'll have him at The Emirates.

At 27, Benayoun is still young enough to slot in with the Wenger "babes." He could certainly offer the kind of creative punch that the Arsenal manager relishes. And, at least, he'd be assured his boss would rant and rave if a ref made quite as colossal faux pas as Mike Jones did last weekend at the Stadium of Light.