KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum The Istanbul Effect?

Oh no Stanley has caught fazzaitis and has felt the need to open a platform to bash Benitez.Dont agree with any of that,why cant you just enjoy LFC post Benitez now?We are so much better off The man brings us a f*cking european cup and we still need to question it?

I am going to say something controversial.

But before I do let’s get one thing out of the way.

The May 2005 final in Istanbul was my greatest ever moment as a football fan nothing else is remotely close. I am proud to be able to say I attended that game and am grateful for once for flight delays and general Turkish airport transfer cocks ups which meant I was not able to have any alcohol before the match which mean’s I watched the game entirely sober. This meant I saw and experienced every second. So no way would I want it to never have happened.

But and I said this at the time I wonder whether that result gave a false perception of our status it hid underlying flaws in our club and prevented actions that had to be taken. It also created an inflated view of Rafa amongst the fans. Now I do accept we also qualified for the 2007 and the semi final in 2008 and regularly qualified for the champions league to be fair to Rafa. And of course the ownership debacle to be fair also made it almost impossible for Rafa.

But I wonder underneath all these events was an apathy in the club and an underlying decline and had we not had that huge shot in the arm in 2005 this might have been recognised and rectified earlier?

Just some thoughts I have wondered over it sometimes.

It works both ways really, I mean I look at Chelsea now and 8 months ago they were in disarray, fast forward a few months and they have conquered europe like we did and brought 60m worth of talent that is doing them no harm so far in the league. Under Benitez we brought top stars like Torres and many others that almost won us another european cup in 2007 and also the league title in 2009. Winning a major trophy gives you a major shot like you mentioned Stan but you may be right here that it only gives you a short term success and create problems as the years go on. Having said all of that though, I'd like to think winning in 05 was the best feeling I had as a fan and I would never take that away and nor would any red out there.