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Showing posts with label Anthony McIntyre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony McIntyre. Show all posts
Anthony McIntyre ☠ The families of the Stardust victims finally got revelatory justice after a 43 year campaign. 

A Dublin inquest found that the forty eight young people who lost their lives at a Valentine's night disco in 1981 were unlawfully killed. 

It was a verdict that upended decades of obfuscation and evasiveness by the organs of the state. 

In 1981, because of the blanket protest, with no access to television, radio or newspapers, our understanding of the disaster was limited, its impact much less striking than the Hillsborough tragedy eight years later to which we had immediate exposure via a number of media outlets.

We were held in H6 at the time of Stardust, a block isolated from the section of the prison where the other three protest blocks were situated. The rudimentary inter-block news feed was not even available to H6. We could not shout news over to the other blocks in the quietude of the evenings nor could they shout it to us. News filtered in via visits and then only in snippets. By the time Bobby embarked on his hunger strike two weeks later our minds were focussed on other things.

The Dublin government has now issued an apology to the families for its role in either hindering or not facilitating the search for truth."We failed you when you needed us the most', the contrite words of Taoiseach Simon Harris, not yet born at the time of the tragedy, echoed through the Dail. 

Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein leader, welcomed the inquest findings. She repeated her charge that the state had been guilty of a big lie. That lie was that the fire was the result of arson, which it most certainly was not.

It was a lie repeated over and over . . . It was a lie that devastated families and further traumatised survivors. To this day those families and survivors still ask who crafted that lie? Who spun it, who spread it and why? What was their motive? And who were they protecting? Forty-three years on and they still don’t have the answer to those questions.

These are fine points for any political leader to make, and more leaders should be expressing the same type of concern. But such words lose their value if made more for point scoring against political opponents rather than as a genuine and passionate commitment to transparency in matters of injustice.

While McDonald was absolutely right to make noise about the Stardust lies, it was her silence around the other big lie highlighted at an earlier inquest that will for many denude her concerns of authenticity.

The Kingsmill inquest found that the big lie was that the South Armagh Republican Action Force and not the IRA was responsible for the 1976 massacre of ten Protestant workmen. Forty eight years after that big lie it has still not been cast aside and replaced with the truth by the organisation responsible. Mary Lou McDonald could easily repeat the above questions she asked of Stardust, merely changing the number of years to adjust to the length of time the Kingsmill lie has been in existence: forty eight years instead of forty three.

It was a lie repeated over and over . . . It was a lie that devastated families and further traumatised survivors. To this day those families and survivors still ask who crafted that lie? Who spun it, who spread it and why? What was their motive? And who were they protecting? Forty-eight years on and they still don’t have the answer to those questions.

Mary Lou McDonald is in a position to do as the Kingsmill coroner suggested. While she bears absolutely no culpability for the massacre, in the wake of her statement on the Stardust tragedy she has a responsibility to put the same questions to those who led the IRA that she has put to the Dublin government. And she can categorically state that itself alone, the IRA, was the author of the premediated sectarian massacre.

It is not a lot for Mary Lou McDonald to give. It will be a lot for the families of those killed in Kingsmill to get.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Stardust And Kingsmill

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ After the abysmal midweek performance by Liverpool's millionaires, it was revitalising to yesterday evening watch Drogheda United's part timers play with pride and passion.


None of those players pretend they are worth almost half a million a year, never mind a week, while refusing to deliver anything close to what would justify such a colossal payout. The combined team would not make half a million in a month, yet they give their all.  Unlike the nouveau riche poseurs in Liverpool red, they wear the claret and blue out of passion and not a sense of entitlement. 

There is a case to be made in top drawer soccer for Cash On Delivery.

If you don't deliver you don't get paid. Your wages can go to homeless shelters or soup kitchens. Some fans will at least have a place to put their head down on a full belly after watching the dismal displays you serve up.

My perennial pal for soccer matches was absent last night. Paddy was in sunnier climes but I texted him the scores during the game. My companion last night was my son. It was his first game of the season but he seemed to enjoy it even more than I did.


I get more enjoyment from watching Drogheda United play, win or lose, than I do from Liverpool. I can relax during a Drogs game but never when Liverpool are playing. My wife says I am not just as emotionally involved in the Drogheda thing. That's true. I can never forget the 97 fans from Hillsborough, unlawfully killed by South Yorkshire Police. It leads to a feeling that if you want to turn out in a shirt for Liverpool, then step up to the plate with a professional determination to win. If in the course of a soccer game fans can die, players can at least try. Trying is always easier than dying.

Last night was a beautiful sunny evening, great for watching soccer. I had a hip flask of Jack Daniels, the last droplet imbibed in the final minute of the game. When the Drogs and the Bit O'Red meet, the fans tend to get value for money.

Last time I watched these sides battle it out was a couple of months ago in the Showgrounds with my friend Alfie. Sligo emerged 3-1 winners despite the Drogs putting up spirited resistance. That result was flipped last night at Weavers Park with the home side claiming all three points in a hard fought clash.

We had barely time to settle in our seats before our hopes took an early nosedive when Sligo snatched the lead after only six minutes with a finely taken Will Fitzgerald goal. That was followed by a few wayward Drogheda efforts which earned them my howls of Nunez, Salah, while my son smiled, seemingly looking around for an exit to enable him to get away from his embarrassment of a da.

On the 24 minute mark all that changed with a wonderfully executed Darragh Markey strike. But it took another 45 minutes for the Drogs to go in front. Frantz Pierrot, who always looked menacing and aggressive in his pursuit of the ball neatly converted from the penalty spot, following a clumsy challenge by the Sligo captain. 

Drogheda did well to survive a sustained period of pressure immediately after half time. But once they broke the siege they were always in with a fighting chance. And fight is exactly what they did. Victory was sealed with a great individual effort from Aaron McNally who drifted through the Sligo defence before placing his ball beyond the keeper. Rapture Day had arrived.


This is only the second victory of the season for the home side. It leaves Drogheda United still second from bottom, only local Louth rivals Dundalk beneath them. The Drogs are not that far off the five clubs above them. Given poor away performances, the Kevin Doherty's men  will need to rely on home fixtures to ensure they play Premiership football next year. At the bottom end of the table it is not crucial to run fast, just faster than the team behind. If the Drogs can leapfrog above one more side and hold their position, leaving Dundalk for the devil and his hindmost, relegation can be avoided. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Drogs ⚽ Sligo ⚽ No Salah

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ There was only one team from the city of Liverpool that turned up for last night's Merseyside derby.

It played in blue and the inhabitants of the much deprived and maligned city can be proud of it.

As we sat down to watch the game, brandy perched at my side, I told my son Everton would take the three points. He did not demur. It was just a matter of time before the first goal was conceded. The moment came to pass, making last night's game the 16th of the championship race in which Liverpool have conceded first.

I no longer roar at the television, having switched tack to merely laughing with derision at Liverpool's spurned chances and conceded goals. I had long given up on them as serious championship contenders. The moment of grim realisation came with that hapless Quansa pass at Old Trafford. That told us here was a team falling apart. They might yet end up finishing fourth in a three horse race. 

Contrast their challenge for the title with that of Arsenal who put five past Chelsea. The Gunners, serious about their title ambitions, upped their game when it mattered, their players not content to lift their pay check without delivering the goods.

At Goodison, Everton taught their city rivals a lesson in winning tackles, not giving the ball away needlessly, and coming out top in aerial clashes. The Toffees allowed Liverpool to have most of the possession, but crucially recapturing the ball in break up play when vital to do so. Sean Dyche's strategic approach seemed to be let Liverpool play keep-ball as long as they like. They will be unable to do anything with it.

Liverpool failed in every area of the park other than goalkeeping. Atrocious aerial defending compounded by a lacklustre midfield playing behind a toothless attack. If there is a more perfect recipe for soccer failure I can't think of it.

The logic that attackers need to hit the target has led to Darwin Nunez believing that the target is the keeper. His squandered opportunities in front of goal are the stuff of legend. Had he been capable of precision shooting Liverpool might have won the title. He lacks the surgical ability of Erling Haaland who looks before he lashes the ball goalward. Both came to the EPL at the same time. Only once, after the Community Shield clash when both players were a showpiece display by their respective teams, was there any debate about which team got the better value for money. Since then Nunes has not been in the running. 

Salah is simply not at the races. His mind seems to be elsewhere, the Saudi money mill perhaps. Better that he pursues his millionaire lifestyle draining the sheiks of their lolly rather than Liverpudlians of their much more meagre financial resources. Mo being an abbreviation of Money, not Mohammed, he should not be part of any Liverpool side for the remainder of the season.

Of the forward line, Diogo Jota alone has impressed but is too frequently injured to make an appreciable difference. Yet he contributes as much to Liverpool from the sidelines as Salah and Nunes do from the field. In seven games both have a combined total of three goals. 

A tired Klopp had simply ran out of fairy dust. The mojo and the magic is no longer there. The King vacates his throne at the season's end without his clothes. The life of the genius he once possessed has been pronounced extinct. Now they are talking about bringing in some plonker from the Dutch league to replace him. Has one baldy bastard from the Netherlands not proved useless enough in the EPL without Liverpool seeking another? As some wit suggested, he should secure Anfield a tenth position league finish. 

Both Merseyside teams needed the points last night. Everton to avoid the drop, Liverpool to continue with the deception that they were a serious contender in the title race. The authentic team won.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

The Team That Fell Apart

Anthony McIntyre  ✒ reviews a political podcast for Being Human. 

A columnist with the British daily, The Guardian, and author of four books including best sellers, Chavs and The Establishment, Owen Jones also maintains an informative podcast. 

Since October 7 last year when the Qassam Brigades of Hamas launched their armed assault on Israel, Jones has sharply focused on what many believe is an ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Jones, once physically assaulted because of his gay lifestyle, is nothing short of a harsh critic of the Israeli government, forensically pulling together evidence to support his frequent assertions that the country’s far right government is responsible for the mass murder of Palestinian civilians. He trenchantly denounces what he asserts is a calculated policy of starvation.

He has also been forthright in his condemnation and repudiation of the October 7 attacks. Describing them as an unjustifiable sadistic atrocity. At the same time, he flags up the 248 deaths of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank at the hands of the IDF and Israeli settlers in the nine months of 2023 prior to the invasion. The point he makes is that context in the Occupied Territories is often ignored by much of the Western media.

Once described by the Financial Times as Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘most important media cheerleader’, it is hardly startling to find that he is so critical of Keir Starmer’s position on Gaza. Yet, he points not to Starmer’s hostility to Corbyn but to the recent endorsement by the current Labour Party leader of an Israeli plan to deprive the civilian population of Gaza of electricity and water – prohibited under international law.

In one of his more recent podcasts Jones takes a deep dive into the Flour massacre, leaving his listeners in no doubt that the 100 plus deaths were not the result of a stampede for food.

Harrowing but essential listening.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

The Owen Jones Podcast

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Having twice reneged on my promise of last week not to watch Liverpool for the remainder of this season, it was pleasing for the fans to see a victory over Fulham this afternoon. 

I confess to feeling pretty indifferent to it all. When Liverpool scored I didn't get excited. When they conceded, I didn't feel deflated. My attitude mirrored the team's performances of late - flat. 

My abstinence didn't even last one match, having flailed at the first attempt, opting to watch the dispiriting midweek game against Atalanta. Willpower, like much else that comes with age, seems to wilt. Not that today's was a game I rushed home to see. I walked the dog for about two hours along the Boyne, thinking if I make it home on time I make it. And If I fall asleep don't wake me up, 

Planted in front of the box with a glass of red wine - they don't deserve whiskey - I watched two stunning goals followed by a good one despite it being a close offside call. The 3-1 victory, on paper anyway, keeps Liverpool in the title race.

Not that I think they will do it. Since the terrible Quansah pass at Old Trafford, the team has been in freefall. Its midweek victory against Atalanta is best described as Pyrrhic. The stand out moment from open play in that clash was Salah missing the target when gifted an opportunity. A perennial problem with this Liverpool side. Superb chances followed by sloppy finishing. 

Something underscored when Nunez came off the bench. He started as he meant to go on, blasting his shot into the side netting. A popular player, his conversion rate of around 20% of excellent goal scoring opportunities is simply not good enough. He repeated his side netting trick later in the game. A rough diamond who seems determined to evade all attempts to polish his performance. 

When Fulham cancelled Trent Alexander Arnold's great free kick just on the stroke of half time, I sensed there would be a repeat of the collapse against Palace last week. In some ways I felt it would be a welcome end to the misery and would call time on conning the fans that they were still a serious title contender. Had they succumbed today I anticipated that Klopp might as well give the kids a run out for the rest of the season. While that will not happen because it is still theoretically possible for them to win the EPL, something is needed to combat the staleness that has set in.

There remains the possibility that both the Gunners and Manchester City will slip up, but the odds are against both of them doing it. But even if they do who would bet on Liverpool not folding against Wolves in the last game of the season and the final match under Klopp? Betting on them would be like putting money in a collection plate pushed under your nose by an evangelical preacher. 

And Merseyside rivals Everton will not be in the mood to do the old enemy any favours in the upcoming midweek clash. How they would love to spoil the party and exercise bragging rights, claiming credit for denying Liverpool a title. Truth is the decline came well before the derby. 

As soon as the game was over I listened to Mazzy Star. At least there is some Hope there. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Hope In Mazzy Star

News Letter ✒ Kingsmills was a “war crime on a par with Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy” according to the writer and historian Anthony McIntyre – who was once a member of the Provisional IRA himself.

​Mr McIntyre rejected previous republican attempts to deflect from the IRA’s responsibility for the massacre – which last week’s inquest ruled was an “overtly sectarian attack by the IRA”.

He said: 

I have heard a prominent Sinn Fein member speculate that the INLA might have been responsible. I regard this as spurious nonsense, designed to deflect.
My view is that truth and reconciliation calls from Sinn Fein are a subterfuge to mask an ongoing strategic thrust against the British and political unionism.

He said this:

reinforces the hierarchy of victims phenomenon by effectively proclaiming that the victims of the British are entitled to the truth but the victims of republicanism are not. It is not logically possible to ethically square that circle.
I have said publicly on a number of occasions that Sinn Fein meeting British monarchs cannot be about reconciliation. If Sinn Fein was motivated by authenticity on the issue of reconciliation, it would, at the very least, tell the victims of IRA war crimes such as Kingsmills that the IRA was responsible for them.
The Kingsmills war crime, much like the Disappeared, projects very dark blemishes onto the sanitised narrative of republican armed struggle.
Demands from any quarter for half the truth are transparently insulting and belittle any notion of reconciliation.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Kelly said the Kingsmill families “are entitled to truth and justice” in a statement dominated by demands for an end to the UK Legacy Act.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Kingsmill Was War Crime On A Par With Bloody Sunday And Ballymurphy, Says Ex-IRA Man

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Another very poor performance by Liverpool this afternoon saw them put the seal on yet another failed attempt to win the English Premier League. 

That failure more or less took place last week in a pretty woeful performance against Manchester United. Crystal Palace were today merely issuing the death certificate, confirming what fans deep down already knew. Champions get up when they know they can't. The losers of Liverpool stayed on the canvas and heard themselves counted out. 

This is a dead team and there is no point in trying to give the kiss of life to a corpse. 

Today, having conceded the obligatory early goal they were too jaded to make one of their much vaunted recoveries. While disappointed, I am not going to feign surprise. I felt a defeat would be the outcome, even having suggested as much to my friend Paddy during the Drogheda United game on Friday evening. This Anfield side had simply run out of puff, lacking the stamina to sustain a successful run in all four competitions they were reckoned by some pundits to be in with a chance of winning.

What makes it all the more galling is that they wore the black armband in memory of those who died at Hillsborough in April 1989. The 35th anniversary of that mass unlawful killing by South Yorkshire Police occurs tomorrow.  We might be forgiven for thinking that those who turned out in the armbands would at least have put in a serious performance in sombre tribute to the dead fans alone. Not a bit of it. They played dead for the occasion. We were served up a mishap and misfire in front of goal. Even Andy Robertson's great goal-line intervention to prevent Palace going a further goal ahead did nothing to inspire this most uninspiring lot. 

I have no intention of watching them again this season. There is no joy to be derived from their underwhelming performances. It merely puts me in a bad mood for the rest of the day and irritability hangs around for days after. Not worth it. I don't have a gluttonous appetite for for the punishment meted out by this pack of underachievers. 

Mo Salah should pack his bags. Why Nunez should be taken off but not Salah was confirmation that Klopp had given up the ghost, a feeling reinforced when Gakpo came on. I simply fail to see what the Dutch international does for this Liverpool side. When he was in the starting line up against Atalanta on Thursday evening, I winced. It seemed such a clear statement of intent by Klopp that he was not serious about winning the Europa league.

Not that Nunez, who was substituted today, has been great either. An exciting player, he misses far too many chances, exuding the appearance of the busy fool. As Michael Owen suggests he needs to be able to go around players, rather than simply blast everything off the keeper or the woodwork. 

This year's EPL champions will, I think, be Manchester City. They are better finishers than Arsenal whose unfamiliarity with being so close to the title last year created the jitters that would eventually deprive them of the crown. 

The one good thing about today's result is that it puts the fans out of their misery. This side was never going to win the title. Had they not blown it by now they would most certainly have done so by the last game of the season against Wolves. No point in prolonging the agony. It ended today. The Wolvers fixture was a game I had intended going to the pub for with my son, and some of our friends. Not now. Better to go to the pub and watch glasses being washed than view mediocrity from the Mersey.

Tomorrow I will remember those killed at Hillsborough while trying best to forget this inept title-losing side. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Liverpoor

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Having watched an abysmal Liverpool performance the previous evening, it was refreshing to see Drogheda United put up a spirited display against Derry City.


The North West outfit, while still second in the championship race, were denied their first to back wins of the current campaign.

No millionaires amongst those who turned out for the Drogs but they at least respected the claret and blue colours they played in. As the game approached its concluding minutes it seemed as if the Drogs would go down fighting, having conceded two soft first half goals. In the end they didn't go down at all but secured a draw courtesy of a delightful Frantz Pierrot strike masterfully curled in from the edge of the box. There was nothing lucky about it. Pure skill from the Haitian international. 

Pierrot had not scored since the Leinster Cup clash against Bohemians Under 20s back in January, a spot kick. When he eventually broke his duck from open play it was a moment well worth waiting for. 

Myself, Paddy and his son had arrived about 45 minutes before the game to claim our usual seats on the halfway line.


It was a bright, mild evening, the heavy coat I had purchased for winter games left unbuttoned. In the carpark I predicted a draw while Paddy was slightly more hopeful. The ever present hip flask accompanying me, I had barely consumed the first swig before Drogheda found the back of the net, a neat Warren Davis finish signalling advantage Weavers.  Three minutes in, and the already noisy fans broke the decibel bank. Paddy suggested if the Drogs bag another they could afford to sit back as they have something to defend. 

By half time that had gone awry. The Drogs were trailing. We were apprehensive approaching the end of the first half, knowing too well that the Weavers men can experience a lack of concentration, a feeling compounded by two first half substitutions. Nobody in the Drogs midfield or centre back line closed down the approaching Will Patching who took what Paddy described as a training ground shot. A good goal but defensive frailty allowed it to get through. A No 6 has to block, not act like a Garda on traffic duty waving through whatever comes his way.

Across Weavers Park the Derry contingent were exercising their bragging rights throughout the second half. It is always good to see a sizeable travelling fan base. Says something about the health of local soccer. Paddy commented to me that our Ultras had messed up with the geolocator on their phones. The Brandywell side were being taunted as Orange bastards and we were invited to clap our hands if we agreed. We declined, obviously, but before some pontificator from the Wokerati goes off on one, it was soccer fans chanting, not hate speech. Ribald and raucous, performative rather than poisonous.  

Our side of the park grew more animated as the clock ran down. There were frequent outbursts at the referee who did seem to make a number of poor decisions. I wondered if he too would become an Orange bastard.   

We came away relieved that the Drogs avoided defeat.


At the same time, second from bottom and on eight points the position is precarious. Next week's game is away to Bohs who are not on their game this season. Three points would be wonderful but a draw is much better than a defeat.

As we left the ground in the darkness we were pleased not to have out path lit up by flares which blighted last week's game when a Shels fan thought he would set the place alight.  Flares are an unwelcome feature of the local game, posing a risk too great to allow for nonchalance. The sight of a sightless eye caused by a careless flare is simple not worth the candle. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Drogs ⚽ Derry ⚽ Flare-Free

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ It is difficult to recall a performance as terrible as last night's. 

Not because they haven't occurred but memory like the rest of me is no longer robust and ruddy. Like the dog at the bottom of the stairs, uncertain if it has just come down or is about to go up, it is difficult to remember Saturday's match never mind the rest.

This was as an abysmal display of football from a Klopp side that we are ever likely to see. Having effectively thrown the league title on Sunday, they have now all but guaranteed that Klopp will not get the Swansong he deserved at the Aviva in May. Klopp had earlier commented that to play in Dublin would be like playing at home. I told Paddy, my regular match-going companion, that I was cancelling my application for final tickets. His response was to stick with it - any final regardless of who would be in it would be worth the day out in Dublin.

That's true but Liverpool are most unlikely to be there given the deficit they need to turnaround. And if we allow for conceding the customary obligatory early goal, for Liverpool to break even they would need to secure a 4-1 win in Italy. What chance that with a defence that is fast becoming a charity due to the amount of goals it donates to the opposition!

Up front things are not much better. Tere is no shortage of chances created but the conversion rate is woefully inadequate. Supposedly top drawer attackers flapping around making absolutely nothing happen. And to think of the wage demands Salah was making to stay at the club. He certainly has not earned them.

This has been hailed as a great Liverpool side. Far from it. This is the third worst defeat in Klopp's 483 games in charge. Only Manchester City and Aston Villa have secured larger victory margins over any of his teams

Last night's game was painful to watch. It never showed any sign of coming together for Liverpool. At the end of the first half I opted to go to bed rather than suffer in anything but silence. My wife and son have to endure a lot of ranting at the television, especially if the whiskey glass is in my hand. But like the moth to the flame I returned to my chair just to make sure I got well and truly burned in the second half before storming off to bed, teeth left unbrushed despite being at the dentist earlier in the day. I did manage to put the mouth guard in before going to sleep otherwise the weeping and gnashing of teeth would have taken their toll. My wife reminded me to take cough medicine to which, after a glance at the bottle, I simply said fuck it.

Every player on the pitch last night should donate what they earned for the game to charities in Liverpool. They can be as charitable to the impoverished and disadvantaged as they were to Atalanta. They can not claim the right to have earned those wages. If they have a conscience they will not swindle the fans. If other less well paid professionals such as doctors or pilots performed so poorly there would be multiple casualties. The casualties of last night's debacle are the fans. At the very least they should be given their money back.

At the end of the season should the failures mount up, as I expect they shall, supplicating for understanding with outstretched hands on the grounds that they took the title race to the wire, pushed the eventual champions all the way, does not deserve to pass muster. They had victory in their grasp but blew it and and have risked sending the coach down unfairly in cultural memory as Jurgen Flop. 

A more sober assessment is that they rather than he flopped: the team that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Flapperpool

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ If I am candid, I didn't expect much else going into today's game. 

As much as I admire Jurgen Klopp as a coach, his Liverpool teams have never been able to shed themselves of a frailty that has consistently derailed their potential.

When the going gets tough the tough get going but it just doesn't seem to apply to this Liverpool side, who constantly flatter to deceive.

At one point during the match commentary, today's game against Manchester United was described as Liverpool's easiest of the run in. It should have been but they fluffed it. When Quansah, asleep to the danger around him, was selling the pass with sloppiness Fernandes was breaching the gap with sublime intelligence and accuracy. And they have Spurs yet to come.

In underperforming as they did, the Anfield men have given as much fire power to the Gunners as Joe Biden has been doing for the Israelis. How many chances can a side miss before concluding it is time to change the line-up? 

Mo Salah is simply not doing the business. If there is such an illness as Squandrapobia, he has been successfully inoculated against it as he never squanders a chance to squander a goal scoring opportunity. It is about three years since he went past an opposing player. Darwin Nunez takes a lot of flak for some profligate inaccuracy in front of goal but Salah is no better. Unless MacAllister gifts him a tap in, or he is fortunate enough to take a penalty, he is not the player of old, perhaps having stayed a season longer than his sell by date.

It is symptomatic of Klopp's sides all too often refusing to convert their dominance into victory. There seems to be a pay check mentality at play - as long as the millionaires can pick up their dosh at the end of the game, the result doesn't really matter that much. But it does to the poor of Liverpool, those who have to sit either at home or in a pub sipping the only pint they can afford in the hope that it lasts the ninety minutes, harder to do these days when dollops of added time are ladled out. Fans not footballers die in the terraces. They have a right to be treated with something better than a pay check mentality. 

I would never support a Liverpool side for the players in it. I have zilch loyalty to the team. All of it goes to the people of Liverpool who have suffered so much at the hands of successive British governments over the decades. No sniveling to monarchy there. Liverpool is the best republican city in the geographic area known as the British Isles. The British monarchy might be welcome in Belfast, Derry and Dublin but in Liverpool the people tell it where to go. 

If things continue as they are this season might be remembered not as Klopp's successful swansong but as United's rapacious revenge for the 7-0 drubbing they took last season. Erik ten Haag has already stopped Liverpool's FA Cup run and today seriously dented their title ambitions.  

The fans can make the short journey back to Liverpool this evening knowing they didn't let the side down.. They were let down by it. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Squanderpool

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ The Drogs went into this game knowing they had to salvage something from it. 


Not an easy task with Shelbourne cruising in the points atmosphere considerably above, but still within touching distance of the rest. If in the unlikely event the Drogs could arrest the forward momentum of their rivals everybody but Shels would stand to benefit.

Languishing second from bottom with only one win to their credit all season, glimpses of the dark clouds of relegation are beginning to make their presence fell over Weaver, even though the season has not reached the quarter way mark. 

I arrived at the game, wholly unconvinced that Kevin Doherty's men would get at anything other than a respectable defeat, at best. The side can put up a gusty fight, it can fly with so much promise but it's flight is so often a false dawn, Once in front of goal the flying stops and the flapping starts. Paddy had a different take. He sensed that there was something that could be got from this game. Hope dies last was the thought that struck me upon hearing that.


As things turned out, Paddy had it right. The Drogs mounted fierce opposition, captain Gary Deegan - with a hair cut that would not look out of place in a Soviet penal colony mug shot - leading from the front and making the precision timed tackles which, if they are misjudged, can lead to a straight red. After two scoreless draws, first against Pats followed by a second at Oriel Park, where the the forward line didn't do much for confidence, it was uplifting to have bagged a goal even if in time honoured fashion the defence decided to have sympathy for their rivals. Kevin Doherty had spotted the problem and changed his forward line, leaving out Zishim Bawa and Frantz Pierrot. That initiative was rewarded with a first half payout. The feeling of being short changed, however, set in on the cusp of half time when poor defending allowed the visitors to pull level.

Down but not out, the Drogs came out after the break, revitalised. A deflected free kick had them in front, a lead they held until the dying minutes of the game. I had said to Paddy that once we reached the 40 minute mark we could dare to hope. It had the hex effect. Shortly after taking that sigh of relief a sucker punch knocked the wind clean out of us. Again, poor Drogheda defending allowed for a soft goal, leaving the home fans deflated, a mood of despondency mirrored on the pitch by the forlorn Drogheda players. The Shels are not top of the league because they can't spot vulnerability. They sensed that as each half was drawing to a close the Weaver Wizards were losing their magic, the will to win not matched by their concentration levels. In the 94th minute, Shels pounced.

Then came the flare up. Shels were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area. As they prepared to take it, a match official was hit by a flare. The game was postponed for fifteen minutes, stripping it of all rhythm and fluency.. When play resumed, the status quo remained and both teams left the pitch points shared. The Drogs would have gladly settled for a point prior to the game but by the final whistle they knew it was theirs for the taking, two points dropped rather than one gained.

That is the second Drogheda game I have attended where flares have caused play to be halted and the players escorted from the field.  On each occasion the Drogheda fans were not responsible. Last year's cup final was also disrupted for a short time as a result of flares. The search procedure on the way into the ground, thankfully not being intrusive, nevertheless fails to stop the flares getting through. Whether we like it or not flares are a feature of the fan culture in the Irish game which is not going to be easy to eradicate. Some fans try to use them responsibly while others, as demonstrated last evening, weaponise them. 

Perhaps soccer management might come to an arrangement with the ultras of each club whereby flares can be purchased via the club by those with a Garda and club issued licence for doing so.  Anybody else in possession of them could be treated the same as someone bringing a knife into a ground. The understanding would be that their usage mush never extend to them becoming projectiles and hurled onto the pitch. Hand held use only. The principle of buyer beware might apply - be careful who you distribute them to. Because once you purchase responsibility is yours. 

Flares are dangerous and should ultimately be phased out of the game much like indoor smoking has. But while they continue to be part of a fan culture they should not be allowed to become an offensive weapon. We should not have to wait on a blinded child for that awareness to sink in.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Drogs ⚽ Shels ⚽ Flare-Up

Anthony McIntyre ☠  A former republican prisoner who has been the target of an intense campaign of harassment by the PSNI is pursuing legal action against the force. 

As part of a prolonged PSNI vendetta against the man the force falsely accused him in 2020 of being in possession of 81 indecent images, some of which were categorised as 'A' - those considered most depraved.  The allegation was withdrawn after 24 hours and unconvincingly explained away as a computer error by the PSNI.


A complaint was upheld by the Police Ombudsman regarding this incident and the officer in question was removed from duties and given further training . . .  This was an extremely distressing ordeal for our client to go through, not only for himself, but for his wife and young family. He attended several counselling services in the years following to help him cope with the trauma. To date, the police have not issued our client with an apology and legal proceedings are ongoing.

The father of one has claimed that from he reached the age of sixteen he has been in the sights of the PSNI, keen to monitor his republican activism. So unrelenting has the harassment been, resulting in the egregiously false accusation, that the former prisoner said he has been rendered traumatised, leading to suicidal ideation. Had this young man ended his own life on receipt of the allegation against him, PSNI perfidy would have been covered up and the smear that he took a coward's way out rather than face accountability for his actions allowed to prevail, even though he was guilty of nothing.

The extent of the harassment can be gleaned from a Sunday World report:

He and his wife have been repeatedly arrested, held for days, and had social services referred to their house a number of times by the PSNI. They have catalogued every time police officers called to their home.
In total, since 2013, he said he has been stopped and searched at least 89 times. 

His home has been the target of many PSNI raids. When not searching his abode the cops would frequently drive up to it and and shine lights into it, causing distress to his family and discomfort to his  neighbours.

As it transpires the inaptly named PSNI Intelligence Unit now acknowledges that he is no longer a person of interest. 

In a month week that saw the PSNI take extra large egg to its face as a result of its failed ten year legal pursuit, and ultimately collapsed prosecution, of three republican activists, the force has yet again demonstrated that the PSNI apple did not fall far from the RUC tree which bore it. During that trial the force's dissembling, bamboozling and manipulation of evidence led to the case it sought to present being thrown out. A waste of a decade, not to mention the draining effect on the public purse. 

While the man's solicitor has described the latest allegations as a 'catastrophic error', the PSNI's victim suggests that while catastrophic it was not an error but deliberate and vindictive. Speaking to TPQ he said:

I believe the PSNI did not make a mistake and this was a deliberate attempt to warn me as to what they were capable of doing in order to deter me for constantly challenging them whether it be during stop and searches, arrests, while they were sitting outside my house at all hours etc. I was lodging numerous complaints with PONI and other legal bodies and NGOs in an attempt to hold them to account, supplying evidence of harassment and misconduct. The PSNI were also aware of my personal battles with my mental health and I often wonder if this was a way to try and send me over the edge and get me to end my own life (as it is harder for them in this day and age to get away with actually killing people themselves). I intend to take this case against the PSNI all the way for what they did to me and my family. I still suffer today from the effects this has had on me. My son at the time was 5 weeks old and they’ve taken away my joy of being a new father. I will never get this time back.

His wife added that there was no genuine sense of regret on the part of the PSNI in the wake of acknowledging it had got things all so wrong:

Seeing is believing. If I hadn’t lived with my husband for the past 8 years and he told me what the PSNI had done to him, I would be thinking “this guy has lost his mind or he must be paranoid!” Sadly, I have witnessed and been the victim of the PSNI and other British state agencies’ insidious tactics. I thought that the constant stop and searches, antagonising and harassing of my husband was bad enough but when they pulled that stunt with the images, it didn’t look just petty anymore. In fact, I took it as a personal attack on my family because, at this point, they didn’t care about the impact this would have on us. The day after we were told that they had made a “mistake”, an unmarked police car drove up to our street, the two occupants put their window down, put Covid masks on and shouted “Ha! Ha! Ha!” three times all over our street. I couldn’t believe it! If someone told me that, I’d think they’re full of it but when you see it with your own eyes, it’s staggering!

Dealing with the matter by granting an individual cop a fool's pardon, does not remotely address the  systemic vindictiveness that courses through the PSNI veins. The Jeffrey Donaldson sage in recent days has demonstrated the depth of hostility that accusations of paedophilia can engender. Even when not yet proven, the accused can plummet from hero to zero in a heartbeat. A community or family can turn on a person in an instant, leaving them friendless, marginalised and isolated. The trauma that this former republican prisoner and his family was forced to endure is unimaginable, and then to be given the ha ha ha treatment and still no apology four years on.

Despicable and disgraceful are two words which leap to mind when characterising the PSNI behaviour. It is being called to account not by the toothless Policing Board which did nothing other than sing The Sound Of Silence, but by the man, his wife and their solicitor, with little help from other bodies. Their lonely struggle is underscored by the lack of assistance from agencies appealed to. 

I personally have raised it with International Red Cross, CAJ, Amnesty international, MOJO, SDLP, PBP, Saoradh, RNU, 32 CSM, IRSP, Provisional Sinn Fein, Human Rights Commission, Equality Commission. Most above refused to provide any assistance or condemnation.

The man at the centre of this PSNI vendetta, while having emerged the other side battered and bruised, remains on the ground rather than in it. Others might not be so fortunate, finding the burden of trauma occasioned by vindictiveness too weighty to carry. By highlighting their experience the former republican prison and his supportive wife hope to shine the spotlight, so often shone into their own home, deep into the recesses of PSNI perfidy.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.


Vendetta

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ A Good Friday game at least saw Drogheda United not being crucified by a St Patrick's Athletic outfit which was outplayed but ultimately not outscored by the home side. 


Myself, Paddy and his son arrived at the game apprehensive enough. The question of whether Pat's had returned from their Patrick's Day trip to New York, jaded or rejuvenated, hung in the air. While Pat's have not had a great start to their season, the Drogs can hardly look down their nose at them given that the Dublin side were perched two points above their Louth opposition. That has not changed after last night's draw. It is now hoped that the bottom two positions don't change come Monday's clash at Oriel Park with Dundalk in the Louth derby. Five points from six matches leaves the Drogs in a perilous position and psychologically it is crucial that they cut the rope that allows Dundalk to cling to them. If Drogheda fail to emerge with all three points on Monday then they will be truly be on the ropes they failed to slice, because they cannot expect to get much from next week's home fixture against runaway league leaders, Shelbourne.

Games at Weaver Park are usually tension free but last night there was a slight edge to the atmosphere. While we always go through a cursory pat down on our way into the stadium, flares invariably get through. When a lone security steward approached the ultras presumably to raise his concerns about the projectiles he was howled at. We watched on, fearful that some lone wolf would strike out prompting a group to morph into a pack. Garda soon arrived and the situation calmed.

Flares are problematic at soccer matches. There were delays at last year's cup final in the Aviva due to Bohemians fans launching them onto the pitch. At the Sligo-Drogheda game last season the referee suspended and threatened to halt the game after flares from the Sligo ultras landed on the field of play. 

Last night saw the Drogheda ultras holding the flares in their hands to greet their team and once they burned their way through their incendiary content they were dropped on the spectator side of the pitch, with nothing being launched onto the field. While no ill-intent featured, the harmless enough description does not suffice. I always worry that some child attracted to the fiery spectacle will lose an eye or sustain some other life changing injury as a result of a careless or accidental swing of a flare wielding arm.


As against Sligo a fortnight back, the Drogs played well last night. Overall they dominated but the problem that has bedevilled them all season showed no sign of abating. They can create but fail to convert goal scoring opportunities. Even taking into account a brilliant goal line clearance and some fine shot-stopping, Drogheda still underwhelm in attack. The recently capped Haitian international Frantz Pierrot is taking his time to settle into the Drogheda forward line, and his first touch all too often comes up short.  

While he turned out for the visitors Kian Leavy's Maradona/Messi-like run, where he brushed off one Drogheda challenge after another, was scintillating if terrifying to watch as he closed in on goal. The game's stand out moment. 

Throughout, my friend in Belfast, a former republican prisoner, kept me up to speed on Glentoran's home implosion to the auld enemy, Linfield. That coupled with a stream of memes about the DUP captain being shown the red card, challenged my ability to concentrate on the clash before my eyes which was not free from yellow cards.

On a day fit for purpose to nail an opponent, Good Friday was not so good for the Drogs. We departed, relieved that a point had been secured, while acutely aware that the relief it provides is tenuous and of short duration. 

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Drogs ⚽ Pat's ⚽ Scoreless

Anthony McIntyre ☠  The leader of the DUP is down and perhaps out long before the count reaches ten, and the beak's bell has sounded.

While a legal and judicial process will ultimately decide whether he is culpable, the mirror has been broken. No matter what way it is pieced together it will never reflect in the same way that it previously did. If Donaldson succeeds in his legal battle the OJ certain to be chanted by his detractors will circulate and stalk him until the end of his days. In his current situation he might wish for that end to accelerate towards him as speedily as his demise, whiskey washed down by a bullet: a bottle in one hand, a pistol in the other.

Whatever transpires, there will be a victim at the end of the process. If Donaldson is guilty, he leaves in his wake the devastation of those who underwent a horrendous experience. If he is innocent then he is the victim of an equally horrendous life changing accusation.

Gavin Robinson has been swiftly ushered in as the interim replacement leader of the DUP. Hailing from the republican side of the house, where feet dragging and deflection has been the stock-in-trade response to managing sexual abuse concerns, I find the speed with which the DUP acted - it had little choice - almost as breathtaking as the news of the allegation against its former leader. 

The event has been anything but easy to process, arriving like an assault on the senses, disorganising thoughts and plans. Such has been the abnormal force with which it hurtled into the midst of a normal day, much of the day's ruminating has been given over to it. It has eaten into chunks of relaxation time. At last night's Drogheda United game, the phone constantly pinged with memes. One benefit of the clash being a scoreless draw was that I didn't miss any goals as a result of constantly glancing at my phone. 

When my wife prodded me awake in the small hours of Good Friday to tell me that the rumour will was buzzing with Donaldson innuendo after reports of a 61 year old being charged with serious sex offences it took me back to the same early hours of Good Friday five years ago when then too I had been nudged out of my slumber by her to be told that Lyra McKee had been killed in Derry. Conspiracy theories, similar to that expressed by Jamie Bryson, quickly wandered into my mind and were as swiftly dispatched.

Over recent weeks I have many times publicly questioned why Jeffrey Donaldson divided unionism, why he agreed to such a treacherous deal damaging to unionism & why he kept making demonstrably false claims. It was beyond comprehension. Perhaps now it’s a lot clearer.

Gavin Robinson would seem to have had precisely this type of sentiment in mind when he bewailed the alacrity with which schadenfreude found its voice:

there will be some, and there have already been some, who have sought to score cheap political points, who have sought to engage in conspiracy theories, who somehow enjoy or will manipulate such devastating news for those involved.

The political class is trying to steady the ship and inform the public that the power splitting vessel is still on course. Sinn Fein, despite demanding a general election in this part of the country following Leo Varadkar's shock resignation as Taoiseach, is against any such thing in the North. Yet, things might not just go as smoothly as the political establishment would  wish. The current Stormont operation was very much Donaldson-driven. His ability to deliver did not go without serious challenge. There are still plenty of opponents willing to rush into a vacuum which they hope even the large frame of Gavin Robinson will be unable to fill. Steering clear of the rocks marked peace process crisis will require the most dextrous of hands at the wheel and a bird's-eye view of the storm clouds that are gathering.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Donaldson Down

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ Saturday once again saw me make the trip to Sligo where a rampant Rovers were hoping to follow up on their success against Louth's two sides by beating the Drogs.


I somehow managed to miss my train - not paying attention - but made the next one which still left me with plenty of time to spare once I reached my destination. Alfie jumped on at Ballymote before we headed to Sligo town to guzzle Guinness and gulp Pizza.
 
In the bar a pair of Orchards Thieves reps invited us to sample their latest product - a crisper more tart cider than what we are used to from the brand. Alfie was on the wagon so he kept to Zero drinks whereas I took up the offer . . .  and his to boot. Wasn't even a case of buy one get one free - all of it was gratis.

After Pizza we made the short distance on foot to the Showgrounds. The irony of it is that I ended up speaking to more Drogs fans there than I do at home fixtures. Maybe there is that band of brothers type thing amongst those who travel for the away games. Not that we had a great turnout.

The match did not go as I had hoped but more as I had feared. The Drogs put up a spirited performance but poor coordination along its defensive left flank allowed Sligo to first strike and then do the same again. Each time the Sligo team advanced along their right wing, alarm bells went off in my head. 

Max Mata was the main Sligo threat, which he aptly demonstrated with his tally of two goals for his evening's work. At one point it looked as if keeper Andrew Wogan might be in serious trouble after he crashed into Mata in the penalty area. Fortunately the ref decided that there was not enough in it to award either a penalty or a card. 

Trailing by two goals at half time, almost 15 minutes into the second period Drogheda managed to pull one back and for long enough they were in the game, pressing well, winning the second ball, hemming the opposition in their own half. But it came to nothing as a clever flick in the closing minutes of the game saw Sligo with a two goal cushion. There was no way back. 


Five games in and the Drogs are struggling, having been victorious only once this campaign. Shelbourne sit top with sixteen points with Sligo in third place on nine.  Drogheda trail the leaders by twelve points and sit second from bottom, propped up by Louth rivals, Dundalk. It is a big gap considering the season has just got out of the traps. 

At this point in the campaign it looks almost certain that only one Louth team will feature in the premiership next season. There remains a chance that both could make the drop. But I sense that the Drogs are gonna get their mojo moving. There was not much of a difference in quality between the sides at the Showgrounds despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise. It was certainly a much improved performance on what they put in against Waterford at home. The Drogs need to finetune their finishing because if they manage to convert the chances they create they can ease their way out of the relegation zone. 

Match over, the players approached us in the away stand where we applauded them and they us. They lost but they went down fighting. 

St Pats up next at home. Not yet at the point where a win is must or bust, but anything less will see very dark clouds gather over Weaver.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Sligo ⚽ Drogs ⚽ Guzzle & Gulp

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