my liverpool fc

I WISH I wasn’t such a killjoy.

If there is light at the end of the tunnel I always get the urge to extinguish it.

Admittedly Tom Hicks kept his promise and the plans for New Anfield are “spectacular” but I was always led to believe size isn’t everything. Unless all those women were lying.

Yet more appeasement for fans that still believe more money inevitably means more success. Like e-mails from Nigeria guaranteeing you a fortune if you hand over your bank details, it’s too good to be true.

The more we spend the less likely we’ll add to the list of cheap yet prolific idols like Rush, Hunt, Owen, Fowler, Keegan and Liddell.

Okay, there was Dalglish I grant you – but Kenny was the exception to all rules.

Besides, there’s the small matter of whether it will actually see the light of day. Someone really ought to publish The Big Book Of Liverpool Artists’ Impressions Of Things That Never Get Built.

Before there’s an upsurge in wrist-slitting let me just say I foresee no problems with the project. Even the detested idea of naming rights has been offset by the Arsenal role model, ‘Emirates’ being a fairly dignified title that most people could live with.

The usual suspects were asked for their thoughts on the blueprints. They all expressed a sincere desire to remain integral Liverpool figures once the stadium opens for business.

Whether they will be is another matter. Three years, in the maelstrom of modern football, can be an eternity.

In 2004 they’d have recommended a good psychiatrist for anyone predicting we’d play in two Champions League finals. You never know what’s around the corner.

Gerrard could still be here, maybe Carragher too.

It will have been 13 years since he flattened Townsend and scored at the Kop end, which seems a long time to stay at the top in the modern era, but if anyone can do that it’s Carragher.

The man least likely to be here is Rafa himself. Madrid will probably have had seven more managers by then, and the sigh of relief whenever the latest sacrificial lamb isn’t Benitez gets louder. How much longer can we dodge that bullet?

If he’s managed to survive, the summer of 2010 would see Rafa begin his seventh season in charge. That’s quite possible. As the last title win shrinks to a dot on the horizon each manager gets longer to end the wait.

Four years for Evans, five for Houllier. Will our new owners be as patient as Moores was?

But what’s the alternative? Rafa has already achieved the third highest points tally in our history; a total big enough to win 16 of our 18 titles is now regarded as a mere platform on which to build a challenge!

The ambition at this club is fierce, frighteningly so. Some teams’ fans would be ecstatic with a fraction of what we’ve achieved even in the so-called wilderness years – but not us.

The new Stanley Park plans prove one thing: our new owners share the same dreams.

Turning them into reality will not be so easy.