Monday, 20 May 2013
23-8121553_-_Carlsberg_Soccernet_Banner_Ads-01
Mike's Views
Mike's Views @ The Rest of the Season..

MikeHinden01We finally arrive at the last question posed to Mike Hinden.. our long-time friend from Liverpool.

Here in this last question, he shares his view on the rest of our really, really eventful season !!
Never has there been so much happening both on-field and off-field.. and especially with regards to Ownership and Managerial matters and with the latest twist with regards to Player Transfers in the closing of the January Transfer Window.

So Mike.. on to you..

 

Question 6
Finally.. do you see us forging ahead for the remainder of the season ? What with Kenny in charge.. Suarez in our books.. and hopefully with the Torres smokescreen blowing away..

DO I see us forging ahead for the remainder of the season ? YOU BET I DO !!!

What kind a magical touch Kenny has brought to the players and the team? I just don't know, it could be that Hodgson's training methods and tactics just did not work, I can never remember a worse start to any season. We didn't even win any of the friendlies against teams that were third rate that we played after the summer break, and that has as not happened before and we never played well in any of those games so our downfall which started with Hodgson playing the wrong game with the wrong tactics.

I can count on one hand the games that I can say we played well under Hodgson, but Kenny has brought a new feeling to everyone at the club and now the results are starting show.

Just take Meireles for example.. He did not score a single goal under Hodgson and now he has scored 5 in 6 games. The whole side now looks more balanced because of Kenny and nothing else. Perhaps I should also mention our new coach Steve Clarke, who, from what I hear is doing wonders on the training ground and is making the training more enjoyable. If we read between the lines and believe what is said by a few players, Hodgson training was not enjoyable so if this was correct the players would be feeling negative.

However a number have said that they enjoy going to training and leave with a smile on their face. It's a fact of life if someone is unhappy they can't give their best but if they are happy they go that extra mile (kilometre) to try and make everything they do a success and I think that goes for all footballers as well. I think it makes no difference if you are at the top or at the bottom of the league if your happy with the team and your team mates then you will give it all that you have got, and as it seems that Kenny has a different philosophy to Hodgson it has been showing from day one.

I know that we have to rely on other teams dropping points but I truly believe that fourth place is a possibility if we keep playing the way we have been (except for the Wigan game on Saturday).

From the little we have seen of him.. Suarez is going to be a hit with the fans. As for Andy Carroll he is tall and big and won't be easily knocked off the ball and go to ground easily (like another striker that we had) and it's been a very long time since we had a striker who scored goals with his head. We all hope that the Suarez and Carroll strike partnership will click and if it does, a lot of central defender's in the EPL better watch out. Forget Batman & Robin being the deadly duo it will be soon Suarez and Carroll !!

Finally, I have to give a mention to Fernando Torres, he was with us for three and half years and he made himself an idol and was worshiped not just here in Liverpool, but all over the world and we must not forget he scored some great and wonderful goals for us. When he announced that he wanted out it was like a bombshell that none of us could believe we all thought that it was a hoax, but it wasn't, he really wanted OUT of LFC so a lot of love turned to hate (myself included) but then I thought that if Stevie and Carra can wish him well and thinking back of the great goals he scored for us.. my hate turned to understanding but he should have kept his big mouth shut by saying that he was going to a bigger club which I now have to say he HAS RETRACTED now saying that Liverpool FC is one of the biggest clubs in the world which a number of Chelsea fans have not liked.. So it is big of him to publicly say he was  wrong.

So my Malaysian friends you have had all my answers to the six question that I've been put to and I hope that I've given you a little insight to the way I feel for Liverpool Football Club. I have NEVER had to write anything like this before and I hope that I will not have to do it again.. lol. Please excuse any mistakes that I have made in my grammar, composition and punctuation as I'm not a trained journalist.

MikeHinden06If any of you are contemplating making a trip here I would very much like to meet you.. Both those I have already met and any new guys that will be fulfilling a dream to come to Liverpool and see OUR REDS play at ANFIELD. If you are planning to make a trip sometime next season or before, I do hope that you will let me know and I will take you around the city I love and show you true SCOUSE/LIVERPUDLIAN hospitality.

Mike Hinden.
 
Mike's Views @ Season Tickets..

MikeHinden03This next question for Mike Hinden is about himself as a Season Ticket Holder.

It is not easy to be one currently as there is a long waiting list. On top of that you have to pay upfront for ALL Premier League Home Games for the season, 19 in all.
BUT the plus point is that you have a sure Match Ticket at all times.

Let's hear Mike's take on the Season Tickets..

 

 

 

 

Question 5
Back to Anfield, how does it feel to be a Season Ticket Holder ? Perhaps you could enlighten us on how much you have to pay per annum.. and the "risks" that come with being a Match Ticket Holder and how this can be mitigated

You ask how does it feel to be a season ticket holder? Well if after over 50 years of having one and I still don't know by now.. I never will.. lol !!

Seriously, it's very good as you know that you have a seat no matter what time you arrive at the ground as you're guaranteed the same seat all season (My seat is just under half way up (row 13) in the Lower Centenary Stand just to right of the centre line so it's a first class seat). 

And because when the renewal arrives in June/July, the club now has given the option to all season ticket/fan card holders to state by ticketing boxes if they want to attend the F.A. Cup, any European Competition and the Carling Cup and any of the appropriate boxes are ticked the tickets for that competition are automatically sent to you.

This is 99% better than the old method were you had to write in, telephone (1000 times before you got through lol), or went to the ticket office at Anfield.

The price of a season ticket this season is £760.00 but the club in recent years have been generous by offering a good discount to old people like me (pensioners), kids under 15 and the disabled of over £150-00. They also give a discount on any extra tickets for all the different cup games if the criteria is met.

Any "risks" you ask ??

Well last season was the first that the club have started what they call a buy back scheme where if a season ticket is unable to go to the match for any reason they can go on line and fill a form and say that they are unable to use the ticket for a particular game.

The ticket (which is really a fan card not a paper ticket) is then de-activated so it can't be used and if the club can then sell it on they give you a credit but NOT until the next season's renewal when they will reduced the annual cost by how many credits you have from the previous season.

However if you have arranged a buy back and it is still available  they will re-activate it right up to the kick off.
 
Mike's Views @ Dalglish.. past & present..

A10_Kenny-concerned_BpoolWe wish to now ask Mike's Views on Kenny Dalglish.. mercurial as a player.. and equally respected as a manager in his first tour of duty..

 

 

Question 4
Let's hear your views on Dalglish.. his abrupt end in his first tour of duty as LFC Manager.. And subsequently explain why King Kenny is really the right person to lead us through the "dark alley" that we had gotten ourselves stuck in the H&Gera..

This one is harder to answer than the first three lol lol, OK from what I remember (and when you get to my age the little bit of brain that I have left forgets things easily but from the little I remember when Kenny resigned we had just been beaten by the Blues from across Stanley Park in an FA Cup replay.

I can't remember the first game (It was at Anfield) but what I do remember from the game at Goodison Park is that I was sitting in the Upper Park End stand right behind the goal all the Pool, fans where at that end of the ground and we all went Cock-a Hoop when Quasie (Peter Beardsley, he was nicknamed as it is a shortened name for Quasimodo as P.B. had a slight hump on his back lol lol) scored our first, then Digger or Barnsey (John Barnes) scored our second 2 up and cruising...

BUT BUT BUT then things went "a-se about face" as we have a saying here meaning everything started to go wrong and the Blues scored 2 then they scored another 3-2 to the Blues then we scored again 3-3 and then we made it 4-3 and in the last few minutes they scored 4-4.

In those days they did not decide games with penalty shoot-out's so it went to a third game which they won and it must have been to much for Kenny as he dropped the bombshell saying that he was resigning.

About why do I think that Kenny is the right person to lead us back into our greatness? I think that he is one of the most respected names in the game and he is now managing as he use to play, what I mean by that is he was always thinking ahead of the play so his views on managering is the same.

He should have gotten the job in the summer and not Wroy and I truly believe that we would be amongst the top four had he been given the job then.

One last think about Kenny and it may be just a coincidence but as you have read from my report I've really never liked Babel (but both Rafa and Wroy played him often even as a sub) now he has gone. Ngog is NEVER and NEVER will be an EPL striker, he does not get a game anymore. Poulson has not been in any starting 11 and hardly gets a game and just these three players to me (and many others) were just not good enough but Wroy would start with them on a regular occurrence.

So Kenny is seeing what we the fans have been seeing since the season started and he is now re-shaping the team who are playing nearly 90% better than they did under Hodgson.

In the Q & A email that Boo sent me from Malaysia I forgot to say a VERY important occurrence for question 4 that I had completely forgotten about until Justin and the family who came for dinner reminded of it when we discussed my answers to the 6 questions with me and he reminded me of this INCREDIBLE FACT that happened after the Hillsborough tragedy that I don't think any of you (maybe only one or two of you (M.H and J M.from Canada) might know.

The fourth question was," Let's hear your views on Dalglish.. his abrupt end in his first tour of duty as LFC Manager"  

I answered that I thought it was because our three FA Cup ties with Everton had got to him, (which they might have done to a small degree) but as Justin reminded me, Kenny, as far as Justin and I can remember went to nearly (if not all) every funeral of all those over 95 (it was 95 at first) of our brothers and sisters LIVERPOOL fans who so tragically lost their lives, so on reflection I think THAT must have had a profound effect on Kenny as it would on anyone and that could have been the main reason when he resigned. 

 
Mike's Views @ Hillsborough..

Inevitably.. we had to ask Mike Hinden about Hillsborough.. that fateful 15th April 1989.. during an FA Cup Semi-final tie between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forest played at a "neutral" ground called Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday.. where 96 Liverpool Fans attended the match.. but never returned home..

That is why you will see this acronym JFT96 (Justice For The 96) as the aftermath af the tragedy has brough much pain and distress toi this very day..

Mike attended the game with his son Justin.. but due to the quirky way of Ticket allocation.. both Father and Child were separated with Justin inside the very Leppings Lane  end where the tragedy occured..


Question 3
Speaking of your years of seeing things revolve in Liverpool, could you please record your views on Hillsborough ? There are many amongst the younger set of fans who do not realise the magnitude of the horror on that fateful 15th Apr 1989.

To answer this question is going to be VERY hard for me as it still extremely painful for me to speak/write down all that I saw even though it will be 23 years this April when the tragedy happened, so please excuse me if I don't say to much about it.

When guys come here for a visit for the first time and Hillsborough is mentioned I tell it as I saw it and it still brings tears to my eyes. For those of you who have never been here, there is a memorial of a perpetual flame with all the 96 names engraved on it and it is situated next to the Shankly Gates at the Anfield Road end of the ground.

And there is a name Jon-Paul Gilhooley engraved.. for he was the youngest being only 10 years old and a lot of people don't know that he is/was a cousin of our captain Stevie G, and the oldest being Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron who was 67 (slightly younger that what I am now).

I really don't want to say anything else as it does upset me, but there is just one other thing that I would like to add, despite what you might have seen, read or heard our fans were NOT entirely blameless themselves if the truth be known.
 
Mike's Views @ LFC Supporters Comm

MikeHinden02Mike Hinden adds in now his weight and his take on the LFC Supporters Commitee.

In case for those of you who are not aware of its formation.. you can CLICK HERE to find out more.

Otherwise, let's hear from one of the applicants for a place on this inaugural LFC Supporters Committee.. an initiative by John Henry, right upon hearing the views of the Liverpool Fans he met up with early in his tenure as Owner of Liverpool FC..

 

 

 


Question 2 
In view of your vast experience, seeing our REDS through so many, many years.. what is your view of the proposed LFC Supporters Committee and do you think something worthwhile will come out of it ?

This will  be a hard question to answer, as my answer will hypothetical, but because as it is the very first time fans will be able to express their views in a committee with directors and people of standing within the club the question will be WILL THEY BE TAKEN NOTICE OF? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ACTED UPON?.

First off, I have applied to go on this Supporters Committee and I really hope that I will be selected as I feel that I could make a good contribution to it if I'm fortunate to be selected, those who receive my match reports will know that I'm not afraid to criticize when criticism is warranted. I have many views from the prices charged at the snack bars in all the concourse's in the stadium to the small amount of leg room in the Lower Centenary stand (where I sit).

I don't think that this committee will have any say on players (and quite rightly so I think) BUT it will very interesting to see WHAT will happen and if when things are discussed and agreed on if the owners will listen and act upon them.

My own view is that both John Henry and Tom Werner are both men who WILL listen to constructive comments and maybe put them into practice, AND YES, I truly believe that something worthwhile WILL come out of it
 
Mike's Views @ LFC Networking..

INTRODUCTION by Mike Hinden.. our latest addition to our LSCM website !!
We shall be having a special section devoted to "Mike's Views" and here is what Mike has to say of himself. 

MikeHinden01Hello to all of you that read LSCM website. I've been asked by Boo to answer 6 questions about my connection (unofficially) with LFC and the list of guys that are in my email list that I correspond with on a regular basis, and I will answer them as best as I can.

Over the last number of years I've had the great pleasure of meeting quite a number of you when some of you have fulfilled your lifetime dreams and visited Liverpool and seen our REDS play at Anfield for the very first time, and I would hope that I have helped to make the trips a little more enjoyable by showing you around the city of my birth and the city that I'm so proud of that I can be called a Liverpudlian. It gives me so much pleasure to help with arranging any accommodation, travel, visits to Anfield and Museum Tours and if time allows, a visit to my home to watch any of my many LFC CD's etc etc.

For those of you who have don't know or who have not heard of me.. allow me to tell you just a few things about me.

I have been a Season Ticket holder at LFC for over 50 years, I've been to and seen 4 out of our 5 European/Champions League final in which we won, the greatest of them all is OF COURSE ISTANBUL.. (although our first one in ROME in 1976/77 comes a very close second).

As a lot of you know I send my un-biased Match Reports after every game and any RED news that I hear on the local radio and see in the local press, sometimes before it reaches the websites, and if of you who are not on my list of about 700 guys all over the world would like to be added to it.. just send me an email and it will be a pleasure to add you to my ever growing list. [Boo will be more than glad to provide my email to you]

Finally my son (Justin) and I where at Hillsborough on that terrible sad day in April 1989 and in fact Justin was in the center pen where all those wonderful 96 fans lost their lives and he was pulled over the top of the railings by a policeman.. someone was looking after the Hinden family on that day.. a day that will never ever be forgotten.

OK guys here goes, here is my answer to Boo's first question

 

 

Question 1 
Thank you for joining us here Mike.. first and foremost, would you like to elaborate how you have established this amazing network that you currently enjoy with supporters from all parts of this globe and perhaps you can share with us how far your "tentacles" have reached !!?

I first started emailing LFC fans when I fulfilled a life time ambition when I went to New York in 1998 (I think), and I stupidly did not look at the fixture list before booking the trip, and guess which game was being played while I was in New York? Yes, you guessed it.. Liverpool vs. Manure at Anfield, I found out that the game was being showed in a bar and as all Liverpool v Manure (in fact all of the big games now have a lunch time kick off) and as the U.S. is 5 hours behind the UK.. the kickoff US time was at 06-30am and I thought that there would only be a few true RED fans there at that very early time. How wrong I was, it was so full that they had to make way for me to get in,

I suppose because I took with me a number of Match Day Programs, a few Kop Magazines and a number of LFC related items and because I'm a true Scouser I was the flavour of the day, and they just would not let me put my hand in my pocket to buy anything. They treated me which was so very kind of them. PC's and the internet was all the rage so a number of them ask me for my email address so they could keep up with all LFC news from someone who lived in the Pool.. So that my Malaysian friends was how it all started.

Boo asked in his question how I established the network of RED fans around the world?

Well, I'm ashamed to say I can't remember how corresponding and sending out my match reports to guys all over the world expanded from the New York guys, As I have said I currently have over 700 guys in my Footie list who stretch from the east including Australia, Japan, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei. South Africa, Israel to the west in the UK (of course) Ireland, Canada and many now all over the USA.