League Cup: Reaching Wembley this week can be a wake-up call for fallen Mersey giants Liverpool and Everton

FOOTBALL MATTERS

(Getty Images)

Liverpool supporters enjoy mocking their Evertonian rivals with a chant, to the tune of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”, which serves as a reminder that Goodison Park’s trophy cabinet has not opened its doors for a major trophy since 1995.

Similarly, when “We’re For Ever Everton” rings around the old ground ahead of a Merseyside derby, the instant response from the Reds is a reworking of the song, turning it into “We’re All Laughing at Everton”.

It is difficult for the Blues to hit back. Liverpool simply have the upper hand in every aspect of the rivalry, in terms of trophies, history, the size of their stadium, global appeal and all the rest of it.

But while Liverpool laugh longest within their own city limits, there is an increasing sense that the once great footballing power of Merseyside has been reduced to nothing more than a neighbourly scrap for bragging rights between two clubs who have allowed time to stand still while everybody else has moved on.

By Wednesday evening, Merseyside could be toasting a return to the glory days of the 1980s, with both Liverpool and Everton needing only to draw their respective Capital One Cup semi-final second legs against Stoke City and Manchester City to confirm a meeting in the final at Wembley at 28 February. Yet, unpalatable as it may be for both clubs, and the city as a whole, any failure to do so would only provide further evidence of an empire that has fallen into disrepair.

Only four English clubs have won more major honours than Everton – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea – yet that FA Cup triumph against United in 1995 remains the last time the blue half of Merseyside required an open-top bus to parade silverware around St George’s Hall.

While Liverpool offered a reminder of their clout and status by winning their fifth European Cup in such dramatic fashion against Milan in 2005, the red machine of the 1970s and 1980s has broken down to the extent that only two major honours – an FA Cup and League Cup – have been won in the decade since the so-called Miracle of Istanbul. There has been no league championship at Anfield since 1990.

Still, it is not all about trophies. Liverpudlians will quite rightly argue that Arsenal have won just two FA Cups in 10 years, but London’s most successful club can counter by pointing to the glittering Emirates Stadium, the most financially powerful arena in world football, which has been their home since they removed emotion from the equation and quit Highbury in 2006.

Liverpool's last trophy, the League Cup in 2012 (Getty Images)

Liverpool have threatened to leave home more often than a hormonal teenager over the years, but they remain at Anfield – a hugely atmospheric stadium, but one which is no longer fit for purpose in the modern era. The club’s American owners have instead opted to build a new main stand and increase the capacity by a mere 8,500, which appears as logical as plonking a conservatory on a cramped two-up, two-down.

As for Everton, proposed new stadiums at King’s Dock and in Kirkby have fallen by the wayside and they continue to play at Goodison, another historic ground, but one which should have been pensioned off years ago.

That both teams run out to 1960s anthems for home games – the “Theme from Z Cars” at Goodison and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at Anfield – perfectly sums up the emotional ties which have become anchors in the mud.

If only supporters and executives from both clubs could spend a day walking around Munich’s Allianz Arena, which is shared by Bayern and 1860, before having their heads knocked together and told, “Look at what could happen if you look to the future rather than the past.” A future, perhaps, that would be about them both challenging in the Champions League rather than hoping for a shot at the League Cup.

In terms of their home grounds and their combined failures to cut loose and do what not just Arsenal and City have done, but also Leicester, Stoke and many others, the numerous regimes in charge of both Liverpool and Everton over the past 20 years have all contributed to the mismanaged decline of the two clubs.

Everton, at least, have followed the likes of United, Chelsea, Tottenham and City by building a new, 21st-century training base at Finch Farm on the outskirts of the city, but Liverpool’s Melwood training ground, although updated considerably in recent years, remains the small-scale set-up where Bill Shankly would put Kevin Keegan through his paces more than 40 years ago.

Why do these things matter? Well, the modern-day footballer is interested in the whole package as much as the wage packet, especially when he can get a six-figure weekly wage wherever he goes, and facilities, ambition and prospects of success all form part of the “project”.

City have overtaken not just Liverpool, but also United, in terms of maximising their strengths and offering precisely what new signings want to hear. Just ask Raheem Sterling, who believed that the financial and sporting benefits of leaving Anfield for the Etihad were worth all the negativity that came with his acrimonious battle to move to City last summer.

Everton will face a similar fight to prevent the likes of John Stones and Romelu Lukaku leaving for bigger salaries and a short cut to silverware this summer, but if Liverpool cannot persuade the likes of Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Sterling that Anfield is the place to fulfil their ambitions, what chance do Everton have, with their financial limitations and fading honours list?

They have finished in the top four just once since the turn of the millennium, while Liverpool have lost their annual Champions League pass to the extent that, from the 2009-10 season onwards, their finishing positions in the Premier League have been seventh, sixth, eighth, seventh, second and sixth.

Neither club can now justifiably describe themselves as a contender when the Premier League title race is discussed, but this week at least gives them both the opportunity to restore Merseyside to the centre of the debate. If Everton and Liverpool can make the Capital One Cup final an all-Merseyside affair, maybe such an occasion could provide the jolt the two clubs require once again to make their city as relevant as Manchester and London from a football perspective.

But it would need to be the wake-up call that everything must come up to scratch rather than merely be an excuse to wallow in the nostalgia of the good old days.

By Monday we will know if De Gea had a Real exit clause

When David De Gea’s proposed transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid collapsed in the final minutes of last summer’s transfer window, the goalkeeper’s subsequent decision to sign a new contract at Old Trafford raised the obvious suspicion that a deal was agreed only with the help of an escape clause to ensure a swift exit the next time Real come calling.

None of the parties involved will confirm or deny the existence of such a clause but, with Real banned from the transfer market for 12 months from midnight on 1 February, the next week should tell us once and for all if De Gea really can escape Old Trafford for a pre-agreed fee. Your move, Real.

South Coast rivals show how things can quickly change

When Portsmouth lifted the FA Cup in 2008, Pompey’s joy was in stark contrast to the anguish experienced by South Coast rivals Bournemouth, who were relegated to the bottom tier after being docked 10 points as punishment for entering administration.

On Saturday, the two clubs meet at Fratton Park in the Cup with Pompey now in the basement division and Bournemouth enjoying their first-ever season in the top flight. Their shared experiences are, hopefully, both an inspiration, and a warning, to each other that things can change very quickly.