To my bitter rivals United,

It’s sunny here as I am writing this; well mostly. We’re all just in a very good place now. We’ve qualified for Champions League after a long long time. So long that there were even jokes about us getting relegated. Or that we’d even be lucky to qualify for Europa. 

As I’m writing this, my heart genuinely goes out to you as I know the predicament that you’re facing. Be rest assured, I’m not here to brag about anything or play the my horse is bigger than yours game. I want to offer you my enlightenment, sincerely.

You see, given the circumstances and the well known fact that we were an under performing team just some seasons back, we have come a long long way from that team. You wouldn’t believe it, but we were runner ups of the League. Yup! Not Chelsea, or Arsenal. Liverpool. The team everyone was making humourless jokes about. 

Do you remember that time you infamously got our captain sent off? King Kenny was in charge back then and you guys were one nil up courtesy of a Ryan Giggs spot kick. Do you remember that time? I don’t know about you guys but we, remember it very clearly. 

What about that time when our star striker wanted to part ways with us? We were all very devasted and heartbroken. Our star player, the one we showered with our love decided he wanted to go to a ‘bigger’ club. It was hard to believe that someone who had just recently confessed his love for the club was leaving. All those lies. But you know what, I think we got the better end of the deal. 50 Million pounds and we got Suarez. No too shabby for a team that didn’t qualify for Europe. I think we all learned a valuable lesson from this and that is nobody is bigger than the club. Ever. 

If memory still doesn’t play well, let me tell you about that time King Kenny was dismissed of his duties. We finished 8th, a position worst than the previous season where we managed to maneuverer out of 'relegation’ during the Roy Hodgson era. We were struggling, and these were one of the hardest times ever. But “At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky.”

And there was. In the form of Brendan Rodgers and his Tiki-Taka football ala Barcelona style. We still had tough times, but it wasn’t till this year we finally saw a glimpse of the golden sky. And like I said before, we were runner ups and only missed by 2 points. That’s how close we came to winning it. Luis Suarez won a number of awards and earned a few names himself. My favourite: The Hannibal. I’m sure you can agree with me that you would kill for someone that influential to be on your team, right? You’d be lying if you said you didn’t.

We are still not able to see our golden sky. We see glimpse of it, yes. But they are like dreams. Very close to touching, but in reality, far away. We still have a long way to go for success and that long awaited league title we’ve been waiting for for more than 2 decades. But that’s the best part of it, it makes success a little bit more sweeter.

I’m a huge fan of the underdog wrestling in the face of trails and tribulation, gaining victory in the end. It’s a feel good story. The kind that gives you goosebumps; Because what better way to say “If they can do it, so can I”. I dare say it, sometimes it even makes you more resilient to anything.

Actually why I’m writing this isn’t to pick on you like a bully and rub “I told you so” in your face. (I already have so much fun on twitter doing it!) I’m writing this because in the wake of me finding out about your current predicament, I can also feel for you. As someone who has gone through relatively the high’s and low’s of their beloved club, I can firmly tell you that it’s going to be okay. 

Well, look at us. We made it! People didn’t even think we would be title contenders but today, we are. Sure, it took a long time to get there but we did eventually. Besides, if we didn’t go through what we did today, We wouldn’t have been able to look back at the bad times and grow from them. It’s made a lot of us, stronger supporters and loyal ones at that too! 

So, my advice to you is this. Don’t sweat the hard times now because it’s  hard times like these that will shape you and your club. Just look what it did for us! Support your team, win lose or draw (as famously quoted by Bill Shankly). Don’t give up on your team. Sometimes, it helps to look back at the good times. For us Liverpool fans, we always think back at Istanbul. We are known as the History Channel for a reason you know! Everyone has bad days but it’s good to know that they aren’t here to stay. We just have to ride with it till a golden sky appears. 

I hope that you feel motivated, moved or whatever form of encouraged you are after reading this letter. Please know that I wrote this from the bottom of my heart, truly. Besides, we’re missing our bitter rivals terribly. Up to a point that it hurts. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that much but you get the point. I wish Mr Van Gaal all the best and try not too give him a hard time like you did with Mr. Moyes. Stay strong and red!

From a true Liverpool fan. 

How many people right now can tell you that they’ve lived to witness World War I. Or, when Martin Luther King was giving out his speech to millions on his dream. Or, in my case (if you’re Malaysian you would know) lived long enough to witness and share their experiences when Tunku Adbul Rahman declared independence. You get the picture. These kinds of moment are rare and you’d be lucky enough to say you were even born in that era. (Well, except for the World War. No one really wants to relieve that. Those were some hard moments endured by mankind).

Similarly, it’s not every day you get to see a player rise to his success. And today, I am lucky enough to tell you that I have witnessed his rise to fame. As I recollect back, I can easily illustrate how things went down before he was even a Liverpool player. Back then, we had Torres and boy was he a player! He captured the hearts of all Liverpool supporter. Like every rise to fame and glory, the fall is even harder. He made the biggest (I’m sorry but he’s nowhere the player he used to be backed at Liverpool or Athletico) by signing for Chelsea. Let’s face it, Chelsea is not worst club to go to. Having said that, it’s also not the best club to go to for a player with his talent. Chelsea, well I’ll debate this over another time.

And so, he left. I must say I was a big fan of Torres and I was beyond devasted when he left. Not to mention hurt! So, we were all feeling down (yes, here at Liverpool we are one big family). Then came Luis. (pronounced as Lo-ee) I have to say I was one of those people who doubted his ability when he first joined. I thought to myself, “How is anyonw going to fill Tores’ boots?!”. I remember when he came on as substitue for the first time, and guess what? If you haven’t already knew, he scored. We won that game with a scoreline of 2-1 and the opponents we faced were Stoke. That was when I knew he was destined to do great things (Toress who?)

For some odd reason (maybe I’m biased to anything Liverpool), whatever antics he did on the field and by antics I mean his sudden desire to eat his opponents (literally), it didn’t waiver my love for him as a player. I saw it as part of the game and of course I was annoyed much like the other Liverpool fans but I was never hated him. Never. Come on, this was the player everyone hated but would kill to have him on their team. He was that kind of a player. He was in other words the live wire in the Livepool team (besides Stevie though). And even when he got banned from playing he still managed to keep to his game and stay true as the player he was.

This season he missed 4 games but he was the top scorer of the league. To top it off, he won the PFA Player of The Year Award, was named as the Football Association Writers player of the year and shared the European Golden Shoe with Cristiano Ronaldo. If anyone’s wondering he scored a total of 31 goals in the league while being out of action for a month!

For me, I never got to listen to Martin Luther’s I have a dream speech or even fought the World War. But, I can say one thing. I was there when Luis Suarez took Europe by storm and that was becuse he was at a great club. And that club is Liveprool. Luis, if you are reading this, you will be missed and no matter what, You will never walk alone!